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Role-Based Applications – Service Requests

Last Updated on January 2, 2024 by maximosecrets

Service Requests is a Maximo Mobile application which will also be found on the desktop in the Work Order and Self-Service modules and Role Based Applications. There may be some differences between the mobile application and the role-based application, and I aim to uncover those differences. Maximo Mobile aims to be an offline solution, the Role Based Application performs the same functions, but only works online from a browser.

This is the article on the Role-Based Application – Service Requests and the screenshots have been taken with an iPad in landscape mode. The article will cover more details than the Maximo Mobile article for Service Requests which will be focused on an end-user, for example, this article will also review the Object Structures and Queries that support the applications.

The Service Requests application was one of the first Maximo Mobile applications, released on MAS 8.6 in October 2021 and it has been enhanced several times since. I wrote about it in January 2022, and I thought it about time that I updated that article.

The environment I am using is MAS 8.11.0, Maximo Manage 8.7.2 and Maximo Mobile 8.11.0.

Before we show you what the application looks like a few words are needed to explain the data that Service Requests depends on, Classifications and Ticket Templates, and a word on some System Properties which were previously found in the Administration Work Center.

Classifications

A Service Request Category hierarchy  is defined using the Classifications application. The Show in Service Request Work Center attribute should be set.
Classifications – Service Request

The Categories displayed when creating a new service request are based on a classification. For a classification to be displayed the Use With Object must reference the SR object and the attribute Show in Service Request Work Center must be enabled. 

The position in which the Category is displayed is determined by the Order field. The description used is the one for the Classification and not the one used for the Classification Path.

If you want the Category to have an image, then use the Add/Modify Image action and once selected the image will appear in the top-right of the Classification screen. A square image is best for a mobile phone in portrait mode. A rectangle image is best for a tablet in landscape mode. The Service Requests application does look better if all the top-level categories (the ones without parents) do have an image and some care should be made to check that it looks OK in both portrait and landscape orientations.

A Classification Hierarchy may exist, and you can navigate down. For example, in the MAXDEMO database if you pick Request for Service, you will get four subcategories one of which is HR. You can drilldown from HR to find a further three subcategories, one of which is New Employee.

If you were following this in the Classifications application the Classification Path is 2 \ 204 \ 20401 and the Classification Path Description is Request For Service \ HR \ New Employee. 

Ticket Templates

Optionally a Ticket Template can be applied when it shares the same Service Request classification. This can automate some of the Service Request processing, it also provides additional questions to the requester.
Ticket Templates – Service Request

A Classification can be linked to a Ticket Template by using the Classification field on the Ticket Template. When creating a new Service Request if you selected the category Heating & Air you will find that there are four options the first is titled – It’s too hot. It is subtle, but when you drill-down from the Category (a Classification) if the title is ‘Subcategory’ then it relates to a Classification record, if it says ‘Type’, it is referencing a Ticket Template linked to the classification. 

When there is a Ticket Template linked to a Classification then Maximo will apply the Ticket Template. I have set the following:

We’ll see in a while that when the Ticket Template is applied it creates a slight difference in the information required when creating a new service request.

It is OK for a Classification to not have an associated Ticket Template; the Service Request will be created, and you can subsequently use the Apply Service Request Template action. However, linking the Classification and Ticket Template provides more automation for example to automatically route the newly created Service Request to the correct team to start processing. Some clients will extend this further and will automatically apply a Service Level Agreement to set the Target dates on the Service Request so that you can monitor progress by comparing target and actual contact, start and finish dates.

What happened to the Administration Work Center?

There are System Properties that are used with the Service Request role-based application, for example to provide the default reported priority values.
System Properties – Service Requests

If you had previously been using the Administration Work Center, then this is no longer available, nor is the Service Request Work Center available in MAS 8.11. The few fields in the Administration – Properties tab that created default values when creating a Service Request are now updated from the System Properties application. Tip – Filter by sr.

As we go through the application I’ll point out where these System Properties have provided a default.

Create Service Request

When adding a new Service Request you are presented with the Categories, the top-level Classifications and each of the images used to describe the service. For example Heating & Air services shows an image of a thermostat.
Service Requests – New SR – Categories

Using the big blue button (+) at the top right corner of the View Service Request screen will take you to the New Request page, we’ll review View Service Requests in the second half of this article.

