Run sectioned monthly equipment checklists with configurable action codes
Build your first monthly inspection template and run it against an asset
The Inspections module replaces paper checklists with a CMMS-native workflow. Each template describes the checkpoints you want to verify monthly, and each execution is one filled-in copy of that template for a given (asset, month). The annual grid view shows you 12 months of results at a glance.
On the New template page, open "Generate with AI" and describe the checklist — for example "Weekly preventive inspection of a compressor room: safety, housekeeping, electrical panels, ventilation, leaks, signage and 6S". FreeMee proposes sections and checkpoints (pass/fail, numeric reading or text) and fills in the name and description, which you can still edit. Numeric limits are filled in only when your description states them; readings without limits are flagged so you can set them in the builder. Press "Create with this checklist" to create the template with all its checkpoints at once, then fine-tune it in the builder. Each generation costs 3 AI credits, only when a usable draft comes back.
On the template page, toggle "Auto-create corrective Work Order on FAIL". When any cell of a future execution is marked FAIL, the system will automatically create a high-priority Work Order with a 24-hour due date, linked bi-directionally to the inspection. The toggle is off by default — turn it on only when your team is ready for the WO surge. You can also pre-select a default assignee so the new WO lands directly on the right technician. When several items fail in the same inspection, the new "When multiple items fail" setting controls the result: keep one Work Order per inspection (every failed item is listed on it) or create one Work Order per failed item, each independently assignable and closable.
On a template's page, click "Print blank form" to download a PDF of the checklist, ready to print and fill in by hand — for example a weekly boiler check posted next to the machine. The sheet carries the template's name, document number, revision and frequency, with empty lines for the asset or location, the date and the inspector. Each checkpoint is printed with its reference photo and its safety note, and with an answer box that matches its type: one box per action code, Pass / Fail or Yes / No boxes, a line with the unit and the accepted range for a reading, one box per option for a multiple choice. When the template is scheduled, a log follows with one row per period — one row per week for a weekly check — and columns for the date, the signature and comments; no year is printed, so the same sheet can be reused. Signature lines close the page. The button is available to everyone who can view inspections, on every plan.
Every inspection run also appears on the Calendar (/calendar). A run that is still due sits on its scheduled date; once it is completed it moves to the date it was actually carried out, greyed and struck through — which is the date an annual record has to show. Use the source filter to keep only inspections if the calendar is busy.
A checkpoint can be set to appear only when an earlier one was answered a certain way — “describe the leak” only when “leaking?” is answered Yes. In the template editor, pick the controlling checkpoint under “Only ask this when…” and tick the answers that reveal it. Only checkpoints with a fixed set of answers can control another (pass/fail, yes/no, action code, multiple choice); a number or a free text cannot. A hidden checkpoint is not asked, does not block completion even if it is required or needs a photo, and never raises a corrective work order. An answer already recorded is kept and still printed on the report.
To remove a template you no longer use, open the template card (or its detail page) and click the ⋯ menu, then choose Delete. The confirmation step shows how many sections, items and scheduled executions will be removed — read it carefully because deletion is permanent and cascades to every filled cell. Delete requires the inspections:template_write permission (granted to Admins and Managers by default).
Started the wrong inspection? Open it and click "Discard" (on mobile: ⋮, then Discard); a reason is optional. The person who started it, its assignees, its team or anyone allowed to delete inspection runs can do it. An on-use check, or a manual inspection you created and started yourself, is deleted; any other inspection goes back to Scheduled with the same due date, its answers, notes and photos erased. Stock it consumed returns to the store, meter readings entered on it are kept, and the action is recorded in the audit log. A completed or signed inspection cannot be discarded.
Open an inspection from the "Inspections to do" tab (or directly after "Run inspection") and click each item to enter the result. Pick an action code from your template legend, optionally enter a numeric value (the threshold check derives OK/FAIL automatically if you defined min/max), add notes, attach a photo, and save. The status moves to IN_PROGRESS automatically. When every required item is filled, click "Complete" — the execution locks and (optionally) captures a signature URL for audit.
Open an execution and tap a code on each item — your choice saves automatically, so there is no per-item save button. A small check appears once a cell is saved. You can also tap "Save all", or just "Complete" (which saves any pending changes first). Attach a photo to any item with the camera button: it shows as a thumbnail, opens full-screen on tap, and is included in the PDF.
