"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." --Charles Dickens

 

Even though it's a warm 76 degrees in St. Petersburg, the holidays are fast approaching, bringing good tidings and cheer throughout the edi office.  We would like to extend that cheer to our wonderful colleagues and customers; from all of us to all of you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Job Plan Conditions (NEW in Maximo 7.5.0.3)
by Scott Yates
VP of Implementation Services
 
Have you ever had a situation where you had to a duplicate a Job Plan simply because two different pieces of equipment required a different Part? The steps were the same, the resource requirements were the same, but one or more parts varied across different models? In order to appropriately plan and reserve parts, you ended up having to duplicate the Job Plan for each variant or refrain from planning that particular part at all. This problem, and similar problems, can now be a thing of the past in Maximo with "Job Plan Conditions."

You can now apply conditions to job plans to specify that specific elements of work are valid only when certain conditions are satisfied. These user-defined conditions can
be applied to job plan components and to any corresponding resources. This includes tasks, labor, materials, services, or tools.

When you specify specific conditions on a job plan element and then apply that job plan to a work order, Maximo will evaluate the conditions and only copy the element to the
work order if the condition is met.

This feature uses conditional expressions that you can create in the Conditional Expression Manager application. To utilize this feature, you must be on version 7.5.0.3 or later and your system administrator must enable the ability to use "Job Plan Conditions" in the Organizations application.

Steps to Utilize Job Plan Conditions:
  • Create the Conditional Expression in the Conditional Expressions Manager application. (The expression must be a true/false statement that Maximo will be able to execute based on data contained on or related to the work order that the job plan is being applied to.)
  • On your job plan, identify the component (task, labor, material, service or tool) that you wan to apply the condition to and enter the Conditional Expression ID in the "Set a Condition" field for that component.
  • Apply the job plan to a work order directly or via PM generation.
Examples

A maintenance staff member creates a PM with a job plan to perform routine maintenance on air handlers. The job plan components have conditions that dictate how the work is to be carried out:

The correct type of filter must be used to match the model of air handler.
 
All potential filters are listed in the material section of the job plan. A condition on each material requirement specifies the "asset" model number(s) that the part is applicable for. When the PM generates, if the condition is "true" the part requirement is added to the work order. If the condition is "false" the part requirement is not added to the work order.

An additional safety check must be performed for a particular location.

The condition specifies that an additional safety check task is performed when the job is complete. The job plan condition dictates that if the asset is installed in a specific
location, the air handler requires an additional safety check.

EDI consultants know that implementation of advanced conditional logic must always begin on a foundation of clear process definition and a complete understanding of system functionality. If you would like to know more about how your organization could benefit from the automation of business processes through job plan conditions and other Maximo features, please contact edi today! 

Maximo Integration Framework Inbound to Outbound 
by David Palazzo
 Senior EAM Architect
 
Let's say you have configured Maximo with inbound and outbound integrations to the same MBO (e.g. ASSET). Whenever you use the Maximo front end user interface to create a record of this object type (you go to the Asset application, create a new asset record, enter data, and click save), an outbound transaction event is triggered. However, when the inbound integration receives a transaction, the outbound transaction event does not occur. Why is this?
 
The Maximo Integration Framework (MIF) was designed to stop transactions from being sent outbound when being received from an inbound integration transaction.
 
You can override this default MIF behavior by creating a Java class that extends the Maximo Event Filter class (psdi.iface.mic.MaximoEventFilter), overrides the stop recurrence member function ( protected boolean stopRecurrence(MboRemote mbo) ), and then set the Java class as an event filter class on the appropriate publish channels.
 
For example, here is a Java class to allow inbound asset transactions to trigger outbound asset transactions.
 
package com.edi.mif.event;
 
import psdi.iface.mic.MaximoEventFilter;
import psdi.mbo.MboRemote;
 
public class AssetEventFilter extends MaximoEventFilter {
 
    protected boolean stopRecurrence(MboRemote mbo) throws MXException, RemoteException {
        if (mbo.isBasedOn("ASSET")) {
            return false; // do not stop outbound
        }
        return super.stopRecurrence(mbo);
    }
 
}
 
Compile this Java, build it into the Maximo EAR, deploy the EAR to your application server, and then add this Java class to the event filter configuration for the publish channel of your asset object structure   You will now have asset records, whether through the user interface or the integration framework, trigger outbound integration transactions.
Principles of Planning
by Brian Harrison
Territory Manager

The ultimate goals of any Planning and Scheduling program are to optimize your work force, prevent work delays and save money. Traditionally, P&S initiatives have focused solely on the needs of the Maintenance group(s) but successful P&S efforts should also account for the needs of the Production and Reliability departments. While these perspectives are not necessarily competing, it is worth it to approach P&S with every division's goals in mind. Planning is the launching point, the research and data gathering is necessary prior to any actual work scheduling. While there are some instances where scheduling may occur independent of any planning, we will focus here on the planning portion of the P&S equation.