The New Request page opens with the top-level Service Request classifications where the Show in Service Request Work Center is set. The Classification must also reference the Use With Object of SR. The description displayed is the top one found in the Classifications application (CLASSSTRUCTURE.CLASSIFICATIONDESC), this is the description of the Classification, the one found in Add/Modify Properties – Classifications.

The images will be those entered in the Classifications application. As you can see by comparing the top row with the other two rows, it is better if all the top-level classifications have an image, or none of them, but a mix isn’t quite as appealing. If the images are square, then they will be truncated at the top and bottom. If you look at the original image for Kitchen you get cupboards above and below, so compose a picture so that it looks good for the vertical middle third.

I am going to follow the Request for Service tile in the top row, one without an image.

After selecting the category you will be presented with its subcategories, the second level in the classification hierarchy.
Service Requests – New SR – Subcategories

Choosing the classification Request for Service will drill down to the 2nd level in the Classification hierarchy with four options HR, Telco, Facility and IT. We will follow the Facility subcategory. At the top you can navigate back to the parent classification – Request for Service.

You may drill down to an optional third classification level but it would be unusual to have more than 3 levels although there is no restriction.
Service Requests – New SR – Subcategories – Level 3

The third level in this part of the classification hierarchy shows two further classifications for Configure/Change and Move. We will select Move. We know we are still in the Classification hierarchy because it is titled Subcategory. Notice that the button has changed on the right-hand side from that shown on the previous screenshot, this indicates that we are at the end node in the classification hierarchy.

When the heading changes from Subcategory to Type you are now looking at a Ticket Template record. These are used for common requests where you can automate the response, or the initial part of the response.
Service Requests – New SR – Subcategory Type

We have now moved to the Ticket Templates that references the Classification that we had navigated down to. I know this because the title says Type instead of Subcategory. The idea behind this is that for a classification there could be none, one or multiple common requests and the Ticket Template allows you to set this up so that the common requests are handled in a predictable and repeatable manner.

A classification could have multiple Ticket Templates, in which case selecting one of them makes sense. However, if you only have the one option you might think whether you want the user to make the extra click, it might be possible to remove the third level of the classification and just have two ticket templates for the same classification which in this example was Request for Service \ Facility. The two Ticket Templates would be called Configure/Change and Move in this example. It only makes sense to have the Ticket Template if you are going to use its attributes to automate some of the processing of the Service Request, with follow-up questions, to set the Owner or Owner Group, and set the internal priority, but you could automate further with Workflow or an Escalation.

The Request for Service,Facility,Move is a generated Ticket Template description because the Classification is set up for Description Generation.

As we have been drilling down there has been a button called Describe the Request, and I’ll come back to this towards the end of the article.

Finally you arrive to enter the details of the new Service Request. The first two fields for a facility request to move desk asks for the person to be relocated and the date of the move. These two fields were provided by an attribute of the Ticket Template added to its Specification. The example illustrates support for both Table and Date attributes.
Service Requests – New SR – Details

After you have finished navigating down the classification hierarchy the New Service Request screen opens. If the selected Ticket Template has attributes in the Specification tab they are displayed.

Person to be relocated is a mandatory attribute, you can see the blue dot to indicate this. The attribute I created was called MOVEPERS and is of type TABLE. A table domain allows you to look up against data held elsewhere in Maximo, in this case I used the domain EVENTFORUSER which is a table domain against the PERSON object.

The second attribute I created was called MOVEDATE and is of type DATE. Date attribute types for Specifications is quite a recent addition to Maximo functionality.

Below these two fields is the Service Request Summary which comes from the Ticket Template description and a long description field.

The attribute for the person to be relocated, a table attribute, supports a lookup, in this example to a set of people.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Table attributes support lookups

The lookup for the Person to be relocated attribute shows the Person Identifier and their Display Name.

Date attributes have a calendar lookup, in this example for the date of the relocation move.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Date attribute

After selecting CHLOE as the Person to be relocated, it shows just the one field, it would be better to return the person’s Display Name.

The Date of Move attribute has a regular looking Date lookup. I am selecting 15-Dec-2023. It at least proves that all attribute types are now supported.

The details support a short and long description for the request. The short description (Summary) will be copied from the Ticket Template.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Summary

I did not change the Summary, but I added some text for the Description – Chloe is a wheelchair user and will not be able to move any items. Please also arrange for security to be amended to include the West Wing.

