Last Updated on October 29, 2023 by maximosecrets

This article is the second part into a review of the Maximo Mobile Technician application. The first part you can find here, it is where you should start – http://maximosecrets.com/2022/01/26/maximo-mobile-technician-1/.

This is part of a series of articles to discover the capability of the new Maximo Mobile applications. The system I am using has Maximo Mobile 8.3 installed, this is the November 2021 release, in System Information it indicates IBM Maximo Application Framework 8.6.0.0 Build 20211012-1522 DB Build V7600-18. I am initially using a desktop browser; at some later date I will probably look to write some articles from a mobile phone or tablet perspective. 

The Maximo Mobile applications are currently found in the Work Order module and Role Based Applications sub-module. 

The Technician application was included in the first release, in February 2021, and it has been enhanced in the three subsequent ones (8.1, 8.2 and 8.3). It does not cover the full functional footprint of the Work Execution Work Center, I discuss this briefly at the end of the third (and final) part of this article.

We will start this second part continuing with the buttons you may find at the bottom of the work order details panel starting with Tasks and following with Report Work.

Tasks

From a previous screenshot you may have seen that there were 7 tasks for work order 1006 – Feedwater Pump Service. If you click the tasks button you will see all the tasks, just the task number and description with a button for “Mark complete”.

When a task is completed, you will have a symbol of a green tick inside a green circle which is positioned between the task number and the task’s description. This changes the task’s status to COMP (Complete).

When you review the work order you might note that the number associated with the Tasks button shows the number of incomplete tasks and not the total number of tasks.

On a different work order when the task references an Inspection Form and has an Inspection Result value then the Inspection Form description is displayed – Inspection A, and beside it the Inspection Result (1049). The symbol on the left will take you through to the Mobile Inspection application. 

Report Work

I had already started work order 1006 and the blue button at the top of the screen would be used for saying that the work order was now complete.

The Report Work page allows you to enter a failure report, add labor, and add materials and tools used. For materials this may be an issue or a return.

Notice that there is already a time record under the Labor section for Mike Wilson. This is because the timer on the work order had been started, and now the options are to Pause work or Stop work, either of these actions will complete the labor transaction for Mike Wilson based on elapsed time since he started work. 

Report Failure

You make a failure report by using the pencil button in the Failure section. Work order 1006 has already derived a failure class of PUMP – Pump Failures from the associated asset or location, and on the right-hand side you select the problem code, for this failure class. There are four options in the failure hierarchy; Stopped, Low Pressure, Leaking, or Low Volume.

I picked the Problem Code for Low Pressure, and this is transferred to the left-hand side, the failure report. The Failure Hierarchy is now searched for Cause Codes and provides options on the right for Worn Impeller, Worn Housing and Jammed Pipe. I’ll pick Jammed Pipe.

Jammed Pipe is now transferred to the left-hand side of the failure report. The Failure Hierarchy is now searching for Remedy Codes and provides options on the right for Cleared Pipe Jam, Replaced Pipe. I’ll select Cleared Pipe Jam.

Cleared Pipe Jam is now transferred to the left-hand side of the failure report. The last step of a failure report with four levels, class, problem, cause, and remedy, is to enter an optional Remark, I had entered – Pipe had a lot of debris. Clear pipe every 2 years. This used up all 50 characters available, 50 used of 50 available (50/50), (WORKORDER.REMARKDESC). There is a long description associated with this field, but it has not been added to the screen, it is used by the Work Execution Work Center.  

If you changed the Problem code, then the Cause and Remedy codes and the Remarks would all be blanked. The Failure date and time cannot be modified.

Add Actual Labor

The (+) button in the Labor section allows the user to enter new actual labor records from the side panel. The blue dot indicates mandatory fields.

• The Labor field defaults to the labor code of the logged in user but it can be changed. The list provided 48 names, which is the set of labor that have a work site of the user’s default insert site, in this case BEDFORD. We will add a record for AJE – Andrew Jeffery.
• The labor transaction Type can be modified to the synonyms of the WORK type, i.e. Travel time (TRAV), Waiting for materials (WMATL) and Actual work time (WORK), see domain LTTYPE.
• The Start date can be selected from its lookup but the Start time does not have a functioning lookup, just a symbol. The AM/PM format for time is used rather than using a 24-hour clock.
• The Hours, when entered, will calculate an End date and End time. You may get a message in red text like “Hours exceed duration between start and end time”.
• The Craft and Skill level have been defaulted from the default craft of the selected labor. The lookup shows the secondary craft/skill levels of the selected Labor.

When the actual labor record has been entered you can use the blue tick at the top of the side panel. 

A new actual labor transaction will be created. This may be read-only but it depends on the OrganizationA structural element of a Maximo database which is used for data sharing and is often aligned to a legal entity of an organisation. More settings and action Labor Options and the settings for Automatically Approve Inside Labor Transactions and Automatically Approve Outside Labor Transactions. If the record can be modified, it will have a pencil button on its right-hand side.

