Last Updated on December 28, 2022 by maximosecrets

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Hello, and welcome back to Maximo Bite Size. A series of videos on the functional aspects of Maximo Manage.

Title

Good morning and welcome to the fifth episode in the series on Maintenance Planning. I’m Andrew Jeffery and today we’ll be discussing the Job Plans application although we will leave Dynamic Job Plans to be covered during Work Management.

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Learning Objectives

Job Plans is a template for a work order and is the application along with Preventive Maintenance that is most associated with maintenance planning. Today, we’ll be looking at the fields found in the header and the tasks, the four planning tabs for Labor, Materials, Service and Tools, and also the Work Assets tab.

There is a lot to go through, so, let’s get started.

Job Plans

A Job Plan is a template for a work order, therefore much of the functionality we discuss today is relevant to the future section on Work Management. In broad terms a Job Plan has a set of tasks and the required labor, materials, services, and tools needed for the whole job, or each of its tasks.

The header of the Job Plan has a lot of fields, and we will start by looking at the core fields which in my opinion should be added to all Job Plan records, I’ll give you the reasons for this if it isn’t obvious. Then, we’ll review the other header fields before moving on to looking at the job plan tasks.

Job Plans are one of those objects that can exist at System, Organization or SiteA structural element of a Maximo database that is used for data separation. More level, the JOBPLAN object’s level is SYSTEMORGSITE. What this means is that if you define the Job Plan without referencing an Organization or Site, then it can be used across all organizations and their sites. If you define the Job Plan and reference an Organization , then it can only be used on work orders that reference the sites of that organization. If you define the Job Plan and reference a Site , then it can only be used for work orders that reference the same site. You have a single chance at deciding this as after you save the record the Organization and Site fields will become read-only. For Job Plan JP11430 shown in the screenshot it is at the site level, it can only be used with the BEDFORD site.

The Job Plan’s Status is DRAFT, ACTIVE, INACTIVE or CANCEL, PNDREV (Pending Revision) and REVISED. There is a section in the 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 application and System Settings action which you can see on the left. The first option is Revision Control for Job Plans, and this is the default. If you are just starting out with Maximo, I would suggest that this is not set. Without revision control you do not have the Pending Revision (PNDREV) and REVISED statuses, and you can still make changes at ACTIVE state. When revision control is applied the Job Plan becomes read-only at ACTIVE state and you need to use the action Revise Job Plan to modify it.

There are actions for View Status History and View Revision History which shows the history at both the header and task level with a field to indicate whether the task was ADDED or CHANGED. A change is a change to the task’s Sequence, Description, Duration, and Meter fields.

Revisions in Maximo generally means a complete copy of the record when you use an action that creates a new revision, for Job Plans this is the action Revise Job Plan. The Revision number is incremented, and the status is set to Pending Revision (PNDREV), but the previous revision of the job plan will continue to be used until you change status to ACTIVE or a synonym. When the new revision is changed to ACTIVE the previous revision is set to REVISED and can no longer be used. When you create a new job plan it is at revision zero.

When a Job Plan is applied to a work order the contents of the job plan are copied to the work order creating what is called the work plan. Therefore, any existing work orders will reference the Job Plan Revision from which they were created and will not have any changes that you introduced with the latest revision, a good reason not to generate work orders from Preventive Maintenance records too far ahead of when they will be implemented.

There are two fields in the header of a Job Plan which are used for filtering job plans on the various applications that support a work order. The first of these is the Template Type which has options for Maintenance, Process or Activity, but you may come up with others. For example, under Maintenance you may distinguish between Maintenance (PMs), Reactive, Corrective or Inspection, i.e., the Job Plan templates you have for different work types. There is no Work Type field on a Job Plan, mainly because the work type is thought to exist on a work order before you apply a Job Plan, therefore there would be nothing wrong with aligning your work types with the Template Type on a Job Plan to help filter for the job plan to apply.

