Maximo Application Suite 9.0 was released on 25^th June 2024, and this is the third part of my initial review. This time there is complete focus on one subject area – what’s new in Maximo Mobile.

Service Requests

The first thing I noticed was that when creating a new Service Request the Search bar and the Describe the Request button remain visible and the categories scroll vertically. 

The second point was that in the details of a new service request where you enter the summary and long description, there is a button to open the long description dialog, this has a rich text formatting toolbar. Only plain text is shown below the Summary field, but it is saved and is shown in the Service Requests application in the Service Desk module.

The sections on the left have a lot less white space around them allowing you to see all sections at a glance, previously you had to scroll down to get to the Attachments. Evidently there has been some UI/UX enhancements, the Service Request classification attributes look more compact, and they only show attributes that have values, but then I may not have noticed that in my previous review.

You can no longer add attachments until after you have submitted the Service Request, you will receive the message “You can add attachments to this service request after you submit it.”.  Evidently this is to avoid a potential out of memory issue when attaching many images before the Service Request had been saved and submitted.

When adding an attachment, you can now enter the filename and provide a description which will be shown in the Attachments list along with a thumbnail if it is an image. The Asset Manager mobile application had this capability in MAS 8.11 and it has now been rolled through to the Service Requests application.

You cannot create a weblink in the attachments, but if the service request has a weblink attachment then it is now displayed.

There is no support yet for linear assets, although Linear support has started to appear in the Asset Manager application.

Asset Manager

When creating a new asset in the Asset Manager role based application there is an option to create a linear asset and if this is selected the Linear Referencing Details appear, the same six fields you would find in the Assets application under the same section. Unfortunately, the Start Measure cannot be 0, 0.01 can be entered, I have raised an IBM Support case for this.

The linear capabilities are currently only to register a linear asset, there is no ability to enter features or linear specifications, or the many other capabilities associated with linear assets, nevertheless, a start to support Linear has been made.

The Asset’s Image now has a plus button (top right) which allows you to add an image, or once an image has been saved to delete the image, there is a trashcan button in the opposite corner. 

The only other minor change was that the classification now shows the descriptions as you navigate the classification hierarchy and once selected it shows the full path, previously it showed just the classification at the bottom of the hierarchy, for example CNTRFGL, now it shows PUMP \ CNTRFGL.

Technician

The Work Assignment status can now be changed from the Technician application. When the technician receives an assignment, they have the option to Accept or Reject. I accepted and the assignment status was changed to ACCEPTED, a synonym of ASSIGNED.

I duplicated the work order, and this time chose the Reject button. This pulled up a set of radio buttons to provide a reason code with options for Unidentified Asset, Insufficient Information, Unidentified LocationA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More, Insufficient Parts, and Unavailable. This creates a log note of type CLIENTNOTE with the Summary a concatenation of the domain code and its description. The ALN domain is called WOREJECT. The assignment status was changed to REJECTED, a synonym of WAITASGN, the work order assignment at this status would be picked up by the dispatcher.

This is believed to be switched on using Security Groups, Authorize Object Structures for OS MXAPIWODETAIL and option Enable Assignment Flow but I haven’t verified this yet. Neither have I verified that until you have accepted the assignment you will not be able to record actual hours, and I am wondering whether travel hours will be accepted, so I’ve got a bit of testing to do around this when I next do a deep dive.

The next change is the ability to enforce an asset scan prior to starting work. This occurred on the change of status because in my first test the work order was already at INPRG status and I received the same dialog when I completed the work order, the message was “You must scan an asset before completing the work order”. A quick test and it looks as if the enforced scanning occurs at change of status to INPRG or COMP.

In the OrganizationsA structural element of a Maximo database which is used for data sharing. More application and System Settings there is a Timer option – Automatically change work order status to INPRG when a user starts a labor timer. If this is enabled it may appear that when you Start Work you receive the Asset Scan Required dialog, this is because behind the scenes it has moved the status to INPRG. This is what I found when I changed the System Setting.

There is also a Skip button on the right which is used if it is not possible to scan the barcode perhaps because it is damaged or dirty. When used the Skip button writes a work log record of type CLIENTNOTE – The work order was started without scanning an asset. 

Enforce scanning is enabled in Security Groups, Authorize Object Structures for OS MXAPIWODETAIL and option Enforce Asset Scan. There is another option Mandate Asset Scan which if disabled will show the Skip button.

