How You Create Meters for an Asset

Creating a meter for an asset is a two-step process. You define a meter template in which you specify the behavior and validations for the meter. Then, you associate the meter template to an asset for capturing the meter readings. If you have an existing meter template that you want to use, then you can skip the first step and just associate an existing template.

A meter template can be associated to one or many assets that share the same type of meter. Also, multiple meters can be associated to an asset to track various parameters of an asset. When you associate a meter template to an asset, a unique relationship is created. The corresponding meter reading history of each meter association is also unique.

Meter templates can also be automatically associated during asset creation or when copying an existing asset.

Define a New Meter Template

The meter template enables you to control how the corresponding meter readings are recorded. The meter template also enables you to define specific data validation rules that can be enforced at the time of recording the meter readings. You can create a meter template on the Create Template page in the context of an asset or by using a REST API.

Perform the following steps to define a new meter template for an asset:

Open the Assets page by clicking the Manage Assets link on the Tasks pane.
Search for the asset and click on the asset number link.
On the Asset: Overview page, select the Meters tab.
On the Asset: Meters page, from the Add from Template drop-down button, select: Create Template.

On the Create Template page, select from or enter values for the following fields:

Field	Description
Name	The name of the meter template.
Code	The code of the meter template.
Description	The description of the meter template.
UOM	The unit of measure of the meter template.
Meter Type	The type of the meter. The valid values are: Continuous: The meter readings are sequential and each new reading is related to the previous and next reading. Gauge: The meter readings are unique and each new reading is independent of the previous and next reading.
Reading Type	The type of the meter reading. The valid values are: Absolute: The displayed reading on the physical meter at the time of recording. Change: The net change in the current and last displayed readings on the physical meter. Note: Absolute and change readings that are created based on the displayed readings are used to increment the life to date meter reading value.
Reading Direction	The direction of the meter reading. The valid values are: Ascending: Increases in value. Descending: Decreases in value.
Start Date	The date on which the meter template becomes active.
End Date	The date on which the meter template becomes inactive.
Initial Value	The initial meter reading value. If defined, the value becomes the first meter reading in history for the associated meter and will use the templates start date. Initial readings can only be created when asset meters are associated automatically during asset creation or during the manual association of an asset meter. Note: We recommend you to only set the initial value for templates that will be manually associated to an asset. During association, you can validate and set the initial value and start date to provide a baseline reading for each asset. You can't mark readings as initial during creation in the Meter Readings REST API.
Reading Minimum Value	The lowest value that can be accepted as a meter reading value. The value is used for validation at the time of entering a new meter reading. The values for the Reading Minimum and Maximum parameters can only be defined for a meter of Continuous type with reading type as Change or a meter of Gauge type with Bidirectional as the reading type. For a Change meter, the value must be greater than or equal to zero. For a Gauge meter, the value can be positive or negative. You can define either a Reading Minimum, Maximum or both values to control the validation range of a meter reading. Examples include validating daily utilization between 0 and 24 hours, daily mileage ranges and temperature reading ranges.
Reading Maximum Value	The highest value that can be accepted as a meter reading value. The value is used for validation at the time of entering a new meter reading.
Reset allowed	Option to specify whether or not the meter is to be reset. Applies only to meters defined as Absolute or Change in an Ascending direction. When a reset meter reading event is recorded, the Displayed Reading value will set equal to the Reset Value.
Reset Value	The value to which the meter reading value is reset. This value is typically defined zero or one.
Rollover allowed	Specifies whether or not the meter rollover is to be enabled. A rollover event occurs when the physical meter reaches its maximum reading value and resets to a new value, typically zero. Note: A rollover can only be defined for a meter of Continuous type with reading type as Absolute and direction as Ascending.
Meter Maximum Value	The highest meter reading value supported by the meter during a rollover event. The attribute value is used for validation at the time of entering a new meter reading when a rollover event is encountered.
Meter Minimum Value	The lowest meter reading value supported by the meter during a rollover event. The attribute value is used for validation at the time of entering a new meter reading when a rollover event is encountered. Note: If a reset value if defined, then the meter minimum value must be equal to the reset value.
Record Meters at Work Order Completion	Option to control the meter reading entry at work order completion. The valid values are: Do not allow Mandatory The default value is Do not allow. Note: We recommend setting this value to Mandatory if this is the primary method for capturing an asset's meter readings, especially for a meter-based forecast