There is no ability to enter rich text formatting for this long description field which is a pity as you will later find you can enter formatting for Log Note descriptions. I have raised an IBM Idea (RFE) for this, you can find the link towards the bottom of this article.

When you have finished you click the next section for the Contact person.

The next section in the new service request details is the contact person for the request. Fields are provided for the name, phone and email with a lookup on the name. These are the Affected Person fields.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Contact Person

For the Contact details there are three fields the Full Name, Phone and Email. Making changes to these fields change the Affected Person in the User Information section of the desktop Service Requests application. While you can change the Full Name field to someone who is not listed as a Person in Maximo, when you submit the Service Request it does not retain the name and reverts to the Reported By person, the person who is creating the Service Request. I have reported this issue to IBM Support. You should be able to say that anybody is to be contacted regarding the service and not just someone who is referenced in Maximo as a person.

The next section is the Location and there are different ways of finding a location, by a lookup, by scanning a barcode or QR code, or through a map interface.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Location

The Location field supports a drilldown. The screenshot shows the top-level locations, NEEDHAM in my case. When you drilldown by using the button on the right it displays the child locations of Needham. 

The location search also supports a drill down through the primary hierarchy.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Location Drilldown

You can continue to traverse down the location hierarchy OFFICE – MOFLOOR4 – OFF401. If there is only one asset at the location selected then the asset will be selected, a path of BOILER – BR400 – BR430 – BR431 would demonstrate this as BR431 only has one asset 23972.

The three buttons at the top are Map, Scan and Search. 

The Search bar is searching for the child locations and would only be useful if there were ten or more locations that shared the same parent.

There is no ability to drilldown other location systems, only the one marked as Primary.

When navigating down the location hierarchy the hierarchy button opens the Location Tree showing the levels that you have navigated and allowing you to backtrack to any previous location.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Location Tree

There is a button at the top which shows the Location Tree, all the locations chosen in the path, and you can navigate back to where you want. 

The location search, which is equivalent to the Select Value in the desktop application, has columns for the location, description, status and location type.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Location Select Value

The Search is like a Select Value on desktop Maximo with columns for Location, Description, Status and Type, although there are no column headings. You can search across any of these fields. 

There is a filter button in the Location Search which gives you options to search by Status or Location Type with a lookup for each field providing the range of values to filter by. You can filter on multiple values.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Location Search Filter

The Filter button at the top allows you to choose how to filter, by Status or Type, and providing the domain lookups with a multi-select capability, allowing you to select Active and Operating status, for example.

Locations can also be found by their proximity to your current GPS position. I added a location to the church next to where I live.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Location Map

The Map will allow you to find a location via a map. I have created a new location called STPAULS, the church next to where I live and added a service address to it. When you open the map, it finds nearby locations to your current GPS position (Green marker) and marks them with a black icon which turns blue if you select it.

The Scan option opens the camera for you to read a barcode or QR code.

When you have selected a location the next section shows the assets at that location. There are the same options for selecting assets through a lookup, by scanning, or a map interface. The selected location is acting as a filter.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Asset

I had previously selected location OFF401 (rather than STPAULS via the map). The Asset search shows the assets at the selected location, think of this as applying a filter to the assets. To understand the search capability for assets it is worth trying to select an asset without preselecting a location as you will have a much larger volume of records to search by.

The same three buttons will be found at the top, Map, Scan and Search. The Map will allow you to find assets via a map and the Scan option opens the camera for you to read a barcode or QR code. On the Maximo Mobile application there is an additional button for you to search by an Asset, the button icon looks like a pencil.

The Asset search (Select Value) has columns for the asset number, description, location, rotating item, tag number and serial number.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Asset Select Value

The Search is like a Select Value on desktop Maximo with columns for Asset Number, Description, Location, Rotating Item, Asset Tag, Serial Number. Again, there are no column headings, and this is a lot more problematic than for locations. Wondering why there was blank space after the fourth column which I recognised as Rotating Items, I had to reach for the configuration code to see that the fifth column was the asset tag, in the Maximo desktop Assets application this field is not displayed.

You can search across any of these fields. Although the Status is not displayed as a column you can still enter ‘active’ in the Search bar, and it will find the same records as if you had filtered by Status = Active. 

Notice the Filter button at the top is already filtering by one criterion, this is filtering by the selected location OFF401. I selected the Standard Desktop Computer A7805.

