When we think of analytics it is easy to think of management information dashboards and graphics which allow you to drill-down through layers of data, perhaps to then filter on another dimension to see what might be learnt by analysing the data. We may also be thinking that there are forecasting and statistical analysis capabilities. This is not provided by Maximo Manage, but through entitlement to use Cognos Analytics against the data held in a Maximo database.

The analytics capabilities in Maximo Manage provides capabilities which end users of Maximo use to understand what they might have been assigned, or to find the records that need to be progressed. These analytics should be far more focused on improving the quality of the data being recorded rather than business intelligence or management reporting, without good quality data what you may report on to management or to gain business insights may not provide the value that might be expected. Therefore, the focus must be on data quality before launching into tools like Cognos Analytics.

KPI Manager

The KPI Manager application uses a query to produce a single value, a key performance indicator. The emphasis here is on the word single, and not multiple. If you tried to use the KPI Manager application to produce a summary set of data as you would do using a SQL query with a Group By statement, then it would be inefficient as a single database query giving a summarised result of 100 records would require 100 KPI queries where each KPI query would only be marginally faster than the one with the Group By statement. In this example it would be slower by almost a factor of 100.

Each operational KPI in Maximo produces a single value that can be compared with a target value. Two other fields Caution At and Alert At can be used to give the KPI a colour, green, yellow or red, an indicator to whether the actual value requires attention. If the actual value is in the yellow zone this might be treated as a warning, and if in the red zone an alert. Therefore, the target value would normally be set a value that was in the green zone.

If the Alert At is a greater value than the Caution At value then the KPI dial will be left to right – green, yellow, red – and the Target Value would be expected to be less than the Caution At value. If the Alert At is less than the Caution At value then the KPI dial will be left to right – red, yellow, green and the Target Value is expected to be greater than the Caution At value.

There are two fields used in the Query Details, Select and Where, the information entered in the two fields is concatenated. The Select field is mandatory and some Maximo consultants place the whole query in this field. There is a Calculation Type field with values of DECIMAL and PERCENTAGE, this is only a label, therefore if you are using the Select/Where to calculate a percentage between 0 and 100 then give it a type of PERCENTAGE otherwise used DECIMAL. There is a technique to creating a percentage and this has been documented in a Maximo Secrets article.

When a KPI is calculated it produces an Actual value that can be compared with the Last Reading to show an up, down, or neutral trend if the values are the same. The KPI graph will show the symbol in one of the colours, green, yellow or red. The Target value and the Variance (actual – target) will also be displayed.

The historical KPI actual values can be captured, and the Historical Trends tab show the values over time and allows you to compare this with another seven KPIs. There is also the ability to calculate a trend using a line of best fit equation.

If you are going to use a trend then it is probably better to have the KPI actual value calculated automatically, and there is a Cron Task where each instance can define a different schedule. You then use the Schedule KPI action in the KPI Manager application to link the KPI to the Cron Task Instance Name. From the List tab you can select KPIs and use the action Add Schedule to add the Cron Task Instance Name to multiple KPIs.

A KPI is either active, or not. Active KPIs are displayed, and these can be made public. If they are not public, then they are visible to the user who created the KPI, or members of the security groups associated with the KPI entered in the Security tab.

Many applications of Maximo have an action Create KPI which will create a new private KPI Manager record using the current query parameters of the launching application. It opens a dialogue which allows you to enter the Target, Caution At, and Alert At values. You do not need to be good at SQL to create a KPI, because you can use the Advanced Search in applications to create a query. However, once saved you can only modify it using the KPI Manager application which is in the Administration module, and this might have licensing implications. For this reason, and because good performance is required, KPI creation is normally left to those who do know a bit of SQL and have access to the KPI Manager application.

Other features include linking one KPI to another or to a report to provide a drilldown. There is a Create Communication action which can be enabled in security, and if an email is sent from a KPI record then it will be viewable from the Log tab.

KPI Templates

The KPI Templates application looks a little like the KPI Manager application and each record is a template for creating multiple similar KPIs. There is only one KPI Query field rather than the Select and Where. The KPI Query field can have bind variables enclosed in curly brackets, for example ${worktype}, and you reference the variable name in the KPI Variables table window where you also reference the object and attribute and attribute type that the variable will use when retrieving a value.

