Short answer
Logging as you go is a fine way to start — but scheduling is where the real value is, for two reasons. Continuity: if the clerk or the groundsman moves on, whoever comes next can log in and the whole plan is there — what needs doing, to what, and when. Evidence: when something goes wrong, it's rarely a regulator who asks to see your records — it's your insurer. A schedule of completed, dated, photographed checks is exactly what they want to see.
Detail
Most small councils run on two people's memories. That works until a handover — and handovers are where things get missed. We've seen a council where the grounds team assumed the office was handling vehicle MOTs, the office assumed the grounds team was — and the vehicles ran uninsured for years before anyone noticed. Scheduled tasks make the invisible list visible: fire alarm tests, boiler servicing, equipment checks, the things that only bite when they're forgotten.
You don't need to schedule everything on day one. Get the assets in, log reactive work as it happens, and schedule the recurring checks as you confirm what they should be — each one you add is one thing nobody has to remember any more.
Watch-outs
- Don't treat "we log everything after the fact" as the end state — it records the past but doesn't protect the future.
- Scheduling is also what makes the reporting useful: planned vs done is the story an auditor or insurer actually reads.