There is also a filter button on the asset search screen which allows you to filter by the Asset Tag, Manufacturer, Rotating Item, Serial Number, Status or Asset Type, each having a multi-select lookup of values.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Asset Select Value Filter

The Filter button at the top allows you to choose how to filter, by Asset Tag, Manufacturer, Rotating Item, Serial Number, Status or Asset Type. Each provides a lookup with a multi-select capability, allowing you to select Class 5, Class 6 and Class 8, for example.

The next section after location and asset is the Service Address. It doesn't currently show the Service Address for the location and/or asset, but it allows you to create an address for the Service Request. There are fields for the Address Description, Street Address, City and State/Province.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Service Address

The Service Address allows you to create a Service Address for the Service Request. Unfortunately, if you pick a location or asset that already has a service address, then these fields are not populated, I’ve raised an IBM Support case about this.

There are four fields Address Description, Street Address, City, State/Province, which has the domain lookup. This does not create a Service Address record which you find in the desktop Service Address application but adds the fields to the Service Request Service Address, the Address Description is entered in the Formatted Address attribute.

In the Service Address section is a button - Save my GPS location. When used it captures the GPS coordinates into the Latitude and Longitude fields.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Service Address with GPS captured coordinates

There is a button at the top called Save My GPS Location, which will use your current GPS location and enter the coordinates in the Latitude(Y) and Longitude(X) fields. This will then display the Service Request on a map.

The final Attachments section allows you to add a photo or video which you take with the devices camera, or you select from the Photo Library. There is also an option to Choose Files from your device.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Attachments

The Attachments option allows you to create an attachment with options to attach a file from the devices Photo Library, Take Photo or Video, or Choose Files. I opted for the second option, to take a photo. The camera opened and I took a photo of some notes I had made in my notebook, for the next set of articles on the Role Based Applications. 

Notice the Service Address section is now populated with the information entered.

I am taking a photo of my notebook and you have the option to Retake or Use Photo.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Attachments Take Photo

After taking the photo you have two options Use Photo or Retake.

After you create an attachment you can see it on the right. There is no ability to change the filename or provide a title that is available in other Maximo Mobile applications. You can delete the attachment.
Service Requests – New SR – Details – Attachments List

Unlike the Asset Manager role-based application that I just reviewed you will not be asked to provide a File Name and a Description for the image, and you will not receive a message. I created an IBM Support case for this.

After the dialog closed there was now one attachment record, without a thumbnail image on the right. The plus button at the top allows for multiple attachments to be added. On the left is a button which deletes the file with a blue background information message which will give you a chance to undo the deletion. 

After taking the photo using the option Take Photo or Video, the photo will not have been saved to the devices Photo Library. If you wish to save an image of the photo on the device then use the camera first and then the option Photo Library.

I tried attaching a file from the Photo Library, and it was a matter of selecting and using the Add button, very simple. It also allows you to select multiple images and add them in one action.

After completing all the details for a new Service Request you use the blue Submit button and a green background message confirms the Service Request number created. The screen now shows the active Service Requests and the one just created will be shown at the top.
Service Requests – New SR – Request Submitted

When you use the Blue Submit button, a green message is displayed providing the user the Service Request number created – Request 1215 submitted.

The Service Requests application is then displayed with the query Active Requests and the Service Request just created will be seen at the top of the list of SRs. Service Request 1215 is in a status of QUEUED because the classification selected had a related Ticket Template that applied an owner group to the SR and Maximo automatically changes to Queued status as soon as an owner group or owner is assigned to the record. The priority was 3 – Medium. This is derived from the System Property sr.default.priority.

View Active Requests

When you open the Service Requests application the list of Active Requests is shown with the latest one displayed at the top. These are the Service Requests which the user created or where the user was referenced as the Affected Person.
Service Requests – View SR – List

When the Service Requests application opens, along the top and on the left is a query – Active Requests, and on the right-hand side the blue button to create a new Service Request (SR). There are 34 records in the Active Requests query, I am logged in as user WILSON. The eagle-eyed of you will wonder why SR 1215 is not at the top, this is because I originally started the article with this topic and I moved Add Service Request above this point.

The Active Requests show all Service Requests which were raised by the logged in user or they were referenced as the Affected Person. It also restricts these records to those that are open, generally meaning at a status of NEW, QUEUED, PENDING or INPROG. The order is by REPORTDATE DESC which will put the latest service request at the top.

There is a second option called Completed Requests which are Service Requests raised by the logged in user or they were referenced as the Affected Person and which have a status of RESOLVED, CANCELLED, REJECTED or CLOSED. I’ll show this in the next section of this article.