At the bottom of the application you create KPIs, Maximo automatically creates a number, and you provide the Target, Caution At, Alert At, Public, and Active settings. For each KPI you provide a value for each Variable Name. There is a button Test Variables which performs a few tests like testing the variable value is the same data type. You then use the Generate KPIs action which will generate the KPI Manager records and at the same time it tests the final query. The KPI records generated start with the KPI Template identifier followed by the number which Maximo provided.

You can update the KPI Template and use the Generate KPIs action again, this updates existing KPIs linked to the template, it does not generate a duplicate set of KPIs.

KPI Viewer

The KPI Viewer application is an application in the Analytics module, and it shows all the KPIs that the user has access to. As an administrator you could see more records in the KPI Manager application than you might see in the KPI Viewer application because you will not see private KPIs that you did not create.

The KPI Viewer has a List tab with a few fields having coloured text depending on whether the KPI’s last actual value was in the red, yellow, or green zone. If the user goes into the main KPI tab they are presented with the main fields for the KPI, but all the fields are read-only. If you use the KPI long description to provide guidance notes, then these will be displayed at the top of the screen. Chrome and Firefox browsers allows you to Save Chart with Table, or Save Chart Image only, this saves the image as a .PNG to your download folder.

There is a Historical Trends tab which display a time-based chart with data coming from the KPIHISTORY table. There is a Create Communication action for creating an email linked to the KPI record and a record of the email will be seen in the Log tab.

Application Queries

Most applications in Maximo Manage have a List tab with a Download button that creates an Excel file with the same rows and columns. Most applications also have a dialog called More Search Fields, also known as the Advanced Search, which provides a set of fields with lookups that can be used for filtering the records. The filter fields in the List Tab and the Advanced Search together create a query, which can be saved using the Save Current Query option. You provide a query name, description and whether the query should be made public and whether it should also become the default query for the application. The default query is used whenever you open the application.

There are two other options, Where Clause, shows you the current application query (without anything applied by security). It allows you to modify the query if you know a bit of SQL. The View/Manage Queries allows you to modify existing queries and delete them if you are the owner. The person who creates the query is the owner. There is no application over the QUERY table, which is a pity, but easily remedied with a little bit of configuration. Without this you cannot delete queries which may remain after someone leaves the company, because you cannot log in as the owner to delete them.

The queries you create are used in the Start Centers and as the basis for creating a KPI. When you use the Where Clause option, these queries look as if they are the ones being used against the database, but they are only a subset of the final query because Maximo adds to the query any restrictions that may be applied through security. Quite a few of the tabs in the Security Groups application are adding additional statements to the where clause of the eventual query, and if you are using Object Restrictions that will be further restricting your data access. A user typically belongs to multiple security groups and the security is being combined, and the resulting query is being added to any application query and the query from the application that is being executed. Therefore, using only the application Where clause as the basis for database tuning is not to be recommended, additional indexes may have no effect when the additional security restrictions are applied. Currently, you need to run a SQL log to understand the final query which is executed by a user.

Application Export

An application export is set up from an action in the Object Structures application. An action is provided to a user in an application that uses the object structure, to output the included attributes in the required format. This is most often used with output in CSV format using the Flat File option, the records are then loaded to Microsoft Excel and a report produced from the records. A little bit of configuration is needed to enable the Application Export option in the application and to add toolbar access. The object structure should be a custom one designed for the export of report data otherwise you could have many columns many of which will be blank.

Start Centers

The Start Centers is the established user dashboard which most existing Maximo clients have implemented. You will find in a while that the Operational Dashboard will soon be able to provide a more modern alternative.

The Start Center can have multiple tabs, each is enabled for a user by the Security Groups that they are associated with. The Start Center can have multiple portlets which are configurable. Some Maximo clients allow their end users to define their own Start Centers using queries that they have developed themselves, but I think the normal way of working that I have experienced is that the Start Centers are defined by the Maximo administrators, rather than end-users.

