This article is part of a series reviewing functionality found in Maximo Transportation. There are two applications we will explore, Asset Lists (Tr) and Campaigns (Tr). 

A campaign is a work package of work orders where the same work or a similar set of work needs to be performed on a set of similar assets. For example, you receive a safety notice, and you must make sure that every vehicle in your fleet where this safety notice is applicable, is booked in for the required maintenance and for it to be done within the timescale determined for the campaign. The campaign doesn’t have to be associated with a safety issue, it could be a decision made to improve reliability or performance, or an enhancement made to the asset, for example to have a tracking device fitted.

An Asset List is a set of assets or locationsA physical place where assets exist and where work can be performed. More and the Asset Lists (Tr) application is similar to the Routes application.

We’ll start with reviewing the Asset Lists (Tr) application as asset lists are applied to campaigns.

Asset Lists (Tr)

The Asset Lists (Tr) application will be found in the Planning module. Anyone who is used to the MAXDEMO database will instantly recognise this as a Route as the four Routes shown will be the same records found in the Routes application for the site BEDFORD. The Asset List is based on the ROUTES object which is a SiteA structural element of a Maximo database that is used for data separation. More level object.

For anyone used to MAS 9.0 you’ll see that there is no Status field on the Asset List – List tab, a status field added to a Route was one of the recent enhancements in MAS 9.0. I have raised an IBM Support case to see whether this will be treated as a defect as it now means that you cannot apply all Asset Lists to a work order using the Apply Route action. Only routes/asset lists that are at ACTIVE state can be applied to a work order, an Asset List at DRAFT state cannot be applied, and this status is the default for new Asset Lists. An Asset List at DRAFT status can be added to a PM.

A quick peek at the Asset List details and you will see something familiar, a table of assets and locations, and still called Route Stops. There are some extra fields in the table, and a Default Job Plan in the header with no radio button that you’ll find in the header of the Routes application.

I’m changing my default insert site to FLEET site as I know it has some fleet assets, and then we’ll create a new Asset List.

I’ve created a new Asset List, 1001 – Great Dane Trailers, in the FLEET site, there is no autokey. I’ve entered a Default Job Plan – TKPMA – Fuel Tank Minor Inspection. The Default Job Plan is non-persistent, it will be used to default the job plan onto each Route Stop, like Default Table Data fields seen in other Maximo applications.

I’ve used the action Select Assets and filtered for – Great Dane – and selected all the assets, 11 records.

When the Route Stops are created for each selected asset the Job Plan is defaulted. There are some additional Route Stop fields, you can see Model and Manufacturer, but we will return to these in a short while.

You might notice that there is no Sequence field in the Route Stops table, but it could be added through configuration.

The Default Job Plan field will be blanked when you use the Save button.

If you scrolled to the right in the table window you’ll find a second reference to Job Plan, you can just see it. I have raised a case with IBM Support to have it removed.

I’m now looking at the same record from the Routes application. You can see that the radio button – When this Route is applied to a Work Order, the Route Stops will become – is set to Child Work Orders.

The Status field is new in MAS 9.0, it has values of DRAFT, ACTIVE and INACTIVE, only ACTIVE routes can be applied to a work order. We will see in a while whether this new feature will cause a problem when we use the Asset List on a Campaign.

The Sequence field is still in the Route Stops table details.

The additional fields added by Maximo Transportation are all read-only:

• Alias (PLUSTASSETALIAS.ALIAS) – An asset can have multiple aliases
• Asset TypeThe Asset Type is used for grouping assets and is used in the Health application of the Maximo Application Suite. More (ASSET.ASSETTYPE)
• Status (ASSET.STATUS)
• Model (ASSET.PLUSTMODEL) – The model is a transportation field, there is another model field added by calibration (PLUSCMODELNUM)
• Manufacturer (ASSET.MANUFACTURER)

The table window actions also include Select Locations and two others.

The Add Multiple Assets action allows you to filter by several asset fields, I am filtering by Manufacturer GDANE, I then clicked on the blue Find button (not shown). You can just see at the bottom that 11 assets were found.

