PM task records in the Contracts app

A PM task in the Contracts app is one planned preventive-maintenance visit that a service agreement owes: which check to do, on which asset, by when, under which contract line, and who is to do it. You use PM tasks to keep a schedule of the visits your agreements promise. You record the agreement as a contract and its commercial positions as contract lines. The visit itself is carried out as field or service work.

Overview

Each PM task holds a name, a Task Type (the check to perform), an SR Number, a Status, three dates (Due Date, Scheduled Due Date and Scheduled Due End Date), the Asset, the Partner Account doing the work, the Contract Line the visit belongs to, the Technician, and the address of the visit site. You find PM tasks under Contracts → PM tasks, and in the list on the PM Tasks tab of every contract.

A PM task is a planning record. Saving one does not book a technician, create a service order or send anyone a reminder. Nothing in xMatix creates PM tasks for you: you add each visit by hand or import them.

When to use it

• Your maintenance agreements promise a number of visits a year, and you want each one written down with its due date.
• You want to see which visits are due in the coming weeks, by asset, partner or technician.
• You need to show, per contract line, which visits it has paid for and where each one stands.

To dispatch crews and track the visit as it happens, use Field Service or a service order. To enforce what a customer is entitled to, use asset service contracts.

How xMatix handles it

• A plain register. A PM task is saved exactly as you enter it. Only Name is required. There is no automatic numbering, no validation of the dates and no background job that reads PM tasks.
• Linked to a contract line, not to the contract. The Contract Line field ties a visit to a line. A PM task has no Contract field. The list on a contract's PM Tasks tab shows every PM task in your organization, not only those of that contract.
• No visits are generated. A contract line's visit frequency does not create PM tasks. Add each visit yourself.
• Status is yours to define. Status is a list with no values as shipped. Your administrator adds the steps your organization uses (see Configuration). Until then the list is empty and the field stays blank.
• The address is typed, not copied. The street, city, state and postal code are stored on the task. Choosing an asset does not fill them in, and changing the asset's address later does not change the task.
• Dates are information only. Passing the due date changes nothing: there is no overdue status and no alert as shipped.
• Delete goes to the Recycle Bin. A deleted PM task leaves lists and reports and can be restored from the Recycle Bin until its purge date. No other record depends on a PM task, so deleting one never affects anything else. See Delete, recycle bin, archive and restore.

Prerequisites

• Access to the Contracts app. As shipped, the Standard User, Sales Executive, Sales Manager and System Administrator profiles open it.
• The asset, the partner account, the technician (a resource) and the contract line you want to link must already exist.
• If you want to track progress, your administrator must first add status values (see Configuration).

Procedure

Step 1 — Open the PM tasks list

Open the Contracts app and select PM tasks in the app's menu. It is the fifth item, after Contracts, Contract Lines, Terms and SLAs. The All PM tasks list shows each task's Name, Asset, Task Type and Due Date. Sort by Due Date to see what is coming up, and use the list filters to narrow it by asset, task type or contract line.

You can also reach the list from any contract: open the contract and select the PM Tasks tab. That list shows five rows per page and has a New button, but it shows every PM task in your organization, not only the open contract's. Filter it by Contract Line to see the visits of one line.

Step 2 — Create a PM task

1. Select New on the list, or New above the list on a contract's PM Tasks tab. A task you create from a contract is not linked to that contract; link it through Contract Line in step 5.
2. Enter a Name that identifies the visit, for example Demo Unit 7 — Q1 2027 service. Name is required.
3. Choose the Partner Account that carries out the visit, if a partner does the work, and the Asset to be serviced.
4. Choose the Task Type, for example Preventive Maintenance or B Check. Enter an SR Number if the visit has a service-request or job reference elsewhere. Choose a Status if your administrator has set up values.
5. Under Schedule, enter the Due Date by which the contract requires the visit, and the planned visit window as Scheduled Due Date (first day) and Scheduled Due End Date (last day).
6. Under Contract & Service, choose the Contract Line the visit is delivered under and the Technician who is to do it.
7. Under Asset Billing Address, type the street, city, state and postal code of the place where the visit happens.
8. Save.

The record opens on its page. The header shows the title Task with the Partner Account, Due Date and Status, and the Details tab shows the fields in the sections Key Information, Schedule, Contract & Service, Asset Billing Address and System Information.

Step 3 — Plan a series of visits

A contract that promises quarterly visits needs one PM task per visit. Repeat step 2 for each visit, changing the name and dates. To add many visits at once, for example a full year for every asset under a contract, import them as a file. See Import data.