The Labor section shows the time entry I created for Andrew Jeffery on January 21, 2022, for 45 minutes of Travel Time. The Start and End date/times for the labor transaction are shown, including the time type.

Add Actual Material

The (+) button in the Materials used section allows the technician to enter new actual material transactions from the side panel. The blue dot indicates mandatory fields.

• The Material field has a lookup on items. This is the same query we saw before for items in the storerooms of the user’s default insert site. 
• The Storeroom field will be defaulted if the item exists in one storeroom, or you will be asked to select from the storerooms where it exists.
• The Bin number field shows both bin and below it the lot number if the item is lotted. 
• The Quantity defaults to 1 but can be incremented with the +/- buttons.
• The Transaction type defaults to ISSUE but can be changed to RETURN.

When the actual material record has been entered you can use the blue tick at the top of the side panel and a new actual material transaction will be created.

The material transaction I created is the bottom one, a return of a filter FLT001 to the CENTRAL storeroom. The table shows the quantity issued for each item along with the Issue Type ISSUE or RETURN.

If you select an item and it exists in multiple storerooms you get a second selection box to pick the storeroom, then if it exists in multiple bins a further selection box is shown. In the above screenshot the item chosen was a LOT item; when you are asked to select the bin you are actually selecting both the bin and the lot number at the same time. If you look at the first two records in the side bar A-4-9 is the bin, and A-431 and X123-23 are the two lots in that bin, with a quantity remaining of 16 and 2 respectively.

Add Actual Tools

The (+) button in the Tools used section allows the technician to enter new actual tool transactions from the side panel. Similar to materials you first select the tool, storeroom, and then in the case of the tool item DUMP TRUCK, which is a rotating tool, the tool asset.

The Add tool dialog is filled out once the selection process has completed. The blue dot indicates mandatory fields.

• The Tool field has a lookup on tool items. This is the set of stocked tools in the storerooms of the user’s default insert site. 
• The Storeroom field will be defaulted if the tool exists in one storeroom, or you will be asked to select from the storerooms where it exists.
• The Bin number field shows the bin and below it the lot number if the tool is lotted (rare). I did test this, and it was populated with the lot number.
• The Rotating asset field shows the asset number and description and will only appear if the tool is rotating.
• The Quantity defaults to 1 but can be incremented with the +/- buttons.
• The Hours required can be incremented with the +/- buttons or a value entered.
• The Task field allows you to select the task that you wish to book the tool to. It is best to select this first before selecting a tool, doing it the other way around the Task lookup occurred after using the blue tick button and then wasn’t saved on the actual tool transaction.

When the actual tool record has been entered you can use the blue tick at the top of the side panel and a new actual tool transaction will be created.

The Tools used table shows the tool item and its description and the quantity. There are no hours used, there is also no issue or return which would be performed from the Stocked Tools application and for rotating tools this would track where the tools are being used through the asset move.

Asset and Location History

In the Asset and location details section where the image of an asset would be shown on the right, there are a set of buttons. The buttons shown may vary depending on the data. The 2^nd button allows you to record meter readings, we covered this earlier in the article. The 3^rd and 4^th buttons are Asset and LocationA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More History and Change Asset Status both of which we will now review. Note, the Asset and Location History button shows after you have navigated in and out of the work order, i.e., the second time you open the work order.

We are on work order 1363 – Reservations, and with an asset of TEST01 and location of TEST10.

The “Asset and location history” dialog is a view onto the Asset’s work order history and the Location’s work order history. For Asset TEST01 which has a description of Meter group:

• Work Order 1465 with a CM work type is displayed
• Work Order 1448 with no work type is displayed

For Location TEST10 which has a description of Test of meter group for a location:

• Work Order 1465 with a CM work type is displayed

This differs a little from the Mobile Work Approval application in that it does not show the status of the work order, which would be useful. It does not show the current work order, which is good.

Asset Status and Downtime Reporting

The Asset Status dialog opens on the left-hand side panel and shows the Current status with two buttons, up and down arrows. The hyphen immediately below the Current status would show the date at which the asset went down, hence no date is displayed, just the hyphen. I selected the down arrow button and the downtime reporting panel opened. Notice the selected down arrow has a more defined ring around the button. The downtime reporting panel has fields for:

• Status date of the status change – 01/25/2022 (today).
• Time of the status change – 1:30 PM, there is no time lookup, just a symbol to indicate a time field.
• Downtime code – I selected Breakdown from the domain lookup.

I then used the blue tick at the top of the side panel to submit the downtime record for asset TEST01. This closes the left-hand side panel, and the asset now shows that it is Down.

When I opened the Asset Status dialog again the down arrow button is selected and the Current Status shows the downtime date, but not the time when the asset went down. I pressed the Up button and the panel opened below it to enter the date and time the asset went up – January 25, 2022, at 1:45pm. The blue tick button at the top of the side panel was used again.

This concludes the second part of this article; you can continue to the third part which starts with the Attachments and Follow-up work buttons.