The second field is the Default WO Class . In core Maximo there are four work order classes, activity, change, release, and work order. These correspond with four database views, and there are four applications, one for each work order class. The Work Order Tracking application by default allows you to view work orders with a class of WORKORDER, or WOACTIVITY, but you can query for all records stored in the WORKORDER table. With the add-on Health, Safety and Environment Manager (HSE) installed the number of work order classes increases from four to ten. Therefore, it should be good practise to always add a Default WO Class to each Job Plan to indicate where the job plan will be used, most likely this will be WORKORDER initially.

The other important Job Plan fields are Duration , and WO Priority. It is good to get into the habit of indicating the number of hours expected to execute the work order, this is the elapsed time assuming adequate planning. Don’t be too optimistic with the duration. What you will be looking to do with the duration is to understand which jobs are likely to exceed the number of hours in a shift, as they will require more planning, which jobs should be scheduled at the beginning of the shift, and the jobs which can potentially be filled-in around those longer duration jobs.

The Work Order Priority is a value between 0 and 999 where 999 is the highest. You may restrict this to a smaller number of values by configuring a domain on the field, 1-9 is an adequate range for most Maximo organisations. Understanding the relative importance of work helps in making decisions on which work orders to prioritise when resources are short.

Job Plan Details

The Classification and Class Description fields allow you to select a classification defined in the Classifications application with a Use With Object of JOBPLAN. You should also make sure that the work order object where the job plan will be used is also included in the list of Use With Objects, for example the classification should have both JOBPLAN and WORKORDER in the set of Use With Objects. If the Classification has attributes, then you will find them copied to the Specifications tab . The Job Plan’s Specifications tab may be a surprise to some in that it has two table windows, not just one as found elsewhere in Maximo. The bottom table window shows the attributes of the classifications associated with each Job Plan Task. The Use With Objects for tasks would be JOBTASK and WOACTIVITY.

The Job Plan classification and specification attributes will be copied through to the work order when the Job Plan is applied. The attributes should either be providing information to the work order or be information that you wish to collect during the execution or completion of work. If the work order is created from a Service Request, then the Service Request’s Classification and Specification will be copied through to the Work Order, and if you then apply a Job Plan its classification and specification will not be copied. Allow the Service Request to drive the use of classifications on a work order and then use the same classifications for Job Plans that will be used on work orders that do not originate from a Service Request. Often work order classifications are used in reporting and performance metrics, therefore the Job Plan’s Classification should be used for this as well.

The Classification and Specification isn’t the only field in the header that also exists on the Job Tasks. The Inspection Form field will be found on both the Job Plan header and Job Tasks. When a Job Plan is applied to a work order, an inspection record will be created for the work order and any tasks which reference an Inspection Form. The Inspection Form on the header might be a risk assessment. An Inspection Form on the first and last tasks might be the set of actions you wish a technician to take before starting or after completing the work.

There are several fields originally added by Maximo Scheduler and progressively added into the core of Maximo over the years. Some of these are still managed by a Scheduler license key, but all should be present in the user interface now that Maximo Scheduler is part of Maximo Application Suite.

