This article explores the changes to the Routes and Preventive Maintenance applications to support Linear Assets.

Routes Application

Route Tab

In the Routes application we will look at Route I-95N SI with a description of “I-95N in 10 mile segment increments (SI)”. This is set to create Entries in the Work Order’s Multi Asset, LocationA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More and CI Table. Notice, that if you wanted to modify one of these records then it would be better if the table window displayed something to identify itself apart from the Asset number which is likely to be the same for all records, for example the Route Stop Description. I would also recommend using the Sequence field to ensure that the route stops get generated on a work order in the correct order, and they appear correctly by the time it hits any mobile device.

If we open the Route Stops details area, we have a similar display to what we have seen on the Service Request and Work Order Tracking applications. The Feature and Feature Label is with the Asset field and below this is the Linear Segment Details section.

The record shown was the first in the list of route stops and there is no Start Reference Point only an End Reference Point. This is the linear segment from 0 to 10.00 miles.

While we have seen this layout of fields previously it is worth reminding ourselves of some scenarios of how these fields may be used:

A Route of Linear Segments of a Linear Asset

The route stops for linear assets will often be the segments between two reference points. Road bridges and intersection features are often marked as reference points because they naturally break the linear asset into segments, this is irrespective of whether there are marker posts. For example, the grass area on the bank of the linear asset will be split into areas defined by road bridges and the area calculated so that it becomes a factor in determining the duration and level of effort in mowing the area.

Each route stop defines the linear segment of the linear asset by either entering the Start/End Measures or by using Reference Points. The example shown above is of this type.

A Route of Features along the Linear Asset

Features are physical objects that may be maintained but they are not tracked as assets. The costs of performing the work will be made against the linear asset. The features may be point or linear. For example, an inspection of the guard rails along the linear asset. On each route stop you reference the linear asset in the Asset field and then select the feature, the feature derives the Start/End Measures (see following example).

A Route of Point Assets along the Linear Asset

Along the linear asset there are multiple point assets of the same type which are inspected together, for example Light Poles, Traffic Cameras, LCD Signal Display Panels. Each asset is referenced on a route stop, in this case there are no measures.

A Route of Connected Linear Assets

This scenario occurs in the rail industry for the grinding of rails. The asset on each route stop is a linear asset and you are using the Start/End Measures to indicate the length of rail being ground. There are connections between tracks which must be ground in one continuous process. This is where the sequence number plays an important part because it gives the order of the linear assets and their lengths being ground. The Path Selector button is used to select the linear assets related to the current linear asset; this button is only available with Maximo Linear. It is also used in road scenarios for the mowing of banks between road connections and around junctions.

Here is an example of a Route of Features along the Linear Asset. I’ve created a route I95N-GR with a description of I-95N Guard Rail Inspection, where each route stop is the Feature of a GUARDRAIL. You need to reference the linear asset in the Asset field otherwise the Feature and Feature Label fields will not be displayed. The feature in this case is a linear feature, it has length.

Notice the Total Work Units is set to 1.00, this Guard Rail runs from 12.00 to 13.00 miles and is one mile long.

This is the second route stop, with a sequence of 20, it is for the GUARDRAIL feature that runs from 20.00 miles to 25.00 miles and is 5.00 miles long. Note, you can modify the Start and End Measures to perform work on a part of the linear feature, for example to replace a section of it. You won’t be warned if you change the measures to exist outside of the defined measures for this asset feature.

Notice the Total Work Units is defaulted to 5.00. The Total Work Units attribute is part of a relatively new feature of Maximo introduced in 7.6.1.2 called Dynamic Job Plans, which is where I will be heading after completing these articles on Linear Assets. If you modify the Start/End Measure the Total Work Units is recalculated.

Routes Application – Path Selector

When you use the Path Selector button the Select Linear Assets dialog opens. In the header you enter the asset from which you wish to navigate. You are navigating through the Asset Relationships and if the asset has no relationships, then there is no point selecting it, although you wouldn’t be stopped from doing so. The Select Value on the Asset field are the assets in the SiteA structural element of a Maximo database that is used for data separation. More of the Route, in this case BEDFORD. 

After selecting the asset, I-95N in this case, then you use the Refresh button, and the table window is populated with the related assets to the selected asset. These can be point assets or linear assets. I have navigated through to the second page and have selected the Target Asset MD 5 – Maryland State Route 5, you can select multiple records.

There are three buttons:

• Select will select the asset(s) and you will have a route stop for it, but you can continue to navigate and select more assets.
• Select and Return will select the asset(s) and close the dialog and you will have a route stop for each selected asset.
• Close – closes the dialog and doesn’t return anything unless you had previously used the Select button.

I’ve used the Select button and will navigate to MD 5 by using the blue Move To button at the end of the row. 

