A maintenance schedule isn't a list of dates: it's a calculation rule and a name attached to it.
A maintenance schedule that holds up keeps one row per recurring job — not per machine — calculates the next date from the last job actually done instead of copying it forward, and names who it's down to. Here are the nine minimum columns, the three calculation rules (by calendar, by meter reading, "whichever comes first"), where the intervals actually come from, and the points where an Excel spreadsheet stops holding up. At the end, what you need to be able to pull up the day someone asks for it.
A maintenance schedule's job is to make the reminder land, not to snapshot the dates
In Italian the word is spelled two ways: "scadenzario" and "scadenziario" — the first is what the dictionaries use, the second is what most people actually type. Either way, it means the same thing: the list of maintenance jobs that come round again, with the date of the next one. The trouble is that most maintenance schedules get built backwards, starting from whatever dates someone remembers and putting them in a column. That works while there are ten assets and one person keeping track of them.
A maintenance schedule that holds up once assets reach forty does three things. It keeps one row per recurring maintenance job, not per machine: a fire extinguisher alone takes up four. It calculates the next date instead of copying it forward, starting from the date the last job was actually done. And it puts a name next to every row, because a deadline with no one responsible for it belongs to nobody — and nobody notices it until it's gone.
The rest of this page is the minimum shape: the nine columns you need, the three rules for calculating the next date, where the number you write in the interval column actually comes from, and the exact points where a spreadsheet stops being reliable.
The nine minimum columns
Fewer than this and the schedule can't answer the questions people ask of it; much more and it becomes a sheet nobody updates. The first three say what you're looking at, the middle three do the calculation, the last three serve the day of the inspection.
| Column | What you put in it | What it's for |
|---|---|---|
| Asset | What it is, with make, model and serial or inventory number | Two identical compressors aren't the same compressor |
| Site or location | Department, floor, site, or the vehicle it's fitted to | Helps whoever has to go there, and whoever's looking for the extinguisher in corridor B |
| Job | The activity, not the machine: "inspection", "overhaul", "periodic inspection" | It's the row that falls due, and an asset almost always has more than one |
| Interval and source | How often, and where the number comes from: law, technical standard or manual | It's the only column that lets someone else check the plan |
| Last date | The day the last job was actually done, not the day it was due | This is what you count from, not 1 January |
| Next date | The due date, calculated from the interval and the last date | Written in by hand, it stays put when the job slips |
| Who | Name of the person or firm who has to carry it out | Turns a date into someone's job |
| Outcome | Pass, pass with remarks, fail — and what happened to the remarks | It's what gets asked at inspection, more than the date |
| Attachment | Report, job sheet, invoice, photo of the work | The date without the document doesn't prove it was done |
If you have assets that run on hours, add a tenth column: the meter reading, with the date it was taken. Without it, an hours-based interval can't be calculated — it's just an intention.
One row per asset is the mistake that drags every other one with it
A powder extinguisher doesn't have one date: it has the surveillance check, the inspection at least every 6 months, the overhaul at 60 months and the pressure test at 120 (UNI 9994-1:2024, Italy's fire-extinguisher servicing standard), and none of the four checks up on the other three. A forklift has the quarterly check of ropes and chains, the service at the hours set by the manual, and keeping the driver's licence up to date. If the sheet has one row per machine, that row can hold one deadline: the rest end up in a note squeezed into the cell, and notes don't fall due.
The three rules for calculating the next date
The first is by calendar: so many months from the last job actually done. A six-monthly extinguisher inspection done on 12 February puts the next one in August, not June because "inspections happen in June": you count from the real date, and anyone who lets a visit slip by a month carries that slippage forever. It's the most common rule, and also the one that goes wrong most often, because on a spreadsheet the next date is typed in by hand and stays where it is when the job moves.
One variant of the calendar rule is the fixed date: "by 30 April every year", or the flat deadline printed on a document or stamped on the equipment — a van's roadworthiness test, the pressure-test year on an extinguisher cylinder. Here the next date doesn't depend on when the last job was done: the document fixes it, and you copy it from there. Keeping it apart from the others stops you recalculating a date that isn't meant to be calculated.
The second rule is by meter: running hours, kilometres, work cycles. A compressor's "every 500 hours" service has no date until someone reads the meter, and 500 hours can pass in three months or in eleven depending on the season. So you need two things a calendar doesn't have: the reading, with its date, and the habit of updating it. From two readings you can estimate usage, and from usage work out when the remaining hours will run out.
