AI Fundamentals – Getting Started with UpKeep Nova

What AI Can Do for Your Maintenance Team

About 80% of maintenance teams still operate reactively, and unplanned downtime costs manufacturing and operations upwards of $50 billion a year. Add in the 10+ hours per week the average maintenance manager loses to admin work, data entry, and report writing, and the case for AI in maintenance becomes clear. In this first session of UpKeep's six-part AI Fundamentals webinar series, customer training lead Madeline and staff product manager Spencer Nelson introduce Nova, UpKeep's AI assistant, and show how it closes that gap.

Meet Nova: The AI That Works While You Don't

Nova is a personal assistant inside UpKeep that sees all of your CMMS data and can take action on it. In the live demo, Spencer uses Nova to summarize work orders due today, move a work order to in progress, log labor hours with a single prompt, and pull the full maintenance history of an asset. Nova is also voice-first, so technicians can create work orders, check inventory, and close out jobs hands-free in the field.

The session covers four core Nova capabilities:

• Scheduled tasks: Set a prompt once and Nova runs it automatically, like a daily work order review emailed at 9 a.m. or a weekly out-of-stock parts report that generates replenishment purchase orders.
• Knowledge base: Nova learns your naming conventions, approval steps, and team rules, and applies them consistently.
• Email forwarding: Forward an invoice, PO, or vendor quote to Nova and it logs the record in UpKeep with no manual data entry.
• Hands-free field access: Voice-to-text lets technicians work in UpKeep without touching a screen.

Nova Apps: Build the CMMS Tools You've Always Wanted

The newest feature, Nova Apps, lets you build custom workflows and dashboards inside UpKeep with no coding. Describe what you need in plain language, Nova builds it, and you review, refine, and deploy. In the demo, Spencer builds a running-timer dashboard in about three minutes with one prompt, flagging forgotten work order timers and nudging users to stop them. Apps can be versioned, restyled, iterated on conversationally, and shared with individual teammates or your entire organization. Because deployed apps run as real software without AI, using them doesn't consume Nova credits.

Q&A Highlights

The session closes with answers to common questions: a curated app library is on the roadmap, Nova credits reset monthly (with purchased credits that never expire), and Nova Apps can rebuild anything UpKeep can already do, reimagining your workflows without reinventing core objects like work orders.

FAQ

What is UpKeep Nova?
Nova is UpKeep's AI assistant for maintenance teams. It can summarize and update work orders, run scheduled tasks, process forwarded emails into CMMS records, and build custom apps from plain-language prompts.

What are Nova Apps?
Nova Apps let UpKeep users build custom dashboards, forms, and workflows inside their CMMS by describing what they need in plain language. No coding required.

Do Nova Apps use AI credits?
Building an app uses credits, but running a deployed app does not, since apps run as real software without AI.

How do Nova credits work?
Each user gets a monthly credit allotment based on their UpKeep plan. Monthly credits reset on the first of the month; purchased credit buckets never expire and can be used by anyone on the account.