The maintenance triage inbox is an organization-shared inbox in Spare EAM. It gathers maintenance signals from across your fleet as cards, each with a question and a recommended next step. Review a card, choose what to do, and confirm. You can assign or schedule a work order, create one from an issue, add an issue to scheduled work, record a meter reading, and more.
What the triage inbox is
One shared place for your team to work through maintenance alerts.
The inbox is shared across your organization, so everyone with access sees the same cards. Cards are grouped by asset, so you can deal with everything that needs attention on one vehicle together. Each card is one maintenance signal, with a question to answer and a few choices.
This is different from Duty Alerts, which cover driver and duty alerts, and from Triage for Eligibility and Triage for Resolve, which cover case assignment.
Before you start
Triage has to be turned on for your organization, and you need the right access.
Turned on for your organization. Triage ships behind a feature flag, so it only appears once Spare has enabled it for you. Then an admin can switch it on or off with Enable triage in Triage settings.
Choose your card types. In Triage settings, under Card types, every card type is on by default. Turn off the ones your team does not need. Your choices are saved if you turn triage off and on again.
To see cards, you need permission to view triage cards.
To act on cards, you need permission to edit triage, plus permission to edit the record you are changing, such as work orders, issues, meter entries, PM programs, asset status or warranty claims. Without it you can read a card but not act on it.
If Triage does not appear in your EAM sidebar, triage is not turned on for your organization, or your role cannot view triage cards. Ask your Spare contact or an administrator.
Finding the triage inbox
Open the inbox from the EAM sidebar.
Open Spare EAM.
In the sidebar, click Triage.
Click Needs attention to see cards nobody has dealt with yet. A red badge next to Triage shows how many there are. When it is empty you see a check mark and No items need attention.
Click Dismissed to see cards that have been dismissed but are not yet resolved. The number next to it counts them.
Reviewing an alert card
Read the card, choose a next step, then confirm.
Every card follows the same pattern. The heading says what was detected and the asset it is about. A question below it, such as What should happen next with this issue?, tells you what to decide. The choice we recommend is marked Recommended.
Open Triage and select a card in Needs attention.
Read the details of the issue, work order, meter or PM interval it shows. Click Details for more.
Pick a next step, and fill in anything it asks for, such as an assignee, a day or a meter reading.
Check the summary of what will be saved, then click Confirm.
Not ready to act?
Click Dismiss to move a card from Needs attention to Dismissed. The problem is not fixed, so the card stays open, and you can still act on it from Dismissed.
Click Never show this card again, on the Dismissed tab, to stop that card coming back. This is not offered for urgent cards, for cards that ask you to check a record, or for mileage jump, status and follow-up cards.
Dismissing and hiding apply to the whole team, not just to you.
The types of card
Triage raises 15 types of card, in seven groups. Each one has its own trigger and its own choices.
Issues
Inspection and urgent issues (Open issue, Overdue issue or Urgent issue). An open or overdue inspection issue, or an unlinked high-severity issue, has not been added to a work order or service entry. Choose Create work order, Add to an existing work order, Resolve issue or Leave the issue open.
Issues with upcoming work (Add issue to upcoming work). An issue could be handled in a work order already scheduled in the next week. Click Add issue to work order.
Work orders
Work orders with missing information. An open or pending work order has no assignee, no scheduled date, or both. The card reads Work order needs an assignee, Work order is unscheduled with no delay reason, or both together. Choose Assign work order, Schedule work order, or Add a delay reason.
Past-due work orders. An open or pending work order was scheduled for an earlier day and has no delay reason. Choose Reschedule work order, Merge into another work order, Work is already done, or add a delay reason.
Work-order follow-up (A work-order update is due). A promised update or completion is overdue, or stale or delayed work needs a current owner and next action. Click Provide an update, or Cancel obsolete work order if the work is no longer needed.
Work-order reporting checks (Check work-order completion times). A completed work order has no completion time. Choose Correct completion or Leave as is.
Preventive maintenance (PM)
Overdue PM intervals. A PM reminder is overdue and not yet on a work order. Choose a day, and an assignee if you want one, then click Create work order. If the vehicle already has open work orders, the card shows them so you can reschedule or add the service to one.
PM intervals due together (Add nearby service to planned work). A second service on the same asset is due within 5% (either way) of a service already on a work order. Click Add PM interval to work order to do both in one visit, or Don't link to keep them separate.
PM interval setup (When was this service last done?). The asset's last service reading is missing, so the PM interval looks more than a full interval overdue. Enter Last service date and Meter at last service, then click Save last service.
Assets without PM intervals (Asset is not in any PM program). The asset has no active PM schedule. Search for the programs it should follow, enter when each was last done, and click Add to programs.