The third rule combines the first two: "every 100 hours or 12 months, whichever comes first." Two clocks running side by side, and the faster one wins. It's the rule printed in most engine manuals, and the one a spreadsheet handles worst: people end up following the convenient clock — the months, which move on by themselves — and only notice the hours once the machine has already gone past them.
Where the number you write in the "interval" column comes from
Intervals come from three different sources — a law, a technical standard, the manufacturer's manual — and it's worth writing that next to the number. Whoever rereads the sheet in two years needs to be able to trace it back to the source without starting the research from scratch.
| Asset | Job | How often | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Powder extinguisher | Inspection | at least every 6 months | technical standard — UNI 9994-1:2024 |
| Forklift | Check of ropes and chains | every 3 months | law — Legislative Decree 81/2008, Annex VI point 3.1.2 |
| Earthing system | Periodic inspection | every 5 years; every 2 on building sites, in medical rooms and higher-risk environments | law — DPR 462/2001, art. 4 |
| Defibrillator (AED) | Visual surveillance check | at least weekly | law — DM 16 marzo 2023 |
| Boiler | Routine servicing | the interval set by the manufacturer's manual, in practice yearly | manufacturer's manual, referenced by DPR 74/2013 |
| Compressor | Service | at the hours set by the manual, for example every 500 hours | manufacturer's manual |
Six example rows, not a plan: the source that counts is the one cited next to each, together with your own equipment's manual. Two points that change the row — the quarterly check of ropes and chains under Annex VI (Legislative Decree 81/2008, Italy's workplace health-and-safety code) applies "unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise", and boiler servicing runs alongside the energy-efficiency check, which has its own interval set by DPR 74/2013 (Italy's heating-system efficiency rule) — every 2 or 4 years depending on fuel and output.
Why an Excel spreadsheet holds up only so far
The first thing to give way is the history. On a spreadsheet the next date lives in one cell, and when the job gets done that cell gets overwritten: the previous date disappears and the outcome was never there in the first place. That's the opposite of what Legislative Decree 81/2008 asks for under article 71 paragraph 9 — inspection results recorded in writing, with at least the last three years kept and made available to the supervisory authorities. A maintenance schedule that only keeps today's row has nothing to show for yesterday.
The second is that the documents live somewhere else. Reports, job sheets and invoices end up in a network folder sorted by supplier or by year, while the sheet only knows the dates: the day someone asks for the report of March's inspection, the date turns up in a second and the PDF takes half an hour. Two archives talking about the same thing, and neither knows the other exists.
The third is that a spreadsheet doesn't remind anyone. The red cell only works if someone opens the file, and the file lives on one computer: whoever keeps it updated goes on leave, changes role or changes job, and the maintenance schedule leaves the company with them. The fourth is the quietest of all, and it's a column that isn't there: without a name next to the row and a source next to the interval, no one else can take ownership of the deadline, or check that the number is right.
How to set it up in an afternoon
For twenty or thirty assets, a few hours are enough, provided you take the steps in this order. The usual mistake is starting from the dates people remember instead of from the list of what's actually there.
- 01
Asset register
once, then updated whenever a new asset comes in
whoever knows the machines, vehicles and sites
- 02
Source of the interval
one asset at a time, before writing down the number
whoever's in charge of safety, manual in hand
- 03
Start date
from the last job actually done, not the day you fill in the sheet
whoever's holding the report or job sheet
- 04
Person responsible
one per row, with a full name or company name
the employer, or whoever holds the delegation
- 05
Reminder
with enough notice to actually book the technician
whoever gets the alert, and whoever has to act
The step that gets skipped most often is the second. Writing down next to the interval where it comes from — the law, the technical standard, or the page of the manual — is what lets you defend the number in two years' time without redoing the research, and it's the only way to notice that a "yearly" interval everyone assumed was compulsory was actually just a habit.
What you need to be able to pull up, the day of an inspection
At an inspection the question is almost never "when's it due": it's "show me the last job." A maintenance schedule also exists to answer that in under a minute, asset by asset.
- The date of the last job on that specific asset, not on that type of asset
- The outcome — pass, pass with remarks, fail — and what happened to the remarks
- The name of whoever carried it out: in-house staff or an outside firm
- The document that proves it: report, job sheet, invoice or photo
- The previous three years' history, not just the last row (D.Lgs 81/2008, art. 71 c. 9)
- For equipment that works off-site, the record of the last check travelling with the machine (art. 71 c. 10)
A maintenance schedule doesn't replace the logbooks the law requires
For work equipment, Legislative Decree 81/2008 requires inspection outcomes to be put in writing and kept for at least the last three years (art. 71 c. 9); for fire safety, DM 1 settembre 2021 (Italy's fire-inspections decree) requires an inspection logbook to be kept; a boiler has its own system logbook, an AED has the logbook required by DM 16 marzo 2023 (Italy's AED rule), an earthing system has the inspection reports required by DPR 462/2001 (Italy's periodic earthing-inspection rule). These are obligations with a form of their own: a maintenance schedule is the tool that tells you when to act and where the document is, not a substitute for the logbook itself.
