Contents
Technician is a Maximo Mobile application which will also be found on the desktop in the Work Orders module 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 third article on the Role-Based Application – Technician and the screenshots have been taken with an iPad in landscape mode. The first article was focused on the creation of a new work order and its immediate review. The second article went into more depth in the review and changes that can be made to existing work orders. In this third article we will continue the review of the work order, there is a lot to cover.
The environment I am using is MAS 8.11.0, Maximo Manage 8.7.2 and Maximo Mobile 8.11.0.
Work Order Queries
When you first enter the Technician application there are five queries, Assigned Work being the default. I thought I would start this new article by exploring what each of them mean. Note. There is another query called – Work created on device – but this is only displayed for locally created work orders on the Maximo Mobile application.
Assigned Work
The Assigned Work query uses the MXAPIWODETAIL object structure and the query ASSIGNEDWOLIST – Assigned Work list excluding CAN,CLOSE,COMP,WAPPR.
The query is looking for open and approved work orders with work assignments which the logged in user has been assigned. It will only show work orders for the user’s Default Insert SiteA structural element of a Maximo database that is used for data separation. More as found in their Profile – Default Information. It will show a task as a top-level work order if the assignment has been made to the task rather than the work order.
PMs due this week
The PMs due this week query uses the MXAPIWODETAIL object structure and the query PMWOLIST – Assigned Work type pm list excluding CAN,CLOSE,COMP,WAPPR.
The query is looking for open and approved work orders of work type PM with work assignments which the logged in user has been assigned. It will only show work orders for the user’s Default Insert Site as found in their Profile – Default Information. It shows work orders and not tasks that may have directly assigned work. In testing I found that this query is also restricted to PM work orders which are due today or in the next week according to the Scheduled Finish date.
Work created by me
The Work created by me query uses the MXAPIWODETAIL object structure and the query MYWORK – Reported Work list excluding CAN,CLOSE and COMP.
The query is looking for open work orders which may include work orders at WAPPR state where the work order was reported by the logged in user. It will only show work orders for the user’s Default Insert Site as found in their Profile – Default Information. It shows work orders and not tasks.
My work order
The My work order query uses the MXAPIWODETAIL object structure and the query uxtechnicianstatusfilteredwolist – Technician Work Order list excluding CAN,CLOSED,COMPLETED work orders.
The query is looking for open work orders which may include work orders at WAPPR state where the logged in user is the owner of the work order or a member of the owner group. There needn’t be any work assignments for the work order to be displayed. It will only show work orders for the user’s Default Insert Site as found in their Profile – Default Information. It shows work orders and not tasks. Note. While the description of the query may indicate a bug as there is no CLOSED or COMPLETED work order statuses, the Query Clause is correct as it references – maxvalue not in (‘CAN’,’CLOSE’,’COMP’).
Work order history
The Work order history query uses the MXAPIWODETAIL object structure and the query MOBWORKHIST – Get the records of completed and closed work order.
The query is looking for closed and completed work orders where the last status change occurred in the last 180 days and the asset number is in the list of open workorders assigned to the logged in user. It will only show work orders for the user’s Default Insert Site as found in their Profile – Default Information. It shows work orders and not tasks.
Testing the Queries
To demonstrate these queries, I have logged in as John Hunter (HUNTER) and I am using PM PM-CONVP a Conveyor Overhaul of asset 11430. I have made the Owner Group MAINT which John Hunter (HUNTER) is a member. The PM has been made active. I have generated a work order without using frequency criteria and work order 1308 was created. As I was logged in as John Hunter, then HUNTER is the Reported By person on the PM work order.
The My Work Order query shows the one work order because work order 1308 has an owner group of MAINT which John Hunter (HUNTER) is a member. This query does not look at work assignments but work ownership.
The Work Created by me query shows two work orders where the Reported by is HUNTER. The PM work order 1308 is at Waiting to be Scheduled (WSCH) status and there is another work order 1295 (with no description) at Waiting to be Approved status. The other three queries do not show work order 1308.