Allow meter to schedule a maintenance program	Option to indicate whether the meter can used to schedule a maintenance program. This field isn't applicable for Gauge meter type.
Estimated Daily Utilization Rate	The daily average total of meter readings that are expected to be recorded for the meter. This value is used to generate a meter-based forecast in a maintenance program for the asset by incrementing the last meter reading in history on a daily basis. You must enter this value if you select the Allow meter to schedule a maintenance program check box. You can also get a daily utilization rate calculated using your meter reading history. To do so, enter a value for the Number of Readings for Calculating a Utilization Rate field. After the calculated value is generated, the base utilization rate will be permanently disregarded by the preventative maintenance forecast. Additionally, you can also to calculate a historical daily utilization rate using your meter reading history. This value is used to supersede the manually defined Base Utilization Rate per Day, giving you a more accurate maintenance forecast that’s adjusted routinely based on the latest meter readings. Note: This field isn't applicable for Gauge meter type.
Number of Readings for Calculating a Utilization Rate	The number of meter readings in history that are to be used for calculating a daily utilization rate. This field is optional if you select the Allow meter to schedule a maintenance program check box. When the number of readings is reached in history, a calculated utilization rate is generated and displayed for the asset meter. When the calculated value is generated, the base utilization rate will be permanently disregarded by the preventative maintenance forecast. Therefore, you must set the number of readings to a value that accurately encompasses a range of reading history that will produce a calculated rate that tracks fluctuations in an asset's utilization. When calculated, the value will be recalculated after each new meter reading is recorded. The number of readings value can be updated, but care must be taken as changes in the calculated rate may adjust the maintenance forecast next due dates. The calculated rate is based on this logic: Each time a meter reading is recorded, the application confirms if a value is defined for the Number of Readings field. If defined, the application uses this value to count back into active reading history and confirm there’s adequate number of active readings to consider. If there’s adequate history, the application identifies the two readings that are considered as the start and end dates of the reading period history that’s being evaluated for a calculated rate. The application then determines the number of elapsed days between these two readings: End Reading Date and Start Reading Date. The application then calculates the average change per day in the Meter’s Net Value over these dates using this formula: Calculated Utilization Rate = (End Reading Date Net Value – Start Reading Date Net Value)/(Number of Days). For example: On day 1 your car has a Meter Net Value of 10,000 miles On day 3 your car has a Meter Net Value of 10,500 miles On day 6 your car has a Meter Net Value of 10,900 miles On day 8 your car has a Meter Net Value of 11,345 miles On day 11 your car has a Meter Net Value of 12,000 miles If number of readings is set to 5, then when the 5^th reading is recorded, the application determines that over a period of 10 days, you drove 2,000 miles This equates to 200 miles per day = (12,000 – 10000)/(10 days), which is the new Calculated Daily Utilization Rate per Day. Note: When a calculated rate is generated and saved for an asset meter, setting the number of readings value to zero doesn't disable or suspend the calculation of the daily rate. Additionally, setting the number to a high value will only delay the next recalculation of the rate, resulting in a static calculated utilization rate value. Therefore, we generally recommend to not set a value unless there's a sufficient history of asset utilization. If the initial meter reading for an asset reflects the cumulative meter reading for an asset during creation, using this method to calculate the utilization rate may lead to undesirable results as the initial reading will be greater than the expected daily meter reading value. This field isn't applicable for Gauge meter type and will only apply to meters defined as Absolute or Change in an Ascending direction.

Note: For a Gauge meter, the reading type is always Absolute and the direction is always Bidirectional.

Note: You should only enable meters for reset events if there's a business requirement to periodically reset the meter at the completion of a maintenance work order created using a preventative maintenance program or manually created work order. Also, the maintenance forecast uses the life-to-date meter, therefore, a reset doesn't directly impact the forecast but provides more of a visual indicator.

Click the Save button or the Save and Close button.

For more details on creating and editing meter templates using a REST API, refer to the REST API for Oracle Supply Chain Management Cloud guide.

Meter Template Modeling Examples

You can define meter templates to model these common types of meters. Note that all continuous meter readings will create a historical record that includes not only the recorded reading value, but also calculated net change value from the last reading in history, and a cumulative life to date reading value. Therefore, no matter if an absolute or change reading is recorded, these values can provide insight in the exact reading, its change since the last reading, and its overall cumulative reading value.

