Useful small features in Maximo

As Technical Consultants or Maximo Administrators, we often have high level of proficiency in using the software. Because of that, we often overlook the many basic or simple features that can be extremely useful to the end-users. In many cases, when I mentioned one those features to the end-users, whether they are beginners or long time Maximo users, it is often received with much excitement. So I think it may be a good idea to collect a list of those small features like that and share them here in this post:

Default Table Data: in several standard applications such as Purchase Requisitions or Purchase Orders, in the PR/PO Lines tab, at the bottom of the tab, below the Detail section, there is a section called “Default Table Data”. This section allows a user to enter default data values that will be automatically filled every time when he or she adds a new line.
For example, when creating a new PR, the requester may create requests for a list of many different items, all of them will be received into the same storeroom, charged against one same GL Account, and requested by the same person. By entering these default values, every time the user hit “New Row”, these values are populated automatically, and the user only has to enter the item number and the requested quantity. For a large PR with a few dozen or hundreds of lines (it is not unusual for PR/POs acquiring parts for large turn-around project to have few thousand lines), this feature can be a huge time saver. For implementers and Maxadmins, the Receiving or Work Order’s Planned Material tab can be great candidates to add this feature. The users will fall in love with you after you added this "Default Table" feature to the apps. Sit down and ask them what are the fields that they have to enter the same data again and again. Spend 10 minutes to implement the feature and you will be the real hero.

 

Default Data section in Purchase Requisition app

Search record by Itemnum (Advanced Search): here is one typical scenario: a user raised a PR to purchase several items. These items later get copied to a PO and the PR is closed. A few weeks later, the person wants to know the status of the items he requested but unfortunately he forgot the number of the PR he raised, he doesn’t know what is the PO number which the item got copied to. In this case, the quickest way to find out is to open the Advanced Search, and search for the PR or PO records which contains the item he wants to find. This is the quickest way to find a main entity record which contains an Item Number. These records can be Work Order, Inventory Usage, Contract, RFQ, PR, PO or Invoice. Obviously, as a Consultant or Admin, you can add this feature to any application that contains a child table to allow the end-users to search for the main record based on an item/object contained in the Lines tab.

Find all PRs which contain a specific Item

Customized Advanced Search: given this scenario: due to regulation requirements, many of my clients use a custom “Issue Date” field for Work Order. For reporting, this field is used to determine the reporting period for different reports such as “Completed work” or “Over-due work”. The “List” screen on every Maximo application is very effective for filtering/finding record with a specific criteria such as looking up for all Work Orders on an Asset with Work Type = CM for example. However, this screen does not allow the user to search for all Work Order created within a period (i.e. Issue Date between 1/Dec and 31/Dec). Users who are more familiar with Maximo know that they can use the standard Advanced Search feature to search for Work Orders which has Report Date or Scheduled Start Date between a From Date and a To Date values. However, customized fields, like the “Issue Date” in this case, are often neglected by the implementers and thus are not added to the Advanced Search pop-up screen. In many cases, when I conducted refresh training class, the users often greatly appreciate after I point this out to them and add the missing fields to the Advanced Search screen (which only takes me less than 5 minutes). A one- or two-minute change to the software like this sometimes is a big time saver and makes life a lot simpler for the end-users. Ability to add small stuff like this and seeing these changes make a positive impact to the end-user's workflow is also a great emotional reward to the consultant too.

Use Advanced Search's Dates section to find all Work Orders in a period.

View Item Availability pop-up menu

View Item Availability: In any Maximo application which displays material-related information, you can click on the “Detail Menu > View Item Availability” menu to see all important information related to the item including the current inventory balances, quantity reserved, and other detailed information such as which are the alternate items, whether the item has been requested or being purchased in a PO. This information is quite helpful when you make work plan or intend to raise new purchase requisition. It's great to know that you can use an alternate item instead rather than raising a request and have to wait several months for the whole procurement routine to be processed.

All item's related information is shown in one pop-up

Classification/Attribute Search:  Maximo is one of the very few CMMS software that allow cataloging and tracking assets or spare-parts' classifications and technical specifications in a structured way. If your company records such information, it becomes very handy when identifying inventory item codes using the Classification/Attribute Search function. Next to any Item Number field, you can click on the “Detail Menu > Classification” menu to open the Classification Search pop-up where you can browse your inventory catalogs to search for the item code that you want. Only a handful of companies in this market records inventory item's technical specification in Maximo. As such, searching items using technical attributes is often not possible. However, classifying items can be done pretty quick and many companies already have the data in Maximo. With the item already classified, using the Classification Search to find item can be very easy and efficient.

Browse and find items by Classification