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Guides & playbooks

Field-tested playbooks for
pest & sanitation teams

Practical, step-by-step guides for the moments that actually matter — onboarding a new site, prepping for an audit, containing an outbreak, and building a sanitation program that stands up to leadership review.

Pick your track

By role

Pest Control Manager

Onboarding, outbreak response, device management

Sanitation Manager

Program design, calendar cadence, verification

Food Safety / QA

Audit prep, auditor walkthroughs, trend reviews

Operations Leadership

Trend reporting, quarterly reviews, KPIs

Third-party Providers

Multi-facility service, shared reporting

Cold Storage Teams

Zone risk mapping in temperature-controlled space

The playbook library

6 playbooks
Onboarding

New facility onboarding in 14 days

Stand up a new warehouse in PestMetry — from blueprint digitization to first inspection — without slowing down operations.

10–14 days Pest Control Managers, Facility Leads
  1. 01

    Day 1–2 · Facility profile & team setup

    Create the facility, invite the on-site team, assign roles, and configure time zones, shifts, and notification defaults so alerts route to the right people from day one.

  2. 02

    Day 3–5 · Blueprint digitization

    Upload the current facility blueprint (PDF, DWG, or photo). Use the digitization workflow to produce a clean, high-resolution base map with racks, docks, restrooms, and sanitation zones labeled.

  3. 03

    Day 6–8 · Mapping & pick-slot layout

    Draw zones, aisles, and pick slots on the digital map. Import slot IDs from your WMS export or use the built-in slot numbering assistant to generate consistent labels.

  4. 04

    Day 9–11 · Devices, tools & baseline inspection

    Place traps, monitoring devices, and control stations on the map. Run a baseline inspection so the facility has a documented starting condition before day-to-day activity begins.

  5. 05

    Day 12–14 · Go-live & handoff

    Turn on scheduled inspections, sanitation tasks, and reporting. Walk the team through the Getting Started checklist and confirm the first weekly report generates cleanly.

Audit preparation

Monthly audit prep — the 5-day checklist

A repeatable rhythm for closing out the month, verifying corrective actions, and generating the reports you need before your auditor walks in.

5 business days Food Safety, QA, Sanitation Managers
  1. 01

    Day 1 · Open items sweep

    Filter work orders and pest incidents by status. Reassign anything stale, and confirm every open corrective action has a due date and owner.

  2. 02

    Day 2 · Device & trap verification

    Walk the map and confirm every device shows a recent service entry. Log any missing inspections with photos so the record reflects on-the-ground reality.

  3. 03

    Day 3 · Sanitation coverage review

    Open the sanitation calendar and confirm scheduled tasks were completed. Note any gaps and schedule catch-up cleanings before month-end.

  4. 04

    Day 4 · Trend analysis

    Use the reporting filters to review the trailing 30 days by pest type, zone, and shift. Flag any hotspots that need corrective action escalation.

  5. 05

    Day 5 · Generate & distribute reports

    Run the Monthly Facility Report, attach signed corrective actions, and share with QA, plant leadership, and your third-party auditor via a scheduled report.

Incident response

Outbreak response — first 72 hours

Contain, document, and communicate quickly when activity spikes in a zone. Designed for rodent, stored-product insect, and bird events.

72 hours Pest Control Managers, Operations
  1. 01

    Hour 0–2 · Contain and isolate

    Log the incident with photos, activity level, and exact map location. Flag the surrounding zone and notify shift leads through the built-in alerts.

  2. 02

    Hour 2–8 · Evidence & scope

    Inspect adjacent slots and dock doors. Add findings, damage notes, and evidence pins. Increase monitoring device frequency in the affected zone.

  3. 03

    Hour 8–24 · Corrective actions

    Create linked work orders for sanitation, exclusion, product holds, and follow-up inspections. Assign owners and set aggressive due dates.

  4. 04

    Hour 24–48 · Communication

    Generate an incident report for QA and plant leadership. Share the map view of the affected area so everyone sees the same picture.

  5. 05

    Hour 48–72 · Verification

    Re-inspect, re-photograph, and either close the incident or escalate. Attach verification evidence directly to the original incident record.

Program design

Designing a data-driven sanitation program

Build a sanitation program tied to real pest and inspection data, not a generic frequency list — and prove its impact over time.

2–3 weeks Sanitation Managers, Food Safety Leads
  1. 01

    Step 1 · Baseline the facility

    Pull the trailing 90 days of incidents, findings, and work orders. Segment by zone, shift, and product line to see where pressure actually lives.

  2. 02

    Step 2 · Define zones and frequencies

    Group the map into risk tiers (high, medium, low) based on the baseline. Assign cleaning frequencies to each tier instead of using a flat schedule.

  3. 03

    Step 3 · Build the schedule

    Use the sanitation calendar to create recurring tasks per zone with clear owners, checklists, and photo requirements at completion.

  4. 04

    Step 4 · Instrument and observe

    Let the program run for 30 days. Watch the map and trend charts weekly. Adjust frequencies where incidents are still climbing and pull back where they are cleanly trending down.

  5. 05

    Step 5 · Report and refine

    Present a quarterly review to leadership showing incidents per zone before and after the redesign. Use those results to lock in the next quarter's plan.

Audit day

Third-party auditor walkthrough

Guide an SQF, BRCGS, AIB, or customer auditor through PestMetry so the record speaks for itself — and you spend less time defending it.

Half day QA, Food Safety, Plant Managers
  1. 01

    Before arrival · Read-only auditor access

    Create a scoped, read-only account for the auditor with visibility to the current facility only. Share the credentials via your normal secure channel.

  2. 02

    Kickoff · Facility map tour

    Open the interactive map and walk them through zones, device placement, and recent activity. Filter incidents by the trailing 12 months for context.

  3. 03

    Deep dive · Pull specific records

    When the auditor asks about a specific event, use search to open the incident, its linked work orders, photos, and corrective action closure evidence in seconds.

  4. 04

    Trends · Show program direction

    Open the trend charts to demonstrate 90- and 365-day movement. Auditors want to see that pressure is understood, not just that records exist.

  5. 05

    Wrap · Export the record

    Generate a scoped audit report covering the requested date range and share it with the auditor. Keep a copy attached to the facility for your own file.

Operations

Device & trap management best practices

Keep your monitoring network accurate, current, and fully documented — without turning device servicing into a paperwork tax.

Ongoing Pest Control Technicians, Managers
  1. 01

    Standardize placement

    Use the map to place every device with a consistent numbering scheme. Interior rodent stations on interior walls, exterior stations on the perimeter, insect monitors near entry points and processing.

  2. 02

    Service on the map, not on paper

    Technicians open the device from the map, log findings, activity, and any actions taken. Photos attach directly to the service record.

  3. 03

    Trigger corrective actions automatically

    When a device shows repeat activity, create a linked work order in the same flow. No re-keying between systems.

  4. 04

    Review coverage quarterly

    Every quarter, review device coverage against recent incident heat maps. Add, move, or retire devices based on where pressure has actually shown up.

Keep going

Pair playbooks with the rest of the library

Playbooks tell you what to do. Case studies show what it produced, docs cover the how, and the help center answers the day-to-day questions.

Case studies
Documentation
Help center

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