Meter Example	Meter Setup
Hour Meter – Displayed Value	This meter represents the latest displayed reading (absolute value) value on the meter. Therefore, you must define the meter as Continuous > Absolute > Ascending. Hour meters are typically not allowed to be Reset; however, they may encounter a rollover event after they reach their maximum values. An example is an hour meter that has 6 digits and will rollover once it reaches 99999.9 hours back to a reading of 0. Hour meters can be easily modeled to guide the required preventative maintenance for the asset. For example, you can model the requirement for an oil change with an interval of every 100 hours.
Hour Meter – Incremental Value	This meter represents the incremental value between the latest displayed reading value and the last recorded displayed reading value on the meter. This is helpful to understand the incremental utilization of an asset within or across days in time. Therefore, you should define the meter as Continuous > Change > Ascending. This type of meter can be helpful if you record multiple readings within a single day, representing the utilization of the asset between events, without using having to Reset the meter. The most common example is used for aviation, where individual flight segments are recorded based on the incremental flight time. Not only are the flight times for each segment captured as individual readings, but the total life to date cumulative meter reading history is calculated as well. This type of hour meter definition can also be used to guide the preventative maintenance using the same method as the Absolute meter example. The Maintenance Program always uses the meter’s life to date value to forecast maintenance, so no matter which meter definition you use, the forecast will be the same.
Odometer – Displayed Value	This meter represents the latest total displayed reading on the meter. This type of meter is exactly like the hour meter. Therefore, you should define the meter as Continuous > Absolute > Ascending. Odometer meters are typically not allowed to be Reset; however, they may encounter a Rollover event once they reach their maximum values. An example is an Odometer meter that has 7 digits and will rollover once it reaches 999999.9 hours back to a reading of 0.
Trip Odometer - Incremental Value	This meter is used to represent the total incremental value of an odometer over a specific time period, trip or event since the last time the meter was Reset. While similar to the incremental Hour Meter, what makes this unique is that user or system intervention is taken to perform a reset of the Meter after a recorded event or trigger event. An example is a delivery truck which makes several deliveries during a day. A trip odometer meter could be used to record the individual distances between deliveries. The meter would be expected to be reset to 0 before the first leg of the trip, then reset each time a new leg is started. The displayed value of the meter that's recorded with the trip distance, while the meter’s life to date readings will be incremented by each trip odometer reading for the leg. Therefore, you must define the meter as Continuous > Absolute > Ascending and include the ability to perform a Reset to a Reset value.
Manufacturing Input – Descending Value	You can define meters that have a displayed value that descends to support processes such as Manufacturing. While not as common as ascending meters, an example could be a process that has an input material that only lasts for X iterations before needing replacement. Therefore, understand how many additional widgets can be produced before the input is out could be an import meter reading. Therefore, you must define the meter as Continuous > Absolute > Descending. For example, you have a bottling process where you can fill 1000 bottles from a source tank before it need to switch to another tank to continue the bottling process. Using a descending meter, you can set the initial reading at 1000, then record periodic meter readings such as 994, 963, etc. to monitor how much source material in the tank is left. After the tank is empty, you can reset the Meter to 1000 and begin using the next tank.
Temperature Probe	This meter represents an independent value at a point in time, such as the current temperature. The reading may or not be relevant to the previous or next reading in history but is recording for historical monitoring and trend analysis. Therefore, you must define the meter as Gauge > Absolute > Bidirectional. You can leverage the Reading Minimum and Maximum Value definitions in the Meter to control the physical limit range of the temperature readings. Note: A gauge meter can be used to trigger the requirement for unscheduled non-routine maintenance work order by leveraging the IoT Asset Monitoring Cloud.

Assign Meter Template to an Asset

You can search for a meter template and add it to an asset on the Meter Template dialog box. The search result doesn't display the inactive meter templates and duplicate meters, or the meters that are already associated to the asset.

Perform the following steps to associate a meter template to an asset:

On the Asset: Overview page, select the Meters tab.
On the Asset: Meters page, click the Add from Template button.
On the Meter Template dialog box, search for the meter template.
In the Search results region, select the meter template.
Click the Apply button and then the OK button.
Verify that the template is displayed in the meter list.
Click Save to create a unique relationship between the asset and the meter template.