Scrolling down in the dialog, these are the same 11 Great Dane Trailer assets that we had previously selected. I will use the Cancel button. Note. If you selected any of the assets, and used OK, the assets would be loaded as additional Route Stops. The same asset or location can exist multiple times on the same Route. It would be possible to have a Route for 10 assets where two Job Plans need to be performed on the same asset, they would create separate child work orders when applied to the Campaign.

There is also the Add Multiple Locations action with a dialog that allows you to enter multiple location attributes as a query before using the blue Find button. This populates the Locations table window where you can then select the locations you wish to appear as Route Stops.

A couple of minor points before moving on to the Campaigns (Tr) application:

• There is a hidden field on the Route Stops PARENTCHGSSTATUS which controls whether the child work orders will have a status change when the parent work order changes status. This defaults to 1, which is OK up until the Campaign work order is approved, but afterwards you may wish to set this to zero.
• As the Asset List has a status of DRAFT, it can no longer be applied to a work order, it won’t show in the Select Value. If you use Asset Lists on work orders, then you will need to configure the Status field and Change Status actions to the application.

Campaigns (Tr)

The Campaigns (Tr) application will be found in the Work Order module. When reviewing the List tab, you would be right in thinking that a campaign is based on a work order, it has the same menu items for changing status, and the action Reschedule/Unassign Assignments which is a Work Order Tracking action.

Campaigns (Tr) – Main tab

I’ve created a new campaign; the campaign number was auto-keyed and it uses the same autokey as for work orders. I’ve entered a description – Fuel Tank Safety Inspection on Great Dane Trailers – and a Campaign Reference provided by the manufacturer AX-2024-024B. The default status is WAPPR.

A Campaign is a work package with a set of child work orders, the Priority (7), Priority Justification (Safety inspection from manufacturer) and Risk Assessment is updating the work package work order.

In the lower half of the main tab, I’ve added a Target Start and Target Finish, we’ll start immediately and need to finish within 3 months, 30-Apr-2025. I’ve used the Take Ownership action and WILSON is now the Owner.

When I look at work order 1497 in the Work Order Tracking application the work type is CMP – Campaign.

A Campaign is a simplified work order with target, schedule and actual dates and the normal set of responsibility fields found on a work order. There is no asset or location on the work package, the parent work order for the campaign. The GL Account will not be defaulted, it will probably remain blank, no costs are expected against the campaign itself, but if you aim to report time against the work package work order, then you may need to enter a full GL Account to charge these costs.

Campaigns (Tr) – Work Package tab

The Work Package tab is initially empty, but there is a blue button action to Select Asset List. You can also add records manually from the New Row button.

With a little bit of configuration, you should also be able to add the Add Multiple Assets and Add Multiple Locations actions and dialogs that we saw in the review of Asset Lists (Tr). I’ve added this as an IBM Idea, you can vote for it here – https://ideas.ibm.com/ideas/MASTRNSPRT-I-35

The Select Asset List action and dialog shows just the one Asset List created earlier in this article. These are routes for the same site, FLEET in my case, hence the four BEDFORD routes are not shown. If there are routes at any status for the same site, then they will appear here.

After selecting and using the OK button, the Asset List has been applied and it has created 11 records in the work package, one for each asset (or location) in the Asset List. For each, the Job Plan on the Route Stop has been copied across, in this case Job Plan TKPMA. 

Campaigns (Tr) – Generate Work

No work orders have been created yet, for this we need to use an action called Generate Work, except for me it didn’t exist. I am using a MAS 9.0 system; I raised an IBM Support case, and they confirmed the same issue and at the time of writing an APAR is being created. For some reason while the Signature Option for Generate Work exists for the application PLUSTCMP, there is no reference to the Key Value GENWORK in the Add/Modify Select Action Menu. This can be easily added in Application Designer, I chose a Position of 250, Subposition 0 and made it visible only on the MAIN tab.

The action Generate Work did take a while to run but eventually it returned with the message – BMXAL0269I – The work order and PM generation process has completed. The part of the message inferring PM generation I will return to towards the end of this article. 

In other tests I performed, if a Route is selected and it isn’t marked as creating child work orders, then you receive the message – BMXAL0360W – A campaign generates child work orders only. Any other work order generation option that is selected on the Asset List is disregarded. – You can treat this as an error, because no work orders will be generated from the work package.

In a further test I selected the same Asset List twice and it was applied both times. You might use this if you have two Job Plans to apply to the same set of assets and locations.