The third area of new functionality for the Technician application is the start of support for linear assets. The objective was to identify where along the linear asset work needs to be performed. Full linear functionality on the Work Order Tracking application is quite extensive and it is also integrated with maps to show linear segments, it is no surprise that this is then just a starting point.

For an existing work order where the main asset is a linear asset the start and end measures where work is to be performed, the Linear Segment Details are displayed. There is a button on the right to expand these details. Further down in the Asset and Location Details the Direction and Linear Referencing Method are displayed. 

Linear Segment Details are also shown in the Edit Work Order page where the fields are enabled. When you create a work order, or you create a follow-up work order, again you can reference where along the linear asset the work is to be performed. I didn’t find the Linear Segment Details displayed if the linear asset is referenced in the Multiple Assets and Locations table.

On the navigator under the Create button there is now the option – New Work Order (via Quick Reporting). This is used by technicians to record additional work performed where they didn’t receive a work assignment. If they see an issue and they can resolve it immediately then this allows the work order to be created retrospectively, often the work would be carried out and recorded afterwards. Alternatively, they can raise the work order and start it immediately. In the Quick Reporting application, a new work order would be set to an initial status of INPRG.  

During the work order creation, the work type defaults to EM. When I chose the linear asset I-95N the Linear Segment Details displayed and I changed the Start and End Measures, I did receive the unknown error message BMXAA4214E, and I have reported the issue to IBM support.

I was able to save a work order when I reported it against the location OFF401 instead of a linear asset. Behind the scenes a work assignment has been created for the user’s labor code using their default craft. The work order is at INPRG status and is waiting for you to accept or reject the assignment. After that the details are completed as for any other work order. 

I also raised an IBM Idea to replace the Schedule Start/Finish with Actual Start/Finish so that you can optionally report a retrospective work order. As the work order is already at INPRG state there is no need for schedule dates. https://ibm-ai-apps.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASMOBILE-I-611

In the MAS 8.11 version of the Technician application there was the action Request Materials which provided the ability to create a Material Request for additional items that had not been planned and reserved, however, you could submit this but not approve it, submit is equivalent to Save As Draft. In MAS 9.0 there are now two buttons Save as Draft and Approve, approve being an additional option which can be granted through Security Group settings, Object Structure MXAPIWODETAIL – Approve Material Request. It would then be possible to only allow a technician to request materials and for a supervisor to approve these from the Work Approvals application. 

If you have set in the Organizations application, Inventory Defaults – Automatically create usage documents for new reservations? – then this should automatically create the Inventory Usage record for the storeroom reservation. I didn’t have this set and unfortunately while the material requisition was created at APPR status, no reservation was created against the storeroom – I’ve raised an IBM Support case for this.

Platform Changes

There was another significant change to Maximo Mobile, a platform change. When you use the Check for Updates button in an application, as you might do in the Technicians application it will retrieve new work orders that you have been assigned. However, those work orders may have dependent data in other mobile applications, for example Assets and Inspections. In previous releases you needed to go round the other applications and use the Check for Updates button or do a full data sync from the Data Update page. There is now the concept of a dependent data source so that Maximo syncs the dependent data as well.

On the Maximo Mobile application (not the role-based applications) there are new features to support diagnostics. In the Help and Support page there are three options Log Data, Data Sync Statistics, and Perform Diagnostics. The Data Sync Statistics will provide feedback on the time it took to download each dataset for each application and for the supporting data. You can rerun the diagnostics.

The first thing that you might notice is that at the top of each application below the query and the number of records there might be a message to say when the data was last updated and when you use the Check for Updates button the progress percentage will be shown, this will be more noticeable the larger the volume of records being downloaded.

Issues and Transfers

The Issues and Transfers application was new to MAS 8.11 and it had a limited set of functionality. In MAS 9.0 it has been extended significantly and has replaced the Manage Inventory Work Center. The highlights are:

• Inventory Usage records can be staged
• Items can be issued without a reservation and the user can enter charge information. Non reserved items can be added to an existing Inventory Usage record.
• The items available balance is displayed in the role-based application (it is online)
• Item transfers within (Intra storeroom transfers) and between storerooms of the same site can be created using an Inventory Usage record. Transfers between sites can be processed but the Inventory Usage record must have been created from the desktop application. 
• Transfers between storerooms can create a shipment record.

