PPP06 - PM Generation Methods and WO Projections (MCU)

Editor's Notes

• #5: Bullet 1: PM Schedules can be set to generate automatically, or can be generated manually by a notification alerting Administrators on the home page. The way that a PM generates is set on the Automation tab of the individual PM schedule (this is discussed in detail in the Overview of Preventive Maintenance presentation). Bullet 2: Generating a PM manually will bring forward the PM Generation Dialog, which can be used for many different types of actions for the selected PM. Some of these actions include viewing History of the PM, or previewing Work Orders that will be generated once the Generate button is selected.
• #6: Bullet 1: PMs are generated at night during the regular nightly processing automatically by Maintenance Connection for automatic PM schedules. Bullet 2: PMs can also be scheduled to generate a specified number of days before the actual PM is due. For example, if a PM is scheduled on the 1st of each month, the Automation tab can be set to have the Work Orders generated “5 days before” the 1st of each month. Note: Automatic Generation is the preferred method of generation, which is explained in more detail in the Manual Generation section of this presentation.
• #7: Bullet 1: When Manually Generating a PM, this is also set on the Automation tab. The option requires the user to select how many days before the PM is due that the notification should be provided on the home page – this does not mean that the PMs will generate that many days before, but only that it will “suggest / alert” that the PM is generated. Sub-Bullet 1: The Notification will appear under the Preventive Maintenance Info section on the home page, where it says “PM Schedules Due”. Depending on how many schedules are actually due, many schedules may be ready for generation.
• #8: Bullet 1 / Sub-Bullets: When manually generating a PM, there are many selections available from the PM Generation Dialog to make generating unique. It provides you with the option to select specific Repair Centers for generating, generate only Work Orders that are “due” based on their schedules or generate into the future, and also to select non-work days to NOT schedule Work Orders on.
• #9: Bullet 1: Although it may be easier for some organizations to choose manual generation, there are potential problems that can occur. This is why MC suggests whenever possible to use the Automatic generation option. Sub-Bullets: Some of these potential problems include the home page continuing to indicate work orders are needed to be generated, when attempting to manually generate work orders a message will appear indicating another user is generating or projecting work orders, PMs scheduled for automated generation are not generating as anticipated, or the work order generation process may not complete in a reasonable amount of time. Note: A document outlining PM Troubleshooting with manual generation is available via the MC User Connect. Also, utilizing the preference for Background Processing can help to eliminate many of these issues that may arise (discussed in further detail later in this presentation).
• #10: Bullet 1: If your organization is unable to use the background processing option or switch to an automated process, it is best to reduce the number of PM Work Orders that will be generated each time you run the manual process. The following tips can help to minimize the risk of issues. Sub-Bullets: If you are generating work orders for multiple repair centers, be sure to run the process for each repair center separately. Also, change the specified date to limit the number of work orders generated in one session (e.g., one week at a time). Lastly, be sure to generate one PM schedule at a time so multiple PM schedules are not generating all at once. Note: Generating one schedule at a time is ONLY available from the PM itself.
• #11: Sub-Bullet 1: There are preferences available for PM generation that allow organizations to tailor the generation process. One of these preferences is to generate Work Orders in the background (recommended), which is used to improve efficiency and eliminate “time out” errors encountered when large batches are generated. Sub-Bullet 2: Work Orders will not be generated on days listed as a ‘non work day’ (set to no). If a Work Order is scheduled for a non work day, it will be generated on the next available work day. If, for example, a work order was scheduled for the 15th of the month, but the 15th of the current month was a Sunday (listed as a non work day), the work order would be generated for the 16th of the month instead.  Sub-Bullet 3: Organizations that choose to have PM generation “skipped” for Assets that are not In-Service can utilize the Suppress PM Generation for Assets not In-Service. This will not move forward the last generated, last completed, or last meter reading intervals – so when Assets are put back In-Service there will be a backlog of Work Orders that are generated.
