Materials Management

Users can access the Materials page in the Technician Workbench component to:

  • View and gather materials.

  • Acquire additional materials.

  • Return materials.

Before beginning an assigned task, a technician can access the Technician Workbench and view a list of the materials assigned to the work order task. The Materials page lists inventory materials, floor stock, and purchased and on-hand materials identified on the Schedules page of the work order. If desired, the technician can print a detailed list of the materials needed for the task. The printout specifies which materials will be delivered and which materials the technician needs to obtain from the inventory store.

The combination of the item type and delivery instructions provides a technician with the information needed to gather the materials and provides PeopleSoft Inventory with the delivery instructions for the materials. Delivery instructions are updated by the planner or scheduler and can include special handling instructions. A truck icon, which appears in the task line, indicates that materials are to be delivered to the work location.

Based on PeopleSoft Maintenance Management user preferences, a technician can also generate and print a picking plan for materials that require gathering from the inventory store. The technician takes this plan to the inventory store, and the inventory clerk uses the plan to locate the items needed for the task and gives them to the technician. A scheduler can also generate a picking plan, which enables PeopleSoft Inventory to pick the items ahead of time.

If additional quantities of materials are needed, the technician can:

  • Ask the scheduler to reserve additional quantities of materials in PeopleSoft Inventory. Once these materials are added to the schedule, the technician can list them in the Technician Workbench and generate another picking plan to obtain them from PeopleSoft Inventory.

  • Enter a direct issue in PeopleSoft Inventory from the Technician Workbench for the unscheduled items, if the technician has access to the Issue to Work Orders component. PeopleSoft Inventory creates an issue transaction, which updates one or more Inventory lines for a task in the work order.

If the materials ordered are shorted or damaged, the technician must contact the delivery store, where the inventory personnel handle the problem and update the PeopleSoft Inventory system. Inventory items that are not in stock are automatically ordered and replenished through the PeopleSoft Inventory system. If the items are needed immediately, the technician can contact the scheduler, who can create a purchase order to order the items. If the materials are critical to the progress of the work order task, then the technician, scheduler, or planner can put the task on hold until the materials are received.

You can enter the quantity of materials used on the Materials page of the Technician Workbench (Maintenance Management, and then Workbenches, and then Technician Workbench, and then click the Materials link for one or more work order tasks) for materials already scheduled for a task and for materials added on the Technician Workbench after the work order task was scheduled. Used Qty may be entered for both Inventory/Floor Stock and Purchase Order/On-Hand Materials.

Note:

This field is primarily informational. However, the Used Qty (quantity) field is included in the PeopleSoft Query definitions, which enables users to add to their own customized reports.

Materials must be returned to PeopleSoft Inventory when they are not needed for the task, are damaged or defective, or the task is cancelled. The return processes are:

  • Return the materials to PeopleSoft Inventory.

    Access the Issue to a Work Order page from the Technician Workbench and select the Return Parts check box. This transaction reduces the quantity issued on the materials list in PeopleSoft Maintenance Management for the work order task.

    PeopleSoft Inventory takes care of the return details.

  • Return the materials to the shop.

    The scheduler or other authorized personnel typically handles the return via PeopleSoft Purchasing or Receiving.

See PeopleSoft Inventory: InterUnit and RMA Receiving - Receipt Header Page.

Inventory Cost Collection

Inventory usage is tracked in the Technician Workbench as information. Once you schedule inventory parts for a work order and the Inventory parts are committed and reserved in PeopleSoft Inventory, a pick plan is run to select the items from PeopleSoft Inventory and then PeopleSoft Inventory issues the items (parts). Inventory transactions are created based on the issuance of the items (parts). The processing steps are:

  1. Set up transaction group 231, Work Order Usage, in Cost Accounting, Transaction Accounting Rules.

    PeopleSoft Cost Management has its own rules for accounting for inventory issues. The rules can vary by storage area locations. PeopleSoft Maintenance Management has standard rules for the distribution ChartField values for issues. The Accounting Rules page enables you to set up the debits and credits for an issue from PeopleSoft Inventory. The debit is a basic expense account, and the credit is an inventory account.

  2. Access Cost Accounting, Inventory and Mfg Accounting, Create Accounting Entries, Cost Accounting Creation to create cost accounting entries to stage data to the PeopleSoft Project Costing tables (CM_ACCOUNTING_LN).

    You can run this process for a specific transaction group, an Inventory business unit, and a book name. Review the output to ensure that the data was staged.

    Note:

    Make sure the accounting date is far enough in the future.

  3. Access Project Costing, Cost Collection, Inventory to pull the Inventory costs into PeopleSoft Project Costing to run the PC_IN_TO_PC process.

  4. Access Project Costing, Interactive Reports, Manager Transaction Review and select the Cost Review page to see that Inventory actual costs were loaded into the PROJ_RESOURCE table.

  5. Run the Cost Summarization process to view the actual Inventory costs on the Actuals page of the work order.

    Note:

    If you close the work order, the Cost Summarization process runs automatically.

See PeopleSoft Inventory: Understanding Work Order Item Fulfillment from PeopleSoft Inventory.