Frequently Asked Questions

Go to hopswatch.lastspikebrewery.com and click Sign in with Microsoft. Use your Last Spike email and password — the same credentials you use for Outlook, Teams, and SharePoint.

If you're already signed into a Microsoft app on that device, Hopswatch may log you in automatically without prompting for a password.

Yes. Open your phone's browser and go to hopswatch.lastspikebrewery.com/log.html — this is the mobile-optimized Work Order Logger designed for use on the floor.

Bookmark it on your home screen for one-tap access. No app install required.

You need a Last Spike Microsoft account to access the dashboard and logger. Contact your manager or IT to get one set up.

If you just need to submit a maintenance request (not log work yourself), anyone can use the public request portal at hopswatch.lastspikebrewery.com/request.html — it does require a Microsoft sign-in but will work with any valid Last Spike account.

Yes. Authentication is handled entirely by Microsoft — your credentials never touch Hopswatch directly. Access requires a valid Last Spike Microsoft account, so nobody outside your organization can log in.

All data is stored in Last Spike's own SharePoint tenant. You own it — there's no third-party vendor holding your maintenance records.

Not necessarily. It means a task's Proposed Date has passed and no Work Order has been logged against it. If the work was done but not logged, the task will appear overdue.

Always log a Work Order when you complete a PM task — even a quick one. This is what Hopswatch uses to track compliance and remove tasks from the Overdue list.

Click the task row to open the detail modal. Enter the Performed Date (it defaults to today) and set the Status to Completed. Click Save Changes.

For a full record, also log a Work Order using the + New WO button or the mobile logger — this links the actual work to the PM task and tracks hours and parts used.

Click the task and update the Proposed Date to the new target date, and set the Status to Deferred. This removes it from the Overdue count and gives it a new deadline.

If tasks have a Frequency set but no Proposed Date, a gold Auto-fill Dates button appears in the top bar showing how many are missing. Click it and Hopswatch will calculate and fill in dates for all of them based on their frequency.

Frequencies supported: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-Annual, Annual, 2-Month, 3-Year, 5-Year, Daily, Per CIP Cycle, and As Per Use.

Click + New PM in the top bar. Fill in the equipment name, area, frequency, responsible person, and task description. Set a proposed date and click Create PM Task. The task will appear immediately in the schedule.

Planned — work that was scheduled. Links to a PM Schedule task. Use this when you're doing a regular inspection, cleaning, or preventive task.

Unplanned — reactive work that wasn't scheduled. Use this for breakdowns, urgent repairs, or anything that came up unexpectedly.

Tracking the ratio of planned vs unplanned work is one of the key metrics on the Analytics tab — higher planned rates generally mean better reliability.

Yes. On the mobile logger, go to the History tab, tap the work order you want to fix, and the form will prefill with all its data. Make your corrections and tap Update Work Order.

The Food Safety flag marks any work order where the equipment is food or beverage contact. This creates an audit trail for food safety inspections — you can quickly show that food contact equipment maintenance is being tracked and documented.

A green dot appears next to food-contact equipment in the PM schedule list.

Go to hopswatch.lastspikebrewery.com/request.html. Enter your name, describe the issue, select the area and priority. Your request is logged as a work order and the maintenance team is notified.

You don't need training on the full dashboard to submit a request.

Tank details haven't been filled in yet. Hopswatch applies smart defaults based on the tank name prefix (GT, FT, BBT, YT) — so Tank Type, Area, and Status will pre-populate. Fill in the remaining fields and click Save Changes.

You only need to do this once per tank — after saving, the details will always be there when you open it.

Clicking QR generates a scannable QR code for that tank. Print it and stick it on the vessel. Anyone who scans it will be taken directly to that tank's record in Hopswatch.

You can also download the QR image to print it at a larger size.

Click the Downtime button on the tank card. Select the reason (Mechanical failure, CIP, Awaiting parts, etc.), enter the start time and end time (leave end blank if the tank is still offline). Hopswatch calculates the duration automatically and timestamps the entry in the tank's notes.

Also update the tank's Status to Offline so it shows correctly on the Tank Register summary.

• Monthly summary — on the 1st of every month, you receive a list of your PM tasks due in the coming 30 days.
• Daily overdue reminder — if you have overdue tasks, you receive a reminder every day until they're logged.
• Escalation — tasks that are 5 or more days overdue trigger an additional email to the maintenance manager.

Alerts come from Maintenance@lastspikebrewery.com

Check a few things:

• Make sure your name in the PM Schedule matches how it's entered in the Responsible field — alerts are matched by name.
• Check your junk/spam folder for emails from Maintenance@lastspikebrewery.com.
• If you have no overdue or upcoming tasks, you won't receive a daily alert — that's expected.

If alerts still aren't arriving after checking these, contact your Hopswatch administrator.

PM compliance rate is the percentage of overdue tasks that had a Work Order logged against them — essentially, how many scheduled tasks actually got done and recorded.

A rate above 85% is healthy. Below 70% suggests either tasks aren't being completed or work is being done but not logged. Either way it's worth investigating.

Analytics pulls from your Work Orders list. If no work orders have been logged yet, all values will show zero or dashes. Start logging WOs and the analytics will populate automatically.

The Parts tab requires a SharePoint list named HopswatchParts to be created in your tenant. If the list doesn't exist yet, the tab will show an empty state.

Contact your Hopswatch administrator to get the list created. Once it's set up, you can start adding parts right away.

Each part has a Min Stock Level. When the Quantity on Hand is at or below that level, the part is flagged as Low Stock in red on the Parts tab.

There are no automated email alerts for low stock yet — it's a visual indicator only. Check the Parts tab regularly as part of your maintenance routine.