In "Edit action codes", mark each code as Pass, Fail, or Neutral. Pass codes turn green and Fail codes turn red — on both the fill screen and the annual grid. A Fail-coded result is what marks the item as failed, so it is also what triggers the automatic corrective Work Order when that option is enabled. Codes left Neutral (for example "N/A") never fail an item.
Templates → Items → Executions → Cells. A template is the form. An item is one line of the form (e.g. "Motor / body temperature ≤ 40°C"). Items can be grouped into sections (MECHANICAL, ELECTRICAL, HYDRAULIC, etc.). An execution is one monthly run for a (template, asset, year, month). A cell is the leaf result for one (execution, item) — what code, what value, what notes.
Every execution has a "Download PDF" button that renders an A4 portrait report (header + sectioned grid + action-codes legend + signature line) in your interface language. The annual grid page has its own "Download annual PDF" button for the A4 landscape 12-month matrix — green for OK, red for FAIL, amber for PENDING. Each template can also be printed blank, to be filled in by hand (see the next section).
A round often mixes points checked every time and points checked monthly or yearly. When you add or edit a checkpoint, choose "How often is this point checked?": "Every inspection" (the default), or a frequency from every week up to every 2 years — only the ones less frequent than the round are offered. When an inspection is created, a point that was answered recently enough on the same equipment or location is not due: it is folded under "Not due this time" at the end of its section, it is not required and does not count in the progress, but it can still be answered. A point whose last answer was a failure stays due. The annual grid shows "—" for a period in which the point was not due, and the blank form prints the frequency of each point. A change of frequency applies to inspections created afterwards. Available on the Business plan.
In the template editor, each checkpoint has an "Add a reference photo" button. The photo then appears next to the checkpoint when the round is filled in, on the web and in the mobile app, so the person doing the round sees exactly which point to look at. Click the thumbnail to enlarge it; the small cross removes it. A duplicated template keeps its reference photos. This photo belongs to the template — the operator still takes their own photos during the round. The photo is also printed as a thumbnail next to the checkpoint on the inspection PDF, on the work order PDF and on the blank form. The mobile app keeps a copy on the phone as soon as it downloads the inspection, so the photo still shows during a round without signal. You can add up to 3 photos per checkpoint — for example where the point is, its correct state and a faulty state. The first one is shown next to the checkpoint; tapping it opens all of them.
In the template editor, the "Plan to follow" card takes up to 6 photos — the map of the circuit, an overview of the line. They are shown at the top of every inspection of this template, on the web and in the mobile app (the phone keeps a copy for rounds without signal), and printed above the checklist on the blank form. Like the checkpoint photos, they belong to the template, and a duplicated template keeps them.
When one template covers several assets, "Inspections to do" shows one row per inspection rather than one per asset, with a progress bar over its assets. Open the row to see the asset list and start any of them; the "Group by inspection" button switches back to the flat list. On the Templates tab, the Table button swaps the cards for a table of every template with its schedule columns and a Jan-to-Dec strip showing what actually ran each month of the selected year.
When you add or edit a checkpoint ("Add item", or the pencil "Edit item"), fill in the optional "Safety note" field — for example "Do not work on the sight glass while the boiler is under pressure". The technician sees it right under the checkpoint, above the answer, on the web and in the mobile app, and it is printed under the checkpoint on the inspection PDF and on the work order PDF. Empty the field to remove the note. A duplicated template keeps its safety notes.
From a template, click "Run inspection", choose an asset and month, and the inspection opens right away — already started — so you can fill it in. To launch the same template on many assets at once, use "Schedule for multiple assets". Every scheduled or in-progress inspection appears under the "Inspections to do" tab on the Inspections page, so created runs are never lost — open one there to start or continue it. The Calendar view also shows scheduled inspections in purple; drag any inspection still in SCHEDULED status to reschedule it.
To send each round's report to a customer, an insurer or an inspection body (Business), fill “Send the report to (external e-mails)” on the template with up to 5 addresses. The run's PDF report is e-mailed to them automatically — when the run is verified if the template has a verifier, otherwise when it is completed. The e-mail is sent in your company's language, once per run, and every send is logged on the run.
A checkpoint whose “On fail” action is “Send Email” notifies, in their own language, the person chosen as the template's “Failure e-mail recipient” — anyone in the company, a requester included — or, when nobody is chosen, the leader of the section chosen as the template's “Responsible Section”. The e-mail gives the checkpoint, the equipment or location, the date of the round, the note if there is one, and a link to the inspection. Naming a recipient does not assign them the rounds. The field appears in the template settings as soon as one checkpoint sends an e-mail, and the editor warns you when there is no recipient at all, because the e-mail could not be sent.
