Preventive maintenance
In an industrial plant that means hundreds of orders raised automatically from each machine's running hours. In a restaurant, a small hotel or a gym it is something else: a handful of dates a year that must not slip, nearly all in the hands of outside companies. Here we separate the two cases: the parts of a plan, who has to find out, what proof remains and what software each one calls for.
What preventive maintenance software does
Preventive maintenance is the work done before something fails, by date or by meter. The software that runs it has four jobs, and it pays to look at them one at a time because not every product covers all four:
- The list. What gets checked: the extinguisher in the corridor, the boiler, the electrical panel, the hood filter.
- The rhythm. How often: by calendar (every quarter, every year) or by use (every so many running hours).
- The warning. Who is told, how far ahead and through what channel. A date nobody reads is a date lost.
- The proof. What is left once it is done: a closed order, a report, a certificate, a signature.
Anyone who types “preventive and corrective maintenance software” wants both halves under one roof. That is reasonable, but each half has its own user: preventive work is driven by one person with a calendar in front of them; corrective work starts when anyone stumbles on something broken. What to demand of that second half is in corrective maintenance software.
The three kinds of preventive task on a site
Not everything that repeats carries the same weight. A business open to the public has three kinds, and lumping them together is the quickest way to mislay the one that matters:
- Those the law imposes. In Spain, fire equipment follows the RIPCI; heating, cooling and hot water, the RITE; the electrical installation, the low-voltage inspection; showers, tanks and towers, legionella prevention; the lift, the lift inspection. Nearly all are carried out by a maintenance contractor or an inspection body. The owner's part is to know the due date, call in good time and keep the paperwork.
- Those the manufacturer asks for. Changing the air filters, checking the cold-room seals, greasing the shutter guides, descaling the dishwasher. Nobody fines you for skipping them, but the equipment lasts less and the warranty can get complicated.
- Those the business sets itself. The emergency-lighting round before opening, clearing the gutters when summer ends, a look at the terrace drains before the rains.
The obligations for each activity, with their regulation, are in regulations by sector. And a sheet of dates to start with today, in the mandatory inspections calendar.
What a preventive plan asks for: CMMS versus reminder
Software can run it in two ways. A CMMS turns each inspection into a work order that raises itself on the appointed day. A reminder tool treats it as a date someone has to be warned about. The table walks through what a plan needs and how each one answers:
| What the plan needs | With a CMMS | With a reminder tool |
|---|---|---|
| Knowing what to check | An inventory: a record for each asset, with model, location and history | A list of inspections, one line each, with no asset record |
| Knowing when it is due | By date or by use: running hours, cycles, meter readings | By date: the day it falls due and how far ahead to warn |
| Someone finding out | It creates the order and assigns it to a technician, who finds it in their app | It sends a message to whoever runs maintenance with what is due soon |
| Knowing which steps to follow | A checklist inside the order, point by point | It carries none: the steps are known by the company doing the inspection |
| Leaving proof | The closed order, with signature and readings, and often the certificate attached | The warning that was sent remains; the report and certificate are filed elsewhere |
| Seeing what is overdue | A compliance report: how many planned orders were closed on time | At most, the list of what fell due and nobody marked as done |
| Getting started | Loading assets, task lists and frequencies: a project in its own right | Moving the sheet of dates you already have into the tool |
Between the two ends there are products in the middle. What counts is knowing which of the two columns holds the thing that is failing you today.
When you need a CMMS with a preventive plan
The middle column is not a whim. Some maintenance operations cannot stand without it:
- Part of the preventive work runs by use, not by date: the compressor serviced every so many hours, the forklift, the packing line.
- There are in-house technicians and their week is organised with orders that are handed out and closed.
- A client, an insurer or a quality standard demands proof, task by task, that the plan is being met, with signed records.
- There are plenty of short, very frequent tasks, such as weekly greasing or daily readings, that a spaced-out warning cannot reach.
- You want to cross inspections with faults for each machine, to check whether preventive work is avoiding failures or just taking up hours.
If two or more describe you, look for a CMMS. The best known, seen through the eyes of a business with premises, are in best CMMS; those built for small companies, in CMMS for small businesses; and what the acronym covers, in CMMS software.
When a reminder is enough
On many sites the whole preventive plan fits on one sheet, and what fails is not the plan: it is that nobody opens the sheet. A reminder is enough when:
- The inspections are done by an outside company under contract, and your part comes down to calling it in time and filing what it leaves.
- Everything runs by date: nothing depends on running hours.
- Nobody has maintenance as their only job; the manager, the head chef or the front-desk supervisor handles it among ten other things.
- What has already gone wrong is forgetting: that inspection which lapsed in August and nobody remembered until the insurer asked for it.
If you keep it in a spreadsheet now and are unsure about switching, the comparison is in CMMS or Excel. For anyone who only wants the legal dates under control there is a page of its own: mandatory inspections software. And two plans already written to copy, the hotel one and the restaurant one.
Five mistakes that keep coming up when setting up preventive work
- Noting when it was done, not when it is due. The useful date is the next one, not the last.