This query does not look at work assignments, it is based on the Reported By field.
In the Assignments tab of Work Order Tracking I’ve added one assignment for HUNTER an ELECT – FIRSTCLASS craft and skill level to start at 08:00 tomorrow 17thJanuary 2024.
As there is now a work assignment the PM work order 1308 is now displayed for HUNTER in the query called Assigned Work. You can also see the other work order (1285) from the Technician (2) article.
You’ll find that work order 1308 is also displayed in the query called PMs due this week, but I forgot to take a screenshot. Both queries are based on work assignments, and not work ownership.
There is no record found yet for the Work Order History query. The set of assigned work orders with an asset (only work order 1308 has an asset, 11430) is used to find completed and closed work orders for the same assets, none of those work orders have occurred in the last 180 days. So, I’m going to complete work order 1308 and generate a new work order from the same PM, work order 1309. Again, I’ve made a work assignment for HUNTER on the new work order.
The work order history query now shows work orders completed or closed in the last 180 days for assets on any work orders which the user is assigned to. As HUNTER is assigned to work order 1309 for asset 11430 it shows work order 1308 which we just completed, that was for the same asset.
The PMs due this week query shows work order 1309 as HUNTER is assigned to this work order.
The work order card says that it is due to start on the 23rd January 2024 which is the Scheduled Start I gave on the work assignment. I can confirm that the work order will be displayed if the Schedule Finish date on the work order is within 7 days of time now. No work orders will be displayed if the Scheduled Finish is in the past, or it is null.
If I delete the work assignment on work order 1309, then no work orders are shown.
Assignments made against Tasks
You might have noticed in my descriptions of the five queries that for the Assigned Work query I indicated that it will show a task as a top-level work order if the assignment has been made to the task rather than the work order. For each of the other queries I said that the query shows work orders and not tasks.
To illustrate this, work order 1309 happened to have several tasks, I have made two assignments, both for HUNTER, but this time against task 10 and task 20.
The Assigned Work query now shows work orders or tasks depending on whether the assignment is made to the work order or to the task. For work order 1309 the two tasks are displayed by the Assigned Work query, 1309-10 Inspect Switches and 1309-20 Inspect Drive Motor and Mounts.
When I looked at the PMs due this week query, I didn’t find work order 1309. This is because the PM query is looking at assignments made to the work order and not the task of the work order.
You might notice that there is a Work Log button but no button for Materials and Tools. This is because the material and tools are defined against the work order and not against the tasks. I verified that if the materials are against the task, then the button does appear. However, if you navigate into the work order task to review its details the Materials and Tools button is displayed but it does not show any planned materials, as they are against the parent work order, there are no planned materials and tools against a task. The action Get Reserved Items also does not display any records for the same reason.
Long duration work orders can be split by using tasks, but if you do this then everything should be planned at the task level, the materials, services, and tools should be defined against a task, work assignments should also be against a task. I have heard previously the product managers for Maximo Scheduler saying either work at the work order level or the task level, but do not mix craft or crew requirements or assignments for the same work order with some defined at work order level and some at task level. I think the same principle should be followed through for materials, services, and tools as well, plan at one level or the other, don’t mix it.
If we navigate into the Review Work Order screen for task 1309-10 Inspect Switches, we are looking at the task record and not the parent work order. You can see that there are no Schedule Dates and the duration for task 10 was not set, 0 hours. There is, of course, no button to review the tasks, as the task does not have itself tasks. However, there is no replacement button that would allow the user to review the parent work order, which is a pity, as a work order task is rarely done in complete isolation to the other tasks of the same work order, even if those tasks are being carried out by others. I’ve raised an IBM Idea about this.
Asset Details/History
In the Technician (2) article when we reviewed the Asset and location section it was for an asset without an image. Clicking the image will open it full size and in the bottom right corner there are buttons to zoom in, zoom out and reset back to the centre. You can use the two finger pinch movements and scroll around the image as the operating system of the device allows.