• #13: Bullet 1 / Sub-Bullets: The Generate Work Orders Dialog is accessible from three different places in Maintenance Connection. If only trying to generate PM Work Orders for one individual PM, this can be done by accessing the PM record and selecting the “Generate” Action Button in the lower right hand corner of the record. Secondly, the Actions menu has a “Generate Work Orders…” selection that will open the Generate Work Orders Dialog and will generate Work Orders dependent on the actions selected. Lastly, the PM Home Page provides options to generate Work Orders as well.
• #14: Bullet 1 / Sub-Bullets: The Repair Centers are all listed in the Available column, while the Repair Centers that have been added for PM generation are listed in the Selected column. To add a Repair Center, simply double click on the Repair Center in the Available column, or single click (highlight) and click on the right arrow to move to the Selected column. Any Repair Center that is added to the Selected column will have Work Orders generated for it. Note: If you have selected a repair center in error, highlight it in the Selected Box and click the remove arrow (left arrow). You can also double click on it to move it back.
• #15: Bullet 1 / Sub-Bullets: The Generate Work Orders Dialog also has a section that will allow users to define how far into the future that the would like to generate Work Orders. The first selection is to generate only the Work Order schedules that are currently due, for the Repair Centers that are selected. There is also an option to generate Work Orders into the future. For example, for a monthly PM schedule, you could generate 3 months out from the current date and have all 3 Work Orders generated ahead of time.
• #16: Bullet 1 / Sub-Bullets: The Work Order scheduling section of the Dialog will allow users to define scheduling for Work Orders, based on “non-work days” defined by your organization. For example, some organizations do not work scheduled on Saturday’s and Sundays, however PM Target Dates may fall on those days if a schedule is defined for every 1st of the month, etc. In those cases, the Target Date for the Work Order will be moved to the next valid Work Day (specified by either the settings found in Preferences, or by manually selecting them on the Dialog).
• #17: Bullet 1: There are several Action buttons on the bottom right of the Generate Work Orders Dialog, one of them being “Preview”. The Preview button will generate a list of Work Orders based on the settings designated (Repair Center, etc.) Bullet 2: This feature is ideal for predicting Work Orders that will be generated, or to verify that the generation is going to create the Work Orders that are wanted. This is a feature recommended to be used especially when generating large amounts of Work Orders. Note: This list can also be printed.
• #18: Bullet 1: The Work Order Generation History will list the history of all Work Order generations that were performed. Each record displayed is a group of Work Orders that were generated. Sub-Bullets: The name listed is the individual that generated the Work Orders (automatic generations will say “System Agent”), the generated date is the date that the work orders were generated, Wos Generated and Wos Current are the number of Work Orders generated and the number of Work Orders that remain from this original group (excludes Work Orders that were deleted), and lastly the Undone? Section will show whether a particular generation was reversed / undone.
• #19: Bullet 1: To reverse or undo a generation of Work Orders, simply click / highlight the row of the Work Order Generation History Dialog and select the “Undo” Action button at the bottom of the Dialog. This will reverse the generation that was done, and the Work Orders will no longer be available. Any work that has been done (such as Labor, Costs, etc.) will be deleted from these Work Orders. Bullet 2: When undoing PM generations, the most recent generations must be undone prior to any others. For example, if a PM generation was done on 3/9/2014 and there have been two Generations since (on 3/10 and 3/11), then both 3/11 and 3/10 must be undone prior to 3/9 being undone.
• #20: Bullet 1: The Processing Indicator for PMs that are manually generated often will lock, causing PM generation to become stuck. The Advanced button on the Generation Dialog will open the “Reset Processing Indicator?” alert, which when Yes is selected will set the IsGenerating back to 0, and allow generation to continue as usual. Bullet 2: PMs that are manually generated often will lock up – resetting the processing indicator is the first step when PMs are not generating correctly. This can be done at any time, and is not harmful to the PM generation process. Note: A DB Job can be setup to reset the processing indicator for all PMs on a nightly basis. For more information and to have one of the Support staff create this for you, contact Support@maintenanceconnection.com
• #23: Bullet 1: The generate WO Projections feature of MC supports the management of maintenance resource. This feature is accessed from the Actions menu  Generate work order Projections. Bullet 2: This feature allows organizations to anticipate work order generation based on PM schedules and modify schedules or resources as needed.
