Workflow Engine

FreeMaint's workflow engine lets you automate any maintenance process: when X happens, check Y, then do Z. Configure once, runs forever. Starter capped at 5 active automations; Business and above unlimited.

Anatomy of a workflow

• Trigger — what fires the workflow (work order created, status changed, meter reading exceeds threshold, etc.)
• Conditions — optional filters (priority = HIGH, asset category = pumps, work order overdue, etc.)
• Actions — what happens (assign technician, send email/notification, create child WO, update field, call webhook)

Common patterns

• Auto-assign — new HIGH priority WO → assign to on-call technician
• Escalation — WO overdue 2 days → notify manager + raise priority
• PM trigger — meter reading > 10000 hrs → create PM work order
• Status sync — WO completed → update parent project + send customer email
• Webhook out — incident created → POST to Slack/Teams

Simple vs Visual mode

Switch between Simple mode (a form, one card per step) and Visual mode (a drag-and-drop canvas). Both edit the same configuration and save the same thing: a status trigger with its approval steps chained beneath it, running top to bottom. Edit in one, save, and the other shows exactly that.

Step conditions (Business)

Beyond the trigger status, a step can carry conditions that decide whether it is enforced for a given record: cost thresholds on purchase orders and requisitions (the step applies only when the total falls within a min/max band) and request-type conditions on requests (the step applies only to the ticked types — e.g. improvements approved by the zone manager while repairs go to the maintenance manager). Both are Business-plan field-level add-ons over the standard builder; steps without conditions keep applying to everything.

Tier limits

• Core — workflow engine not available
• Starter — 5 active workflows max per company
• Business — unlimited workflows
• Enterprise — unlimited workflows + advanced triggers (ML, multi-company)

Which transitions you can gate

A step fires when someone tries to move a record INTO its trigger status. Every status in the record's lifecycle is available.

• Work orders — Open, Scheduled, In Progress, On Hold, Completed, Validated, Closed and Cancelled. A step on Closed is the usual supervisor sign-off before a job is filed for good; one on Cancelled stops a job being dropped without review.
• Requests, purchase orders, purchase requisitions and work permits each expose their own statuses.
• When a rule blocks a transition, the button is hidden and the record explains why — which role must approve, or which fields are still missing.