This guide is informational material: it does not replace the standards cited, the manufacturer's manual or the judgement of a qualified technician. ToriSet organises deadlines and documents; it does not certify compliance.
The columns stay the same: what changes is who updates them and who gets told.
A spreadsheet holds up fine on the first columns — the asset, the site, the job. It's the last ones, the ones that should move on their own, that cost it the most.
A sheet with one date per row, on the computer of whoever keeps it updated
A shared logbook: whoever opens the record sees what's due and who did the last job
You recalculate the next date yourself, if you remember to after the job
ToriSet calculates it from the last recorded job: by month, by hours of use, or whichever comes first
The reminder is a red cell that someone has to open the file to see
An email 30, 14, 7 and 1 day before, to you and to whoever has to act
Reports and invoices in a different folder, to be dug up when needed
Attachments on the asset's record, next to the outcome and the date
What we get asked most.
Why do Italian sources spell it "scadenzario" and sometimes "scadenziario"?
Because it's an Italian spelling quirk, not two different things. "Scadenzario" is the form the dictionaries use, built on "scadenza" (deadline); "scadenziario" is the variant most people actually type, and you'll find it just as often in real Italian documents and software. Both mean the same maintenance schedule: the list of recurring deadlines with the date of the next one next to each. If you're dealing with Italian suppliers or Italian compliance software, expect to see either spelling used interchangeably.
What should a maintenance schedule include?
Nine columns as a minimum: the asset (with make, model and serial number), the site or location, the job, the interval with the source it comes from, the date of the last job actually done, the calculated next date, who's responsible, the outcome and the attachment that documents it. The row isn't the machine, it's the individual recurring job: a fire extinguisher alone takes up four, because the surveillance check, inspection, overhaul and pressure test all run on different intervals. If you have assets that run on hours, add the meter reading with the date it was taken.
Is Excel enough to keep a maintenance schedule?
For a handful of assets and one person, yes: a sheet with those columns does the job. It stops being enough when three things happen together — the assets run into the dozens, more than one person is doing the work, and you need to show the history, not just the next date. A spreadsheet doesn't remind anyone, it overwrites the previous row when you log a job, and it keeps the documents in a different folder. That's not a flaw in Excel: a spreadsheet is built to calculate, not to remember.
How do you calculate the next maintenance due date?
Three ways, depending on what the source of the interval says. By calendar, counting the months from the last job actually done: a six-monthly inspection done on 12 February is due again in August. By meter, when the manual talks about hours, kilometres or cycles: you need an up-to-date reading, because 500 hours can pass in three months or in eleven. Or by combining the two — "every 100 hours or 12 months, whichever comes first" — in which case whichever date is closer applies. Fixed dates printed on a document or stamped on the equipment sit outside this: those aren't calculated, they're copied.
How long do you have to keep maintenance history?
For work equipment, Legislative Decree 81/2008 requires inspection results to be recorded in writing, with at least the last three years kept and made available to the supervisory authorities (art. 71 c. 9). Other obligations have their own rules: the fire-safety inspection logbook under DM 1 settembre 2021, the boiler's system logbook, the earthing-system inspection reports that DPR 462/2001 requires you to keep. Three years is the floor set by the rule, not the ceiling worth keeping: a machine's full history is also useful the day you come to sell it.
Can ToriSet replace my Excel maintenance schedule?
As a working tool, yes, and that's exactly where it starts: you import your Excel or CSV sheet, ToriSet recognises the assets, sites and last-job dates and proposes the logbook for you to confirm row by row. From there, the next dates are calculated from the last recorded job — by month, by hours of use, or whichever comes first — email reminders go out 30, 14, 7 and 1 day in advance to whoever has to act, and reports and photos stay attached to the job on the asset's record. The work itself stays with the maintenance technician, and the logbooks required by law remain your obligation.
Related guides
See them allForty rows on a spreadsheet don't remind anyone.
The columns stay yours: what changes is that the next date is calculated from the last recorded job, the reminder reaches whoever has to act, and the report stays attached to the right asset. ToriSet helps you keep to the deadlines; the obligations remain yours.
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