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Data Upload Part 3: Preventive Maintenance

 This blog series demonstrate the data setup through uploading data from excel templates. Previous blogs include:


Here are some background about excel templates and data upload:

  • An excel data template is generated for each table in Calem. Customers can download the archive of all the templates at https://support.calemeam.com/view.php?id=4046. A customer account is required to download the templates.
  • The Data Upload Guide has information for some tables that should not be uploaded including transaction tables that are generated in Calem. Customers can reference the Data Upload Guide at https://support.calemeam.com/view.php?id=3983. A customer account is required to download the Guide.
  • The excel templates can be used to create new data or update existing data. So, you can use the same excel file to create data and make changes by uploading the file more than once.


This is the third part of the data upload tutorial. This blog serves as the detailed walk-through for the steps defined in Calem Setup Part 2: Preventive Maintenance


Step 1. Asset and Location

Asset module is referenced by the PM module. Use resources below to set up asset and location:


Step 2. Inventory

Spare parts and tools may be referenced by PM plans when setting up job plans. Use resources below to set up inventory:


Step 3. Permits and Docuemnts

Permits may be referenced by PM plans. Set up permits from work order module:

  • Menu path: Work Order Module | Open | Permit Templates. Special permits such as Work at Height or Lock-Out and Tag-Out can be created and then referenced in PM Plans.

Documents including photo, drawing, manuals can be included in the PM Plans. Upload documents via Calem web client. See documents of Calem Setup Part 1: Asset and Location for more information.

Step 4. PM Plans

PM Plans are job plans for preventive maintenance (PM) and corrective maintenance (CM). Time schedules such as every week on Monday, or every three months can be included in the PM Plans. Calem uses JavaScript objective notation (JSON) to indicate schedules. You can upload PM Plans with schedules based on schedule templates included in the excel sheet.

  • PM Plan excel sheet for data upload: cm_pm_plan.RepeatSchedules.xls
    • The repeat schedule should be prepared in a plain text editor.
    • Additional fields may be added to the PM Plan excel files. For instance, for site access control, one may include site access flag "Site access? (site_access)" and and site Id "Site (site_id__site)".
    • See cm_pm_plan.All.xls for additional fields to add.
  • PM Plan steps can be uploaded by excel sheet: cm_pm_step.PmSteps.xls
  • Note: uploading repeat schedules is only supported in PM Plan (cm_pm_plan) table.

4.1 Trouble-shooting Repeat Schedules
You may get an invalid repeat schedule error when uploading a PM Plan excel file with repeat schedule as follows.
Invalid repeat schedule={CmScheduleInfo: { 
      selection: 'months',
      months: {CmScheduleMonths: {freq: 24, dom: 1}}
      }}

This can be caused by special characters which are not displayable in the repeat schedule text. Use the following steps to correct the issue:
  • Create a word document and save it as plain text (.txt) format. 

  • Copy the repeat schedule from your excel file and paste to the plain text file.
  • Save the word file. You may get the following prompt which indicating there are characters in the file that are not plain text. Choose "Yes" to remove special characters and save the file.
  • Copy the repeat schedule text from the word document and paste into your excel file.
  • Upload the PM Plan excel.
  • You may repeat the steps above for every issue you have.

 Step 5. PM Rounds

PM Rounds are locations or assets a preventive maintenance run may cover. They include:


Step 6. PMs

PMs are the maintenance jobs. They consist of a PM Plan (a job plan) and an asset or a location with an initial due date information. PMs are released on the initial due date by Calem. Next due dates are calculated based on schedule of the PM Plans of the PMs.

Step 7. PM Asset/Location

Assets and locations can be added to a PM for inspection. 

  • PM asset/location excel sheet for upload: cm_pm_asset.PM-Assets.xls
  • Populate asset column for each asset to be inspected.
  • Populate both location and site columns for each location to be inspected.

 Additional Resources

Mandate Failure Codes in Work Orders
Data Upload Part 2: Asset and Location

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