Last Updated on November 19, 2022 by maximosecrets

Introduction

Dynamic Job Plans was introduced in Maximo 7.6.1.1. Many who would be asked whether Dynamic Job Plans is relevant to them would say, no, because we don’t have linear assets. Others might say that this is only used with assets. Not true on both counts, dynamic job plans can be used by every Maximo client who performs work. 

This article shows how the basic use of dynamic job plans can be applied usefully to anyone performing inspections. I will use a route based on locationsA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More, and so, no use of assets at all in this scenario.

What is a Dynamic Job Plan?

When we apply a job plan to a work order the quantities and durations are copied to form the work plan. The resource requirements on the job plan in terms of labor, materials, services and tools are static quantities, the values on the job plan are the quantities that end-up on the work order. A dynamic job plan ends-up making a calculation of the quantities and duration on the work order based on the number of work units that the work order requires, dynamic durations and quantities.

Our business scenario

In the office block there are fire doors which require testing. We don’t have the fire doors referenced as assets, but we know how many of them there are on each floor. Each fire door and its door frame is identical. Each fire door takes about 30 minutes to test. There are four floors to the building and a total of 10 fire doors, 3 on floors 1 and 2, and 2 each on floors 3 and 4. The fire door test is performed by a pair of mechanics.

We will create a Job Plan for the time taken to inspect one fire door. We will also create a Route with the four floor locations defined as route stops. We’ll start with the Route.

Routes

I’ve created a new route 1006 – Office block – Fire Doors, with four route stops for MOFLOOR1 through MOFLOOR4. In the details area for MOFLOOR1 you can see a new attribute which is part of dynamic job plans, the Total Work Units. For each of the floors I have entered:

• MOFLOOR1              3.00
• MOFLOOR2              3.00
• MOFLOOR3              2.00
• MOFLOOR4              2.00

The route is set up to create “Entries in the Work Order’s Multi Asset, Location and CI Table”.

Job Plans

In the Job Plans application I’ve created a new Job Plan AJE11 – Fire Door Inspection and marked this as “Is dynamic?”. The Dynamic Job Plan Information section then appears, and you will need to enter the number of Work Units, a unit of measure and a Calculation Method. I have entered 1.00 EACH with a calculation method of PROPORTIONAL. This particular calculation method will linearly scale the labor, material, services and tools, and also the duration by the number of required work units on the work order.

In our business scenario the number of work units is 10, there are 10 fire doors, and so we would expect the duration and labor hours to be multiplied by 10. If I had said that the Job Plan was worth 2.00 work units, then the duration and labor hours would have been multiplied by 5.

In the Labor tab of the Job Plans application I have entered a requirement for craft MECH, quantity 2 and 0:30 hours to perform the inspection of one fire door. In the Dynamic Job Plan Information section, I have entered a type of HOURS and a calculation method of PROPORTIONAL.

The calculation type can calculate the HOURS, QUANTITY or BOTH hours and quantity. The calculation method is set to PROPORTIONAL because this is how we wish the Job Labor to be applied to the work order. If we were entering materials or services, it is likely that these would also be set to PROPORTIONAL, but if a tool was required then the tool may be set as STATIC, we only need the one tool irrespective of the number of fire doors to inspect.

I’ve changed the status of the job plan to ACTIVE.

Work Order Tracking

In Work Order Tracking application, I’ve created a new work order 1414 – Fire Doors Inspection of OFFICE, and in the location field I have entered OFFICE. I’ve also applied job plan AJE11 – Fire Door Inspection. If you looked at the planned labor it would look exactly the same as it did on Job Plans, a craft MECH, quantity 2 and 0:30 hours to perform the inspection of one fire door.

Before the Route is applied the Total Work Units shows as 1.00 EACH. You can see that there are no rows in the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs table window.

I’m using the action Apply Route and have selected Route 1006 – Office block – Fire Doors. You should receive message “BMXZZ7110I – Calculation successfully applied”.

The work order now shows the applied route, there are four records in the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs table window for MOFLOOR1 through MOFLOOR4 but unfortunately the Total Work Units on the 2^nd and subsequent route stops have not been copied through to the work order from the corresponding route stop. The total number of work units is 6. This test was performed on Maximo 7.6.1.1, however, I have retested on Maximo 7.6.1.2 IFIX006 and the issue still exists, I have reported the issue to IBM Support.

The Duration has been changed from 0:30 to 3:30, that seems a bit strange, perhaps it is including the OFFICE location which will also be found in the MULTIASSETLOCCI table, but it is hidden. The work order itself shows that it has 1 Total Work Unit, it could be that this is adding the extra 30 minutes.

On the Plans tab, and Labor sub-tab, the Regular Hours is set also at 3:30.

If I set the Total Work Units on the work order to 0:00, which leaves only the work units on the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs, which is 6 work units, then the duration is reduced to 3:00 and the Regular Hours on the planned labor is also set to 3:00.

I can manually change the number of work units on each of the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs records so that there is a total of 10 work units, and the duration is changed to 5:00 hours (10 x 30 minutes), as has the planned labor, it also shows 5:00 regular hours.

A simpler way altogether without using Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs is to indicate the Total Work Units on the work order, in this case 10.00. The Duration is recalculated to 5:00 and the planned labor also shows 5:00 regular hours.

Summary

For inspections, Dynamic Job Plans can be used with calculation method PROPORTIONAL so that when you enter the Total Work Units on a work order, the work order’s duration and the work plan labor hours are multiplied by this value. The Total Work Units can be entered as a single figure on the work order, or it is totalled from the Total Work Units entered on each record in the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs table window. If you have a value on the work order and on the Multiple Assets, Locations and CI records, then the two are added together, as the multiplying factor. The Job Plan in this case, represents one unit of work.

This is an example of using Dynamic Job Plans on locations, no assets or linear assets have been involved. I’ll explore other features of Dynamic Job Plans in later articles.

Configuring Dynamic Job Plans

System Properties

The Global Value in System Properties application for the property dynamicjobplan needs to be set to 1.

OrganizationsA structural element of a Maximo database which is used for data sharing and is often aligned to a legal entity of an organisation. More

In Organizations application and in Work Order Options – Edit Rules, the column for Dynamic Job Plans is checked for work order statuses WAPPR, APPR, WMATL and WSCH. By default, it is not set for INPRG or COMP. However, it is up to you to decide at what point you can no longer modify the Total Work Units.

How to Test Dynamic Job Plans is Available

To test Dynamic Job Plans is available go to Job Plans application and in the second column of the Details section there should be the checkbox “Is Dynamic?”. On a new job plan when this checkbox is active then the Dynamic Job Plan Information section should be displayed. The field below this “Ignore Linear Measures” is also an attribute associated with Dynamic Job Plans.

In Work Order Tracking application “Is dynamic?” is a column on the List tab, but that may have been removed by your Maximo administrators to save space – it isn’t on the Advanced Search. The attribute Total Work Units will be found in the Job Details section below Inspection Form and Inspection Result and also as a column in the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs table window.

Note. If you are using Maximo for Service Provider then you will not find the Dynamic Job Plan fields in the Job Plans (SP) or Work Order Tracking (SP) applications, only in the base application, Job Plan and Work Order Tracking.