Overview
Before your teams can log downtime, four things need setting up: the permission to manage it, operational logging on the Locations you want to track, your downtime categories, and (optionally) automatic Assignment creation so downtime triggers follow-up work. This article walks through each. For the bigger picture, see Using downtime in Mobaro.
This setup requires Super User access or a Role with Organization: Administrate (to configure categories, operational logging, and auto-Assignment) and the ability to edit Roles (to grant the permission below).
Why this matters: Getting these foundations right is what makes downtime data trustworthy — the right people can log it, only the Locations you care about are tracked, every entry has a clear cause, and the issues that need fixing automatically become work.
Grant the Manage Downtime permission
Give the right Users the ability to manage downtime by adding the permission to a Role: open Roles in the Mobaro Backend, choose or create a Role, and enable Operations: Manage Downtime. Save.
Note: This permission lets Users mark Locations in or out of operation, view and edit a Location's operational log, and register, resolve, and edit downtime. See How to set up Roles.
Enable operational logging on Locations
Operational logging is what lets a Location track uptime and downtime. Enable it on the Locations you want to monitor: open Locations, multi-select the Locations, click Edit, set Operational logging of locations to Enable, and apply.
Note: Only Locations with operational logging enabled appear in the Operations tile and contribute to uptime/downtime reporting. To measure downtime against real opening hours, also attach an opening-hours Calendar — see Add operating hours to a Location.
Create downtime categories
Categories are the causes applied to a downtime (Mechanical, Weather, Staffing, Guest incident), and they drive how downtime breaks down in reports and on Dashboards. In the Backend, go to Configuration > Downtime, click Create New Category, and name it. Repeat for each cause you track.
Best practice: Keep categories few and distinct — a short, shared list everyone applies the same way makes downtime reporting far more useful than a long, overlapping one. You can also set whether choosing a category is required when logging downtime, so entries are always classified.
Set up automatic Assignment creation
You can have Mobaro create an Assignment automatically whenever a downtime starts — turning a fault into tracked, assignable work (and making the downtime Blocking). In Configuration > Downtime, enable Create assignment when a new downtime is started, choose the assignee User Group, and set the Assignment categories. Save.
Note: This is the global default. You can override it per downtime template — forcing an Assignment for mechanical/safety downtime while skipping it for weather or planned holds. See Creating downtime templates for use in RideOps.
What's next
With setup done, your teams can log downtime from the mobile app or RideOps, you can review and finalize it on the Uptime Summary, and it flows through to Dashboards.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can I enable downtime management for multiple Roles?
A: Yes — add Operations: Manage Downtime to as many Roles as needed.
Q: Can I turn operational logging off later?
A: Yes. Select the Location, click Edit, and set Operational logging of locations to Disable, then apply.
Q: Do I have to use automatic Assignment creation?
A: No. Without it, downtimes are logged but no work order is created — fine for tracking-only setups. Turn it on (globally or per template) when downtime should trigger follow-up.
Q: How do I edit or remove a category?
A: In Configuration > Downtime, where you can rename or delete existing categories.