Step 4 — Update a task as the visit progresses

Open the task and select Edit in the record header, or select Edit on the task's row in a list. Change the Status, move the scheduled window, or change the Technician, then save. The task keeps only its latest values; the record's history shows who changed what.

Step 5 — Find the visits that are due

• In All PM tasks, filter Due Date to a range, for example the next 30 days.
• Add Status, Technician, Partner Account or Contract Line as columns or filters, and save the result as your own view.
• To see what one contract line owes, filter by Contract Line.

The asset, partner account and technician records do not show their PM tasks as shipped. Use filters on the PM task list instead.

Step 6 — Delete a task entered in error

Select Delete in the record header, or Delete on the task's row in a list. The task goes to the Recycle Bin. If a visit was cancelled rather than entered in error, consider keeping the task and setting a status that says so, so that the history stays complete.

Fields

The fields appear in this order on the New form and on the record's Details tab.

The System Information section shows Created By, Created Date, Modified By and Modified Date, which xMatix fills in.

Account PM Capacity is a text field that appears only on the task's preview card, next to the technician. It is on no form, so it is filled only by import or by a form your administrator changes.

Business rules

• Name is the only required field. Every other field can be left empty.
• No automatic numbering: the name you type is kept.
• No field is filled in automatically, apart from the system information and the owner.
• No rules check the dates, the asset or the contract line. A visit window that ends before it starts, or a task for an asset the contract line does not cover, is saved as entered.
• Status changes only when you change it. No due date, save or other record changes it.
• Saving, changing or deleting a PM task changes no other record: it creates no service order, appointment, invoice or notification.

Example

A service coordinator plans the visits for a two-year maintenance agreement on an air compressor.

1. The contract CN26102026000001 is on file, with a contract line SCL26102026000001 for Compressor AMC — quarterly service.
2. In Contracts → PM tasks, the coordinator selects New and enters:
   • Name: Compressor AC-220 — visit 1 of 8
   • Partner Account: Northfield Service Partners
   • Asset: AC-220 Air Compressor
   • Task Type: Preventive Maintenance
   • SR Number: PM-2027-0001
   • Due Date: 31 January 2027
   • Scheduled Due Date 18 January 2027, Scheduled Due End Date 22 January 2027
   • Contract Line: SCL26102026000001
   • Technician: the resource Field Technician 04
   • The address: Plot 14, Industrial Estate Road, Pune, Maharashtra, 411019
3. They save. The task opens with the header showing Northfield Service Partners and the due date 31 January 2027.
4. They import the remaining seven visits from a spreadsheet, one row per quarter, all with the same contract line.
5. On 20 January 2027 the technician completes the visit. The coordinator opens the task, selects Edit and sets Status to Completed, a value the administrator added earlier.
6. At the end of the quarter, the coordinator filters All PM tasks by the contract line and sees one completed visit and seven still to come.

Training

Practice exercise

In a sandbox tenant, plan two visits for one asset:

1. Make sure an asset, an account and a contract line exist (create them if needed).
2. Create a PM task named Practice — visit 1, with Task Type B Check, a due date at the end of next month and a scheduled window of three days before it. Link the asset and the contract line.
3. Create a second task named Practice — visit 2, due three months later.
4. Open All PM tasks, filter Contract Line to your line and sort by Due Date.

Expected result: the list shows exactly your two tasks, visit 1 first. Opening a contract's PM Tasks tab shows them too, along with any other PM tasks in the tenant. No service order or appointment was created.

Quick reference

• Menu: Contracts → PM tasks; list All PM tasks.
• Only Name is required; type a meaningful one.
• Link a visit to an agreement through Contract Line; there is no Contract field.
• The contract's PM Tasks tab lists all PM tasks, not just the contract's.
• Due Date is the contractual deadline; the two Scheduled dates are the planned window.
• Status values are set up by your administrator.
• Type the address yourself; it is not copied from the asset.
• A PM task does not dispatch anyone; use Field Service or a service order for the work.
• Delete sends the task to the Recycle Bin.

Permissions

Access is set per security profile. In the shipped profiles:

Other shipped profiles have no access to PM tasks. The New, Edit and Delete buttons follow the profile's permissions on the PM task record; a user without them doesn't see the buttons, and a user without read access doesn't see PM tasks in lists or lookups. Clone is not on the shipped record page, so no one sees it until an administrator adds it to the page header. To change any of this, edit the profile under Setup → Access Control → Profiles (the Entity Permissions and Actions tabs). See Security profiles. To limit which PM tasks a user sees, use record security.