After the Generate Work action has completed the work package now has child work orders, the work order numbers, and their status is shown in the table window.

The Status Summary table window shows the Number of Work Orders at each status, 11 at WAPPR state, representing 100% of the campaign work orders, the Percentage of Total.

You can navigate to the Work Order Tracking (Tr) application from the Work Package records, and if you did so you would find that the Work Type is CMPWO – Activity, you might rename that to Campaign Activity/WO. The Job Plan TKPMA has been applied to each child work order, and this has created two tasks and no labor, materials, services or tools for each, but this is how the job plan is defined. The Asset/Location PriorityThe priority of the asset or location relative to other assets/locations. More was defaulted from the asset and the Priority was defaulted from the Job Plan.

There aren’t any fields on the Campaign which are copied to the child work orders of the campaign. The work package records are held in object PLUSTWOASSET. If you wish to extend with other fields they would come from the PM or Job Plan being applied. If there is a Safety Plan associated with the Job Plan using the Job Plan’s Work Assets tab, then this will also be applied.

The Work Package Table Details has two sections for PM Information and Work Order Information, notice the fields are all read-only.

The Work Package Table Details, Work Order Information fields are also read-only. Now that the campaign has been created with its child work orders you are now progressing those child work orders from the Work Order Tracking (Tr) application and using the Campaign (Tr) application is to receive a progress summary. 

Campaigns (Tr) – Log tab

The Log tab has the normal Work Log and Communication Log tabs that you will find in other work order applications. The Modify/Delete Work Log and Create Communication actions are also available. You won’t find the actions View Costs or the ability to create follow-up Service Requests or Work Orders, but this and many other work order actions are possible from the Work Order Tracking (Tr) application.

Campaigns (Tr) – Review tab

The Review tab allows multiple people to be involved in the review process.

When creating a review record you need to select a Responsible Dept, it is a mandatory field, and the Select Value is a Person Group, you can’t just select a Responsible Person. The Responsible Person defaults to the Group Default on the Person Group. The field help suggests that the Responsible Person has to be a member of the Person Group, but this is not enforced.

I’ve entered a Review Due Date, Summary and Details. I was half expecting a Work Log record to be created, but one wasn’t.

To send an email you need to select the Email field on the Review records to whom you wish to send an email, before using the blue E-mail button.

The blue E-mail button opens the Create Communication dialog with the email of the Responsible Persons added to the To field, the Send From field is also populated but I removed that data before taking the screenshot. The Summary and Details from the review record are not copied to the Subject or Message.

I did verify that on using the Send button, the email is added to the Communication Log.

Note. If you are going to use a Communication Template, then you will need to make sure that any Roles do not overwrite the To field. If you are going to use this feature, you will probably need to design a few Communication Templates and Roles.

Campaigns (Tr) – Campaign Locked

There is a Locked field (top right of each tab) which when checked stops you from adding extra rows to the Work Package assets, you will receive the message – BMXAL0265E – You cannot add a work asset to a locked campaign.

You will also receive the same message when using the Select Asset List action/button.

If a campaign is locked, you cannot delete a work package record you will receive the message – BMXAL0268E – You cannot delete a work asset from a locked campaign.

Campaigns (Tr) – Work Package Status Summary

In the Work Order Tracking (Tr) application I have changed one work order to APPR, another to INPRG and another to COMP, you can see this reflected in the Status Summary table on the Work Package tab.

In the Work Order Tracking (Tr) application there is no ability to search for the work orders which are part of a campaign, the Parent WO field in the Advanced Search dialog doesn’t exist. I have raised this as an IBM Support case.

Campaigns (Tr) – Work Package – Work Asset Information

In the Work Package tab, you can manually create work assets. If you use the New Row button, then you must enter either an asset or location, otherwise you will receive the error – BMXAL0264E – Select an asset or a location in the work package for this work asset.

When entering an asset, you can enter an asset alias. The obvious example of an Asset Alias is the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), the number plate. I’ve entered Asset USA123 which is an alias.

When you tab out of the asset field Maximo uses what you have entered and searches to see if there is either an asset or an asset alias for what you entered. In this case it finds the alias, transfers it to the Alias field and adds the asset number associated with the alias to the Asset field. I’ll be exploring Asset Aliases in another article.

