Glossary of Terms

Below is a list of terms, along with their definition, to assist with understanding Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management:


Term	Definition
Actions	Links and commands available to simplify work tasks and functions throughout the system.
Activate	In order to change the status of record to Active to begin work. In order to change the status of record to Active to make it available for use in the system. For example, items that are not in Active status cannot be referenced on other records.
Activity Checklist	Activity checklists are forms that define the prerequisites or procedural steps that need to be accomplished during the work completion process. Checklists can be used for information purposes only or contain the actual steps the user must take prior to completing work in the field.
Actuals or Actual Costs	System-maintained costs associated with stock issues and returns, posted invoices, posted labor charges, cost adjustments, and so forth. An actual amount paid or incurred, as opposed to estimated cost or standard cost. On work orders, for example, actual costs include direct labor, direct material, other direct charges, and overhead.
Alert	A system-generated message that requires further action or notifies you of an event.
Allocated Costs	Costs that have already been dispersed to the accounts they were allocated to.
Approval Documents	Items within the system that go through an approval process, such as work requests and requisitions.
Approval Limit	The maximum dollar amount that an approver can authorize for documents that affect costs.
Approval Portal	A work management tool that displays all of the purchasing records requiring a specific approver’s attention in a web browser. The Approval Portal can be accessed from the home page or from e-mails that are sent to approvers alerting them that their approval is required on a record.
Approval Profile	Portal used to manage the approval process for each record type (work orders, timesheets, and so on); identifies approval and hierarchy information needed for setting authorization levels, limits, and approval path the record takes once submitted.
Approval Route	A predefined list of approval titles needed to either review or approve a purchasing record.
Approve	In order to agree that work needs to be done; to authorize.
Approver	The user with the authority to authorize a purchase. The approver must have the necessary approval title assigned and be referenced in the Next Approver field to approve a record.
Asset	Anything defined in the Asset portal, from a piece of equipment to a vehicle to a room.
Asset Criticality	Asset Criticality defines the importance of the location in terms of the potential impact of having issues or problems at that location. For example, a hospital might have a high criticality rating since losing power there might result in the death of patients and a city park would have a low criticality since there are few consequences if the lawns are not mowed on time. (Attribute on the Asset Location record)
Asset Hierarchy	Manages assets designated by an organization. The structure consists of processes, assets, and components capturing work costs at an “object” level. Costs start at the process level then roll to assets and then to components as applicable.
Asset Number	The unique number identifying an asset in the system.
Asset Reading	Periodic readings (cycle-hours, kilowatt-hours, miles, and so on) taken from various types of equipment.
Associated Service Request	Service requests that are related to the same problem, customer, or that share any other common information.
Attachment	Documents that are independent of, yet give information about, a record. For example, you may wish to attach an installation guide update to a Component ID record, or attach a safety data sheet to a stock item record.
Auto Pay Indicator	A check box that appears on many purchasing and receiving records indicating whether or not the items on the purchasing record can be invoiced automatically by the system.
Automatic Reorder	The system can be set to automatically reorder stock items when stores quantity reach a certain point.
Available Quantity	A field on the storeroom record for a stock item calculated as the inventory quantity plus on hand minus on hold and on demand.
Average Unit Price	The average cost per item. It is calculated by the system based upon price adjustments, purchase order receipts, and invoices. The settings in the Receiving Configuration business rule determines whether or not this price factors in taxes when it is calculated. The setting of the Average Unit Price Calculation rule key in the Invoice Setup Criteria business rule determines how the average unit price is calculated.
Backlog Group	Describes a crew group that crews would be associated to that would or could pick up work that was not completed from a specific shift. For example, work that is not completed on the Streetlight Day Shift would be picked up by the Streetlight Afternoon Shift.
Backorder	Inventory type stock items that have insufficient quantities in the storeroom and are needed for a work order or material request (internal backorder). The system can be set to display a message and gives you the option of opening a picklist window to view where the items are needed and print reports if necessary when such items are received in the Stock Transfer, Receiving, or Multi-Step Receiving modules.
Batch Control	A task that can be configured for the system to run automatically. This functionality allows the system to make updates, purge obsolete data, generate schedules, or perform other automatic functions established by your organization without user intervention.
Bid	The process through which a list of items is reviewed and priced by vendors. Bids could be for material or services on a Blanket Contract or against the scope of a Compatible Unit.
Bill of Material (BOM)	A listing of parts for assets and components. These lists help to speed up the process of ordering parts because they only show stock codes for the parts related to a specific asset or component.
