Last Updated on November 19, 2022 by maximosecrets

On the Item Master application there is a check box on the right-hand column called “Attach to Parent Asset on Issue?”. This is only available when the item is marked as a rotating item. We will show what happens if you issue the item to the asset, first with this field unchecked and then later with it checked. 

We will issue the item to asset 2169 which you might have seen in the article Item – Add as Spare Part.

In the Assets application we are using the action “Issue Items From Storeroom”. I have selected item MOT10 and the Storeroom CENTRAL and filled out the full GL Debit Account for the financial transaction. In the Rotating Asset field, I have selected asset 2180. You need to enter the storeroom first before selecting the rotating asset.

On pressing OK I received the error message “BMXAA0140E – LocationA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More is not valid.” This is because when we issue a rotating item, we are performing two transactions, the issue of the item (MATUSETRANS) and the move of the asset to another location (ASSETTRANS), the error message is failing on this second part. If you were issuing the item from the Inventory application, you would receive the error message “BMXAA1873E – Please specify a location for the rotating asset to be moved to.” which is far more explicit.

I have now used the Move/Modify Assets action to move asset 2169 to location BOILER.

Issuing item MOT10 and asset 2180 adds the asset to the location BOILER, as an independent asset to 2169 which also exists at the location BOILER.

I have used the action Move/Modify Assets to move asset 2180 back to the CENTRAL storeroom. You can do this, but it is better to use a Return transaction from Inventory, for financial reasons.

When you look at the MOT10 item from the CENTRAL storeroom you can see that asset 2180 is found. However, its Inventory Cost is now $0.00, it was $1,400. This is because an issue expenses the item to the debit account derived from where the asset was located BOILER. For an asset the inventory cost is set to 0.00. When you perform an asset move back to a storeroom, the asset has no value, it has already been expensed, you are simply moving the asset. A return transaction negates the original issue transaction, in which case BOILER was not charged for asset 2180 at all. A bit “off-piste” but I thought I would illustrate it now as this is part of a wider discussion on Asset Cost Accounting in Maximo.

Back on the Item Master application I have now changed rotating item MOT10 so that “Attach to Parent Asset on Issue?” is now selected.

I’ve returned to Asset 2169 and again used the action “Issue Items From Storeroom” select MOT10, the CENTRAL storeroom and asset 2180. This time the asset has been added to both the Location BOILER and it has been added as a child asset of 2169, it becomes a subassembly.

Why might you need this function? It was originally created, I believe, for software assets being installed on PC’s or Servers. Many IT assets are rotating, linked to a rotating item, because at some point you expect the asset to be returned to the storeroom to be reused or disposed. In the case of a software asset it can be installed on another PC. When I issue software to a PC or a laptop, I want it to be attached to the parent asset. In a non-IT world, there can be other rotating items where you want the asset attached as a subassembly to a parent, perhaps if the parent asset was going to provide the meter reading for the child asset.

The “Attach to Parent Asset on Issue?” check box does not exist on the Tools application, although a tool can be marked as rotating. Tools are designed to be returned to a storeroom, so that they can be reissued elsewhere. Manually adding a rotating tool asset as a subassembly to an asset is unlikely from a business perspective but is allowed by Maximo.

Maximo will also perform the action of attaching the issued rotating asset to a parent asset when the issue is performed on a work order application.

In this case I used Work Order Tracking application and the Actuals – Materials tab and selected asset 2182, in the Charge To section of the actual material table window, asset 2169 had been selected as the primary asset on the work order. The result was asset 2182 was made a subassembly of asset 2169.