Notice the last record in the Linear Assets table window has no Target Description. It has instead a Target Location of I-95-COMP2, I-95 Highways Compound No.2. If you try to select this row and return you will receive an error message “BMXAA3616E – Select an asset or location for this route stop.” After closing the dialog, you may find there is an empty route stop row and you cannot delete and save this, as you will still get the same error message.

After navigating to asset MD 5 it should find related assets, you shouldn’t have to use the Refresh button. I’ve selected MD 4 row and this time will use Select and Return.

There are now two assets added as route stops MD 5 and MD 4. You should now add an appropriate Sequence.

Work Order Tracking – Apply Route

When applying a route direct to a work order you use the action Apply Route. I’ll be selecting route I95N-GR with description I-95N Guard Rail Inspection. This is on a new work order 1490 – Apply Linear Route to Work Order, which references the linear asset I-95N.

The route was defined to add records to the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs table. The two records were created one for each route stop, in this case they are against linear asset I-95N and the GUARDRAIL linear feature. We are looking at the second record for Sequence 20 copied from the corresponding route stop. The work will be performed on the whole length of the Guard Rail from 20.00 miles to 25.00 miles. 

Preventive Maintenance Application

PM Tab

Frequency based preventive maintenance and inspections can be performed on linear assets, a part of a linear asset, its features, or its associated assets.

The most likely scenario is where the PM (1025) references a linear asset, I-95N in this case, and a route, the I-95N Guard Rail Inspection, route I95N-GR in the example shown.

Adding a linear asset to the Asset field will expose the Feature and Feature Label fields and the Linear Segment Details section which we have seen in other applications, but in the scenario of using a route, none of these fields are used.

The next most likely scenario will be when performing a PM against a feature, but only one feature can be referenced. In this case for a new PM 1026 – Cleaning of Road Sign for MD 202, the linear asset I-95N has been selected and the asset feature GANTRY-SIGN and Road sign for MD 202 has been selected. The asset feature’s reference point and measurement details are copied through to the Linear Segment Details section.

You cannot select just the feature class, the field titled Feature, and say that the PM is associated with all GANTRY-SIGN along the I-95N linear asset. Whether you are selecting a Feature or a Feature Label you are selecting the same record that populates both fields, assuming the asset feature has a feature label.

A linear segment of the linear asset can also be referenced either by using two reference points or by providing absolute measures. For a new PM 1027 – Mowing between MP30 and MP50, the linear asset I-95N was referenced and then in the Linear Segment Details section the Start Reference Point was set to MP 30 and the End Reference Point to MP 50, this created the Start/End Measures a 20-mile stretch of area to be mowed.

While the use of a Route would provide you the ability to reference multiple linear segments so that you could have one PM and one work order for mowing the whole length of I-95N, it may be the case that different segments of the linear asset need to be maintained at different intervals and at different times. With mowing, there are different types of grass, and grass can grow at different rates depending on altitude and ambient temperature. It is common also for Linear PMs to use the Seasonal Dates tab as the mowing season may not be for the whole year.

Work Order Tracking – PM Generation

When PM 1027 is made active and a work order is generated from it, then the Asset, Feature and Feature Label and the attributes in the Linear Segment Details are copied across to the work order. 

Preventive Maintenance – Filter by Linear Assets

In the List tab of the Preventive Maintenance application is an action under the Advanced Search menu called Filter by Linear Assets. You’ll find the same action in the Work Order Tracking, Quick Reporting and Assets applications, although I cannot see the benefit of this on the Assets application as you cannot select a part of a linear asset only the whole of it. There is no similar action on Assignment Manager.

The Filter by Linear Assets action allows you to filter PM records that have one or more features, in this case I am filtering for I-95N asset features of type GANTRY-SIGN. Notice that there is a New Row button so I could be finding all the PMs along I-95N that are either GANTRY-SIGN or GANTRY-LCD.

The Filter by Linear Assets can also find PMs records that reference a part of the linear asset. In this example, I’ve added two rows for filtering PMs along I-95N, PM records that are present between 10.00 and 20.00 miles or between 30.00 and 40.00 miles. Notice that it is an OR between rows and not an AND. If a PM references the whole length of the linear asset from 0.00 to 109.70 miles, then it is present between 10.00 and 20.00 miles and between 30.00 and 40.00 miles and hence will be returned by the query.

There is another feature of the Preventive Maintenance application when there are meters on the linear asset, but I will return to this later. The selection of the meter on a PM must be within the scope of the linear segment that is referenced on the PM. For example, a PM between reference points MP 30 and MP 40 cannot select a meter that is measuring the flow of traffic at 25.00 miles, but it would be able to do so for a meter that is measuring the flow of traffic at 35.00 miles. The meter point on the linear asset must be within the linear segment of the PM record.