Blanket Contract	A contract established with a vendor, containing negotiated purchasing information such as total value of the contract, individual item, prices, terms, and so on. The blanket contract is also often called a “standing purchase order” from which “releases” are cut.
Blind Count Physical Inventory	An inventory list that does not show current storeroom inventory quantities.
Bookmark	A link that points to a specific record in the system.
Buyer	The person responsible for generating purchase orders from requisitions and then issuing approved purchase orders to vendors.
Carrier	A vendor responsible for delivery of items. (UPS, Federal Express, DHL, and so on.).
Change Order	Refers to either a revision to a purchase order or refers to an expedite purchase order.
Charge Number	The specific number being charged; for example, activity, asset ID, cost center, and so on.
Charge Type	The type of charge number being charged; for example, work activity, asset, vacation, sick leave, and so on.
Commitments/Committed Costs	System-maintained costs associated with active work orders placing demand in the storeroom, approved purchase orders and approved labor charges. Costs, usually fixed costs, which the management of an organization has a responsibility to pay. Examples include rent on a long-term lease or depreciation on an asset with an extended life.
Commodity Code	A way to categorize stock items based on the nature of the item.
Compatible Unit	A group of material items, with associated labor and equipment estimates, used to plan work for capital improvements and the maintenance of existing assets.
Component	A trackable stock item that must have a unique Component ID. It may be installed in and removed from an asset, and may or may not be defined as repairable. Components can only be tracked as single units.
Construction Location	Can either be a work location or an asset location but not both. A work location is a new location that identifies the location where the compatible units are used to build the new assets. Once the work is finished and the asset is identified as being at that location, the work location transitions to being an asset location.
Construction Work Management (CWM)	A subsystem of the Work and Asset Management application that manages the planning, cost, and resources needed to perform all construction-related work.
Construction Work Order (CWO)	A collection of construction work activities involved in performing the actual work at a construction location.
Construction Work Activity (CWA)	A specific task on the work order that identifies the type of work that needs to be completed for the construction job.
Consumable	An item issued or dispensed to assets that will not be recovered for return such as oil, gas, and so on.
Contact	The main contact information for a customer and the information used when creating new Work Request records for the customer.
Contract Limit	The accumulated purchase order total (dollar) value against the limit set on the blanket contract. This value cannot be exceeded.
Controllable Asset or Device	In DACS, a Controllable asset or device refers to an asset or device that is controlled by the utility directly. For example, a customer thermostat would be considered the “Controllable” asset or device and the HVAC system controlled by that thermostat would be considered the “Controlled” asset or device.
Controlled Asset or Device	In DACS, a Controlled asset or device refers to an asset or device that is controlled by a controllable asset or device. For example, a customer thermostat would be considered the “Controllable” asset or device and the HVAC system controlled by that thermostat would be considered the “Controlled” asset or device.
Converted Total	(Item Total) x (Vendor’s Currency). The total number of items multiplied by the vendor’s currency rate.
Cost Summary	A summary of budget and actual costs per expense category.
Craft	The labor classification of an employee.
Credit	A (negative) cost charge applied to increase available dollars.
Crew	A group of employees with crafts that are able to complete work on a shift.
Critical Number	A system-maintained number indicating the relative lateness of work; a critical number of 100 indicates that the work is due today.
Customize	In order to modify according to individual specifications.
Cyclical Work	Tasks and work performed on a regular, repeating, or periodic basis.
Debit	A (positive) cost charge applied to reduce available dollars.
Default Values	Values that are automatically entered by the system. Sometimes the value can be changed, sometimes it cannot be changed.
Demand	The unfilled need for an inventoried item. The quantity of a stock item estimated to be needed for active work activities but not yet issued.
Description Field	These fields are all ‘free-form’ text fields where you can enter around 100 characters. In many pages you can search the description field to help locate specific records, and the first several words will appear in the results of search. Make sure that your descriptions begin with meaningful text and that they include keywords to help in these searches. Double click most long text or description fields to open a Text Editor window that makes it easier for you to enter and edit text. The Editor window can be resized as necessary. The Editor window also includes a Search button that can be useful for finding specific text in a long description.
Digital Asset Cloud Service (DACS)	Refers to the cloud version of the application used for demand response and distributed energy resource programs.
Digital Asset Management (DAM)	Refers to the on-premise version of the application used for demand response and distributed energy resource programs.
Direct Charge	Charges or other expenses incurred while completing work. For example, if equipment is rented to complete an activity, a direct charge would be applied back to the activity to account for the cost. These are not charges that are generally incurred in the system such as labor or materials costs.
Direct Purchase	Ordering materials and services not available in a storeroom.