 

In order to enable effective scheduling, planning efforts should account for:

  • Crafts and labor needs
  • Tools and equipment
  • Parts
  • Data and job scope information

 

The planning function is essential to an organization. The majority of a Planner's time should be dedicated to future work and while it may be necessary to assign other responsibilities to these personnel, planning should remain the priority. The effort of creating job plans should be focused on jobs that are complex and predictable as they offer the most benefit in terms of improving wrench time. Some jobs may not take a lot of time to complete but have predictable areas where lost time could occur. An example would be needed parts or specialty tools. In instances such as this, you may want to create a job plan but not actually schedule the work, provided it does not interfere with production.

 

When creating job plans, it is important to only include absolutely necessary information that your average maintenance crew would need to complete the job such as craft needs, specs, parts, and equipment. Listing information that is too high level or beyond the scope can lead to staff ignoring information, which begins a slippery slope. The goal is to make every part of the job plan useful. Organizations should involve field personnel to review the documentation periodically and provide feedback to ensure that job plans remain current.

 

Taking steps to ensure that job plans are concise and limited to pertinent information organizations can ensure that they are viewed as valuable pieces to the maintenance, production, and reliability departments. This means that they will be followed and executed as intended. These guidelines position staff members to decrease the amount of corrective maintenance issues, improve asset uptime, and move towards more of a PM focused culture.
December FAQ
by Richard Foster
Certified Maximo Instructor
 
Frequently Asked Questions for Training

Q. What is the purpose and benefit of adding Material Statuses to the Work Order tab in the Work Order Tracking application?

A. Four fields have been added to the Work Order tab within Work Order Tracking as of Maximo version 7.5:

 

- Storeroom    Material Status

 

- Direct Issue Materials  Status  

 

- Work Package Material  Status

 

- Material Status Last  Updated

 

The Storeroom Material Status field reflects the availability of materials in the storeroom. If an order can be filled, a status of COMP shows in this field. A status of NONE reflects the fact that sufficient materials do not exist to fulfill the order. Selecting the Detail Menu next to this field displays a window that reveals the status of reserved materials including whether materials are available, staged for pick up, and the type of reservation made against those materials. This same functionality applies for the Work Package Materials Status field. Except, a work package involves availability of materials across multiple work orders packaged together.


Statuses displayed in the Direct Issue Materials Status field works similarly to functionality in the Storeroom Material Status field. A status of NONE displays when Direct Issue items are initially approved on a work order. The status changes to COMP when the Direct Issue items are purchased and then received. You can click on the Detail Menu next to this field for updates on the purchasing and receipt of Direct Issue materials.

Finally, you can follow activity regarding completion of reserved materials by monitoring the Materials Status Last Updated field. Clicking on the Update Materials Status icon next to this field gives 'current statuses' regarding fulfillment of reservations. 

 

Lone Palm Tree  

Need Training?

 

Through our partnership with IBM, EDI is an Authorized Independent Training Provider, able to provide a wide variety of private IBM Maximo classes, in addition to EDI developed classes to suit your training needs. 

 

These classes include:

  • Integration Framework (MIF) - Configuration for Maximo 7 by edi
  • Maximo 6 Foundations by edi
  • Maximo 6 Implementation by edi
  • Maximo 7 Foundations by edi 
  • Maximo 7 Implementation by edi
  • Maximo 7 BIRT Reporting by EDI
  • System Administration for Maximo 6 by EDI

 

Please visit our website for a complete list of course description and training information. edi is a full service consulting firm providing business consultation, implementation, configuration, support, and training for Maximo clients.

 

For more information on our services or to find out how we can make your organization more successful, please contact us toll free at 877-205-4030, direct at 727-299-9304 or via email at sales@edatai.com    

    

EDI is at your service!