Work Schedules in Maintenance

This document explains how you use work schedules when processing maintenance work requests and work orders. It also explains how you set up the work schedule to select and display only the information required to carry out different activities.

Outcome

You should fully understand how and when to use work schedules as an aid when processing work requests and work orders.

Purpose

The work schedule is a list of work to be performed, possibly sorted by priority. Work in this context refers to operations or operation elements that belong to work requests or work orders.

Note: This document only refers to operations.

The work schedule can be used as a starting point throughout the processing of work requests and work orders. It is used by many persons with different roles, depending on the situation and the routines at your company.

The work schedule contains an extensive searching and sorting function that enables users to easily find the operations required at a specific time to carry out a specific activity, without the display of unnecessary information. You define different ways to search, select, and sort when you set up the work schedule. The user can easily switch between the settings.

The Work Schedule from an Activity Perspective

The work schedule for work requests can be used as the starting point when you want to do the following:

  • Perform a maintenance availability check for a work request and ensure that the resources required are available. Examples of resources are labor, tool, skills, and material.
  • Update the status of a work request to indicate where it is in the planning process.
  • Release a work request with planned work, thereby converting it into a work order.

The work schedule for work orders can be used as the starting point when you want to do the following:

  • Estimate how much time and material, tools, skills, job instructions, and permits are needed to carry out the work.
  • Allocate employees to a work order and issue job instructions.
  • Reschedule an entire work order or operations in a work order to another date.
  • Issue tools and materials and handle permits for a work order.
  • Modify an operation in different ways, for example stopping or delaying it.
  • Report work that was performed on an operation.

The Work Schedule from a Role Perspective

Another way to look at work schedules is from the user's perspective. The work schedules are used by all persons who process work requests and work orders. The work schedule can be used by the following persons:

  • Maintenance planner: Can plan and prepare work, allocating it to employees and issuing tools and instructions.
  • Product manager: Can keep track of which maintenance work is planned for their production lines.
  • Foreman: Can ensure that all planned work is completed within the scheduled time frame, including replanning the work when necessary.
  • Mechanic: Can find out which work is required, including reporting the work once it is completed.

Where

The work schedule for work orders is displayed in 'Work Schedule. Open Toolbox' (MOS195).

The work schedule for work requests is displayed in 'Work Request. Open Toolbox' (MOS197).

The users search and sort the operations that they want to process. They then carry out the activities described above in programs that are accessed by selecting options in (MOS195) and (MOS197).

Setting Up the Work Schedule to Display the Required Information

In order to use the flexibility that the work schedule offers, it is important that you set it up correctly. You need to decide which key fields to use for searching and sorting as well as any criteria the work requests and work orders must meet in order to be selected. You also decide which information should be displayed about the operations and how to display it.

You define different settings for different situations and roles. The user can then switch between the settings whenever necessary.

Note: Standard views and sorting orders are included in the system delivery. However, you will probably find it necessary to create user-defined views and sorting orders.

  1. Define View

    The view determines which columns are displayed in the list on the B panel for the work schedule. In other words, the view determines which information is displayed for each operation in the list.

    Views are created and connected to the work schedule in 'View. Open' (CRS020).

  2. Define sorting order

    The sorting order determines the following:

    • Which fields are open for searching in the work schedule
    • Which criteria the operations must meet to be selected
    • How they will be sorted on the B panel.

    Sorting orders are defined in 'Sorting order. Open' (CRS022).

    • Sorting Option

      The main component of an sorting order is the sorting option. The sorting option consists of the key fields that will be displayed on the B panel to be used for searching and sorting.

    • Filter

      A filter key field only displays operations that have the entered value. Example: If you use work center as the filter and enter AAB, only operations belonging to work center AAB will be displayed.

    • Non-Filter

      A non-filter key field displays and sorts all operations with a value equal to or higher than the entered value. Example: If you use June 10, 2007 and 3 pm as the start date and time, all operations that are to start after 3 pm on June 10, 2007 will be displayed and sorted by time.

      The key fields are displayed above the list on the B panel, except if a key field is also used in the view. Then it is displayed above the corresponding column in the list.

      You select key fields from a table. It is possible to use one of the following tables:

      • Work schedule view (MMOWSO)
      • Work order header (MMOHED) or Work request header (MWOPLP)
      • Work order operation (MMOOPE) or Work request operation (MMPOPE)
      • Work order operation element (MMOOPS) or Work request operation element (MMPOPS).

      The ID of the sorting option must be in the range U1–U9, V1–V9, or X1–X9.

      Note: For each of the tables above, some fields are defined as primary key fields. If you do not specify them as key fields in the sorting option, the system will automatically add them to the sorting option.
    • Selection critera

      It is possible to define selection criteria for the sorting option. Only operations that meet the criteria will be selected when you make a search using the sorting order. Example: If only operations that employee 112 is responsible for should be selected when using the sorting order, you fill in the Responsible field and ID 112 in the selection criteria.

    • The MMOWSO table

      The MMOWSO table is created solely for work schedule sorting orders. The table contains fields from the work order or work request header, the operation, and the operation element.