• Start Constraint Offset and Finish Constraint Offset are numeric values which create a time window around the Target Start of a work order. The Start Constraint Offset is the amount of time (in hours) subtracted from the Target Start to create the Start No Earlier Than date. The Finish Constraint Offset is the number of hours added to the Target Finish to derive the Finish No Later Than date. The Target Finish is the Target Start plus the Duration. These two constraint dates will be seen in the Work Order Tracking application. In the Maximo Scheduler Graphical applications, they create red vertical lines, thin at the Start No Earlier Than Date and thicker at the Finish No later Than Date, and if you move the work order outside of these boundaries the Description field will be highlighted with a yellow background.
• Requires Asset Downtime and Requires LocationA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More Downtime are indicators of the state of the asset or location necessary to perform maintenance, for example do we need to wait for an outage to perform the work. While the fields are copied through to the work order no validation is performed on them.
• Requires Asset Maintenance Window and Requires Location Maintenance Window are indicators of when the work can be performed. Maintenance windows are added using actions in the Locations and Assets applications. There is no validation that the work order must be scheduled in the maintenance windows, but the Graphical Scheduling application has an option to show the maintenance windows when scheduling on a Location or Asset basis.
• Appointment Required can suggest that a work assignment should be fixed in time so that its schedule dates can no longer be modified, which occurs when you set the Schedule Lock field on the assignment record.
• Interruptible indicates that a work order can be started and then interrupted at shift end if it is not finished rather than having to be continued by the next shift as one continuous job (non-interruptible). The Interruptible Shift field is used when interruptible is set and indicates the Shift where a work assignment can start and then continue the next time that shift becomes available.

Many of these fields while added as part of Maximo Scheduler do not require you to be using the graphical applications to make use of them, they can be indicators to help you improve how you plan and assign work. Some of these settings are used by the models of the Maximo Scheduler Optimization add-on.

In the Responsibilities section on the right of the application screen and shown in the left corner of this slide there are fields for Supervisor, Crew, Lead, Work Group, Owner, Owner Group, and Crew Work Group. These fields are copied through to the work order and are used through the life of the work order to help indicate who or which team is taking responsibility for the work order. For example, one of the fields should be used to indicate the planner.

The same fields will be found in the Preventive Maintenance application and if the Job Plan is used on a PM, then you should use the responsibility fields on the PM rather than those found on the Job Plan. Owner and Owner Group are mutually exclusive, only one of these fields can have a value. Work Group and Lead are also mutually exclusive. If you enter a Crew and Crew Work Group, then the Crew must belong to the Crew Work Group.

We’ll discuss the Flow Control fields which you can see in the right-hand column on the next slide.

Job Plan Tasks

Further down the Job Plan tab you will find the Job Plan Tasks table window and below this the tabs for the required Labor, Materials, Services and Tools which we will come to in the next section. The tasks have a task number which is a reference that can be used in the Labor, Materials, Services and Tools tab . The tasks are traditionally numbered with gaps of 10 between so that you can add a new task between them, 10, 20, 30 etc. This is not necessary as the tasks are ordered by the Sequence field in the display of tasks for the work order.

Often, when Maximo is first implemented tasks remain unused and the job plan has a linked document that contains the process steps to follow for the job. The job tasks become more important when implementing a mobile system when the tasks act as a reminder of what needs to be done and the task order to follow. They are also used when the jobs are much larger taking several days, they help to break the job down into smaller more manageable pieces that are easier to schedule and assign.

The Nested Job Plan field can reference another Job Plan that has itself tasks. When the parent Job Plan is applied to a work order its tasks become child work orders and the Nested Job Plan’s tasks become tasks of those child work orders, effectively creating a hierarchy of three levels. I wouldn’t attempt to create a fourth level in the work order hierarchy, it would be difficult to visualise where you were within the hierarchy, but one level of Nested Job Plans works well. You may be able to guess from this that the work order tasks are stored in the same table as work orders and child work orders.

Several of the fields that we saw on the Job Plan header will also be found on the Job Task, including the Owner, Owner Group and Crew Work Group fields, but the other responsibility fields, Work Group, Lead, Supervisor and Crew won’t be found in the application, although they do exist in the table. Job Tasks can reference a classification and the attributes will be found in the Specifications tab. A Job Task can also reference an Inspection Form.

Some fields used in planning and scheduling are also present on a task, Duration, Interruptible, Interruptible Shift, Appointment Required and Include in Schedule which determines whether the task should be loaded into the graphical applications of Maximo Scheduler. Unless you are planning at the task level, this should not be set as you would not want to load unnecessary records into the graphical display.

