Create a routine
A routine stores reusable instructions plus a repeating pattern, and generates a work item each time the pattern comes due. Use routines for anything that repeats: daily fire checks, weekly playground inspections, or annual gas safety tests. You create a routine from Operations > Work > Routines, and every new routine saves as Inactive until you deliberately enable it.
Before you start
You need the Manager or Admin role in Operations to create, edit, and enable routines. Coverage targets pull from locations and assets already set up in Premises, so make sure those records exist first.
Start the routine
The Operations sidebar runs Work, Checklists, Library (when the Library feature is enabled), Timeline, Parts, Team, and Insights. You can start from the Routines tab under Work, or finish a checklist's combined setup with the optional first routine.
Go to Operations > Work and open the Routines tab.
Click Create Routine.
Choose how to start:
Generate with AI: describe the work and AI drafts a proposed routine for you to review and adjust.
Start Blank: configure every step yourself.
Generate a routine with AI
When you choose Generate with AI, the flow asks for a Subject and optional details. The AI uses this context to propose routines and tasks, which you then review and create. You are always in control: AI proposes, you confirm or edit before the routine is created.
On the Subject step, pick a category from the dropdown:
Equipment
Fire safety
Water hygiene
Electrical
Building fabric
Other
Enter a description of the subject. For example, "fire door inspection" or "weekly boiler service."
Fill any optional fields that appear for the chosen category. The available fields depend on the category you selected:
Equipment shows Manufacturer, Model, Capacity, Fuel Type, Refrigerant Type, and Year Installed.
Fire safety shows Element / System.
All categories can show Category / Regime, Building Type, Location, Environment, and Serves Vulnerable Occupants when relevant.
Click Generate to send the subject context to the AI. The AI returns proposed routines and tasks.
Review the proposals on the preview and review steps. You can edit the routine details, timing, and coverage before creating it.
The more context you provide, the more accurate the AI proposals. Optional fields are not required, but they help tailor the routine and tasks to your specific situation.
Describe the work
Name the routine, set when it should first run, and optionally attach a checklist so every generated work item includes the steps to complete.
Enter a Work Name.
Add Details so the team knows what the work involves.
Set the First Date for the first occurrence.
Attach a checklist if the work should follow set steps. See Checklists for building and managing checklists.
Choose when it repeats
Pick a schedule mode, then set the repeat pattern and how the schedule behaves when work finishes early or late. The native recurrence editor and advanced schedule options remain available.
Choose a Schedule Mode:
On-Demand for on-demand or reference-only use. On-Demand routines do not acquire recurrence.
Recurring for work on a repeating pattern.
Calendar-Based for work driven by calendar events.
Set the Repeat Pattern: an interval of one or more days, weeks, months, or years. The interval field uses separate number and unit controls with preset quick-picks:
Day, 1 to 90 days
Week, 1 to 52 weeks
Month, 1 to 60 months
Year, 1 to 10 years
Mixed durations such as 1 month and 2 weeks are not supported.
Choose the Schedule Type:
Fixed keeps the schedule tied to its original calendar beat. Completing early does not shift the schedule; completing late can shift the next occurrence forward until work catches up.
Floating measures the next occurrence from when the work was actually completed. This suits wear-anchored maintenance, such as servicing an asset 30 days after the last service.
See Choose Fixed or Floating for a routine for a step-by-step guide.
Open More Routine Options for further settings, such as working-day and skip behavior. Which days count as working comes from your site's working week settings. See Set how routines handle non-working days.
Add an Estimated Duration so the team knows how long the work should take.
Changing the schedule type later applies to future occurrences. Existing work items keep the settings they were created with.
Choose where it applies
The scope defaults to Whole Site. Narrow it to specific locations and assets, or to asset types that automatically pick up new matches.
Under Where Does It Apply?, keep Whole Site or select coverage targets.
Choose Selected Locations or Selected Assets to cover the named records you pick. This gives fixed coverage: the routine applies only to those locations and assets.
Choose Asset Model or Asset Class to cover assets by type. This coverage also includes matching assets added later. To remove coverage for specific items, add an exclusion for an asset instance, model, or class subtree.
A routine can also run with no targets at all. This produces a work item with no rows, useful for general reminders.
For checklists on routines, attach a Global checklist that applies to every row, or Scoped checklists that apply only to a specific location, asset instance, asset model, or asset class. Narrowest-scope-wins resolution applies: an instance-level checklist beats a model-level one, which beats a class-level one. Every covered row must match a checklist target or a global checklist, otherwise the routine cannot be saved. To give a specific asset class, model, or instance a different cadence, add a cadence override. See Adjust checklist cadence for specific assets.
