Set Up Real-Time Monitoring

Teams often don't know that a machine is offline or faulted until someone reports it. They can't track downtime or availability unless that information is in MaintainX®. But waiting on an operator to report a change manually introduces delays, inconsistent reporting, and gaps in your asset history.

Real-time monitoring brings your equipment's live status and fault codes into MaintainX, so your team sees changes as they happen and your downtime tracking is more reliable.

Real-time monitoring covers two things:

• Asset status: Update an asset's status when your equipment changes state, such as from running to faulted, or from idle to stopped.
• Fault codes: Create a work order when your equipment reports a fault code that matters.

You can set this up in two ways. With the manual configuration path, you use automations. An automation updates the asset's status when a meter reading changes, and can optionally create a work request, a work order, or a notification at the same time. With the monitor-based path, monitors watch the machine signals that report your equipment's state and fault codes, so you can set up status updates and fault code work orders through a guided setup.

Requirements

• An asset in MaintainX for each piece of equipment you want to track.

• For the monitor-based path, an operational technology (OT) data connector that streams each piece of equipment's state and fault codes into MaintainX. When you set up the monitor, MaintainX matches the signal to each asset. For more information, see About Smart Tag Mapping.

• For the manual configuration path, meters mapped to the asset:

  • A meter that reports the asset's state.
  • Optional: A meter that reports the asset's fault codes, if you want work orders from fault codes.

  These are typically automated meters fed by an OT data connector or the REST API. For more information, see Map Tags to Meters.

• If your organization uses statuses beyond Online, Offline, and Do Not Track, create the custom asset statuses you need before you build your automation or set up your monitor.

Monitor-Based Path

Use this path to have monitors set an asset's status from a machine signal, and create work orders from fault codes.

Step 1: Define Your Asset States and Fault Codes

Identify which values your equipment reports, and which MaintainX status each one should map to. A monitor offers Online, Offline Unplanned, Offline Planned, and any custom asset statuses in your organization. A typical mapping might look like this:

Signal Value	Equipment State	MaintainX Status
0	Stopped/Off	Offline Planned
1	Idle	Online
2	Running	Online
3	Faulted	Offline Unplanned

Start with the state that matters most, usually a fault or stopped condition, rather than mapping every possible value at once. Each value maps to one status for every asset in the monitor, so group assets that report the same values the same way. If your assets use the same value for different states, standardize the values in your OT system first.

If you also want work orders from fault codes, list the fault codes that count as faults. A fault code means the same thing for every asset in the monitor, so group assets that report the same codes.

Step 2: Set Up Your Monitors

Create a monitor from Asset Monitoring > Monitors, and select Set asset status from machine signals. Work through the setup steps for your asset-status use case:

• Choose what to monitor: Select the assets whose status you want to track. A Signal match of Matched means MaintainX found a tag it can use.
• Confirm the signals: Confirm the tag path that carries each asset's state signal. A monitor uses one status tag for each asset.
• Add the machine signals for each status: For each status, add the machine signals that mean that status, using your mapping from Step 1.
• Activate: Review what the monitor turns on, and then select Enable Monitor. The monitor updates statuses from that moment on.

For more information, see Set the Result for an Asset Status Monitor.

For work orders from fault codes, create a second monitor and select Create work orders from fault codes. Work through the setup steps:

• Choose what to monitor: Select the assets that report the fault codes.
• Confirm the signals: Confirm the tag path that carries each asset's fault code.
• Add the fault codes you want to monitor: Enter each fault code value that should trigger a work order.
• Create a Work Order: Set the title, description, priority, and who the work order is assigned to.
• Activate: Review what the monitor turns on, and then select Enable Monitor.

For more information, see Set the Result for a Fault Code Monitor.

Step 3: Validate Your Monitors

Before rolling out to your full asset list, pilot each monitor on two to five critical assets, using only your highest-priority state or fault codes. Confirm that:

• The asset's status updates correctly in MaintainX when the signal changes.
• Each machine signal maps to the status you intended.
• A fault code creates a work order with the title, description, priority, and assignee you set. To prevent repeat work orders, the monitor doesn't create a new one while the previous work order it created is still open.

On each monitor's details page, check Last asset status changed, Status changes (24h), and Recent Status Changes for an asset status monitor, or Last fault code detected, Created work orders (24h), and Recent Work Orders Created for a fault code monitor. For more information, see Review a Monitor's Activity. Once you're satisfied with the results, use Manage Assets to add more assets. For more information, see Change What a Monitor Does.

If you set up an asset status monitor for an asset that already has an automation that changes its status, MaintainX warns you. Disable the automation, or remove the asset from the monitor, so the two don't set conflicting statuses.

Manual Configuration Path

Use this path to update an asset's status, and optionally create work orders from fault codes, with automations that react to meter readings. An automation lets you add a Create a Request, Create a Work Order, or Send a Notification action alongside the status change.

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:

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.

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.

Actions

Select Change Asset Status. By default, MaintainX applies the change to the asset that triggered the automation, or you can select a different asset. Then select 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. For a work order, you can also select Create only if previous Work Order generated from Automation is closed, so MaintainX doesn't create a new work order while the previous one is still open.

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.
• Work 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.

Step 4: Create Work Orders from Fault Codes (Optional)

If your equipment also reports fault codes, create an automation that creates a work order when a fault code shows up, and configure these settings:

• Trigger: Select the Asset and the Meter that reports the fault code, then set the trigger condition to the code that matters. For example, Is equal to 42. Use One reading, then reset in the For setting so the automation doesn't create repeat work orders while the fault stays active.
• Actions: Select Create a Work Order. By default, MaintainX assigns the asset that triggered the automation to the work order. In the title and description, state the fault code and the asset, so a technician can act on it without checking the source meter. Select Settings on the action to set how often it can rerun, so a fault that stays active doesn't create duplicate work. You can also select Create only if previous Work Order generated from Automation is closed, so MaintainX doesn't create a new work order while the previous one is still open.

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 of the status change, 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.

Common Issues

Watch for the following common issues as you set up and monitor real-time monitoring:

• Asset mapping errors: If a signal or meter is mapped to the wrong asset, status changes and work orders are misrouted. Verify your tag mappings before activating your monitor.
• Chattering signals (manual configuration path): 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 rerun interval, to reduce the noise.
• Over-automation (manual configuration path): 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.

For help with a monitor that isn't behaving as expected, see Troubleshoot Monitors.