There is a Meter field which is used if you wish to record a measurement or observation with the task. The meters are of type Gauge and Characteristic and when the work order is generated Maximo will look for a Condition Monitoring record for the meter name and location or asset and reference this on the work order task. During work execution the value you enter becomes a measurement record, and this may initiate a corrective work order if the measurement exceeds action limits.

You can add precedence logic between tasks from the Predecessor field. A dialog opens which you can see in the bottom left of the slide. The active task is task 40 which is missing from the list, but you can select multiple predecessors and the precedence relationship, which would normally be Finish to Start (FS), but Start to Start (SS), Finish to Finish (FF) and Start to Finish (SF) are also supported with Lead/Lag Hours between. For example, I might not be able to start a task for 24 hours after a predecessor task has finished if I am waiting for concrete to harden. A lead is a negative value creating an overlap between tasks, and a lag is a positive value creating a delay between tasks, the example given was a lag.

The precedence logic is supported in some of the graphical applications of Maximo Scheduler but also with a feature of Job Plans and Work Order Tracking called Flow Control. In its simplest form you can automatically change the status of one task when its predecessor tasks have completed. If you are using Owner and Owner Group fields for work queues, then this will place the next task in the work queue when the predecessor task was completed. This sounds like Workflow, and it came about to simplify workflow processes, but it isn’t workflow, and it will not place the task in the workflow inbox. The work queues would be monitored through the Start Center result sets, or queries. The Flow Action field might be an Action Group which contains a status change or other actions which might be custom actions, therefore it has more power than might be initially perceived, it can also initiate workflow through an application action.

To use flow control, you do need to specify the Start Status and Complete Status for each work type where you wish flow control to be used. This is set in the Organizations application and the action Work Order Options – Work Type. You also need to enable flow control on the Job Plan header. A word of warning, on the work order the Inherit Status Changes field should not be set, as you do not want the parent work order’s status change to roll down to all the children tasks when the work order has reached the point at which flow control is activated, which is normally In Progress state (INPRG), therefore you probably need a way of resetting this field at the status immediately before In Progress.

Going back to the first slide on Job Plans and the Organizations application and System Settings action, there was a field called Enable Job Plan Condition. When set this adds a ‘Set a Condition’ field to the Tasks, and the Labor, Materials, Services and Tools tabs. This allows you to create a condition that determines whether the record should be created on the work order, the condition should be met for the record to be copied. This feature came about because clients had several Job Plans which were similar but differed by one or two additional tasks, the Conditional Job Plans feature allows you to consolidate the Job Plans to a smaller number of records. The condition is created in the Conditional Expression Manager application.

Job Plan – Labor

The Planned Labor requirements to perform the Job Plan can be entered against the Job Plan as a whole or against each task. If the task is left null , then the planned labor is at the header level. Do not mix this for any one Job Plan especially for Planned Labor as Maximo Scheduler is designed for one or the other, and not a mix. For example, do not have a Job Plan where one labor record is referenced against a specific task of the job plan and one or more other labor records have a null task field.

Normally planned labor is against a Craft, or a Crew Type, for a Craft it may be a combination of Craft, Skill Level, Vendor or Labor Contract. You enter the required quantity of Craft , for Crew Types the Quantity is always one. When you enter the hours required Maximo will look up the Rate and will calculate the Line Cost by multiplying the Quantity, Hours, and Rate. You cannot override the Rate or Line Cost.

You can say that a Job Plan is to be performed by a specific Labor or Crew, it is not common because it is quite restrictive. It is used in the case where there is a preferred resource, but if that resource is not available you will either need to reschedule to a time when the resource is available or change the Labor or Crew on the work assignment.

If there is a Crew Work Group in the responsibility section of the Job Plan, then it will be copied to the Crew Work Group field on the Planned Labor record, and this will then filter the Crews that are associated with the Crew Work Group or filter the Crew Types to those of the associated Crews.

