Tool Usage

To complete a task, a technician typically returns checked-out tools and enters tools usage in the Technician Workbench; recording tools usage is optional. A user can only access the Tool Usage link if the Record Actuals Tools Usage check box is selected on the Definition page of any work order business units that are associated with the work orders listed in the Technician Workbench.

In the Technician Workbench, users can:

  • Enter tools usage for work order tasks up to the time that a work order task is closed.

  • Insert a new row, select a tool, and enter the actual start and end dates and the tool usage, if either the business unit or shop does not allow the scheduling of tools or additional unscheduled tools were needed to complete the task.

    The system backfills the schedule and distribution fields after an unscheduled entry is saved in the Technician Workbench.

  • Update a tool usage record.

    Note:

    To maintain the ability to differentiate between scheduled usage and actual usage, a user cannot delete a tool usage record. However, a user can enter actual usage in a row as zero to indicate that the tool was not used, even though it was scheduled for the task. Each task tool resource can have only one transaction, and each revision replaces or updates the previous record; therefore, no record of each incremental change is kept. Users enter a new row with a negative value or a positive value to adjust the quantity of a previous record.

When you enter tool usage in the Technician Workbench or the Work Order Completion component, you enter the quantity used and the transaction dates. You can override the default values of the tool costs and bill rates, which are derived from the asset type and subtype, or the shop's Tool Rates page. If authorized in user references, you can override the distribution values for the assigned row on the work order task. If a difference exists between the currency code for the tool rates in PeopleSoft Asset Management and the currency code in the work order business unit, then the tool costs that appear in PeopleSoft Maintenance Management are always converted to the currency specified in the work order business unit. The system updates the tools schedule and actuals table with the actual quantity that is used when the technician saves the entry. These values appear on the Actuals page of the work order.

After the tools data is entered on the Technician Workbench:

  • You run the Cost Collection process for PeopleSoft Maintenance Management in Project Costing (Project Costing, and then Cost Collection, and then PeopleSoft Maintenance Management) to pull the data into the PROJ_RESOURCE table.

    Note:

    The actual tools rows in the Technician Workbench cannot be modified after PeopleSoft Project Costing pulls the data into the PROJ_RESOURCE table.

  • The GL Distribution status changes to HOLD in PeopleSoft Project Costing.

  • You run the Cost Summarization process in PeopleSoft Maintenance Management (or close the work order to run the process automatically) to display the actual tool costs on the Costs page of the work order.

  • If you close the work order, the GL Distribution HOLD status is removed to enable the calculation of chargebacks and the distribution of accounting entries to the PeopleSoft General Ledger from PeopleSoft Project Costing.

See PeopleSoft Project Costing: Work Order Labor and Tools Usage Costs.

See Work Order Task Accounting.