1. Using Maintenance
  2. How You Edit a Work Requirement

How You Edit a Work Requirement

In the edit mode of a maintenance program, you can edit the work requirements on the Work Requirements tab. During editing, you must take care to fully understand the impacts on the forecast, as well as outstanding work orders that are due in the future.

In general, you can edit, but not delete an existing work requirement after the first work order is created for the work requirement.

There isn't any page level auditing capability for historical changes to a work requirement on this page. Therefore, if the edits fundamentally change the forecast cadence of the work requirement, it is recommended to end date the requirement to stop forecasting and create a new work requirement with revised modeling and forecast method. Else, a user will not be able to understand the changes to the work requirement and its previous modeling.

Note: If you need to fundamentally change the forecast method or need to re-sequence the cadence of a forecast method for an asset, it is recommended to end date the requirement to stop forecasting and create a new work requirement with revised modeling and forecast method. You can utilize the affected assets functionality to set the historical last due date and interval (if cycle-based), as well as set a future Forecast Start Date for the asset to control the future next due in the new requirement. The new requirement must have a unique name as well.

For Each Asset Region

In the For Each Asset region, you can define the work requirement details and related attributes. Here are some recommendations:

Field

Description

Name

You can update the name of the work requirement. However, the name must be unique across all maintenance programs, regardless of maintenance organization.

Note: Historical reporting such as through OTBI will always reflect the most current name.
Requirement Reference Optional reference for a work requirement. An example could be an OEM repair manual reference or a subscription line unique identifier.

Type

You can update the type at any time. However, it is recommended to only change it prior to the first work order creation for the requirement. Else, there will be inconsistency with the forecast and work orders, both historically and in the future.

If updated, then all the affected asset details, such as included or excluded assets, as well as any historical information will be deleted for each asset.

Asset or Item

You can update the Asset or Item at any time. However, it is recommended to only change it prior to the first work order creation for the requirement. Else, there will be inconsistency with the forecast and work orders, both historically and in the future.

Description

Description of the asset or item that's selected. This is a read-only description of the asset or item that's selected. It can’t be updated.

Include Assets

This drop-down list is only editable if the type is Item. You can update this option at any time. However, it is recommended to only change it prior to the first work order creation for the requirement. Else, there will be inconsistency with the forecast and work orders, both historically and in the future.

When changing the option, you will be presented with a warning in the page entitled “Changing the included assets option will reset the affected assets for this work requirement”. If you click Yes and proceed with the update, then all the affected asset details, such as included or excluded assets, as well as any historical information will be deleted for each asset. If you click No, then the update is disregarded.

Status

Status of the work requirement that's used to indicate if adequate attributes are defined for the work requirement to generate a forecast. The values are: Draft and Active.

Upon creation, the status is set to Draft. After you define header, forecast method, and work definitions, the status changes to Active and is ready to be forecasted upon saving. If you provide all the attributes for the work requirement to generate a forecast, then the status is directly set to Active.

Note: After a requirement reaches the end date, it won't be considered by the preventive maintenance forecast scheduled process. However, the status of the work requirement remains as Active.
Note: It is recommended to create work requirements using the REST API by passing a complete payload of the required parent and child resources, as shown in the Use Case examples. This ensures that the system can validate the necessary definitions required to set the work requirement status to Active, allowing it to be forecasted.

Start Date

The Start Date controls the first due date in the forecast, as well as its sequence of due dates into the future within the forecast horizon number of days window.

When the first work order is created based off these dates, if you adjust the start date to another date in the past will not have any impact on your future forecast. The forecast will always stay on its original sequence based of the original Start Date.

If you adjust the start date to a future value, then the work requirement will no longer be considered by the forecast. If you are using a cycle of intervals, then intervals that are due from the present to the future will be skipped when the forecast is regenerated. Therefore, it is generally recommended to End Date a requirement and create a new requirement to start again in the future.

Note: If you wish to fundamentally change a forecast, then you will have to consider adjusting the forecast method or end dating and creating a new requirement. If Start Date adjustments were allowed in the past, then it would be difficult to understand future impacts and forecast history.

End Date

Date on which the work requirement becomes inactive. Once this date equals the application date, it is not recommended to change the date, else there will be inconsistency in the future forecast and its history.

Work Orders Created

Read-only indicator.