When entering the Issues and Transfers role based application there were three options Issue, Transfer, and Inventory Usage Records. Transfer is new, Issue used to be called Issue Reserved Items.

Issue

The Issue option no longer starts with a query of reservations but starts with creating an Inventory Usage record, you enter an inventory usage description, and your Default Storeroom for Self-Service Requisitions will be selected as the storeroom and the usage type will be set to ISSUE. You can save without adding items or tools.

When you go to add lines to the Inventory Usage record you are given the option to Add from Reservations or Inventory Items.

The Add Reservations page now shows the Reservation Number, Reservation Type, Item Type, whether it is Rotating or not, the Reserved Quantity and Required Date – quite an improvement on MAS 8.11. Notice that the reservation type is now displayed, and the reserved quantity is the unissued quantity, previously it defaulted to one. 

The Add Inventory Items page didn’t exist as an option previously only reserved items could be selected. Most of the time you would search by item number or description, but the commodity group is also displayed providing a filtering capability. There was probably space to concatenate with a hyphen the commodity code as in FUEL-DIESEL. I raised an IBM Idea for this. https://ibm-ai-apps.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASMOBILE-I-608

Add Inventory Item will instantly raise an error as there is no charge details and a work order, asset number or location will be required. I also raised an IBM Idea to have a place to enter Default Charge Information as if you require multiple items, then filling out the details for each item will be seen as time consuming. https://ibm-ai-apps.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASMOBILE-I-609

There is no option to select a GL Account and there is no guarantee that a GL account will be complete and pass validation. If this happens you cannot save the Inventory Usage record as you will receive an error. This is the same in the desktop Inventory Usage application, but it shouldn’t be the case as no financial transaction will take place until you change status. In some cases, you need to change the GL, an example will be a cross-charge to another business unit when your maintenance department services one of their assets. I’ve raised an IBM Idea to move the GL validation to change of status on the Inventory Usage application and allow a save to be made on the Issues and Transfers role based application. https://ibm-ai-apps.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASM-I-1162

The Add Inventory Items page shows the Available Balance, but this is only on the role based application and not on the mobile application. You must be online to see the available balances.

The Add Inventory Items page does have filter and sort buttons in addition to the search, but it looks as if this is incomplete as you can only filter by Issue Unit, and you can only sort by Item Number, Default Bin and Issue Unit. Filtering by Commodity Group and Commodity Code would be useful.

In both cases, Add Reservations and Add Inventory Items, you select the item(s) and use the Add button which becomes enabled as soon as one item is selected. This will take you back to the Inventory Usage record, now showing at the bottom the items you have selected, the inventory usage lines. 

If you try to save you will be reminded if there is any missing data, for example a rotating item but no asset has been selected. If a rotating asset has been selected, then you will need to also provide a location.

In the Charge Details the work order field does not have a lookup, you can scan although I can’t imagine that will be used, if you are using a mobile why would you have a printed work order with the barcode? The work orders for which you are requesting items are likely to be the work orders which you have been assigned, a lookup to those work orders is needed. The same applies to the Task field, it has a scanning function where a lookup is needed. I raised an IBM Idea for the lookups – https://ibm-ai-apps.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASMOBILE-I-613

There are lookups for the other charge fields, asset, location and person. In the previous version you could not issue tools because the Issue To Person was not displayed. 

The Inventory Usage now has two Change Status options – Complete Issue or Stage. 

If you choose to Stage a new screen opens allowing you to choose the Staging Bin. I added a new stage bin, and used the now enabled OK button and the Inventory Usage was verified at STAGED status. The two selected items had also been added to the new bin. 

Inventory Usage lines become read-only at STAGED status. 

Inventory Usage Records

Similar changes were made to the Inventory Usage Records option. The list of Inventory Usage records now displays the type and status, and as you navigate into a record it also displays the storeroom and inventory usage type fields and the inventory usage lines displays the reservation type. The Charge Information will also be displayed in the Item Details sliding window (left hand panel).

You must navigate into an Inventory Usage record to change its status; you cannot change it from the list page buttons. There is no filtering or sorting on this list page, and trying to find an inventory usage record when someone just provides a work order number will be problematic unless the inventory usage description contains the work order number. I raised an IBM Idea for the filtering and sorting – https://ibm-ai-apps.ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASMOBILE-I-612

Transfer

The Transfer option is new to MAS 9.0 and starts with creating the Inventory Usage record. The From Storeroom is your Default Storeroom for Self-Service Requisitions as found in the user’s profile – Default Information. The usage type is TRANSFER.

