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What Are Templates? ​

Check templates are reusable inspection forms that define what questions to ask when inspecting an asset. They are the foundation of AssetBuddy's inspection system.

Why templates exist ​

Templates ensure:

  • Consistency — every inspection of a given type follows the same questions and criteria, regardless of who performs it
  • Compliance — inspection requirements are defined once by H&S managers, then carried out consistently by operators
  • Audit trail — because every check follows a template, you have a clear record of what was inspected and what the criteria were

How templates work ​

A template contains:

  1. Template information — name, check type, which category it applies to
  2. Questions (items) — an ordered list of things to check, each with an input type and pass/fail criteria
  3. Settings — scoring model, frequency rule, fail logic, and whether to auto-create defects

When a check is performed, AssetBuddy presents the template's questions to the user. Their responses are evaluated against the template's criteria to produce an overall result.

System default templates ​

AssetBuddy provides default templates for common inspection types. These are a starting point — you should copy and customise them to match your specific requirements.

TIP

System templates cannot be edited directly. Copy a system template to create your own version that you can modify freely.

You can still pause a system template if you do not want the checks it creates. Pausing stops the schedule without changing the template itself, so it is the right choice when a default template does not apply to how you work.

Template and category relationship ​

Each template can be linked to an asset category — either a parent category or a specific subcategory. When linked to a parent category:

  • The template applies to all assets in that category and all of its subcategories
  • Scheduled checks are generated automatically based on the template's frequency rule

When linked to a specific subcategory, the template only applies to assets in that subcategory. This lets you create general templates (e.g. a daily vehicle check for all Vehicles & Transport) alongside specific ones (e.g. a tachograph check just for HGVs).

When a check doesn't suit every asset in a category ​

A template linked to a parent category covers everything beneath it. That is usually what you want, but not always — a weekly vehicle inspection asking about windscreen washer fluid and MOT documents makes sense for a van and none at all for a trailer, even though both sit under Vehicles & Transport.

To handle this, open the template and use Exclude a category next to the category name. Tick anything that should not receive the check. If you are editing one of your own templates, the same list appears on the edit form as Categories to exclude, so you can change the category and what it skips in one save.

  • No new checks are created for excluded categories, and the template is no longer offered when scheduling a check by hand, performing an unscheduled check, or bulk scheduling
  • Checks already waiting on those assets are cancelled, so they stop counting towards your compliance score
  • Everything else in the category carries on unchanged
  • Excluding a parent category also excludes everything beneath it

This works on system templates as well. Choosing which of your assets a check covers is a decision about your equipment, not a change to the template itself, so it is not restricted the way editing is. System templates cannot be edited, so use Exclude a category on the template page for those.

If you change which category a template applies to, any exclusions that no longer sit inside the new category are dropped, since they no longer mean anything.

Pausing and deleting templates ​

If you no longer want the checks a template creates, open the template and use Pause Schedule.

Pausing a template:

  • Stops any new checks being created from it
  • Cancels checks that are still waiting to be performed, so they no longer count towards your compliance score
  • Keeps completed checks and their results

You can resume a paused schedule at any time using Resume Schedule. Paused templates are marked with a Paused badge in the template list.

WARNING

Deleting individual checks does not stop a schedule. As long as the template is active, new checks will keep being created. Pause or delete the template instead.

Templates you have created yourself can also be deleted, which cancels their outstanding checks in the same way. Completed checks and their results are always kept. If you only want to stop a template for now, pause it rather than deleting it. System templates cannot be deleted, only paused.

Next steps ​