There are eight portlet types:

• Favorite Applications provides links to the applications that the user uses or the ones they use the most.
• Quick Insert provides links to the applications where the user most often creates new records. It launches the application in insert mode. For a Service Request, Incident or Problem you can also reference a Ticket Template which is automatically applied after creating the new record.
• Result Set provides a tabular list of records that meet the results of a query. This is the most often used portlet, there is a pie or bar chart display as an alternative to the tabular list of records. A user can launch from the result set portlet to the application where the query is based and open that application with the result set of records.
• Workflow Inbox/Assignments provides a list of the workflow assignments which have been assigned to the user or one of the person groups they belong to.
• KPI Graph shows a set of KPIs either as a dial graphic if one KPI, or as a bar chart if multiple. Each KPI shows the actual, target, caution at, and alert at values. If a KPI has a related KPI or related report, you can launch these.
• KPI List shows a set of KPIs as a coloured list where you can immediately identify the KPIs that need attention. You can then navigate to the KPI Manager application to view the Historical Trends.
• Report List shows a set of reports with links allowing those reports to be run and viewed.
• Bulletin Board shows messages from the bulletin board, by default these are unread messages.

There are tools to create new Start Centers, configure the layout and to modify existing Start Centers. Start Centers are initially defined in English and then an administrator can log on with a different language and change the labels to that language.

Work Queue Manager

A work queue is both a query of a set of records, but also the set of attributes to display with those records and the actions that can be performed from the set of records. There is a work queue card in the Operational Dashboard, which is a more modern looking Start Center, we’ll discuss this next. 

The idea behind the work queue is a single card on the Operational Dashboard which shows you all the things you need to act on in Maximo (that are not KPIs). In comparison to the Start Center it combines multiple result sets into one, there will be one extra click to move from the work queue card to show the work queue records, but as multiple result sets are not being opened every time a user visits the Start Center it should make the Operational Dashboard perform better.

The Work Queue Manager is an Administration module application, which is where you define work queues, was new in MAS 8.11 and is currently being developed with further enhancements expected in MAS 9.0 (summer 2024). New work queues are currently restricted to a specific work order based object structure. 

The creation of a new work queue uses a three-step wizard. In step one you provide the name, description, and priority in range 1-4 where 1 is high. In step two you define the object structure and query to use, the launching application, and then you select the fields to display and their display order. There is an optional third step which allows you to select the actions that can be performed.

When the work queue is launched from the Work Queue card on the Operational Dashboard it displays the results of the query with the attribute columns you defined, with a multi-select capability on the left-hand side so that you can select the records to perform an action on. You can launch to the application from each record, currently this is fixed as Work Order Tracking. You cannot launch the application with the whole result set yet.

Operational Dashboard

The Operational Dashboard was new in MAS 8.9 and is still being developed, with new features expected in the MAS 9.0 release (summer 2024). It is a more modern version of the Start Center but one that will be easier to enhance in the future. Currently there is no ability to have multiple dashboards that are bound to the security groups of the user.

Instead of the term portlet the term card has been used, and there are nine types.

• Value card shows a single value, coming from a single record.
• Table card shows a set of attributes coming from a data source. Like the Value card the data source to choose from is currently restricted.
• Favorites card shows the applications that a user will most frequently launch, like the Start Center Favorite Applications portlet.
• Work Queue card shows the work queues with a queue name, description, count of query records, and priority. It allows you to launch each work queue. It is like the Start Center Result Set portlet but not with any graphical display yet.
• Quick Actions card launches an application and performs the action, most likely to be insert new record in the application. It is like the Start Center Quick Insert portlet, but it doesn’t have the ability to apply a ticket template yet.
• KPI Value card shows the actual value of a KPI which is coloured to reflect the zone relative to the Caution At and Alert At values. The target value is shown above the actual value, and below the trend between the current actual value and the previous KPI value.
• KPI Chart card shows a KPI over a date range, with the default as last 7 days. The KPI trend allows you to select a KPI and to compare eight other KPIs with it. There is no equivalent portlet in the Start Center.
• KPI Comparison card allows you to select up to 20 KPIs and display this as a bar, line, pie or donut chart type, the default is bar. As a bar the KPIs are coloured to reflect the zone relative to their Caution At and Alert At values. This is like the Start Center KPI Graph portlet.
• Workflow card shows your workflow assignments that are waiting for you to action. You can navigate to the application and record. You can also route a selected workflow assignment from an action. This is like the Workflow Inbox/Assignments portlet on the Start Center.

There isn’t yet the ability to create additional dashboards, only modify the one provided. The Operational Dashboard has four KPIs at the top, showing overdue emergency work, overdue PM work, PM performance, and Health of Assets for PM Work. It cannot yet replace the Start Center, as there are some features which are missing and there is no bulletin board card yet. 

