Set Up Automated Asset Status Changes
| Platform: | AvailableWebNot availableMobile |
|---|---|
| Plan Type: | Not availableBasicNot availableEssentialNot availablePremiumAvailableEnterprise |
| User Type: | Not availableRequesterAvailableFull UserAvailableAdministrator |
The features that are available depend on your plan.
- Premium Plan: Meter-triggered automations that create work orders.
- Enterprise Plan: Custom automations, including multi-asset triggers, all conditions, and all actions (such as Change Asset Status).
When equipment changes state, your maintenance team needs to know immediately. For example, equipment can shift from running to faulted, or from idle to stopped. Waiting on an operator to report the change manually introduces delays, inconsistent reporting, and gaps in your asset history. When a status signal reaches MaintainX® as a meter reading, you can use an automation to update the asset's status the moment that reading changes. Optionally, the same automation can create a request, a work order, or a notification at the same time.
What You Need Before You Start​
- An asset in MaintainX for each piece of equipment you want to track.
- A meter that reports the equipment's state as a reading, mapped to that asset. This is typically an automated meter fed by an operational technology (OT) data connector or the MaintainX REST API. For more information, see Smart Tag Mapping for OT Data.
- If your organization uses statuses beyond Online, Offline, and Do Not Track, create the custom asset statuses you need before you build your automation.
Step 1: Define Your Asset States​
Identify which values your state meter reports, and which MaintainX status each one should map to. A typical mapping might look like this:
| Meter Value | Equipment State | MaintainX Status |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Stopped / Off | Offline |
| 1 | Idle | Online |
| 2 | Running | Online |
| 3 | Faulted | Offline |
Start with the state that matters most, usually a fault or stopped condition, rather than mapping every possible value at once.
Step 2: Set Up Your Automation​
Once you map your meter to an asset and define your statuses, create an automation that connects them and configure these settings for your asset-status use case:
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Trigger: Select the Asset, or select Add multiple assets to apply the same rule to up to 250 similar assets at once. If the asset is already connected to a meter, MaintainX selects it for you. Set the trigger condition that represents the state change. For example, Is equal to 3 to detect a faulted reading. Use the For setting to control how sensitive the trigger is:
- One reading: Triggers on every reading that matches the condition, which suits critical faults where you want to know about each occurrence.
- One reading, then reset: Triggers once, then won't trigger again until the reading clears the condition and matches it again, which avoids repeat status changes while a fault stays active.
- Multiple readings: Requires multiple readings to cross the threshold (for example, 3 of the last 5), reducing false positives from a signal that briefly spikes.
- A reading longer than: Triggers only once a state persists for a set duration.
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Conditions: Optionally add a condition to refine when the rule runs. For example, limit it to overnight shift hours, or to when the asset's status is Idle.
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Actions: Select Change Asset Status, then select the asset, the status to set, and a Downtime Type of Planned or Unplanned if the status is Offline. Optionally, add a Create a Request, Create a Work Order, or Send a Notification action alongside the status change. Select Settings on any action to set how often it can re-run, so a signal that stays at the same value doesn't create duplicate work.
Step 3: Validate Your Automation​
Before rolling out to your full asset list, pilot the automation on two to five critical assets, using only your highest-priority state, typically a fault condition. Confirm that:
- The asset's status updates correctly in MaintainX when the signal changes.
- Requests, work orders, or notifications are created as expected.
- The automation isn't generating repeated actions from a signal that's oscillating around a value.
Check the automation's Action History to review every run, skip, and failure, along with timestamps and links to the resulting work orders or status changes. Once you're satisfied with the results, duplicate the automation and adjust it for additional assets or states.
Track Downtime From Status Changes​
Every automated status change also feeds your asset downtime data. MaintainX records how long an asset stays in each status, along with the Downtime Type you set on the Change Asset Status action, and uses that data to build your Asset Health Reports, including:
- Total Downtime: How much planned, unplanned, and total downtime was reported for each asset.
- Unplanned vs. Planned Downtime: How much of an asset's downtime was unplanned versus scheduled.
- Unplanned Downtime Reasons: The most common reasons for unplanned downtime, if the custom status you select has a reason attached.
To get useful reports from an automated status change, set the Downtime Type the same way you would if you were logging the change manually. If you want that failure to show up in the Unplanned Downtime Reasons report, use a custom asset status with a reason attached.
Known Limitations​
When setting up automated asset status changes, be mindful of the following known limitations:
- Asset status updates take effect from the moment the automation runs. MaintainX can't backfill historical status changes.
- If you use root cause analysis, you may see gaps in an asset's status timeline for events that happened before the automation was active. As a workaround, consider noting the previous status and timestamp in the work order description when a status change fires.
Common Issues ​
Watch for the following common issues as you configure and monitor automated asset status changes:
- Chattering signals: A value that oscillates rapidly around a threshold can create many status changes in quick succession. Use Multiple readings or A reading longer than, or increase the action's re-run interval, to reduce the noise.
- Asset mapping errors: If a meter is mapped to the wrong asset, status changes and work orders are misrouted. Verify your tag mappings before going live.
- Over-automation: Not every state change needs a work order. Reserve Create a Work Order for conditions that need technician action, and use Create a Request or Send a Notification for informational events.