Configuration

PM tasks work without setup, but most organizations will want status values. An administrator can tailor:

• Status values. Open Setup → Design Studio → Entities, open the PM task entity, then the Status field's Manage PickList Values, and add the steps you use (for example Planned, Scheduled, Completed, Missed). See The data model.
• Task types. Edit the Task Type values in the same way. Renaming a value does not change tasks already saved with the old one.
• Forms and list. The shipped forms are Create PM Tasks (New and Edit), ViewPMTasks (the record page) and Preview PM Task (the preview card), and the list view is All PM tasks. Add fields, columns, a Clone button or required markers in the layout designer and view settings. See Customizing xMatix.
• Contract tab filter. The list on the contract's PM Tasks tab is unfiltered. A PM task has no Contract field; to show only one contract's visits, add a Contract lookup to the PM task and filter the tab's list by it.
• Showing tasks on other records. The asset, account and resource pages have no PM task list as shipped. Add a related list to their layouts if your users want to see visits there.
• Numbering. No document numbering setting ships for PM tasks. Add one if names should follow a series. See Document numbering.
• Automation. Reminders before a due date, or creating a service order from a task, are not built in. You can add them with business rules or automation you configure.
• App placement. As shipped, PM tasks is the fifth item in the Contracts app's menu. PM tasks are also listed under Maintenance in the contract settings app, which only the Standard User and System Administrator profiles open. See Apps, entities and records.
• Mobile. The PM task entity has mobile versions of its create and record forms, but no shipped field app includes the Contracts app, so field users don't see PM tasks until an administrator adds them to a mobile app.

Common problems

The form won't save and the Name field is highlighted

Name is required and is empty. Type a name for the visit and save again. PM tasks have no automatic numbering, so the name never fills itself in.

The Status list is empty

No status values are shipped for PM tasks. Ask your administrator to add the values your organization uses (see Configuration). Until then, leave Status blank.

The PM Tasks tab on a contract shows visits from other contracts

The tab lists every PM task in your organization, because a PM task has no link to a contract. Filter the list by Contract Line, or ask your administrator to add a Contract field and filter the tab by it.

I created a task from the contract's tab, but it isn't linked to the contract

Creating a task from the tab doesn't fill in anything. Open the task, select Edit and choose the Contract Line it belongs to.

The address stayed empty after I chose the asset

The address fields are not copied from the asset. Type them on the task.

The technician didn't get the visit in their schedule

A PM task does not schedule, notify or dispatch anyone. Create the work in Field Service or as a service order, and tell the technician.

The due date has passed but nothing happened

PM tasks have no overdue status or alert as shipped. Filter the list by Due Date to find late visits, or ask your administrator to set up a reminder rule.

I can't find a Clone button

Clone is not on the shipped PM task record page. Create a new task and copy the values, or ask your administrator to add Clone to the page header.

Common questions

Does xMatix create PM tasks from a contract's visit frequency?

No. A contract line has a Visit Frequency field, but nothing reads it to generate visits, and it is not on the shipped line form. Each PM task is a record you add yourself, one per visit. For a long agreement with many assets, the quickest way is to prepare the visits in a spreadsheet and import them, one row per visit with its name, task type, asset, due date and contract line. Afterwards, the PM tasks list filtered by contract line shows the full plan for that line.

What is the difference between Due Date and the scheduled dates?

Due Date is the deadline the agreement sets for the visit, for example "by the end of each quarter". Scheduled Due Date and Scheduled Due End Date are the window in which you actually plan to go, for example the third week of the month. Keeping both lets you see visits planned too close to their deadline. xMatix stores the three dates as you enter them and does not compare them, so check that the window falls before the due date yourself, or ask your administrator for a validation rule.

Does finishing a service order close the PM task?

No. PM tasks are not linked to service orders, appointments or field visits, so completing the work elsewhere does not change the task. Update the task's Status by hand when the visit is done. If you record the service order or job number in SR Number, people can find the matching work later. Your administrator can add automation that does this update if your process needs it.

Can I report on PM tasks?

Yes. PM tasks behave like any other list: you can filter and sort All PM tasks, save your own views, and build reports grouped by contract line, technician, partner account, asset, task type or status. Because a PM task links to a contract line but not to the contract, a report can show visits per line, but cannot group them by contract unless your administrator adds a Contract field.

Related topics

• Contract records in xMatix
• Managing contract records
• Contract lines
• Asset service contracts
• Field Service
• PM Task entity reference
• Security profiles
• Task — entity reference
• Contract — entity reference