Quiz – Meters, Meter Groups and Condition Monitoring

One small topic, 10 questions on Meters, Meter Groups and Condition Monitoring:

Read the question, work out your answer, then use – Flip Card – to reveal the answer and explanation. There is no scoring, but you can score yourself.

The coloured symbols show the level of difficulty. You could be an expert in Maximo but know nothing about this subject, so do not be disheartened if you get a Beginner question wrong.

Q1 – What are two of the three types of meters (pick two)?

  • A – Runhours
  • B – Gauge
  • C – Observational
  • D – Measurement
  • E – Continuous

Answer – B – Gauge and E – Continuous

One type of CONTINUOUS meter is running hours, but an electricity meter is kilowatt hours, and vehicles measure in miles or kilometers, so runhours is not an appropriate term. The one thing these examples have in common is that the value continuously increments. A GAUGE meter records measurements where the value can fluctuate up or down over time, unless it is constantly degrading, like the tread depth of a tyre, or the light intensity of a lamp. The third type of meter is one based on an observation.

Q2 – What type of meter is used for making observations?

Answer – CHARACTERISTIC

A CHARACTERISTIC meter has a set of observational values, and you select the closest value. The colour of oil in a transformer has a range from pale yellow of new oil to the dark brown of old oil, it also turns from clear to opaque as it ages. The possible set of observational values are entered into an ALN Domain.

Q3 – What type of meter can take both actual and delta values?

Answer – CONTINUOUS

A CONTINUOUS meter may have an actual meter reading, for example for a utility meter you would give an actual value. On an aircraft you would wish to record flight hours, this would be a delta value, a value for the trip which is added to the existing actual meter reading. There is always a current meter reading of the location or asset irrespective of whether actual or delta values are entered.

Q4 – For what reason would you use the Meter field in the Item Master application?

  • A – To measure the number of an item in an inventory bin
  • B – To record the volume of a liquid dispensed from a drum
  • C – To increment the same meter on an asset when the item is issued to it
  • D – As a spare part to a motor

Answer – C

When an asset has the same meter as the meter on an item then the issued quantity of the item is the delta value used to increment the assets meter reading. Think of counting the volume of fuel or oil used on a vehicle. Many years ago, Maximo had an application called Metered Material Usage where it was obvious how this feature worked. Now you either know the feature exists or you don’t – now you do.

Q5 – What type(s) of meter can exist in a Meter Group?

  • A – CONTINUOUS
  • B – GAUGE and CHARACTERISTIC
  • C – CONTINUOUS and GAUGE
  • D – GAUGE
  • E – CONTINUOUS, GAUGE and CHARACTERISTIC

Answer – E

All types of meters can exist in a Meter Group

Q6 – Where can you not use a Meter Group?

  • A – Location
  • B – Asset
  • C – Item marked as Rotating
  • D – A non-rotating Tool

Answer – D

Location and Asset are obviously correct places where a Meter Group is used to create the set of meters for the location or asset. The Item Master has a Meter Group field that can be used when the item is marked as Rotating. When the Location or Asset references the Rotating Item the Meter Group is copied and this creates the associated meters. There is a Meter Group field on the Tools application, but it will only be enterable if the Tool is marked as Rotating.

Q7 – True or False? You can add a new meter to a meter group and have this automatically added to all the locations and assets that reference the meter group.

Answer – It is true.

The Meter Group has a field called ‘Apply New Meters Where Group Is Used?’ which needs to be set. Then as you add a new meter you need to decide whether to set the field ‘Apply This Meter Where Group Is Used?’ when set and saved the meter is added to the locations and assets which reference the meter group.

Q8 – Apart from Locations, Assets, Items and Tools, what application can also reference a Meter Group?

Answer – Asset Template

The other application where you can reference a Meter Group is an Asset Template. When applied it adds the Meters of the Meter Group to the Asset Template.

Q9 – In the Assets application and the Meters tab each meter can reference a field called Point. What does the value of this field represent and how is it entered?

  • A – It is created from an external interface when meter readings are downloaded
  • B – It is the key value from the Condition Monitoring application which you can return to the field on the Asset – Meters tab when you use the Select Value
  • C – It is the key value from the Condition Monitoring application and is created from this application when a record references the asset and meter
  • D – It is the text field used to describe the meter in the context of the asset so that mobile users understand the purpose of recording readings, measurements, and observations

Answer – C

The Condition Monitoring application has two unique keys the Point (POINTNUM), this is the measurement point, and the Meter in combination with either the Location or Asset. For answer A, external meter readings are not interfaced to the Asset Meter but to an object that accepts meter readings for the asset’s meter. For answer D you use the Remarks field. For answer B, the Asset – Meters tab does show the Point field, but it is read-only.

Q10 – How do you create the details of hundreds of Condition Monitoring points without entering them manually one by one?

  • A – Use the Condition Monitoring Template application
  • B – Use the fields in the Asset Templates application and Meters tab. The measurement points are created automatically when you use Generate New Assets or Apply to Existing Assets actions
  • C – Use the fields in the Meters application and a Crossover Domain will copy the fields when the meter is referenced on the Condition Monitoring application
  • D – Use an Application Import. You need to create the records in a spreadsheet first.

Answer – D

After at least 25 years of Maximo or more, nobody has produced a way of creating the Condition Monitoring records from a template. The other answers are all possible ideas. If an implementation requires thousands of measurement points, then it is likely that an integration with an external system is needed, but this is unlikely to have the warning/action limits or the Job Plan or PM to apply when the action limits are exceeded.

I hope you enjoyed the quiz. The quiz was designated suitable for Beginner level.

One response to “Quiz – Meters, Meter Groups and Condition Monitoring”

  1. Param avatar
    Param

    Thank you for your effort and this helps a lot read and understand – this gives lot of information and reasoning and functional understanding of the all the articles/podcasts/quizzes that you provide in your site.
    I very much like the quizzes.

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