How to Schedule Preventive Maintenance in Verizon Connect
Quick Summary
Scheduling preventive maintenance in Verizon Connect means creating a service plan that automatically tracks when each vehicle needs attention, based on time, distance, or engine hours. Once a plan is in place, the Maintenance screen tracks upcoming services, records completed work, and sends reminders to the right people before a service comes due. Since Reveal pulls odometer and engine-hour data directly from the vehicle, reminders stay accurate without manual tracking. This guide walks through building a service plan step by step, managing reminders, and logging completed service. For a broader look at the platform’s complete feature set, visit Verizon Connect Fleet Management Software & Solutions.
What Is Preventive Maintenance Scheduling in Verizon Connect?
Verizon Connect Fleet Management Software & Solutions helps businesses schedule reminders for preventive service and receive alerts for diagnostic trouble codes, which together help reduce vehicle downtime. Rather than relying on a paper calendar or a technician’s memory, the platform ties maintenance scheduling directly to real vehicle data, so reminders trigger based on actual usage rather than rough estimates.
This approach matters because unplanned downtime tends to cost far more than routine service. When a vehicle breaks down unexpectedly, the business absorbs not just the repair cost, but also towing, missed jobs, and sometimes the expense of a replacement vehicle. Consequently, shifting toward a connected, preventive maintenance model helps close what is often called the downtime gap, the period between when a fault develops and when the vehicle returns to service.
Why Does Usage-Based Scheduling Work Better Than Fixed Calendars?
Traditional maintenance schedules often rely on fixed calendar intervals, which do not account for how differently vehicles are actually used. By tracking mileage and engine hours instead, fleet managers can plan maintenance based on real wear and tear rather than an arbitrary date. For vehicles that spend significant time idling, combining time-based and usage-based triggers gives a more accurate picture of when service is genuinely needed.
How Do You Create a Service Plan?
A service plan is the core tool for scheduling preventive maintenance in Reveal. It defines what type of service is needed, how often it recurs, and who should be notified as the service date approaches.
To create a new service plan:
- Open the Maintenance screen and go to the Service Plans tab.
- Choose the type of reminder trigger: Time based, Engine hours based, or Distance based.
- Enter the values in the Due Every and Remind Me In fields, based on your chosen trigger type.
- Edit the Last Service Date, Engine Hours, or Odometer Reading fields if needed, to reflect each vehicle’s most recent service.
- Select the vehicles to include in the plan, using the Search field if the list is long.
- Click Add to apply the plan to the selected vehicles.
Since you can select more than one trigger type for the same service, it helps to understand how the platform handles overlapping conditions before finalizing your plan.
What Happens When You Select More Than One Reminder Trigger?
If you choose more than one reminder option, such as both a time-based and a distance-based trigger, the platform sends the reminder based on whichever condition is met first. For example, a plan might call for service every 5,000 miles or every 90 days, whichever comes first. This flexibility helps account for vehicles with inconsistent usage patterns, where relying on a single trigger type might result in service happening too early or too late.
How Do You Set Up Reminder Recipients?
A service plan is only useful if the right people actually receive the reminder. Reveal lets you assign specific recipients to each plan, along with how they prefer to be notified.
To configure reminder recipients:
- In the Reminder Recipients section, click the Find User field to open a list of user names.
- Click a name to add that person to the list of recipients.
- Optionally, click the Groups icon to filter the list by specific groups, then click Apply.
- For each recipient, select the reminder types they should receive.
The table below summarizes the available notification options for each recipient.
| Option | What It Does |
|---|---|
| All | Sends every type of reminder to this recipient |
| Display | Shows the reminder on the Maintenance screen’s Reminders tab |
| Sends the reminder directly by email |
Since recipients can be configured individually, a driver might only need the Display option, while a fleet manager might prefer both Display and Email to ensure nothing gets missed.
How Do You Filter Recipients by Group?
For larger organizations, adding recipients one by one can be time-consuming. Using the Groups icon within the Find User field lets you narrow the list to only the users within specific groups, which speeds up the process considerably when assigning the same recipients across multiple service plans.
How Do You Track Odometer and Engine Hour Data Automatically?
Since usage-based reminders depend on accurate data, understanding where that information comes from helps you trust the reminders your team receives. Reveal pulls this data directly from the vehicle whenever possible, rather than relying on manual entry.
The Engine Control Module, or ECM, is the most accurate method available. Reveal takes mileage numbers directly from the vehicle’s own computer through this connection. If ECM data is not available, Reveal instead relies on GPS estimates, calculating distance traveled on the map and adding it to the last known mileage figure.
