Applies to: Maximo 7.6, MAS 8, and MAS 9
What you are seeing
PMs generate too early, too late, in a bunch, or on dates that do not line up with the interval you set. The target dates look off, and compliance suffers because work done on time reads as late, or work shows up before anyone expected it.
What is actually happening
A few usual suspects, in the order I would check them.
Frequency and units. Confirm the frequency and the frequency units are what you think. A PM set to 4 weeks behaves differently than one set to 1 month, and the two drift apart over a year.
Lead time. Lead time tells Maximo to generate the work order ahead of the due date. A large lead time makes PMs appear early, which is correct behavior that often gets reported as a bug.
Fixed versus floating. A PM that calculates its next due date from the last completion (floating) drifts every time the work is done late. A PM on a fixed schedule does not. Mixing up which one you have explains a lot of wrong-date reports.
Time zones. This is the one people miss, and it bites large or multi-site operations. PM generation runs as a background job on the server, in the server's time context, not in the local time zone of the asset or the crew. If your server sits in one time zone and your assets sit in another, a PM that generates at the server's midnight can land on a different calendar day where the work actually is. That one-day offset is enough to make on-time work read as a day early or late.
How to fix it
Open the PM record and verify Frequency, Frequency Units, and Lead Time. Confirm whether the PM is fixed or floating, and whether that matches what you intended. Compare the PM's estimated next due date to the last completion date to see if floating drift is the cause. If the dates are off by a consistent offset rather than at random, suspect a time zone gap, not the PM setup.
PM generation runs through a cron task in the server or system time context. In multi-time-zone deployments, compare the server and system time zone against the site and service address time zones, and decide how due dates should be interpreted. A consistent one-day offset across a region is the signature of a time zone mismatch, not a PM configuration error.
What to check after
Generate a test batch and confirm the dates land where you expect, in local terms. Watch one full cycle before you trust it.
Watch out for
A floating PM that has been completed late for months has already walked its schedule away from where you want it. Fixing the setup does not pull it back. You may need to reset the next due date deliberately.
This sorts the dates. If your compliance took a hit while the dates were wrong, the Maximo KPI Guide to PM Compliance covers how generation timing feeds the compliance number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my PMs generating on the wrong dates?
Check four things in order. The frequency and frequency units may not match what you intended (4 weeks is not 1 month). The lead time may be generating work orders ahead of the due date, which is correct behavior often reported as a bug. A floating PM drifts every time work is completed late. And a time zone mismatch between the server and the site can offset dates by a day.
What is the difference between a fixed and a floating PM?
A fixed PM calculates its next due date from the original schedule regardless of when the work was completed. A floating PM calculates its next due date from the last completion date. A floating PM that gets completed late every cycle will walk its schedule further and further from where you originally set it.
Can time zones cause PMs to generate early or late in Maximo?
Yes. PM generation runs as a background cron task in the server's time context. If your server sits in one time zone and your assets sit in another, a PM that generates at the server's midnight can land on a different calendar day at the site. A consistent one-day offset across a region is the signature of a time zone mismatch, not a PM configuration error.
How does lead time affect when a PM generates?
Lead time tells Maximo to generate the work order a set number of days ahead of the due date. A PM with a 7-day lead time generates a week before it is due. A large lead time makes PMs appear early, which is correct behavior that gives planners time to schedule the work. This is often reported as wrong dates when it is working as designed.
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