Each service request is in its own panel which has three sections:

Service Request 1195 was created earlier today (December 06, 2023), it has the description of Transfer. It is at New status and so it could be cancelled, the trashcan button is available. The priority is set to Medium, the description of the Reported Priority of 3.

We’ll explore the three buttons along the bottom of each Service Request record first and then I’ll see whether I can validate the fields shown by updating SR 1195 from the Service Requests application.

The left button below each Service Request shows the work log. The user can also create a new log note.
Service Requests – View SR – Work Log

The left-hand button is for the Work Log and allows the mobile user to create a log note. I wrote “Just created the SR as a test” and submitted this using the arrow button. There are two buttons, I know the arrow shaped one will submit the work log from when I last reviewed this application, the top button looks as if it will open a long description.

One of the buttons in the Work Log allows you to enter a long description and the screen that opens has a rich text formatting tool bar. I highlighted some text with red colour and yellow background and created a link to the Maximo Secrets website.
Service Requests – View SR – Work Log Long Description

The Log Note does launch a long description dialog with a rich text formatting toolbar. I changed the colour of some text to red and highlighted a few words with a yellow background. You can insert a link to a webpage; I created one to maximosecrets.com. When the link dialogue opens, there are four fields; URL, Text to display, Title, and Open Link in… which I set to Current Window. What you see is the Text to display and not the Title.

The blue button in the top right submits the log note. You will not be able to modify the text in this application, although someone can modify it in the desktop Service Requests application.

The second button below each Service Request shows any attachments. Clicking the thumbnail will open it full screen.
Service Requests – View SR – Attachments

The second button allows you to create an attachment. When you go to enter an attachment there is a button (+) with options to attach a file from the devices Photo Library, Take Photo or Video, or Choose Files. I opted for the second option, to take a photo.

The camera opened and I took a photo of some notes I had made in my notebook, for the next set of articles on the Role Based Applications.  After taking the photo you have two options Use Photo or Retake.

Unlike the Asset Manager role-based application that I just reviewed you will not be asked to provide a File Name and a Description for the image, and you will not receive a message.

After the dialog closed there was now one attachment record, with a thumbnail image on the right. You can click the thumbnail image and it will open full size with the ability to zoom in and out. The plus button at the top allows for multiple attachments to be added.

On the left is a button which deletes the file with a blue background information message which will give you a chance to undo the deletion and the information message provides the name and description of the file being deleted.

After taking the photo using the option Take Photo or Video, the photo will not have been saved to the devices Photo Library. If you wish to save an image of the photo on the device then use the camera first and then the option Photo Library.

I tried attaching a file from the Photo Library, and it was a matter of selecting and using the Add button, very simple. It also allows you to select multiple images and add them in one action.

The third button will be displayed if the Service Request is still at NEW status, it allows the record to be cancelled. A confirmation will be needed.
Service Requests – View SR – Cancel

The third button for Cancel Service Request asks the question – Do you want to cancel this Service Request? For which you can respond No or Yes. If Yes, the status is changed to CANCELLED.

A user will not always be able to cancel immediately after raising a new service request. If a Ticket Template is applied and either the Owner or Owner Group is set, then Maximo automatically changes the status to QUEUED. Cancellation only occurs if the status is NEW.

If you had entered more details to the new Service Request then you would find that the long description, asset and location and their descriptions are displayed on each record. The buttons show the number of log notes or attachments.
Service Requests – View SR – List showing SR with long description

The buttons now show the number of log note entries and attachments.

I have been into the desktop Service Request application for SR 1195 and added a long description, asset, location, and target dates, and changed the status to Queued, to verify what fields are being displayed. The long description is displayed below the Reported Date, and it was the asset and asset description on the right with the location and location description below this.

To the right of the priority is a button which shows the SR details.

You can navigate to see more details about a Service Request, and this shows the long description with its rich text formatting.
Service Requests – View SR – SR Details

The Service Request Details screen shows a few additional fields, and the long description is displayed with the rich text formatting interpreted instead of being plain text as it was when I reviewed the application previously.

Below the two big buttons to review the log note comments and attachments is the Reported By, Reported Date and the Service Address, this is the Formatted Address field.

Below this is the Service Request Owner which will show the person’s image if these have been added, and to the right is the Target Completion date. The Target Contact and Target Start dates are not displayed.