The page of an inspection shows when it was started and finished, and by whom, as well as the time each checkpoint was answered. The inspection PDF shows the same times, in your company's time zone.
You can change the “Answer type” of a checkpoint (for example from “Action codes” to “Yes / No”) even after it has been answered. The editor first tells you how many answers it already holds: those answers stay exactly as they were given and keep their verdict, and an old code is shown with its meaning from the legend, such as “C — Compliant”. Only new answers use the new type.
Visualize a full year of inspections per asset and template in one view
The annual grid is the at-a-glance view of how a single asset performed against a single template over 12 months. It mirrors the paper grid most plants already use for monthly checks, but with live data, colour-coded cells, and one-click drill-down to each individual execution.
Click any coloured cell to jump to the underlying execution at that item. From there you see the full context — who filled it, when, what action code, photos, notes. The annual grid is read-only for cell data; edits happen on the execution page.
From any execution detail page, click "Open annual grid" in the header. Alternatively, navigate to /inspections/grid and pick a template + asset + year. The view is a matrix: items as rows (grouped by section bands), 12 months as columns, cells coloured by status.
The "Download annual PDF" button on the grid page generates an A4 landscape report with the same matrix, ready for ISO-9001 audit binders. Action codes legend, signature lines, and the company logo are included. The PDF respects your selected UI language.
Change the year selector in the header to view 2025 vs 2026 — each year is its own grid. The (template, asset, year, month) uniqueness constraint guarantees one execution per month per (template+asset) pair, so the grid never shows duplicates.
Apply a checklist to many assets, schedule it automatically, and monitor results by week or day
When one checklist applies to hundreds of assets, creating each inspection by hand is the most time-consuming part of maintenance. FreeMaint lets you apply a template to many assets at once, run it automatically on a schedule, monitor results at flexible periods, and export audit-ready reports.
Some rounds cover a place rather than a machine: a corridor, a stairwell, a fire-door line, a storage bay. On the "Automatic schedule" card, use "Locations to inspect" beside "Assets to inspect" — search by name or browse your location hierarchy. Each pinned location gets its own inspection every cycle, exactly like a pinned asset, and a single template can hold both. Location inspections appear in the annual grid and export to PDF just like asset inspections.
Each morning at 07:00 in your company's time zone, everyone with new inspections receives ONE summary — never one message per inspection, so a round covering 200 assets stays a single notification. Assigning a round by hand notifies that person straight away. Inspections assigned to a team reach every member. Admins can turn the channels on or off, including e-mail, under Settings > Notifications > Inspections.
The grid shows months by default. On the Business plan you can also view by week or by day for high-frequency rounds, and the schedule supports daily and weekly cadences. Monthly, quarterly and yearly monitoring stay available on every plan.
Every completed inspection appears in its asset’s history. On the Business plan, the "Export report" button on the Inspections page builds a custom Excel, CSV or PDF filtered by template, asset, status and period — ready for audits.
On the "Automatic schedule" card, turn on "Only allow these targets to be inspected" to make a template usable only on the assets and locations you pinned. Running it anywhere else is blocked, which keeps your inspection history tied to the correct equipment and places in your register. Leave it off to keep running the template ad-hoc on anything registered.
From the inspection grid, click "Apply to assets", pick a list of assets or a whole asset category, choose the period, and FreeMaint creates one inspection per asset. Assets already scheduled for that period are skipped, so you can re-run a round safely.
On a template, open the "Automatic schedule" card, turn it on, set a frequency (e.g. every 1 month), pick the assets and locations to inspect, and choose a first run date. FreeMaint then generates the inspections each cycle automatically — optionally creating a Work Order per cycle if your technicians work from a to-do list. To remove inspections generated by mistake (for example assets added to the wrong template), first take those assets out of the schedule, then in the inspection list tick the runs ("Select all on this page" helps) and click "Delete" in the selection bar — this needs the permission to delete inspections.
With a daily cadence, turn on “Several rounds per day” on the “Automatic schedule” card and add up to 12 times, at least one hour apart, in your company's time zone — for example 06:00, 14:00 and 22:00 for three shifts. FreeMaint then opens one round at each time for every asset and location of the template. Each round is due when the next one starts, so the night round can still be finished after midnight. A checkpoint set to “Once a day” — a choice offered only on these templates — stays due until a round of the day answers it; the rounds that open after that answer no longer require it. Several rounds per day are a Business-plan feature and cannot be combined with automatic work-order generation.