      In other words, you can select operations using information (filtering and sorting) from different entities. A practical example is when you set up an sorting order in which you can search for operations that belong to a specific work center (operation), with a specific order type (work order header), and for a specific employee (operation element).

      If you use the MMOWSO table, it is recommended that you specify the 'Work schedule view' (WSCV) field as the first key field. The work schedule remembers which view was used during the last logon; therefore, most users only need to enter the work schedule view the first time they log on.

  3. Define Work Schedule View

    A work schedule view is defined for sorting orders that are based on the MMOWSO table. The view contains a selection table similiar to the selection criteria on the sorting order. The view also determines if the work schedule should be sorted in the following ways:

    • By tree view: The operations are displayed on all valid levels in the site structure. This can be useful for product managers who want to view all operations belonging to their production lines.
    • Per operation elements instead of operations: This can be useful for mechanics who want to view the work they are responsible for doing.

    Work schedule views are defined in 'Work Schedule View' (MOS152).

Defining Selections

You can control the selection of operations in many ways: by the sorting option on the sorting order, the selection criteria on the sorting order, and the selection table on the work schedule view.

Sorting Option Versus Selection Table

A general recommendation is to use the sorting option on the sorting order instead of the selection table on the work schedule view whenever that is possible. By doing so, you keep the number of setting records to a minimum and increase system performance. You also decrease the maintenance work.

Example: A maintenance planner wants to view his work orders only. A possible solution is to define one work schedule view for each planner (where the work schedule view consists of a selection table with the planner's ID). However, a better solution is to define an sorting order where the first filter key field in the sorting option is the responsible person. By doing so, all users can use the same work schedule and sorting order and just need to enter their ID.

Selection Criteria Versus Selection Table

A general recommendation is to use the selection criteria on the sorting order instead of the selection table on the work schedule view, whenever that is possible. This also increases system performance and decreases the maintenance work.

Example: A maintenance planner wants to view only work orders with action messages. A possible solution is to define a selection table on the work schedule view stipulating that only work orders with a non-blank value in the action message field should be displayed. However, a better solution is to use a sorting option making the same selection. This minimizes the number of times that the sorting index for the table needs to be updated.

Scenarios

The following scenarios show you how you can set up the work schedule.

'Are There Any Breakdowns on My Production Line?' – Production Manager

Define an sorting order based on the MMOWSO table and use a sorting option that reflects the site structure. By doing so, you are later able to select a production line in the work schedule. Define the order type early in the key. This means that you later can select only work orders that refers to a breakdown (this assumes that there is an order type for breakdowns).

Example – Sorting option:

  • WSCV – Work schedule view (filter)
  • ORTY – Order type (filter)
  • MOTP – Site (filter)
  • CFGH – Configuration position (filter)
  • MWNO – Work order number
  • OPNO – Operation number.

Define a work schedule view that displays the operations on all valid site structure levels.

When the production manager uses the work schedule, he can enter the work schedule view, the order type for breakdowns, and the site and position that represent the entire production line.

'Find My Jobs This Week' – Mechanic

Define an sorting order based on the MMOWSO table and use a sorting option that is based on the employee number and with few filters.

Example – Sorting option:

  • WSCV – Work schedule view (filter)
  • EMNO – Employee number (filter)
  • STDT – Start date
  • MSTI – Start time
  • MWNO – Work order number
  • OPNO – Operation number.

Define a work schedule view that breaks the operation into operation element level.

When the mechanic uses the work schedule, he can enter the work schedule view and employee number.

'Find All Open Operations for Which I Am Responsible' – Maintenance Planner

Define an sorting order based on the MMOWSO table and use a sorting option based on the responsible ID with few filters.

Example – Sorting option:

  • WSCV – Work schedule view (filter)
  • RESP – Responsible (filter)
  • STDT – Start date
  • MSTI – Start time
  • MWNO – Work order number
  • OPNO – Operation number.

When using the work schedule, the maintenance planner can enter the work schedule view. The Responsible field is automatically set to the current user.

'Find All Open Jobs With An Estimated Downtime Less Than X Hours In a Given Production Line' – Maintenance Planner

Define an sorting order based on the MMOWSO table and use a sorting option that reflects the site structure.

Example – Sorting option:

  • WSCV – Work schedule view (filter)
  • MOTP – Site (filter)
  • CFGH – Configuration position (filter)
  • EDWT – Estimated downtime
  • MWNO – Work order number
  • OPNO – Operation number.

Define a work schedule view that displays an operation on all site structure levels.

When using the work schedule, the maintenance planner can enter the work schedule view and the site and position representing the production line. The operations will be displayed in ascending order by estimated downtime.

'Find Our Jobs By Priority' – Foreman

Define an sorting order based on the MMOWSO table and use a sorting option that sorts the information for each work center.

Example – Sorting option:

  • WSCV – Work schedule view (filter)
  • PLGR – Work center (filter)
  • PRIO – Priority
  • RRSD – Required start date
  • STDT – Planned start date
  • RRFD – Required finish date
  • FITD – Planned finish date.

When using the work schedule, the foreman can enter the work schedule view, work center, and priority. The operations will be displayed, sorted by required start date.

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