Affected Assets

Clicking the icon navigates you to the Affected Assets page for both an asset and item-based requirement. The page displays the list of assets applicable for the work requirement

Affected Assets Page

For each asset, the affected asset details can be updated. You can include or exclude an asset at any time until the requirement end date is reached:

  • If you exclude a previously included asset, then it will no longer be considered by the forecast. Any future forecast dates, without work orders, will be deleted the next time the forecast is regenerated. However, any existing future work orders and existing maintenance history will be maintained.

  • If you include an asset for the first time, then it will be considered by the forecast. If you are using a cycle of intervals, it is recommended to define historical details in order to guide the first due date.

  • If you include a previously excluded asset, then it will be considered by the forecast again as of the application date. If the asset has not had any work orders previously created for the requirement, then you can optionally define historical details. Note that during the time of exclusion, the forecast will be skipped, and the asset will most likely pick back up at a future interval. This could cause confusion to users.

For each asset row that has a green checkmark, these fields are editable if work orders haven't yet been created for an asset in this work requirement.

  • Historical Last Completed Date: You can optionally enter in the last time similar maintenance was accomplished from an external application. This date is considered by the forecast and works in coordination with the start date to calculate the first due for an asset. You can only enter a value that's less than the application date and you must enter a date if the Last Interval is defined.
  • Historical Last Interval: Only applicable if the work requirement is cycle-based with intervals. This is the interval at which you last completed maintenance as of the Last Completed Date. You must enter an interval if the Last Completed Date is defined for a cycle-based requirement.
  • Forecast Start (Date): You can optionally define a Start Date that's before, equal to or later than the work requirement start date. If defined, it supersedes the work requirement start date. Remember that the start date determines when the forecast begins calculating and if the date is in the future, the forecast doesn't have any due dates before that date. If the Start date is defined along with the Last Completed Date, then the Last Completed date takes precedence and is used to anchor the start of the forecast and begin its calculations.
For each asset row that has a green checkmark, these fields are editable at any time:
  • Create Work Orders Option: By default, work orders are automatically created for a forecasted due date. However, if you wish to manually create work orders for each due date using the Maintenance Forecast page or REST API, you can set this option to Manually. If set to Manually, the scheduled process Generate Maintenance Work Orders won't consider these forecasted due dates and won't create work orders. It is recommended to leave the option at the default value of Automatically.

Generate a Forecast Region

In the Generate a Forecast region, you can edit the forecast method for the work requirement. Note that editing these fields will impact only the future due dates in which work orders are not created. Additionally, editing these fields could fundamentally change the cadence of the forecast, which would cause confusion to users if work orders have already been created in the past.

Field

Description

Forecast using a cycle

You can update this to change to and from a cycle of intervals.

If changing from a cycle to a non-cycle forecast, then the work definitions will now merge on every due date.

If changing from a non-cycle to a cycle forecast, then the work definitions will now need to be defined on which interval they are due, taking into consideration the merge or suppress options.

Number of Intervals per Cycle

You can adjust the number of intervals that occur during each cycle. This field is editable only if the Forecast using a cycle check box is selected.

Changes to the intervals must also be reflected in the work definitions. Else, they may not match the updated number of intervals.

You can only set a value greater than 1 to forecast using a cycle of intervals. To have a single repeating interval, deselect the Forecast using a cycle check box.

Next work order only

You can update this check box to control the behavior of the creation of work orders from the forecast.

We recommend that if Day or Meter Intervals are used as the forecast method, you select the Next work order only check box. This includes setting the Method to Calculate Next Due to Last Completion. This allows a dynamic adjustment of future due dates within the forecast horizon based on previous work order completion and meter reading entry. Else, the forecast may not dynamically forecast taking into consideration the last completion of a work order for a maintenance program.

Basis for Next Forecast Due Date

You can update the forecast method options. However, if work orders have been created, it is not generally recommended unless the full impact of the change is understood. It is recommended to end date and create a new requirement if the forecast method fundamentally changes.
Forecast Window in Days Optional value that represents the number of days into the future when the maintenance forecast is created for each asset in this work requirement. If not defined, then either the number of days value at the program header or the organization parameter is used. The lowest level of definition takes precedence.

It is generally recommended to define a number of days value if the work requirement requires a forecast window that is longer in duration than the program header. Optionally, you can define for a shorter forecast window.

For example, you may have a program header that is defined to forecast out 90 days, but you have work requirement that is due every 180 days. In that case, set a value at the requirement level of at least 180 days to view the due dates in the forecast for planning visibility.
Work Order Window in Days Optional value that represents the number of days into the future when work orders for maintenance forecast is created for each asset due date this work requirement. If not defined, then either the number of days value at the program header or the organization parameter is used. The lowest level of definition takes precedence.