Where Can You View Current Odometer Readings?
To check a vehicle’s current odometer reading, go to Admin, then Fleet and Device List, then View Vehicle to open the Vehicle Details page. From there, the Overview tab includes a Usage section displaying the vehicle’s odometer information. Reviewing this figure periodically helps confirm that your service plans are tracking accurately, especially for vehicles that may have had an engine replaced or rebuilt.
What Happens if an Engine Is Replaced or Rebuilt?
When an engine is replaced or rebuilt, the vehicle’s dashboard odometer typically stays the same, even though the engine’s true hours or mileage effectively reset. In this situation, a manual offset is needed within the fleet software to ensure future service reminders track the new engine’s service life correctly, rather than continuing to count from the original engine’s history.
How Do You Manage Existing Service Plans?
Once several service plans exist across your fleet, the Manage Service Plans tab gives you a central place to review, edit, and organize them all.
This tab displays a table with the following columns.
| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Service Name | The name given to the plan by its creator |
| Type | The type of service plan, such as time, distance, or engine hours based |
| Description | A short description entered by the creator |
| Service Time | Remind Me In and Due Every values for time-based triggers |
| Distance | Remind Me In and Due Every values for distance-based triggers |
| Engine Hours | Remind Me In and Due Every values for engine-hours-based triggers |
Additionally, you can filter the list by vehicle using the Show Plans For field, or toggle Show Service Plans For Users I Manage to reveal an Owner column, which lists who created each plan. This is particularly useful for larger teams where multiple administrators manage different portions of the fleet.
How Do You Use the Maintenance Screen Day to Day?
Beyond creating and managing service plans, the Maintenance screen also supports the ongoing tasks that keep your fleet’s service records accurate and current.
From this screen, you can:
- View service plan reminders and mark services as complete.
- Review the full service record history for each vehicle.
- Create a one-time vehicle maintenance record outside of a recurring plan.
Since not every repair fits neatly into a recurring schedule, the ability to log a one-time record ensures your service history stays complete, even for unplanned work like a flat tire repair or a windshield replacement.
How Do You Log a Completed Service?
When a scheduled service is completed, click the Log Service link associated with that vehicle to record the details. This entry typically captures the type of service performed, the vehicle’s odometer reading and engine hours at the time, who performed the service, and any additional notes. Keeping this record current not only closes out the current reminder but also builds a more accurate history for future planning.
How Do You Review a Vehicle’s Full Service History?
The Service History tab displays every previously logged service for a given vehicle, including the type of work performed, the odometer reading and engine hours recorded at the time, and who carried out the service. Reviewing this history regularly helps identify patterns, such as a vehicle needing more frequent repairs than expected, which may signal that it is approaching the end of its useful service life.
How Do You Change or Remove a Service Plan From a Vehicle?
Fleet needs change over time, and a vehicle’s assigned service plan may need to be updated or removed entirely. This process happens from the Service Plan tab within the vehicle’s individual maintenance record.
To change or remove a plan:
- Open the vehicle’s maintenance record and go to the Service Plan tab.
- Click Action.
- Select Change Plan to assign a different plan, or Remove Plan to unassign the current one.
It is worth noting that you cannot edit the underlying schedules that make up a plan from this tab directly. Instead, any changes to the recurring intervals themselves must be made from the Service Plans tab, where the original plan was created.
Conclusion
Scheduling preventive maintenance effectively turns Verizon Connect Fleet Management Software & Solutions into more than just a tracking tool, it becomes a proactive system for protecting vehicle uptime. By building service plans around real usage data, assigning the right reminder recipients, and keeping service records current through the Maintenance screen, fleet managers can catch service needs before they become costly breakdowns. Over time, this data-driven approach not only reduces unplanned downtime but also supports smarter decisions about repair costs, vehicle replacement timing, and overall fleet reliability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. You can combine time, distance, and engine-hours-based triggers within the same plan. Whichever condition is met first sends the reminder, which helps account for vehicles with inconsistent usage patterns.
When available, Reveal pulls odometer data directly from the vehicle’s Engine Control Module, which is the most accurate source. If ECM data is not available, the platform falls back on GPS-based distance estimates instead.
Yes. The Maintenance screen allows you to create a one-time vehicle maintenance record for repairs or services that fall outside of a recurring service plan, ensuring your service history stays complete even for unplanned work.