Note. The information – To enable shipment creation, items or tools must be transferred to the same site.

When you navigate to create records, you only have the option for Inventory Items. Add from Reservations doesn’t look to be provided in this release.

The Add Inventory Items for Transfers is the same as it is if the Inventory Usage type is ISSUE. I haven’t yet specified the To Storeroom. You select the item you wish to add to the Inventory Usage record and use the Add button, which becomes enabled, this takes you back to the Inventory Usage record displaying the items added. 

The limited search and sort capabilities are the same and the Available Balance will only show on the role based application.

The To SiteA structural element of a Maximo database that is used for data separation. More, To Storeroom and To Bin fields will be found in the item details for each inventory usage line. This does mean that you need to provide this for each Inventory Usage line, but that is the same when you are in the Inventory Usage application. The To Site defaults to the same site as the From Site and cannot be modified. If you want to transfer between sites, then currently you need to create the Inventory Usage record in the desktop application and include all the items you want to transfer. 

Transfers between bins in the same storeroom (Intra-storeroom transfer) and between bins in different storerooms of the same site (Inter-storeroom transfer) are both possible.

In the test I made I included the transfer of a rotating item, and I needed to select the asset being transferred. I also did a test on a condition enabled item where I needed to select the condition code. The other test was for a lot item, I selected the lot and needed to add the same lot in the To Lot field, it would be better being defaulted.

The Add Inventory Items option does not allow you to select a Tool Item, and I believe this is not possible in the current version. Neither is returning an item, returning a tool, or selecting from a reservation (a transfer within the same site), we know a transfer with an internal PO is in the roadmap for a future release. I raised an IBM Support case to get clarification on these points before I attempt to update my Maximo Mobile articles.

The transfer had the same ability to move the Inventory Usage record to STAGED. The Change Status then gives you the option to Ship and when selected the Create Shipment dialog opens with fields for Shipment Date, Expected Receipt Date, Carrier, Packing Slip, To the Attention of, and Ship To. I then used the Ship button and receive an error message saying that the rotating item P-896 did not exist in the destination storeroom GARAGE/BEDFORD. When I checked I received the same error message from the desktop Inventory Usage application. I went to Item Master and added item P-896 to the GARAGE/BEDFORD storeroom. Now I was successful in completing the shipment.

Shipped Inventory Usage records are not displayed in the Issues and Transfers role-based application, they will disappear from the list.

Evidently if you complete a transfer, in the transfer confirmation dialog there would be options to Cancel, Create Shipment and Transfer and that the Transfer option may not appear if the Organizations application and Transfer Options has elected to use shipments for all transfers. I didn’t verify this. 

The Inventory Usage record must contain lines where the To Site/Storeroom is the same site for all inventory usage lines, you cannot ship to multiple sites. 

Something to note, the object structure definitions for at least MXAPIINVUSE, and MXAPIINVRES have changed, you should consider reapplying the template ITMOBILE in Security Groups if you are upgrading from MAS 8.11.

These new features are not yet available to clients using Maximo Mobile for EAM on Maximo 7.6.1.3, there is a planned release later in 2024.

Mobile Calibration

The Technician application now supports Calibration. 

In the Work Order Details page below the Asset and Location Details that shows the image of the asset, there is a new section called Calibration Details, that shows the Physical Location, Calibration Overdue Date and Next Calibration Overdue Date. The adjustable wrench icon button opens the calibration data sheet, the icon shows the number of associated data sheets.

In the associated data sheets page, if there were multiple data sheets then multiple records would be shown. In my case the data sheet is DS103 – TT100420READING (is the description). You can enter the As Found and As Left Status, but these would normally be calculated, the only options in the lookup are BROKEN and MISSING.

The blue dot indicates that the data sheet is required and all as found and as left data must be entered before moving the work order to COMP or CLOSE.

If you navigate further you come to the Asset Function page, again there could be multiple records. The Asset Function in this example is Temperature Transmitter and there are three calibration points to record measurements As Found (before making any adjustments) and As Left (after making adjustments, as you left the instrument/device). 

There is also a page to enter Environmental Conditions for Temperature, Humidity and Barometric Pressure.