Work Log

The Work Log is show chronologically in the style of a chat history. You can navigate to see the full text written by each person.
Service Requests – View SR – Work Log Chat Style

The Work Log has been designed to reflect a chat interface, with the date the log note was submitted, and chronologically below this the person who entered the log note, and the log note Summary. There is a button beside each entry so that you can see the work log record’s long description.

You can see some additional details about the Service Request at the bottom of the screen including the Service Address who is owning the SR and the Target Completion.
Service Requests – View SR – Details

In the Service Request details you can see in the bottom corner that John Hunter is assigned and on the left of this is the profile picture associated with John Hunter. 

If the Service Request was owned by an Owner Group instead of a particular person, then it would say the name of the Person Group and the field title would be Assigned To Group.

If multiple log notes are created on the same day then they are displayed under the same date.
Service Requests – View SR – Work Log with multiple log notes on same day

As Mike Wilson I’ve replied to John Hunter saying – Thanks John, but nothing to do as this is just a test. I expect John will now resolve the Service Request.

Incidentally, the log notes created from the Maximo Mobile application, or the Role-Based application have a type of CLIENTNOTE and are marked as Viewable. For a log note created in the desktop Service Requests application to appear to the user of the Maximo Mobile application, then it must be marked as Viewable. This field can be toggled without having to use the action Modify/Delete Work Log.

There is a second query for Completed Requests. These are SRs at Resolved, Closed, Cancelled or Rejected status.

As you enter more log notes to the same Service Request then the number shown on the Work Log button increments.
Service Requests – View SR – List

The Service Request 1195 has been removed from the Active Request query and it is now found in the Completed Requests query, John Hunter did change status to RESOLVED. The Work Log button now shows that there are three log notes on this Service Request.

Describe the Request

When creating a new Service Request there is a button at the bottom called Describe the Request which takes the user through to the SR details. You do not need to navigate through the categories to use this. I have created a record associated with intruders seen near the compound fence.
Service Requests – New SR – Describe the Request

When creating a New Service Request, then instead of using the Categories and Subcategories there was the option called Describe the Request. This just opens the Service Request without a classification, and you start to enter the fields as required.

For an emergency or high priority incident you change High Priority toggle, enter the Summary and Details, and probably that is all you need to do. In my example the summary is – Intruders seen within compound fence and the Description details indicated where some children were seen playing. Service Request 1224 was created.

The Completed Requests also show Rejected and Cancelled Service Requests. The top one for SR 1224 is shown as being Rejected, this is the SR associated with the intruders. There is a log note record.
Service Requests – View SR – Completed Requests

The Service Request record for these high priority issues may only be found in the Completed Requests query, especially if nothing came of the incident. You can see the status has been changed to Rejected and the High Priority toggle had set the reported priority to High. This is the description of a priority 2 request. The System Property sr.high.priority determines the value.

Note. If you retain the standard SR Priorities as defined by the domain TICKETPRIORITY then you might consider changing System Property sr.high.priority to 1. The Service Requests application only gives the option for High Priority, which in standard Maximo is a priority of 2. Urgent is defined as priority 1, therefore the toggle for High Priority does not mean that it has been set to the highest priority, it is a 2, rather than a 1.

When viewing the log note for SR 1224, notice that there is no ability to create a new log note.
Service Requests – View SR – Log Notes cannot be created for a Rejected SR

A rejected service request does not have the ability to create a new log note. The log note seen in the screenshot was created in the desktop Service Requests application prior to setting the status. 

You cannot add a log note for a Cancelled, Rejected or Closed Service Request.

Miscellaneous Features

When creating a new Service Request it is possible to provide an Instruction which is displayed at the top of the SR details. The Instruction is a field on the Ticket Template.

Notice the Location is filled from the requesters Profile - Personal Information and the field Person's Location.
Service Requests – New SR – Instructions

If you are drilling down through Categories (classifications) to a Type (Ticket Template) then you can show an Instruction at the top of the New Service Requests screen. I entered – Have you tried adjusting the thermostat? to the Ticket Template associated with the Classification that provided the SR description – It’s too hot.

I took this screenshot immediately after the New Service Request screen opened, it already has the location of OFF401, I didn’t select this. This feature has been around in Maximo for a long time and each person can enter their default location for a Service Request from their Profile – Personal Information and the field Person’s Location. To activate this, you do need to set a field on each Person’s record – Default Location to Service Request?