When a schedule runs every day, turn on "Skip non-working days" on the "Automatic schedule" card: no inspection is generated on the days your company does not work — the weekdays switched off and the holidays listed in Company Settings → Work Schedule. A skipped day is simply left out, so Monday does not receive the weekend's inspections on top of its own. Without a work calendar every day counts as a working day. Weekly, monthly and longer schedules are not affected, because each of their runs covers a whole period.
Every failed inspection checkpoint, from detection to verified correction
When an inspection checkpoint fails, that failure is a finding: something is wrong on a specific asset, and someone has to fix it and prove it was fixed. The Defect findings tab collects every failed checkpoint across all your inspections in one list, so nothing gets lost inside an individual inspection report.
When a defect deserves more than a repair — it keeps coming back, or it points at a process problem — press Analysis on the finding. FreeMaint opens a problem-solving record, PDCA by default and switchable to 5 Why, Ishikawa, A3 or DMAIC, already linked to that finding. The analysis, its corrective actions and their effectiveness check then live in the Continuous improvement register alongside everything else, instead of in a separate spreadsheet. Pressing Analysis again on the same finding always reopens the same record; it never creates a second one. Opening an analysis requires the Enterprise plan, but reading one you already have never does.
By default a finding can be verified and closed even while its corrective work order is still open, because fixing something on the spot and finishing the paperwork later is a real way to work. If your quality system does not allow that, an administrator can turn on either or both prerequisites under Company settings → System: require the corrective work order to be finished, and require the problem-solving record to be resolved. When a prerequisite is not met, the "Verify & close" button is disabled and tells you which record is holding it up. Findings with no work order and no analysis are never affected.
A finding's status is worked out automatically from the corrective work order linked to it — you never have to keep the two in step by hand. Only the final verification is something a person records.
When the same checkpoint fails again on the same asset in a later period, the new failure is recorded as its own finding and both are tagged "Repeat". Two open findings for the same checkpoint is a signal, not a duplicate: it means the problem was seen twice and still is not fixed. Use the "Repeat findings only" filter to spot chronic problems worth a deeper fix.
On any finding, "Full defect report (PDF)" produces a single document covering the entire history: the inspection the defect was found in, the finding itself with its evidence photo, the corrective work order and everything that happened on it, the root-cause analysis with its corrective actions and their effectiveness check, and finally who verified the correction and when. This is what an ISO 9001 auditor asks for, and it replaces having to open seven screens and export three files. Sections you do not use are simply left out.
The register offers two layouts, and your choice is remembered. Cards show each finding in full. The table shows one row per finding — number, date, inspection, asset, location, work order, analysis, status and actions — which is faster when you are reviewing many defects at once. Work order and analysis references are clickable in both.
Once the repair is done, go back to the finding and click "Verify & close". Confirm you have checked on site that the problem is actually gone. This step is deliberately separate from finishing the work order: a completed work order proves work happened, not that the defect was corrected. ISO 9001 and ISO 45001 both require this verification, and it is recorded against your name. If the defect comes back, reopen the finding.
Open Inspections and choose the "Defect findings" tab. The list shows every checkpoint currently recorded as failed, newest first. Reading the register is available on every plan.
If a finding has no work order yet, click "Create work order". FreeMaint raises a corrective work order pre-filled with the asset, the location and the failed checkpoint, and links it to the finding. Clicking twice never creates a duplicate. If your template already creates work orders automatically on failure, findings arrive here with the link already in place.
Scan the QR code on a machine and go straight to the checklist due today
Scanning the QR code on a machine takes the person standing in front of it straight to the inspection due today — not to a list of past inspections. Drivers, operators and technicians get the form in one step, and the record shows the inspection was opened by a scan.
Some checks are not due on a date but every time someone takes the equipment: the walk-around of a pool vehicle, the check before driving a forklift. Set the template to "Each time the equipment is used" and every scan opens a new check for the person scanning — a vehicle taken three times in a day gets three checks, each signed off by whoever had it. If that person left one unfinished today, the scan resumes it instead. The button on the scan screen then reads "Do the pre-use check". This mode is available on the Business plan.
A label that is scratched, worn off or was never printed does not block anyone. Open the equipment page, go to the Inspections tab and use "Start today's inspection". You get the same form. The record then shows a manual start rather than a scan, which is the honest description of what happened.