Report Object Structures

You use the Object Structures application to define how objects are joined together so that they are made available to, or consumed by, integration, migration manager, OSLC integration, and reporting, known as Report Object Structures (ROS). The Report Object Structures are used by the ad-hoc report writing capability and their names start with ‘REP_’. They are also used in the Start Center Result Set portlets and allow you to select fields from child objects, for example a work order based result set shows the asset field from the workorder object, but you would like to display the asset’s description alongside, this is achieved through the use of a report object structure.

You define what relationship is used to link a child object to a parent object, the attributes to be excluded/included, and attribute aliases. You can also link the object structure to security groups to restrict access, this is performed from the Report Administration application.

Standard Reports

The embedded reporting tool in Maximo Manage is Business Intelligence and Reporting (BIRT). The standard reports are developed in BIRT, and the Ad-hoc Reports generate BIRT reports. The latest supported version is BIRT 4.8.0. You can integrate Maximo Manage with Cognos Analytics or other external reporting systems.

There are over 100 standard reports developed in BIRT and they are available to be customised. The reports have only subtly changed from the Maximo 7.6 Report Booklet which you can find here Maximo 7.6 Report Booklet It does not look as if there has been an update for MAS. Note that the tab named Base 76IS Reports is relevant in MAS as it is the reports associated with Linear, Scheduler and Calibration which are all included in MAS Manage and are no longer add-ons.

BIRT is a developer’s tool that requires an Eclipse environment to compile the reports. Eclipse needs Java 1.8. It also requires someone who knows the Maximo database and how BIRT reports should be integrated with Maximo. While BIRT skills are available, it is the knowledge of how to develop Maximo BIRT reports which is needed as the starting point. There are 12 report templates which handle the integration between Maximo and BIRT and must be used as the starting point, an alternative is to copy an existing standard report and then modify it. BIRT report developers who are not used to Maximo BIRT report development tend to write a report from scratch and then think about the integration later. The report templates contain scripting classes which are used to indicate when a report has started and finished and without these the report queue will build up until you receive an out of memory error. Besides the report templates reduce the amount of report development time. Report Development Guide

Some standard reports are developed to use the current record or selected set of records in the application from where the report is launched. Other reports have a request page with a set of parameters specifically designed for the report. The request pages use the same user interface and lookups and look familiar to users who are used to the advanced search of an application. Some reports are launched from other reports. Some reports are enabled for rich text formatting, some for direct print where they are run from a toolbar button and bypass any request page, some may have a record limit.

Request pages are generated from the Report Administration application and the button Generate Request Pages. When a report runs you can decide when to run the report, immediate, at a specified date/time, or on a recurring frequency. You can distribute the report by email to people who have been defined in Maximo, it is not necessary to be a Maximo user. The report file can be an attachment to the email in PDF format, or you might choose to provide a URL link which saves space in email servers. You can also save the attachment as xls, xlsx format.

Standard reports will also use the language of the user, if they have been configured to do so. The report description, report request page fields, report titles, column titles, etc, are all localizable. Report Localization

Ad-hoc Report 

Ad-hoc Reports is a capability that can be provided to users through application security to an option called Create Report. When enabled a dialog opens with five tabs.

• Style allows the user to select a List report or a Detail report. You can give the report a title and decide whether it will be private or shared with others. You can save the application’s current query to the report.
• Content is based on a report object structure, there might only be one but there could be multiple. Having selected the category you see a tree view of the parent and child objects in the object structure which is your navigator to the attributes of those objects. You select the attributes which you wish to see in your report.
• Calculate provides the ability to create calculated columns in the report based on other attributes. You are creating an expression which can be tested and reused, there is functionality in Report Administration to create an expression library.
• Summarize provides the ability to create summary expressions that use aggregating functions like total, count, average, minimum, maximum, median and mode.
• Format is where you decide on how to filter, group, and sort your report.

You can preview and save the report, and later adjust the report. The ad-hoc report is saved to the application and is found in the Run Reports dialog. When running the ad-hoc report you can schedule when the report is run and distribute the report as for standard reports. When the report has run, you can choose to download it in other formats, e.g. Excel.

Report Viewer

The Report Viewer is a simple application in the Analytics module. It is used when reports are scheduled to run and where the email notification creates a link to a report, the report will be available to browse with all the reports which a user has access to, accessible from the Report Viewer application.

Report Administration

The Report Administration application is in the Administration module and is where you register reports, make modifications to standard reports and a lot more besides. 