- Warning within the month it falls due. Booking an inspection with an inspection body takes weeks; the warning has to come earlier, with the margin each inspection needs.
- A single recipient. If the only person who gets the warning goes on holiday or changes role, the plan stops and nobody notices.
- One row per asset instead of one per inspection. The extinguisher has a quarterly check the site's own staff can do and an annual one by the contractor: that is two lines, with two people responsible.
- The proof, in a different place each time. One certificate in the inbox, another on paper in the office, another on the technician's phone. Pick one folder and always use that one.
Where Bedel fits in preventive work, and what it does not do
Bedel lives in the right-hand column of the table, and only there: it is not a CMMS. The dated inspections and tasks on your list arrive once a month, on WhatsApp, with the person who runs maintenance, so that they contact the right company before the due date. There is nothing to open or install: the reminder appears in the chat that person already uses all day.
The other half of what Bedel does is corrective work. Anyone on the team list writes to the business's WhatsApp number about what has broken, with a photo or a voice note if that is easier, and out of that comes a numbered ticket that travels to the technician or the outside supplier and comes back with its status to whoever reported it. How it works, sector by sector, is in incident management on WhatsApp.
What Bedel does not do in preventive work. It does not create an order for each inspection and brings no checklists. It has no inventory, so no asset records either. It does not store reports or certificates: they stay in your folder. It does not connect to other software or bring several sites onto one screen, because each site is one account with its own number. If your plan calls for any of that, preventive work needs a CMMS, and Bedel can go on being the door through which faults come in.
Frequently asked questions
What is preventive maintenance software?
A program that stores periodic inspections and tasks, warns before the date and records that they were done. It can be the preventive module of a CMMS, which raises a work order per task, or a simpler tool that only reminds you of due dates.
Is there software for both preventive and corrective maintenance?
Yes. Nearly every CMMS covers both, and so do some fault-reporting tools that add inspection reminders. Examine each half separately: preventive work needs a calendar that warns with a margin; corrective work needs a way in so simple that the team uses it the moment something breaks.
What preventive maintenance programs are there for a small business?
Three routes: a spreadsheet with alarms in the diary, a reminder tool and a light CMMS. If every inspection runs by date and an outside company carries it out, the first two usually do. With in-house technicians or tasks driven by running hours, the third.
Can a preventive maintenance plan be kept in Excel?
It can, and many sites do it well. The limit of a sheet is that it does not warn: someone has to remember to open it. If that person leaves or gets distracted, the dates go by in silence. What software adds, above all, is the warning that arrives on its own.
What preventive maintenance is mandatory for business premises?
It depends on the installations you have. In Spain the usual ones are fire protection, heating, cooling and hot water, the low-voltage electrical installation, legionella prevention where there are showers or tanks, and the lift if there is one. The list for each sector is in the regulations section.
Is Bedel preventive maintenance software?
It is not a CMMS and holds no plan with orders. Its part in preventive work is to remind: once a month it sends, on WhatsApp, to whoever runs maintenance, the dated inspections that are about to fall due. It does not store certificates or keep an equipment inventory.
Comparisons
- CMMS: what it is and which one fits your premisesWhat a CMMS is, what a team really needs from maintenance, how corrective and preventive differ, and when WhatsApp is enough and when you need dedicated software.
- Maintenance software: types and how to chooseThe three kinds of maintenance software, six questions to choose yours, what planned and reactive maintenance each need, and the software for each sector.
- Automatic incident handling on WhatsAppWhich part of an incident can be answered and moved on its own over WhatsApp, what a person still does, and how it differs from an auto-reply or a chatbot.
- WhatsApp for hotels: guest customer serviceThe four types of WhatsApp software for a hotel, what each one solves, and why guest service usually fails after the conversation: when what the guest asked for has to be fixed.
- Maintenance software for hotels in Spain, 2026Six criteria built for a hotel, ten products described with what their websites say, and where Bedel fits, which is not one of them.
- Maintenance software for restaurants, 2026Six criteria built for a kitchen, nine products described with what their websites say, and where Bedel fits, which is not one of them.
- Maintenance software for buildings in Spain, 2026Six criteria built for a building, ten products described with what their websites say, from CMMS to block management, and where Bedel fits.
- Incident management software in Spain, 2026Six criteria so you don't buy a help desk when what gets lost is faults, eight products described with their own websites, and where Bedel fits.
- Incident management app in Spain, 2026Eight incident apps described with their own websites, six criteria to choose, and the question almost nobody asks: who has to install it.
- Gym maintenance software in Spain, 2026Six criteria built for a gym, seven products described with what their websites say, from CMMS to membership software, and where Bedel fits.
- Clinic maintenance software in Spain, 2026For clinics and clinic groups, not hospitals: six criteria, seven products described with what their websites say and where Bedel fits.
- Store maintenance software in Spain, 2026For a shop or a store network: six criteria, five products described with what their websites say and where Bedel fits.
- School maintenance software in Spain, 2026For state and private schools: six criteria, seven products described with what their websites say and where Bedel fits.