After an asset is entered the Location field becomes read-only, you can enter either an asset or a location and not both. You can select a Job Plan and a Work Location if you are using those, a work location may be a depot.

The Select Value on the Asset field also includes the Alias as a column and the Alias Description. I’ve filtered to show just the records associated with Asset 601995, the top record is the Asset record, the bottom record is the Alias record, with Alias USA123 and Alias Description – Andrew’s Truck.

With the work assets created, you would then use the Generate Work action to generate a work order for those assets.

Campaigns (Tr) – Work Package – PM Information – Master PM

When creating new work package records you can enter an asset or location in the Work Asset Information and select a Master PM. If you just select a Master PM, you will receive the error – BMXAL0261E – Master PMs can only be associated with an asset or a location.

You can now use the Generate Work action. I initially received the following errors:

BMXAA3203E – Could not save PM.
BMXAA2171E – Job Plan JP1000 is not a valid job plan.

This was because I selected a Master PM with a Job Plan that referenced the BEDFORD site, and I am creating records for the FLEET site.

I decided to create my own Master PM and Job Plan; Master PM 1017 was selected, and I again used the Generate Work action and this time it completed.

No work order was generated instead it created an Associated PM, 1042. This PM is at DRAFT status, it does reference the asset SPPMP001, and the job plan sequence was copied from the Master PM, but otherwise the PM fields are the default values, the frequency was not copied, neither was the setting of “Use Last Work Order’s Start Date to Calculate Next Due Date?”. However, you can navigate to the Master PM application and use the action Update Associated PMs.

While the Master PM field is used for generating PMs for work assets, if you are going to use this you will need to work out the process for getting the right information on each individual PM.

The use of the Master PM might come about if your vehicle manufacturer suggests an additional periodic PM or Inspection to perform on your fleet. The campaign would create the necessary PMs for the vehicles that are referenced on an Asset List, but after the Asset List is applied, you would need to enter the same Master PM on each work package record. 

Campaigns (Tr) – Work Package – PM Information – PM

I’ve added a new row in the Work Package for the same asset SPPMP001 and referenced the newly created PM 1042. Notice the Master PM field is read-only when a value is entered in the PM field, the two fields are mutually exclusive. You can just see that the PM frequency is 30 Days, that is because I used the Update Associated PMs action on the Master PM.

After using the Generate Work action, work order 1519 was created at WAPPR state with a work type of CMPWO, it does reference the PM. The PM was still at DRAFT state and while it referenced an active Job Plan, AJE15, the Job Plan was not copied to the work order. The PM Counter was not incremented either.

I did a further test making the PM active and adding an Estimated Next Due Date of today with the “Use Last Work Order’s Start Date to Calculate Next Due Date?” set. When I created a third work package record for the same asset and the same PM and used the Generate Work action, a new work order was created, 1520, but there was still no increment of the PM counter and the PM’s Job Plan was not copied to the new work order.

This has left me wondering the purpose of the PM field on the Campaign’s Work Package, because if it creates a work order and does not copy the PM’s Job Plan and doesn’t increment the counter, then what has it copied, except perhaps just referencing the PM. I’ve created an IBM Support case to try and find out. 

Campaigns (Tr) – View Campaign History

There is an action View Campaign History which is similar to the work order history in that it shows both the Status History and below this the Ownership History.

Campaigns (Tr) – Display WO Hierarchy

Another action Display WO Hierarchy, like Generate Work, is missing the toolbar actions; this can be easily remedied, or you can wait for Defect DT423668 to be released.

The Display WO Hierarchy action displays the Campaign at the top of the hierarchy, 1497 in the screenshot, then all the work orders generated for the campaign. You can also navigate lower in the hierarchy if, for example, the work order has tasks as work order 1510 shows. Alongside the work order number is its status. You cannot navigate to the work order from the hierarchy list.

Campaigns (Tr) – Asset Meter Reading and Change Status

The Asset Detail menu has two additional options for Enter MeterA Meter is an identifier for recording meter readings, measurements and observations on assets or locations. More Readings and Change Status, this is the asset record status and not the up/down status. The same actions will be found on the detail menu of the Asset field in the Work Order Tracking (Tr) application.