If the Job Plan is defined against an Organization or Site, then the same fields will be populated on the Planned Labor record. If the Job Plan has no Organization, then the Organization field on the Planned Labor will be mandatory. You can either enter it first in which case it acts as a filter when you select the Craft or Crew Type, or you can allow it to be filled from the Craft or Crew Type that you select. If you have several Organizations, then you may find it easier to select it first. Only the Planned Labor for the Organization of the work order will be copied when the Job Plan is applied to a work order.

You can indicate that the Planned Labor will require an appointment. If the Appointment Required field is set, then on the Assignments tab of Work Order Tracking you will need to set Schedule Lock after you have scheduled the assignment, this locks the schedule dates, unless you reset the Schedule Lock field, for example, if the appointment is cancelled or changes.

As referenced on the last slide, you may be able to enter a condition which must evaluate to true for the Planned Labor record to be copied through to the Work Order. When the Job Plan is applied to a work order the Job Plan’s Labor records are copied through the Work Order’s Plans tab and records are also copied to the Assignments table.

Job Plan – Material

When entering the materials required for the job plan you have a choice of using the New Row button or the blue button Select Spare Parts . The dialog that opens allows you to enter or select an asset and when you refine the search the table window shows the items that are registered as spare parts for the asset. The dialog allows multiple spare parts to be selected.

After selecting an item, you would enter the quantity required and now choose whether the item can be obtained from a storeroom or whether it should be purchased. By selecting a Storeroom , the Storeroom Site will be filled in as well as the Organization , and the Direct Issue field will become read-only. The Unit Cost comes from the storeroom depending on the costing method being used, normally Average or Standard. The Line Cost is the Unit Cost multiplied by the Item Quantity, both fields are read-only.

If you are going to be purchasing the item, make sure you enter the Organization first as otherwise you will not be able to specify a Vendor as vendors exist at the Organization level within a Company Set. After you select the Item to purchase then set the Direct Issue field and if the item has a Default Vendor it will be filled along with the Unit Cost taken from the Last Price paid for the item. The Unit Cost and Line Cost are again both read-only.

The Unit Cost is a non-persistent field and is being derived each time you fetch a Job Plan. If the item has a more recent Last Price from the Default Vendor, then this will be shown. If the Default Vendor is changed on the Item Master record, then you may find a zero Unit Cost if the Vendor references the old Default Vendor.

If the Item is Condition Enabled, then you can select one of its Condition Codes. Incidentally the Stock Category of the Item shown in the Condition section will display the Stock Category, Stocked (STK), Non-Stocked (NS) or Special Order (SP) irrespective of whether the item is condition enabled or not, this is derived from the Storeroom. Stock Categories now control whether the item can be added to a storeroom, they used to control whether an item in a storeroom was automatically reordered, this was replaced with a Reorder flag. The field is likely to show either STK or blank. If you make use of stock categories, then this field would be more useful if it pointed to the Item/Organization Details field where the Stock Category is set (ITEMORGINFO).

Don’t forget to enter the Task if you are using tasks for Labor, the task where the item will be used. For long duration jobs with several tasks then some of the initial tasks could be completed if you choose, even if the item is not available. If you leave the Task field blank, then you are saying the item needs to be available to start the work order.

Job Plan – Services

Services are always Direct Issue that create a purchase requisition when the work order is approved. They act in a similar manner to Direct Issue Materials which we saw on the last slide.

The Organization field should be entered first before selecting the Service Item as this will enable you to enter a Vendor if one is not derived from the Default Vendor for the Service Item and Organization. Entering the Vendor will derive a Unit Cost from the Last Price paid, this will be found in the Service Items application. The Unit Cost is read-only and is a derived value. If there is no Vendor, then the Unit Cost and Line Cost fields will both be set to zero.