Meter readings
Stale meter readings (Meter reading is out of date). The asset has meter readings turned on but no valid reading in the last 14 days. Enter the Current meter reading and click Save reading.
Mileage jumps (Mileage jumped far beyond this vehicle's usual daily use). An odometer reading from the last 30 days rose by more than 3 times the vehicle's usual daily mileage, and by at least 300 a day. Vehicles with no usual daily mileage yet are flagged above 800 a day. Tick the readings that are wrong to void them, or click Readings are correct to keep them.
Asset status
Asset status mismatches. An asset is marked Active while work is under way (Confirm vehicle availability), or still In maintenance after all its work is finished. Click Set to in maintenance or Set to active, or Status is correct to keep it as it is.
Record accuracy
Conflicting maintenance records. A review of the notes finds a possible clash with the recorded status or severity. This type is available during the data-accuracy pilot. Check the evidence before you correct anything. The card can raise four questions: Safety defect may need high severity (Change to High), Vehicle availability needs correction (Mark in maintenance), Completed work may still need repair (Reopen unfinished work), and Labour or parts usage may be missing (Record missing usage). If the record is right, click The recorded data is correct.
Warranty
Possible warranty claims. A completed work order removed a unit that was still under warranty, or repaired something the warranty covers, and no claim was filed. Start a claim from the card, or mark it as not claimable.
Acting on a card
Step-by-step for the actions you will use most. Finish each one by clicking Confirm on the card.
Assign a work order
Open a Work order needs an assignee card.
Under Who should do the work?, search for and choose the assignee.
Click Confirm. Only the assignee changes. The scheduled date stays as it was.
Schedule or reschedule a work order
Open a card for an unscheduled or past-due work order.
Click Schedule work order or Reschedule work order.
Choose a day. The week view shows the work already scheduled, and you can filter it by assignee to balance the load. Filtering the view does not assign anyone.
For a past-due work order, answer Why did it slip? with a delay reason. The choices are Awaiting parts, Technician capacity, External vendor, Approval, Diagnosis, Other and Unknown.
Save your choice, then click Confirm on the card.
If you cannot schedule the work yet, click Add a delay reason instead and say why. The card comes back for a check-in in 2 weeks, and urgent safety concerns stay visible.
Create a work order from an issue
Open an issue card and click Create work order.
Check the Title and Description, which are filled in from the issue. The priority matches the issue's severity.
Choose a day, which defaults to today, or click Leave unscheduled. Choose an assignee if you want one.
Save the dialog, then click Confirm on the card.
Add an issue to an existing work order
Open an issue card and click Add to an existing work order. The button shows how many open work orders the vehicle has.
Pick the work order. Triage suggests one, labelled Suggested. It is the earliest open work order scheduled today or later.
Click Confirm. The issue is added and the work order's other issues are kept.
Resolve an issue without a work order
Open an issue card and click Resolve issue.
Optionally add a Resolution reason.
Click Confirm.
Every issue card needs an answer before you can confirm. If you want to deal with it later, click Leave the issue open. The issue stays open and the card moves to Dismissed.
Save a meter reading or last service
Open the card, for example Meter reading is out of date.
Enter the value. The reading cannot be lower than the previous one.
Click Save reading (or Save last service on a PM interval setup card).
After you act
What happens to the card, and where the result appears.
The card goes away once the problem it describes is fixed, whether you fixed it from triage or by editing the record elsewhere in EAM.
The change is saved on the record. A new or rescheduled work order appears in Work Orders and on the Maintenance Calendar, and a linked issue shows its work order in Issues.
Fixed cards can come back. If the same problem happens again, for example an assignee is removed, a fresh card appears in Needs attention. New cards appear shortly after a problem is detected, not instantly.
Cards that are still open stay put. Acting on one card does not clear a different card for the same work order. A work order with no assignee and no date can show two cards.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers about working in the shared inbox.
Who can see the triage inbox?
Anyone in your organization whose role can view triage cards, once triage is turned on. Everyone sees the same cards.
I can see a card but not act on it. Why?
Acting needs permission to edit triage, plus permission for the record you are changing, such as work orders, issues or meter entries. Ask an administrator to update your role.
What is the difference between Dismiss and Never show this card again?
Dismiss only moves the card to Dismissed. The problem is still there and you can still act on it. Never show this card again stops that card coming back.
Why has a card I did not touch disappeared?
Someone fixed the problem in EAM, so the card was no longer needed.
Why can't I see a type of card?
An admin may have turned that card type off in Triage settings.
Why did an inspection issue stop appearing?
An inspection item that keeps failing on the same vehicle leaves triage once it has been reported more times than the limit set in Triage settings, unless someone resolves it or puts it on a work order.
Related articles
Where to learn more about issues and scheduling.