A template is the master copy of a check — its tasks, who's responsible, and how often it happens. Set it up once and ASR creates the day-to-day checklists from it.
You need to be an admin, client admin, auditor or manager to create templates.
Start a new template
Go to Standards > Checklist Templates.
Choose New Template.
The builder has three steps — Overview, Tasks and Details — shown across the top. Move through them with Next, and go back with Back. Nothing is saved until you choose Create template on the last step.
Step 1: Overview
Describe what the check is and where it applies.
Name — required. Make it something your team will recognise on a busy morning, for example "Daily Opening Checks".
Description — what the check is for and when it should be done.
Type — Operational or Compliance.
Category — Food Safety, Health and Safety, Cleaning, Maintenance or Other. This is what people filter by later, so it's worth getting right.
Sites — keep All sites if every site does this check, or choose Specific sites and pick them.
Locations — if your sites are split into locations (areas, floors, units), you can narrow the template to particular ones.
Choose Next.
Step 2: Tasks
This is the list your team will work through. Keep each task short and answerable in one action.
Type the task into the box. You can use up to 256 characters.
Pick how it should be answered, using the type dropdown on the task:
Yes / No — for straightforward confirmations.
Pass / Fail — for inspections against a standard.
Numeric — for readings such as temperatures.
Free text — when you need a written answer.
Date — for recording a date.
Turn on Evidence required if the person completing the task must leave a comment. These tasks show a red asterisk when the checklist is being completed.
Add guidance notes to a task if it needs explaining — what "good" looks like, or where to find something. Your team can read this while completing the check.
Other things you can do here:
Add section — group related tasks under a heading, for example "Kitchen", "Front of house" or "External areas". Sections make long checklists much easier to work through.
Scope — limit a section (and its tasks) to specific sites or locations. Use this when most of the check is the same everywhere, but a few questions only apply in certain places. Choose Change on the section’s Scope: line to set sites and locations. Leave them empty for All sites / All locations. Full detail is in How to limit checklist sections to specific sites and locations.
Preview — see how the template and section scopes will look when someone completes a checklist.
Drag the handle on a task to reorder it.
Duplicate or delete individual tasks and whole sections. If you delete a section, its tasks move to Unassigned rather than being lost.
A template can hold up to 100 tasks. You need at least one task to continue.
Setting a pass range on numeric tasks
Numeric tasks can fail on their own when a reading is out of range. Use Numeric fail rule:
No automatic fail — the person decides.
Fail below — set a minimum acceptable value.
Fail above — set a maximum acceptable value.
Fail outside range — set both a minimum and a maximum.
This is ideal for fridge and freezer temperatures: enter the reading and ASR decides whether it's a problem.
Choose Next.
Step 3: Details
The last step sets who is responsible and how often the check repeats. This is covered in its own article — see How to schedule recurring checklists and set who's responsible.
If you just want a template you'll trigger by hand, leave the scheduling switch off. You'll see "No repeating schedule or open/close times. This template stays ad-hoc until you add a schedule." — that's fine, and you can add a schedule later.
Finish with Create template.
Reusing and tidying up templates
From the template list, use the menu on any row to:
Duplicate — copy an existing template as a starting point. The copy is named with "(copy)" so you can rename it.
Archive — retire a template you no longer use. Existing checklists are kept, and archived templates stop generating new ones. Switch between Active and Archived at the top of the page.
Delete — remove the template. Checklists already completed from it are preserved as records.
Checking your template before you roll it out
Open the template to see it in full. From here you can:
Edit Template — make changes.
Generate Checklist — create one checklist right now, so you can walk through it yourself.
Print Blank Template — a paper copy for training or for sites that need to work offline.
The Executions tab shows every checklist created from this template, and Statistics shows how it's performing.