> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bold-factory.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Preventive maintenance

> Understand preventive schedules and how they generate recurring work orders.

**Preventive maintenance** defines rules to generate recurring work orders.

The schedule is not the work order. The schedule indicates when a work order should be created, on which asset and with which initial information.

## What a schedule defines

| Data | Use |
| - | - |
| Asset | Equipment it applies to. |
| Frequency | How often it should generate: daily, weekdays (Monday to Friday), weekly, monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually. |
| Next date | Expected time of the next occurrence. |
| Policy | What to do if there are open work orders. |
| Template | Main cause, auxiliary causes and initial notes. |
| Status | Enabled or disabled. |

## Generation policies

| Policy | Behavior |
| - | - |
| Generate on every occurrence | Creates a work order for each due occurrence. |
| Skip if there is an open work order | Avoids duplicate work if an intervention is already pending. |

Use the policy according to the risk of duplicate work orders. Every occurrence can be useful for critical inspections. For repeatable low-urgency tasks, skipping while work is open may be better.

## Relationship with work orders

When generated, the work order contains actual execution. Complete it with times, actions, materials and observations like any intervention.

The schedule retains frequency and generation history. The work order retains what was done. Schedule details show related work orders, except canceled ones.

## Generate manually

You can create a work order immediately with **Generate now**, for example to bring an inspection forward.

* It counts as a generation: increases the generated counter and updates the last generation.
* It does not change the next planned generation.
* It does not consider the generation policy.
* It works even if the schedule is disabled, but not if deleted.

If the policy is **Skip if there is an open work order**, a manually generated work order that remains open also causes the next occurrence to be skipped.

## If it does not generate a work order

Check these points when a preventive schedule does not create the expected work order:

* the schedule is enabled;
* there is a next generation date;
* the asset and cause remain available;
* the policy is not skipping the occurrence because a work order is already open;
* the frequency and time zone match the actual working calendar.

If you use **Skip if there is an open work order**, close or cancel the previous work order before expecting another generation.

## Related

* [Work orders](/en/concepts/maintenance/work-orders)
* [Assets](/en/concepts/maintenance/assets)
* [Schedule preventive maintenance](/en/guides/maintenance/schedule-preventive-maintenance)


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