Direct Purchase Item	A stock item that is listed in the master catalog but not kept on hand. Examples are high cost or limited life items that are not kept in inventory but still need to be listed on bills of materials.
Discrepant Invoice	Line items that do not match against purchase order line items on an invoice.
Dispositioning	The combination of an asset's location and current status. Assets are typically dispositioned by being sold, reused, repaired, scrapped or returned to the vendor.
Downtime	Time when an asset and or component is out of service.
Dynamic Approval Routing	Supports the addition of new approvers to an existing approval request already in progress.
Expedite	The process of improving or managing delivery of ordered terms; to speed up the progress of a purchase acquisition.
Expense	An item or expenditure that incurs a cost in the system.
Expense Code	A code assigned to an expenditure indicating which payment category the cost falls into.
Favorites	Personalized links to favorite pages and scripts. These links are located on the Home Page.
Field	A space allocated for a particular item of information on a record. Fields are grouped into records and any given field may be used in several different kinds of records. For example a stock number may be used in a record for keeping track of inventory, and also be used in a record about the service life and reliability of parts.
Fleet Asset	A vehicle defined in the Asset module.
Follow-up Work Order	A work order created to expand on work from a work request or from an originating work order. The information on these work orders is basically a duplication of the originating work order. If the work required requires extensive planning or scheduling, it may be best to create a follow-up work order so that the functionality can be used to perform functions such as breaking the work up into tasks, assigning the tasks, and scheduling the work.
Forced Complete	In order to accept partial receipt of items or services as fully received.
Freight on Board or Free on Board (FOB)	The physical location to which the vendor agrees to pay for the product's freight delivery charges.
Functional Process	A logical collection of assets which together perform a function or work process.
Header	The main information window on a page.
Home Page	The first screen that opens when you log on to the system. Helps you to manage your system work.
In Transfer	The quantity of items issued but not yet received during a stores transfer.
Initiator	The person who fills out the purchase order for goods or services.
Inventoried Item	A stock item kept in a storeroom.
Inventory	Items stocked in the storeroom, issued and returned using material request processing and replenished by automatic stock reorder processing.
Inventory Quantity	The total number of items physically located on storeroom shelves.
Invoice	The process where the vendor bill is entered into the system, reviewed, and approved for final payment.
Issue (a purchase order)	In order to send a purchase order to a vendor.
Issue Price	The price used for issuing and returning stock.
Issuing Storeroom	The storeroom where demand is placed and from where the items are issued.
Item Type	A code that indicates the category that an item falls into. Purchase order items can be materials, services, or other.
Labor Requirement	Estimates entered on the activity record regarding the amount of labor hours needed to complete the work.
Line Items	Individual items or services listed underneath a purchase order or requisition.
Lockout Tagout (LOTO)	A tagging system used to manage assets that have been shut down for repairs.
Lot	An identified group (subset) of a stocked item. The system maintains quantities by Lot number (Lot ID). Typically, all items in a lot are manufactured in the same production.
Maintenance Compliance	Involves Corrective or Preventive maintenance compliance. Users can define compliance rules to ensure that corrective or preventive maintenance work is completed in a timely manner and to track and report against compliance work.
Maintenance Manager	An individual who is responsible for a certain collection of assets; referenced on the Asset record as a way of capturing all costs associated with the maintenance of the asset.
Maximum Quantity	The highest allowable inventory level. Used during automatic stock reorder processing, to determine the level to which to order.
Minimum Quantity	The lowest allowable inventory level. Also called the “safety point” or minimum safe quantity.
Net Received Quantity	The total received quantity against a purchase order to date.
Offsetting Transaction	A charge applied to a different charge number to balance the total (to a zero dollar level).
On Demand Quantity	The required quantity estimated and not yet issued for work orders in an active status.
On Order Quantity	The quantity not yet received for issued purchase orders.
Operational Data	Operating limits for assets that the system validates data against. During validation, data readings that fall outside of expected limits are marked with an out of range indicator. The person responsible for the asset can then review the reading and, if necessary, initiate a Work Request to repair the measurement device or asset.
Operational Tolerance	A particular asset measurement record that indicate measurement types, units, and the valid range of values for the measurement.
Oracle Assets	Automates the management of fixed assets and simplifies fixed asset accounting tasks.
Order By	The way in which results of search are sorted when a query is run. For example, if you search for purchase orders you can have the system order them by purchase order number or date.
Order On Demand	Stock items that need to be ordered only when there is a demand for them.
Organizational Hierarchy	An organizational level used to group or categorize assets.
Original Estimate	The total dollars planned before a work order is set to Active; copied over from the revised estimates and frozen at Active status change; maintained by the system.