A similar reference to the Task field, enter it if there is a task to be performed by the Vendor, particularly if there are some tasks performed by others. If the Task field is left empty, then it is assumed that the Vendor is undertaking the whole work order. If Job Materials and Job Tools exist and the Task field is empty on Job Services, then you should question why you are providing materials and tools for a work order to be performed by the Vendor.

Job Plan – Tools

Tools are the tools or equipment needed to perform the job. This would not normally be the hand-tools which are generally available. If you need to reserve a tool, it is specific for use on an asset, you need to maintain the item or perform a yearly inspection on it, the tool has an asset reference, or you charge for the use of the item, then Tools should be used.

Tools are not Direct Issue items, and they needn’t exist in a storeroom although you may use the Stocked Tools application to add them to a storeroom. Tools are defined in the Tools application and when you select a tool item you would enter the quantity of the tool required and the hours you need the tool for, the Tool Hours field . Tools are often marked as rotating so that there is a particular asset that will be used. These tools should be returned after use therefore the Tool Hours should reflect how long you expect the tool to be used for, e.g., how long they would be unavailable to others.

I would enter the Organization field first as the Rate field will be derived from the Tool Rate on the Tool/Organization Details action of the Tools application. But unlike Labor, Materials and Services where the Rate or Unit Cost is always derived, for a Tool you can enter the Rate overriding that derived.

If the Tool Item is held in storerooms, then you may select the Reservation Required field before selecting the Storeroom against which you wish to make the reservation.

Work Assets

A Work Asset is an asset, location, or item , and the Work Assets tab is used for three purposes:

• To filter the Job Plans specific to the location or asset entered on the work order
• To associate a Safety Plan with the location or asset so that it is defaulted onto the work order when the Job Plan is applied
• To automatically create a work order when an item is purchased, for example if the item requires a special inspection when it is received.

I’ll cover the last two points in later videos, Safety Plans will be part of Maintenance Planning, and so I’ll discuss this one in a few weeks’ time.

In the Work Order Tracking application, the Select Value on the Job Plan field has a field called ‘Show Job Plans for the Work Order’s Asset and Location Only?’ which by default is selected. This shows Job Plans where the location or asset referenced on the work order is referenced in the Work Assets tab on the Job Plan. But it does more than this. If the location or asset on the work order references a rotating item, then it will show the Job Plans that reference the same Item. If there are no Work Assets, then no Job Plans will be shown in the Select Value unless you change the lookup or configure it to show all Job Plans.

When the Job Plan is applied to the work order much of the data in the header is copied to the work order along with the Tasks and the Labor, Materials, Services and Tools. The Classifications and Specifications are also copied, but the Work Order Tracking Specifications tab does not show the specification attributes for the tasks, you need to navigate to the Activities and Tasks application to see them. The information you see in the Plans Tab of the Work Order Tracking application is called the Work Plan, and we say that the Job Plan creates the Work Plan.

There is an action on the Work Order Tracking application to create a Job Plan from the planning that you enter on the Work Plan.

If you scrolled further down in the Work Assets tab you would come across a Data Sheets table window, Data Sheets are used with Maximo Calibration.

There is a View Costs action that shows totals for labor hours, the four cost totals for labor, materials, services and tools, and a total cost.

A couple of final notes. The number of fields on the Job Plan application can be a bit intimidating, but you just need a Job Plan Code and a Description to get started. If you are recording actual hours and materials on work orders, then you are building history that can later be used to update the Job Plan with more details.

Job Plans can exist across an organisation that uses multiple languages. The Job Plan Description and the Job Task Description can both support a language table so that the same Job Plan is seen in the language of the user. This can also be extended through to their long descriptions.

Thank you for watching

I hope you have enjoyed this video on Job Plans, I know it was a long one, but I hope you found it useful, and thank you for watching. We would like to see you back in our next episode when we will be reviewing Routes and Collections. Don’t forget to hit the Subscribe button, and if you enjoyed this video, please give it a thumbs up.

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Until another time, Goodbye.