Incidentally, there is currently no support for Linear Assets in the Service Requests application.

Enhancement Ideas

While writing this article it became apparent that some information that is useful during Service Request creation or modification has not been included yet in the application, and I have raised some IBM Ideas for these:

Rich Text Formatting toolbar for Description

You can create rich text formatting for a Service Request log note including adding a link, but you cannot currently do the same when creating a Service Request. The desktop Create Service Request application in the Self-Service module also has this ability. 

https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASMOBILE-I-443

Site based mask for Service Address fields.

The three Service Address fields Region/District, County, and State/Province are not always relevant. There should be a Site based option to say which of these fields should be displayed if the Service Address references a Site. This is so that in the Maximo Mobile applications that display a Service Address only the relevant fields are displayed. Where Maximo is being used across multiple countries the Service Address fields to display may be different depending on the default insert site of the user. For example, instead of State/Province a UK user would make more use of the County field.

https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASMOBILE-I-445

Add filename and title to attachments

When adding an attachment there is no ability to add a filename or title as will be found in other Maximo Mobile applications. This is deliberate because a service requester is not interested in those details, however, technicians who have been trained will be more concerned over creating meaningful file names so that when they appear on a work order they can be identified, also so that they can be associated with other Maximo records. A good compromise would be to create a System Property that exposes the sliding drawer for File Name/Title when adding attachments, but not to make either field mandatory. 

https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASMOBILE-I-478

Object Structures

This section explains the Object Structures and Queries that are being used in the Service Request application.

View Service Requests

The Service Request Object Structure is MXAPISR, and the query is SERVICEREQUEST with a Query Clause of (reportedby=:&personid&  or affectedperson=:&personid&).

This returns the service requests which were raised by the logged in user or they were referenced as the Affected Person. The order is by REPORTDATE DESC which will put the latest service request at the top.

While there is no reference in the query to the status, the Active Requests show open Service Requests and the Completed Requests show those that have reached the status of CLOSED or RESOLVED, the synonyms of CLOSED status include CANCELLED and REJECTED. 

You might consider amending the query to exclude Service Requests older than a certain date, in order to reduce the number of records that would be downloaded to a mobile device.

Categories

The Class Structure Object Structure that provides the classifications when create a new Service Request is called MXAPITKCLASS and the query is MOBILECLASSSTRUCTURE with a Query Clause of  – show = 1 and ( exists ( select 1 from classusewith where objectname = ‘INCIDENT’ and classusewith.classstructureid = classstructure.classstructureid ) or (exists ( select 1 from classusewith where objectname = ‘ASSET’ and classusewith.classstructureid = classstructure.classstructureid ) and ( classstructure.orgid = (select orgid from site where siteid =(select defsite from maxuser where userid = :user)) or classstructure.orgid is null ) and ( classstructure.siteid = ( select defsite from maxuser where userid = :user ) or classstructure.siteid is null )) or ( exists ( select 1 from classusewith where objectname = ‘SR’ and classusewith.classstructureid = classstructure.classstructureid ) and ( exists ( select 1 from maxpropvalue where propname = ‘sr.filter.site’ and propvalue = ‘0’ ) or ( exists ( select 1 from maxpropvalue where propname = ‘sr.filter.site’ and propvalue = ‘1’ ) and ( classstructure.orgid = (select orgid from site where siteid =(select defsite from maxuser where userid = :user)) or classstructure.orgid is null ) and ( classstructure.siteid = ( select defsite from maxuser where userid = :user ) or classstructure.siteid is null ) ) ) ) )

This returns the Class Structure records (the records you see in the Classifications application) where Show in Service Request Work Center is set and there is an associated Use With Object of INCIDENT or SR, or there is an associated Use With Object of ASSET which is at the organization level for the organization that belongs to the default insert site of the user. The Class Structure records displayed may be restricted if the System Property sr.filter.site is set to 1.

Ticket Templates

The Object Structure that provides the Ticket Templates after drilling through the categories is called MXAPITKTEMPLATE and the query is SERVICEREQUESTTKTEMPLATE with a Query Clause of  – class in (select value from synonymdomain where domainid =’TKCLASS’ and maxvalue=’SR’) and status in (select value from synonymdomain where domainid=’TEMPLATESTATUS’ and maxvalue =’ACTIVE’)

This returns the active Ticket Templates for the class of SR or its synonyms. 

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