A schedule tells you when a standby generator was expected to exercise. It does not establish that the engine started, ran for the planned interval, or finished without an alarm. A read-only report can help facilities staff find the sites that need review without giving the reporting system control of the generator.
Decide what counts as a completed exercise
Record each asset’s approved schedule and time zone, the expected run duration or completion indication, and whether the exercise is configured to carry load. Check the installed controller’s documentation for what the available events actually mean. For example, this Generac owner’s manual describes a model family with separate operating states and controller history. Use the manual for the equipment at your site to interpret its events.
Look for a documented completion event or a start and stop pair that can be identified as the scheduled exercise and meets the agreed criteria. A motor-run indication by itself may not distinguish exercise from an outage or a manual run. A completed exercise does not, by itself, prove that the generator can carry its required load or that the transfer system is ready.
Illustrative example: three sites, three outcomes
- North site — exercise recorded: The controller identifies a scheduled exercise and records its end. The run meets that site’s example criteria. No load transfer is shown, so the report makes no load-test claim.
- West site — alarm during run: The controller reports a start and an alarm before the expected finish. Facilities sends the event record to the service team for review.
- South site — evidence missing: No usable report covers the exercise window. Facilities checks the feed and asks the site contact to review local history. The report does not say the generator failed to start.
These records are invented to show the reporting distinctions. They are not test results or instructions for operating standby equipment.
Build a report that helps someone follow up
Show the site, asset, expected window, event times, evidence source, last contact time and responsible person. Separate a reported alarm, a verified missed exercise and an unknown result. When communications recover, retain the original event times and reconcile delayed logs before closing the exception. If a report arrives without evidence of the run, leave the exercise outcome unresolved.
Keep monitoring read-only
Use only a supported history export or approved read interface. Do not add remote starts, stops, alarm clearing, schedule changes or transfer commands to the reporting workflow. Test the report with sample events and a simulated feed outage without operating the generator. Keep inspections, required testing and maintenance with the responsible site team and qualified service provider.
See equipment monitoring for planning the evidence and handoff, and embedded systems for equipment monitoring if an approved interface needs a custom read-only integration.