In the previous article, Technician (2), we tried to review the scan button and ran into an issue on an iPad in that it didn’t launch the front camera. This button is for verifying that you are at the correct asset. The other two buttons we reviewed was the MeterA Meter is an identifier for recording meter readings, measurements and observations on assets or locations. More Readings button which is not shown for this work order as neither the location nor asset have a meter, and the asset up/down status, which is the third button shown.
The middle button shows the Asset and Location History, which is where we are going next. Note also, the chevron button on the right-hand side above the image.
The Asset and Location History are the last three work orders at COMP or CLOSE status for the work order’s asset and location, ordered by status date descending. The location list must exclude asset 13140 to stop the same work orders repeating in the location list. The updated field is the work order status date.
Work order 1308 in the first section for asset 13140 – Conveyor System- Pkg. Dept. has a chevron button on the right-hand side.
When using the chevron button, the application takes you to the Review Work Order screen for work order 1308. The chevron button must be using the work orders in the Work Order History query as this was the only one with the button, but I am not positive about this.
The chevron button on the right-hand side above the image will take you through to the Asset Manager role-based application for the asset. If the asset has a classification and specification, then you could update it from the Edit Asset screen which is found by using the pencil button.
The button at the top left will take the user back to the work order, in our case it took me back to work order task 1309-10.
Get Materials and Tools
When you first log in and navigate to the Technician application then you may see a blue banner at the top – Get materials & tools. You can click on this.
You will then be presented with all the materials and tools of the work orders in your assigned work query. You can also see the required materials and tools for the query – PMs due this week, by changing the query at the top.
To the left is the item number concatenated with its description with the storeroom below this, you would get a hyphen if it was a Direct Issue item or a Material line type.
In the middle is the work order description, which would benefit from being preceded with the work order number as you can have multiple work orders with the same description especially when a Route has been used. If there are not enough material in a storeroom then you might want to check which work orders you could complete with the available materials. The number on the right-hand side is the quantity required.
The Required Tools appear as a second section with the tool item concatenated with the tool description on the left and the storeroom and required hours below this. Again, the work order description and the quantity required are displayed.
The checkbox on the right is for checking off the materials and tools as they are issued, collected, or when you verify that you have them. This is not saved to the database and if you leave the application and log back-in no material or tool will be marked.
Using the All materials or All tools check boxes will select all the materials or tools respectively. These are toggles, deselecting will deselect all associated records. Using the blue Done button will return you to the view of work orders based on the Assigned work query.
If you miss the blue banner then don’t worry as the same screen is available from the Navigator, it is called Materials & Tools.
Change Status
It is possible to change the status of a work order from the status button. Notice the down arrow on the button. For work order 1309 the status is WSCH (Waiting to be scheduled).
You can change the status of a work order from each of the work order queries, but not for a work order in the Work Order History query where it is closed, only for those work orders at COMP (Completed status).
I wanted to change the status to INPRG for work order 1309. You are provided with a list of the statuses that you could move to and not all the work order statuses. If you scroll downwards there is also a field which allows you to enter the status memo. I’ll show this with another work order in a while.
After you have selected one of the statuses the button at the top turns blue.
Work order 1309 has now been changed to In Progress (INPRG) state.
On the Work Order History query there is one work order (for 1308) which is at COMP (Completed) status. If you go to change status the only option, you are provided with is Closed (CLOSE). In this screenshot it is easier to see the optional comment field with a limitation of 50 characters. This is the attribute MEMO on the WOSTATUS object which is defined as ALN 50 in my system.
Incidentally, in the Assign Work query you can change status on task work orders.
Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs
I’ve created a new work order from a service request with multiple assets, locationsA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More and CI records, the work order is 1310 – Fire Extinguishers out of service date. The work order is at Waiting on approval (WAPPR) state. There is no primary asset, but the work order references location OFFICE with a description Office Building – Address Unit #2010 Oak St. Notice that the location identifier OFFICE is not displayed.
If you navigate into the work order you can see that I had entered a long description which was copied from the Service Request.