When an inspection is opened by scanning, the run stores the code that was scanned and the moment it happened, and the PDF prints a "Scan check" line. This is a control and a dated record: it shows that a scan took place. It is not proof that anyone was physically present, because a printed code can be photographed.
Require a supervisor to sign off every completed inspection
Many quality systems require that an inspection be checked by someone other than the person who ran it. FreeMaint supports that as a verification step you turn on per template.
A monthly checklist covering two hundred assets produces two hundred runs, and signing them off one at a time is not a workflow. Filter to Verification: Pending, tick Select all on this page, and use Verify in the action bar. Anything in the selection that cannot be verified — not yet completed, already verified, or a run you performed yourself — is skipped and reported back to you rather than silently included.
The person who completed an inspection cannot verify it. That separation is the point of the control — an inspection signed off by its own author is not evidence. Verification is a workflow milestone available on every paid plan; it is separate from the cryptographic e-signature, which is a Business feature. If the Verify button is greyed out for you, it is because you ran that inspection yourself — hover it, or tap it on a phone, and it will say so. Any colleague with the Verify inspections permission can sign it off instead.
As soon as a run of that template is completed it shows as Pending, and a Verify button sits next to it: on the run's own page, on its card in Inspections to do, and in the Verification column of the table view. A "To verify" counter at the top of the page opens the queue, and the Verification filter narrows the list to what is still waiting. Verifying records who checked it and when — with an optional remark from the run's own page — and the run then reads Verified. Everyone can see the state; only a user with the verification permission can act on it.
Open an inspection template and set the Verified by field to the person expected to check its runs. That single choice is what enables the step. Leave it empty and nothing changes anywhere — no template has verification unless you ask for it.
Verification and e-signature answer different questions: one records that a second person checked the work, the other proves who signed.
Make every work order of a plan fill an inspection template before it can be completed
An inspection template can be used as the form of a work order: choices, conditional questions, required photos and Min/Max limits, filled in on the job. The work order cannot be completed until its form is.
The Inspection form card on the work order (web) or the Inspection form row (mobile app) opens the form on the inspection screen. Everything an inspection does works here: answers that show further questions, photos, limits that turn an out-of-range reading into a failed item. A failed item still raises its corrective work order when the template asks for it. Its answers and photos are also printed in the work order PDF.
While the form is not completed, the Complete button is replaced by a message naming the form, with a link to open it. Once the form is completed, the work order can be completed as usual. A multi-asset plan puts the form on each sub-work order.
Open the plan, then in the Inspection form card choose a template. Every work order the plan generates gets its own copy of the form to fill in. To set it on many plans at once, select them in the list and use Bulk edit, field Inspection form. Open work orders the plan already generated get it too, unless someone has started them.
“Skip the form” takes the form off this work order only: when the work order comes from a preventive plan, the plan keeps its form and the next work orders require it again. A reason is required; it is recorded with the person’s name in the work order’s Audit history (Business plan). It takes the permission “Skip a work order's required inspection form (reason required)”, held by Admin, Manager and Supervisor by default. A form already started is kept as a standalone inspection with its answers; a completed form stays part of the work order record and cannot be skipped.
Inspection forms are available from the Starter plan. A template set to “on each use” cannot be a form.
In the Tasks tab of the work order, use Attach an inspection form. The work order must have an asset or a location: the form inspects it. You can also choose it while creating the work order, in the Inspection form field under the task template.
Bring inspections carried out on paper or in another system into FreeMaint, and export their answers
Inspections done on paper or in another tool can be imported: each one arrives as a completed inspection with its answers, in the annual grid and in the history of its asset or location.
Importing needs the permission to date an inspection in the past (Administrator and Manager by default) and a plan that includes inspections (Starter or above).
History, then Export answers, downloads the answers of completed inspections in the same columns, one row per answer (Starter plan or above). The file can be imported again as it is — for example into another workspace that has the same templates. The ⋯ menu of a template exports that template's answers alone; one file holds up to 100,000 answers.
On the Inspections page, choose History, then Import past inspections, and upload the file. The check before importing lists the rows that cannot be imported and why, and the planned inspections the file will fill. At the end, download the rows not imported: they come back with the reason in a last column — fix them and import that file again.
On the Inspections page, open the ⋯ menu of a template and choose History import sheet. The file lists every checkpoint of the template (Section, Part, Checkpoint) and, in the Allowed Values column, what each one accepts. One block of rows is one inspection: copy the block once per inspection to import.
The sheet names the template by its reference (INSP-…). Its exact name works too, as long as no other template has the same name.
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