If you are creating a new report, you would add the report file name including its extension, provide a description, select a Maximo Manage application where it will appear, a report folder and a report type, which will default to BIRT. If you have multiple application clones and you want the report to appear in one or more applications then define the first report, duplicate and change the application name retaining the same file name.

If the report will have parameters, then these will be the next to setup. You provide a parameter name and an attribute name, a lookup name, a label for the dialog, the order for the parameter in the dialog and whether it should be mandatory, and/or have a default value. There is an option to allow multiple values to be selected from the lookup. There is a Preview button which will show you what the request page will look like. When the Maximo environment is a multi-language setup you use the Generate Request Page button from the List tab to ensure that request pages for all languages are created.

There are various settings that can be applied to the report. For reports which do not have parameters, and which use the selected set of records in the application you can set a record limit, you can run the report from a toolbar button using the Browser View field, you can also print the report from a toolbar button using the Print field, this is called direct print, and you can choose to print the report with attachments using the field Print With Attachments. In the cases where a report is viewed or printed from a toolbar button you need to provide the Toolbar Sequence. Direct Print is normally used with the work order print and purchase order print reports, the work order report may also be set to print attachments. To print reports with attachments ActiveX controls will need to be configured in your browser, you would need to check whether this is possible with your cloud provider.

There is a setting to say that a report can only be scheduled and when this is set on the Performance tab you can add the Reserved Processing Time which sets the day of the week, and the start reserve and end reserve times which will be set aside to run the report.

From time to time, particularly when a new BIRT version becomes supported there may be new BIRT reports and libraries. These are imported by using the action Import Library File from the List tab and then Import Report from each report record. 

Security can be defined against each report. There are three levels, All Application Level Security, Application Level Security and Report Level Security. The Maximo Administrators would normally run any report from any Maximo application and their security group would be set up using the Set All Application Security from the List tab. The Set Application Security gives specific security groups access to all the reports defined for a specific application, this is also performed from the List tab. Report Level Security is added from the Security Groups tab of a report and grants access to a specific security group. If a report is to be run by a specific security group only, then this should be used, but Application Level Security must be revoked from other security groups. This effectively means that if an application has one report which needs security at the report level, then all reports in that application will need report level security. While application level security is added from the List tab it is visible from the Security tab of each report, the Application Level Security table window is read-only and has no insert button.

To counter long running reports there is an action to View Report Processing, and you can also be notified of long running reports with the REPORTLONG escalation. You can cancel any report whether it is running or not from the View Report Processing dialog.

The List tab action Set Security Group Limits can stop reports from completing when they hit a record limit, there is also a setting for ad-hoc reports, and a limit on the number of scheduled reports. These three settings are per security group.

There are actions to Set Report File Export Options and Set Report Email File Options. There is an option for BIRT reports to execute against another database by using the action Configure Data Source. This might be a separate Maximo database used for reporting purposes, or any other database. Maximo records when a report was last run and who ran it, which is useful for deciding which report you may wish to keep.

The Define Ad Hoc Reporting Library action is used to define expressions which can be used with Ad Hoc Reports. The ad-hoc reports use Report Object Structures, and you will need to use the action Set Report Object Structure Security to give security group access to the required Report Object Structures. In Security Groups the security group must also be granted the option to Create Report.

You can launch Cognos Analytics and Cognos Administration from the Report Administration application.

Cognos Analytics

In Maximo Application Suite you have the entitlement to use Cognos Analytics against the Maximo database. Cognos Analytics is used for management information or business intelligence. An IBM Cognos Analytics administrator user license is required, and the entitlement restricts the number of administrative users who can create and edit Cognos Analytics reports to three persons, there is no concurrent option. There are some prerequisites prior to installing Cognos Analytics including IBM Cloud Pak for Data. User synchronization is performed from a Maximo Manage cron task to Cloud Pak for Data and it will require the CP4D certificate to be used. The Maximo Manage End Point MXCOGNOS must be configured prior to user synchronization. Maximo Manage users must also be added to the Security Group called COGNOSUSERS.

The supported version of Cognos Analytics is 11.2.4 with MAS 8.11. It is expected that with MAS 9.0 there will be support for a Cognos Analytics 12 version. Cognos Analytics provides the ability to create dashboards, reports and a story which guides a user through the analytics, a bit like how you might make a Powerpoint presentation, with widgets, transitions, and animations to tell your analytics story to your audience. You can drilldown from a dashboard to a report.