- Warehouse maintenance software in Spain, 2026For factories, warehouses and logistics sites: what to check, six CMMS summarised from their websites and the gap left by reporting from the workstation.
- Corrective maintenance software: what to ask of itThe journey of an unplanned fault in five moments, what goes wrong at each without software, how urgency, deadline and escalation are set up, and which times are worth measuring.
- Work order management: full order or simple ticketWhat a work order is and where it comes from, what a full system holds, how it differs from a fault ticket and the signs that a business with premises needs one or the other.
- Fault management software: how to choose oneThe path of a fault from whoever reports it to whoever repairs it: the reporting channels and what each one loses, sorting by trade, the outside supplier, the photo and the status sent back.
- Maintenance app: who actually opens itThe four phones a fault passes through, what an app asks of each, why it is dropped where staff turn over, seven demo questions and the no-app alternative.
- Maintenance request software: intake channelsThe six channels a maintenance request comes in through, the four details it needs, who sorts it and how the person who made it gets an answer.
- CMMS with WhatsApp: add-on alert or the way inThe two things sold as a CMMS with WhatsApp (an added notification or the entry point), five questions to tell them apart and who each one suits.
- CMMS for small business: what you need and don'tWhat a small business with premises asks of maintenance, what it can leave out of a full CMMS, a yes-or-no test to see if you need one and five steps to start.
- CMMS software: what it is and who needs all of itWhat CMMS software is, why it is the same thing as a GMAO, what each part is called by country, what it holds and which businesses need all of it or only the report.
- Facility management software: what it coversThe areas of a facility management suite, which ones weigh on a small or mid-size company's facilities team day to day, and the only one Bedel covers.
- Mandatory inspections software for premisesThe inspections Spanish law dates for premises, who carries them out, what is left to the owner and how far a program and a WhatsApp reminder can go.
- Maintenance software for offices: what to checkWhat breaks in an office, whose job each repair is between tenant, landlord and supplier, what to demand of a product and the part Bedel does.
- Residents' association fault reporting softwareFaults in the common areas, who reports them, which trade fixes them, what the managing agent needs to know about each one and the part Bedel covers.
- Maintenance software for coworking spaces: a guideA coworking space's faults seen from the operator's side: who reports them, whose they are, what to ask in a demo, when a CMMS is worth it and Bedel's part.
- Maintenance software for franchises: site by siteMaintenance in a franchise network, with its two owners: what falls to the franchisee, what head office watches, what to ask in a demo and the part Bedel does.
- Maintenance software for sports centres and poolsSports centres, clubs and pools: what fails in the water, the changing rooms and the courts, which checks the rules ask for, when a CMMS suits and what Bedel does.
- Maintenance software for academies: what to askWhat breaks in a language school, a tuition centre or a training centre, who sees it between lessons, when a CMMS is too much and the part Bedel covers.
- Maintenance software for veterinary practicesThe faults of a veterinary practice or hospital: kennels and climate, theatre, autoclave and X-ray, each with its official service; questions for the demo and Bedel's role.
- AI for hotels: what to buy, bookings to repairsA buyer's guide: the four areas of a hotel where AI works today, who decides in each, the questions for the demo and the stretch Bedel covers.
- WhatsApp at work in Spain: group or incident managerWhatsApp groups at work in Spain: what the AEPD has ruled, what the right to disconnect adds and how a group compares with an incident manager for faults on business premises.
- CMMS or Excel for maintaining business premisesWhen a spreadsheet is enough and when a CMMS is needed, how to build the preventive plan in Excel and which records the law says to keep.
- Best CMMS for businesses with premises: criteriaSix criteria built for premises, seven CMMS described with what their websites say, and where Bedel fits, which is not one of them.
Rules by sector
- Restaurants and barsThe obligations of a restaurant or a bar in Spain: what is specific to the kitchen and the checks on the premises, each with the condition that triggers it, how often it applies and its article.
- GymsA gym: no national law; qualifications, insurance and notices under each region's sports professions act, plus low voltage, Legionella, pool, RIPCI and defibrillator as premises.
- HotelsA hotel: guest register and reporting within 24 hours, regional classification, low voltage and lift as a public-assembly venue, RIPCI, Legionella, pool, kitchen and defibrillator.
- Residents' associationsThe obligations of a Spanish residents' association: upkeep, reserve fund, owners' meeting and administrator under the Horizontal Property Act, building logbook, building inspection and the checks on each communal installation.
- Shops and franchisesA shop: responsible declaration up to 750 m², opening hours, prices, franchises with no register since 2018, complaint forms, accessibility adjustments and the inspections of premises open to the public.
- OfficesThe obligations of an office in Spain: temperature and upkeep of the premises, screen work, health and safety, coordination with contractors, internal reporting channel, right to disconnect and building checks.
- SchoolsA school: minimum facilities, protocols against violence and a wellbeing coordinator, canteen and menus from April 2026, self-protection and the building inspections.
- Industrial unitsAn industrial unit: fire inspection every five years under the 2025 regulation, chemical storage (APQ), air receivers, work equipment, low voltage, cooling towers and self-protection.