Create a routine from a once-per-term requirement
When a standard requirement asks for evidence at least once per term, start Create Routine from the requirement. The form prefills a routine that runs at the start of every term.
The prefilled settings are Start Of Every Term for the recurrence, the Term Calendar to use, and Offset (Days). Choose the term calendar for your site and set the offset if the work should fall a few days after each term starts.
If your site has no term dates yet, the recurrence falls back to a monthly routine until term dates exist.
The requirement stays healthy only while every assessed term contains at least one scheduled date, and scheduled dates in holidays do not count toward a term. See Build evidence requirements in standards for how once-per-term coverage is assessed.
Set First Due After Install
On an existing routine that is not On-Demand, First Due After Install sets how long after an asset enters service its first occurrence is due.
Open the routine from Operations > Work > Routines.
Click the First Due After Install value to edit it.
Enter a non-negative duration and choose a unit: Day, Week, Month, or Year.
Leave the field blank for the default, or clear it to return to default. The default displays as Due on entry (default): first due on the asset in-service date, or the routine start date when that is later.
Use this for assets that should not be due the day they enter service, such as a new vehicle's first test at 36 months or a boiler's first service at 12 months. The offset applies only while the asset has no completion history on this routine. After the first completion, the normal cadence takes over. If the in-service date plus the offset falls before the routine start date, the first due date uses the routine start date instead.
Set the grace period
After the routine is created, open the routine detail page. In the Execution section, open the Workflow card. This is where you set the Grace Period: the extra time after each scheduled date before the work is considered overdue. Grace periods are not used for daily intervals.
When a worker completes the work within the grace period, the routine stays on time. If the work passes the grace period without completion, it can be marked Missed depending on your site settings.
Classify and assign
In the Organisation section, set the Category, Classification, and Priority so the work is sorted correctly on the board and in reports.
In the Team section, open the People card and assign the routine to an individual or a group. If you assign a group, any member with the right permissions can pick up the generated work items. See Using Groups for Assignments for details.
Review and save
The Create Routine flow is page-based and ends with a review step, so check everything before saving.
Review the summary on the Review Routine step.
Click Save Inactive Routine.
The routine saves as Inactive and generates no work until you enable it.
Enable the routine
An inactive routine generates no work, so enabling is what starts generation.
Go to Operations > Work and open the Routines tab.
Find the routine in the list. Each row shows Active or Inactive.
Choose Enable Routine.
To pause a routine, set it to Inactive. This stops new work items but leaves existing ones in place. Reactivating resumes generation from the schedule window. You can deactivate a routine even if it has checklist coverage faults.
Monitor health and upcoming work
Health tiles appear both on the routine detail page and on the Routines listing. Each tile summarises the routine's status and links directly to the related work list.
Routine Health: the overall status of the routine
Overdue Targets: coverage targets past due today
On-Time Rate: completion performance for the reporting period
Next Due: the next scheduled occurrence
Click any tile to open the matching work list so you can review or act on the items behind the metric. The Work History card lists every work item generated from this routine, so you can open any one to see completion notes, photos, and evidence.
The Activity tab in the sidebar shows a filtered audit history scoped to this routine. See View activity history for a routine for details on reading the change log.
Review coverage targets
Open a routine and scroll to the Coverage section to see the full list of assets and locations tied to the routine. The grid shows one row per target, with due timing labels like Today, Tomorrow, and overdue so you can spot what is upcoming or past due. Asset rows also show Last Done and Next Due, which you can edit inline when you have the Manager or Admin role in Operations. See Create work from routine coverage for details on reading the grid, setting asset dates, and creating work from it.
Adjust a routine later
You can edit the routine at any time:
Add or remove targets and exclusions.
Change the interval, dates, grace period, or First Due After Install offset.
Switch Schedule Type between Fixed and Floating on recurring routines.
Update assignment or classification.
Attach or remove checklists.
Changes apply to future occurrences. Existing work items keep the settings they were created with unless you edit them directly.
Delete a routine
When you delete a routine, any generated work items remain in the system but are unlinked from the routine. The routine reference on each work item is cleared, and the routine and its coverage targets are removed. You confirm the deletion before it completes.
What's next
Once the routine is active, upcoming scheduled occurrences appear on the Timeline as forecast bars. Future dates on the Timeline do not necessarily mean a work item already exists. See Timeline.
To control when incomplete work counts as missed, see Control when work is marked as missed. If coverage rows stop matching your locations and assets, see Fix routine coverage faults.