What is in the template
One row per record; the first row holds the column names and stays as it is. The grey rows are examples to replace or delete. The whole workbook has five sheets (all of them); this page is about the PM schedules sheet.
| title | What is done: Compressor service, Belt check. |
|---|---|
| asset | The code of the machine, as in the equipment list. |
| every | How often, with the unit: every 3 month. |
| unit | day, week, month or year (drop-down). |
| mode | fixed: by the calendar; floating: counted from the last time it was done (drop-down). |
| first due | The first date it is due. |
| priority | low, medium, high or critical. |
| assignee | Who usually does it (name or e-mail). |
| lead days | How many days before the due date the work order opens in LK Up; in Excel, how early the row turns yellow. |
| checklist | Steps separated by |; #section Name starts a section, Step#unit:min:max asks for a reading with limits. |
| procedure | The title of a procedure from the library, instead of a checklist. |
| meter, meter every, meter first due, meter lead | For schedules by running hours or cycles: the meter's name, the interval in its units, the first reading it is due at, how early to open. |
| last done, next due | Excel only. Type the date it was last done; next due is computed (the first due date until then). The import ignores both. |
How it works in Excel
- Codes stay text. The code columns are formatted as text, so 007 stays 007 and a code with a slash is not turned into a date.
- A header that stays put. Row 1 is frozen and carries a filter, so you can sort by any column and still see the names.
- Drop-downs, not guesswork. Where LineKeeper Up takes a fixed set of words, the cell offers them; the importer also understands the Spanish words (operativo, máquina, semana).
- Next due by formula. next due = last done + the interval (months and years with EDATE), or the first due date while nothing has been done yet. The formula is already in every row down to 1000; just type.
- Red and yellow. A next due date before today turns red; one within the lead days (7 when the cell is empty) turns yellow. Sort by that column on Monday and you have the week.
- The checklist travels in one cell. Steps separated by a bar, sections, readings with limits, a photo on failure: the same text LK Up turns into a tap-through checklist on the phone.
When the sheet is not enough: into LK Up in three steps
A sheet has no phone on the floor, no QR label on the machine, no photo on a problem report and no reminder that fires by itself. When that starts to hurt, the same file moves into a system in an evening.
- Install LK Up. It is free and runs on your own Mac or Windows PC (download, about half an hour to the first work order). Phones use the web app, offline too.
- Choose the workbook. PM → Import, pick the file. The PM schedules sheet is chosen by its name; the Preview shows each row's action and any problem before anything is written. Columns need no mapping: the sheet's headers are the importer's own.
- Press Import. Then the other sheets, each from its own page: Assets, Parts, People, PM schedules, Work orders, in that order. Importing the same file again updates the records instead of duplicating them (choose «update it from the file»), so you can keep working in Excel for a while and import again.
Why we built it this way
- A row per schedule, not a 52-week grid. A calendar grid looks like a plan and dies at the first slip. A row with an interval and a last-done date is a plan that recomputes itself, and it is what a system can read.
- Fixed or floating, explicitly. A filter change every month regardless and a bearing check three months after the last one are different rules; the sheet says which, and LK Up keeps the rule.
- The lead time is part of the schedule. How early a job should appear is the difference between a reminder and a surprise, in Excel and in the system alike.
Why it is free. LK Up comes from years of field service in plants that kept their maintenance in a spreadsheet or in nobody's head. The templates are the first step of that road and cost nothing; the system they lead to is free for every person in your plant, with nothing held back, and leaving is as easy as arriving. Missing a column your plant needs? Write to us. What LK Up is →