Last Updated on November 10, 2023 by maximosecrets

This is the second in a series of pages that examines the financial processes for work orders and would be applicable to Work Order Tracking and Quick Reporting applications. This page focuses on Work Order Actual Materials, specifically the transactions that create MATUSETRANS records. Direct issue Work Order Actual Material (MATRECTRANS) and Services (SERVRECTRANS) are entered in the Receiving and Invoices applications and this is where they will be covered.

This series will include:

1. GL Defaulting on a Work Order, Labor and on Work Order Actual Labor, the LABTRANS record
2. GL Defaulting on Work Order Actual Materials, the MATUSETRANS record
3. GL Defaulting on Work Order Actual Tools, the TOOLTRANS record

Each page demonstrates, using examples and screenshots, how the two GL account fields, the debit GL account and the credit GL account, GLDEBITACCT and GLCREDITACCT respectively, are derived. A summary is provided at the end of each page.

This page will examine:

• GL defaulting on a Work Order Actual Material record
• Summary – Work Order Actual Materials (MATUSETRANS)

GL defaulting on a Work Order Actual Material record

The Work Order Tracking and Quick Reporting applications can perform both issues and returns of inventory items.

Material Issues

We will continue using work order 1338 which has a GL Account (GLACCOUNT) of 6100-200-300 defaulted entirely from the asset’s GL account field. This was demonstrated in part 1 of this series.

On the Actuals tab and Materials sub tab you can create a New Row or select multiple material records using the other three buttons. The transaction type is ISSUE and the GL Debit Account was modified in the third element, the Resource segment, from 6100-200-300 to 6100-200-200. The issue is against the CENTRAL storeroom, these storeroom issues are recorded in an object/table called MATUSETRANS. 

In Maximo, if a storeroom is not referenced, this is called a Direct Issue transaction, it applies to materials, services and tools. The item is issued directly to the work order as part of the receiving process without being checked into a storeroom and adjusting storeroom balances. You cannot perform Direct Issue transactions from the Actual – Materials tab, you always need to enter a storeroom. We will cover direct issue financial processes as part of a set of pages following the procurement financial processes.

The selected item is 4-L080 a Lockwasher.

If we navigate to the Item Master application we can see that the item belongs to the MECH commodity group.

In the Chart of Accounts application and the action Resource Codes, the commodity group of MECH has a partial GL account of ????-???-200. It is this resource code which is merged with the work order GL Account to form the GL debit account on the actual material transaction, resulting in 6100-200-200.

For the credit GL account on the work order actual material transaction, 6600-800-800, we can navigate to the Inventory application. There are two places where the inventory control account provides a default for material issues:

• Inventory GL Control Account (INVENTORY.CONTROLACC) is used with LIFO and FIFO issue cost type items.
• Inventory Cost GL Control Account (INVCOST.CONTROLACCOUNT) is used with AVERAGE and STANDARD issue cost type items.

These fields are not normally shown, and I have unhidden them for the purpose of explaining the GL defaulting rules. In this example the Control Account has been derived from the Inventory Cost table window, the item 4-L080 has an Issue Cost Type of AVERAGE.

If the item is capitalized, the item’s Capital GL account is used for the GL Credit Account on the MATUSETRANS record. You will find that this is entered into the Inventory Cost GL Control Account (INVCOST.CONTROLACCOUNT). The Standard Cost and Average Cost will also be set to zero for capitalized items.

For an actual material transaction of type ISSUE there will be a negative quantity and a positive Line Cost.

Material Returns

Material returns can be performed by changing the Transaction Type to RETURN, selecting the item to return and the storeroom to return it to. The GL Debit Account and GL Credit Account are identical if you return the same item to the same storeroom, the GL defaulting is the same as for an ISSUE transaction.

For an actual material transaction of type RETURN there will be a positive quantity and a negative Line Cost.

Material Line Type

Maximo also allows you to record actual materials with a line type of Material. In this case you are not entering an item or storeroom, only a description of the material that was used. In this case there is no defaulting of the resource code, and the GL Debit Account will not be complete, which will require the user to use the GL Account Navigator to enter a value for the third segment of the GL Debit Account. 

The above screenshot is from the Quick Reporting application, the layout is a little different from Work Order Tracking.

An Actual Material record is saved to the MATUSETRANS object/table when you save the work order, and it cannot then be modified. GL validation is asking that you have a complete and valid GL debit account, with all segments filled in. A financial transaction can exist with a blank GL credit account.

Incidentally, when mistakes are made when entering actual materials in Work Order Tracking or Quick Reporting you cannot enter a negative quantity for either an ISSUE or RETURN transaction, but you can enter a negative unit cost. Here I have effectively reversed the previous Material line type of $10.00.

Summary – Work Order Actual Material (MATUSETRANS)

The GL account codes on work order actual materials (MATUSETRANS) entered either through Work Order Tracking or Quick Reporting can be defaulted both on the debit (blue) and credit side (mauve). This diagram only shows the material issues and returns from storerooms, and not direct issue items that follow through purchasing and receiving. 

On the debit side (GLDEBITACCT):

• The commodity group of the item being issued or returned has a partial GL account (GLDEFAULT) defined in Inventory Resource Codes in Chart of Accounts application. This is merged with that from the work order’s GLACCOUNT, with elements from Inventory Resource Code taking priority.
• The Work Order’s GLACCOUNT is itself merged from the GLACCOUNT fields on PM, Asset, LocationA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More in that priority order.

On the credit side (GLCREDITACCT):

• If the item has an Average or Standard Issue Cost Type, then the credit account is derived from the Inventory Cost (INVCOST) table. If the item has a FIFO or LIFO Issue Cost Type, then the credit account is derived from the Inventory (INVENTORY) table.
• These two control accounts are derived from the storerooms GL Control Account (LOCATIONS.CONTROLACC) but they can be modified in the Inventory application.
• In the Item Master application, the item can be set to be capitalized or not. Capitalized items have zero cost when issued. The Capital GL Account is manually entered when you use the Change Capitalized Status action, there is no default for it. The GL Account you enter is recorded in the Inventory Cost Control Account (INVCOST.CONTROLACCOUNT)

On the Inventory application the control and other GL accounts are normally hidden, but if displayed they can be modified.

The debit and credit GL accounts for an ISSUE and a RETURN are identical. The difference is that:

• an ISSUE has a negative Quantity and a positive Line Cost (reduce storeroom quantity, charge WO)
• a RETURN has a positive Quantity and a negative Line Cost (increase storeroom quantity, refund WO)