• #24: Bullet 1: The process to generate Work Order projections creates a file of projections that can be viewed and analyzed using available reports. Bullet 2: The projections include Labor, Material, and Other Costs projections based on PM schedules established on a recurring or one-time basis. Bullet 3: Only one Work Order Projections file can be maintained by each user – and when a new Projection file is created, any previously created file is overwritten.
• #25: Bullet 1: It is important to note that using WO Projections can be detrimental to PM generation. If your organization is unable to use the “Background Processing” option, it is especially risky to have the PM Projection Process end in an incomplete state. That is, the process to Generate Work Order Projections begins by generating hypothetical work orders on which projection reports can be based. While this process is underway, the “last generated” work order dates are temporarily advanced. Once the process successfully completes, the “last generated” dates revert to their previous state. Bullet 2 / Sub-Bullets: If Work Order Projections time out, this will result in the PM Assets Tab showing the work order generated from the projection as the last generated work order. It will also affect the last generated date, typically used for determining the date to generate the next work order will be inaccurate (as such, the next scheduled PM dates will be incorrect). Note: For additional information on WO Projection timeouts and how to resolve this issue, please reference the PM Troubleshooting document available from the MC User Connect.
• #26: Bullet 1: The Generate WO Projections Dialog will look very similar to the Generate Work Orders Dialog that is used for generating PMs. All of the tools such as Repair Center selection, generate into the future, etc. work just like the Generate Work Orders Dialog for PMs. Bullet 2: The Projection Info section of the WO Projections Dialog is used for entering a name for the file to be created listing the projections. The first time a file is created, the system creates a default name that can be edited as desired.
• #27: Bullet 1: Once the controls have been selected and the “Generate” button has been chosen, the Work Order projection will generate similar to a PM. For example, if your organization has set the PM Preferences for Background Generation set to “Yes” than a dialog will appear indicating your request has been sent to the queue for processing. Otherwise, a popup will display indicating the Work Order projections are being generated. When the process is complete, the popup will indicate that the “Work Order Projection is Complete”. Bullet 2: The Preview Dialog will display, which shows the summary information of the Work Orders that have been generated for the Projection. Each row will specify the priority, status, target date and hours, procedure, asset and location for each work order projected to be generated. When work orders have been designated to generate as part of a group, they will be listed together with the same background color. Note: If the Work Order Projection Generation is occurring in the background, a brief notice will appear on the bottom right of your screen when the generation is complete.
• #28: Bullet 1: Once Work Order Projections have been generated, you can use the Reporter to generate reports summarizing Work Order costs, labor utilization, etc. You can refer to the Maintenance Connection Reporter User Guide for complete instructions on using the Reporter, or visit the MCUC to view the Reporter Tutorials. Bullet 2: The Work Order (Projections) group folder contains the Projection reports that can be used to view miscellaneous Projection information. These are the only reports that can be utilized for view Projection data.
• #29: Example: An example of a report that can be used for WO Projections is the Work Order Projection by Labor report. In this screenshot, the Procedure Labor is Joe Rogan (Report is grouped by Procedure Labor), and the Grouping / Sorting 2 is for Asset Hierarchy (Site), or California. The Target Date of the Work Orders, Procedure Name, Asset ID, Parent Location, and Target Hours are all listed on this report – however other Report columns can be added to this Report to further customize the information displayed. This type of Labor projection allows organizations to ensure that specific employees are not going to be over assigned hours, analyze the balance of workload between Labor, etc.
• #30: Bullet 1: To delete a Work Order Projection file, simply access the Generate Work Order Projections Dialog. Bullet 2: The Delete button will be active if there is a current Projections file available to delete. This will allow new Projections files to be added in place of the deleted Projection. This is a case where deleting the file will generally not affect any live data – only the projection file and the ability to report on it.