It is generally recommended to only define a number of days value if the work requirement requires a work order window that is longer in duration than the program header. Optionally, you can define for a shorter work order window.

For example, you may have a program header that is defined to create work orders out 45 days, but you have work requirement that is due every 180 days. Therefore, setting a value at the requirement level of at least 180 days is helpful to create work orders out into the future to support planning.

Concurrent Requirements

Displays the option defined at program level for forecast to handle the concurrent work requirements.

The Merge and Suppress options default to each work requirement. Optionally, you can choose to override the option at the requirement level.

Note: For calendar-based work requirements, if you don’t wish to merge and suppress across work requirements, then it is recommended for an administrator to set the parameter, Allow Suppress and Merge Across Work Requirements in a Maintenance Program to No, on the Manage Asset Maintenance Parameters page located within the Setup and Maintenance work area.

Override for this requirement

 This option lets you decide whether the concurrent requirements option given at the program level should be overridden and defined only within the work requirement. If selected, the work requirement is forecasted independent of other work requirements. Additionally, the selected suppress or merge option is applied to each work definition, as indicated by the Forecast To column in the To Perform This Work region.

In previous versions, we recommended that you select the Override check box when using Calendar pattern-only work requirements if the same asset is defined across multiple work requirements in the same maintenance program. This prevents cross-requirement merge suppression of work definitions when their respective intervals intersect.

In this version, you can decide if merge and suppress across work definitions is enabled by setting a parameter value. We recommend setting this parameter to No, thereby disabling this capability unless you have an established business requirement and fully understand its capability and limitations. Merge and suppress options, that support multiple work definitions across intervals in a cycle, are best modeled and forecasted within a single work requirement.
Create Work Orders Option Option that controls if work orders are created Automatically (default) or Manually for a forecasted due date.

Work Orders are automatically created for a forecasted due date. However, if you wish to manually create work orders for each due date using the Maintenance Forecast page or REST API, then you set this option to Manually. If set to Manually, the scheduled process Generate Maintenance Work Orders won't consider these forecasted due dates and doesn't create work orders.

Note: It is recommended to leave the option at the default value of Automatically unless your business process will use the Maintenance Forecast page or REST API exclusively to create work orders for these due dates.
Work Order Status Option that controls the status of the work orders created for a due date. You can select from the pre-defined values of Unreleased (default), Released or On-hold. Additionally, you can select customer-defined values that are created based on these pre-defined values.
Firm Work Orders Option that controls if the work orders created for a due date are set as Firm = Yes (default) or Firm = No, which controls if they will be scheduled or not.
Work Order Priority Optional field that sets the priority of the work orders created for a due date. Valid values must be positive whole numbers.

Based on a Recurring Pattern by Date Region

The details for generating the forecast, per the selected method, can be updated in this region. However, it is important to understand the impacts to the forecast:
Forecast Method Field Impact of updates
Calendar Pattern Calendar Pattern If you update the pattern, it will be used when the forecast is generated after the last work order in the future, if created. Make sure the pattern is update in relation to the forecast horizon in days value.
Day Interval Base Interval in Days If you update the number of days, it will be used when the forecast is generated after the last work order in the future, if created. Make sure the value is update in relation to the forecast horizon in days value.
Method to Calculate Next Due If you update this method, it will be considered for the last work order completion from the previous forecast before the update. Therefore, this method can only be used to recalculate the next due from this date.
Meter Interval Meter Name You can delete or update the attributes on an existing meter. Or you can add a new meter.
Meter Interval Base Interval If you update the base interval value, then it will be used when the forecast is generated after the last work order in the future, if available.
Meter Interval Method to Calculate Next Due If you update this method, it will be considered for the last work order completion from the previous forecast before the update. Therefore, this method can only be used to recalculate the next due from this date.
Condition Events Event Code You can add or delete codes at any time. There will only be impact if you use IoT Asset Monitoring.

To Perform This Work Region

In the To Perform This Work region, you can define work definition for the work requirement. Updates to the forecast cadence, method and its attributes will be reflected in this region.

If you change methods, then you will need to redefine which work definitions will be required. If you update the cycle or merge/suppress settings, then you will need to understand the impacts to when work definitions are due and if they are merged or suppressed.