If you scroll down the Review Work Order screen you’ll find below the Assets and Locations section a row for each Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs record, there are 7 records, although the number is not indicated. The button at the right-hand end of each record opens the details which includes the Location, Location Description and a button to Mark complete the record. The records are in the order in which they were entered, or in my case, how they were copied from a Route.
Often the records in this table have been generated by a route being applied to the work order, either directly or via a PM that references the route. If the route has a sequence, then the order of these records will use that sequence. I had given asset 1001 a sequence of 10, asset 1002 a sequence of 20, through to asset 1007 having a sequence of 70. When I fetched the work order again in the Technician application, I could see that the sequence was being used to provide the order.
There are other features of the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs table and I wanted to see if they were supported yet on the Technician role-based application. I have entered additional pieces of data to the record for asset 1001.
The record can reference an asset, location, ci (configuration item) and a target description. As you can see both the asset and location with their descriptions are shown, but the ci and target description are not.
The asset and location can reference a meter and in the Work Order Tracking application you can use the right click menu on these fields and use the action Enter Meter Readings. The second button is the button for entering meter readings. There is also an option to Report Downtime on the asset in the Work Order Tracking application which does not look to be supported yet in the Technician application.
A Multiple Assets, Locations and CI record can also reference an Inspection Form and when it does a record is created for the Inspection Results. The first button is the button for performing an inspection.
Incidentally, if you mark the record as complete then the button changes to an undo button and on the left will be a green tick icon to indicate that this record is complete.
When I launched the meter button it showed the meters I had created for both asset 1001 and location BR430. There are the two buttons at the top for entering a new meter reading and entering an old meter reading. The fields displayed in the screenshot would show the last meter readings. I covered meter readings in the Technician (2) article.
The Inspection button also launched the Inspection Form for a Portable Ladder Inspection that I had associated with the record, or more accurately it launched the Inspection Result form, where you enter the results of the inspection.
I haven’t covered Inspections yet in my role-based application articles, I do intend to. What I did notice when I had a quick look at the Inspections role-based application is that there is a button to launch to the work order on which the inspection is attached.
Follow-up Work
You may remember that I said that work order 1310 had originated from a Service Request. It was Service Request 1248, and you can see this from the section called Follow-up Work which is below the Attachments section in the Review Work Order screen.
This is the screen where you can create a follow-up work order, but you cannot create a follow-up service request or other type of follow-up ticket or other work order class record. Neither can you relate this work order with another work order.
I’ve used the Create Follow-up Work button and some of the details from the originating work order have been copied. I’ve amended the description by reflecting that assets 1002 and 1004 need to be replaced. The long description is as copied, and I’ve entered a priority of 9 and a Scheduled Start date and time. We ought to get the fire extinguishers replaced ASAP but there will need to be a priority procurement, which I will have to initiate from the desktop Work Order Tracking application.
Further down the screen I’ve entered a Scheduled Finish date and time, and a duration of 4 hours, and the work type will be CM.
When you use the Save button you may receive a system message like “The location and asset combination you have entered would default a different GL account than is currently specified on the work order. Would you like to update the work orders GL account based on the new asset/location combination? Clicking Cancel will return you with no changes.” The responses can be Cancel, No or Yes. I responded with Yes.
When the work order is created you will receive the green background message Follow-up work created and the work order created will be shown in the top section, it is work order 1314.
I was pleased to see that you can navigate to the work order using the chevron button to the right. When you create a follow-up work order with the Multiple Assets, Locations and CIs table populated than these records are also copied, and this is what I found. It may not be the case that you have a follow-up on all those records but only some, I had the intention to delete all the records except those for asset 1002 and 1004 but unfortunately there is no ability to delete any records in the Multiple Assets, Locations section of the Review Work Order screen. I’ve raised an IBM Idea (RFE) for this.
We have nearly reached 30 pages for this 3rd article on the Technician application. It is looking likely that two more articles will be needed assuming I can cover off Reporting Work in one article.
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