There is a page to enter the As Found values for each calibration point. The 10% and 50% is the Nominal Input, the 30 and 29 to the left of this is the internal unique identifier of the supporting table, attribute PLUSCWODSPOINTID. You won’t find this displayed in the Work Order Tracking application, I suspect it shouldn’t be displayed and I’ve raised an IBM Support case for this.

The Tolerances section will open to show the Input and Output Range, Range Limit and four levels of tolerances. These are fields that were entered on the Data Sheet or are calculated, and they are all read-only.

For each calibration point you enter the input and output values, and Maximo uses the values entered to check against the tolerances to see whether the value entered is within range (pass) or outside of range (fail). If a value is entered wrongly a warning message will be shown, for example if the decimal point is entered in the wrong place, then it is likely that Maximo will alert this. Additional investigation into the reasons why a warning occurs is needed.

After the As Found and As Left readings have been recorded then the results will be found back on the Asset Function page. The As Found and As Left statuses will have been calculated, and you can open the record to see the Input/Output Ranges, Range Limit and Tolerances as set in the data sheet.

Support is provided for both analogue and discreet calibration, which uses Set Points. Function Checks which either pass or fail and Dynamic Checks which take a value and unit and are other checks performed that do not affect the calibration, are both supported. If the asset function is set to be repeatable then the calibration points will repeat according to the Repeat Value. Repeating calibration points are also supported.

The Technician application supports material & tool checks, a tool validation and tool qualification check, and a data sheet completion check, I haven’t validated this, it would be part of a series of articles on Calibration which hopefully I’ll get to this year.

ACM Managed Assets

I do not have either ACM or Aviation Manager installed so there are no screenshots to show you. But here is what I have discovered. There are three main areas of functionality and all work from the Technician application if ACM/Aviation is installed and the work order is marked as Configuration Managed.

• Asset Navigator
• Removing and installing assets
• Asset Switch

When you navigate into a work order in the work order details page and the Asset and Location section there is a new touch point button which is displayed if the work order is Configuration Managed. This opens a page called Asset Configuration Manager with the launched asset and its subassemblies. There is an information button which provides more details about the asset and its position. 

Asset Navigator – This is a hierarchy view and a navigator. You navigate from the launched asset into the direct children of the asset. You can search the hierarchy using a description and the child assets are filtered if it or one of its descendants matches to the filter criteria. The Navigator button will show the hierarchy path down to the current asset. This is like the Location Tree search in the Service Requests mobile application. The difference is the information button which shows more details of each asset in the tree.

Removing and installing assets – this allows you to remove a child asset from a parent assembly and install assets into an empty position in a parent assembly. The asset will need to have been issued to the work order which the technician can do from the mobile device from the Materials touch point button and using either the option Get Reserved Item or Request Materials – this is standard Technician functionality. From the Asset Navigator, once you have selected the current asset there are three buttons, Asset Switch, Asset Install, and Asset Remove. All three buttons look similar, but the Asset Install has a (+) and Asset Remove has a (-). There is a Remove Asset page which confirms details of the asset being removed and provides fields for the Removal Details, As of Date/Time, Remove Location, Follow-on Work Type, and Removal Type. This removes the asset from its parent assembly. The Install Assets button and page works in a similar manner but has different fields because you need to select the asset that has been issued to the work order. 

Asset Switch – Switch two or more assets between compatible positions at the same time. From the Asset Navigator, once you have selected the current asset you use the Asset Switch button. This provides the Switch Asset Position page with fields for the Switch Reason, As of Date/Time and Switch Remarks, and below this the asset positions where an asset switch can occur. You then select the asset to switch by looking up the Switch Serial Number. If there are only two assets that can be switched, then when you have selected one the other will be automatically populated. There is a button called Siblings Only which filters to only the subassembly assets. The effect of the asset switch are transactions for the assets that have been removed and transactions for the reinstall of the assets into their new positions.

If you are upgrading to MAS 9.0 and are currently using Maximo Mobile, then each release of MAS has introduced new functionality. You’ll find a series of articles on Maximo Secrets which I wrote after MAS 8.11, some of which will now be out of date. These are using the role based applications in landscape orientation on an iPad. I do not intend to update those articles (not yet anyway, I’ll leave it until MAS 9.1 or MAS 9.2), but I do intend writing a series of articles from the Maximo Mobile application using an iPhone or iPad in portrait mode.