Over Committed	More craft hours scheduled than available.
Overhead Cost	Costs that are incurred during the completion of work but that fall outside of labor, materials, and other costs that are incurred. Direct overhead costs are charged to a specific construction work activity and then dispersed to associated activities upon closure of those activities. Indirect overhead costs are a percentage allocated upon closure of a CWA and subsequent creation of the Activity Reconciliation record.
Parent and Child Objects	The relationship between asset locations and organization which identifies one as “belonging to” another.
Pay Period	A time period set in the system to which timesheet costs are applied. Costs can be applied to this block of time until the period is set to “Closed” status.
Pay to Vendor	Refers to payment details defined on the vendor location that's considered when creating an invoice.
Payables	Obligations to pay for materials and services received.
Performance	A work value rating.
Permit	A document required by regulations that call for the creation of an audit trail to show that proper procedures were followed. For example, working with hazardous materials typically requires permits indicating that the person doing the work has been trained and certified, that isolation procedures were followed, and so on.
Permit Template	A master template of a permit that can be used to create work order specific permits. Permit templates are more generally associated with an activity but can also be associated with a work location or an asset at an asset location.
Phantom Stock Item	A nonexistent stock item that was assigned a stock code strictly for the purpose of grouping other related stock items such as a kit.
Physical Inventory	The process of physically counting items in inventory.
Pick List	A listing of items related to a record. For example, Multi-Step Receiving contains a pick list of purchase order items so that user’s can pick which purchase order items to receive on the receiving record.
Planned	In order to plan for In Service and Out of Service assets. This is also the initial status of the work activity which includes all the resource and cost information needed to complete the type of work being planned for and to appropriately charge cost centers for resources and materials. Activities in this status can move between work orders.
Planner	The person who determines the labor requirements, material requirements, permits, and so on to complete a work order task.
PM Event	A preventive maintenance (PM) event is most typically associated with outages or other event-based maintenance. Planners manage when to cycle a certain event, such as a plant shutdown, occurs.
PO Quantity	The purchase order (PO) quantity of material the buyer requested from a vendor.
Posting Costs	A process which automatically distributes costs throughout the system.
Preventive Maintenance (PM)	Maintenance performed on a routine basis to help prevent equipment failure.
Procedure	A list of step by step directions.
Project	A grouping of subprojects, work orders, timesheets, purchase orders, and activities.
Property Unit	A group of assets with similar depreciation characteristics, such as transmission poles, high tension cables, or water mains. However, actual depreciation of assets is not managed in the Work and Asset Management system but in the Fixed Asset system. Keep this in mind if your organization is required by a regulatory authority to report depreciation by property unit groupings.
Purchase Order (PO)	A document used to secure purchases of materials and services. Purchase orders are sent to vendors and serve as a contract which designates information such as shipping arrangements, purchasing terms, items for purchase, and a PO# to track the purchase.
Purchase Request (PR)	A request for materials or services to be purchased which must be approved.
Purchase to Issue Ratio (PI Ratio)	The system uses the Unit of Purchase (UOP), Unit of Issue (UOI), and Purchase to Issue Ratio (PI Ratio) information to maintain quantities as parts are issued and new parts are received. You may, for instance, issue in individual items but order the items by the box where one box would contain 10 individual items. The Unit of Purchase would then be BOX, the Unit of Issue would be EA, and the PI Ratio would be 10.
Purchasing Terms	Payment and delivery conditions that are agreed upon by both the vendor and the purchaser.
Receipts	Items that have been received.
Receiving Storeroom	The storeroom requesting and receiving the stock items.
Record	An organized group of related fields. If you think of an address book as a kind of database you can make some associations to better understand the structure of a database. A page in the address book is a record containing the name of a person, a home phone number, a work phone number, other contact information and possibly some notes about that person. Each of these smaller bits of information is called a field in a database.
Refresh	Update the a record with the most recent information posted on the system. For instance, if a new alert or a new news item is posted after you have logged on to the system, clicking the Refresh button will add these new items to your Home Page.
Reliability	The level of confidence that an asset will perform as expected.
Renewal Work	Work that was completed to restore or replace an asset towards its original size, condition, or capacity.
Reorder Point	The inventory level at which stock reorder processing should begin; The “trigger” point for automated reorder processing. (Inventory quantity plus on order quantity minus demand equals the reorder point).
Reorder Processing	The process by which stock items are replenished when they reach specified minimum levels. You can configure the system to automatically generate an order when the reorder point is reached.
Reorder Quantity	The number of items to reorder. If not entered, the system defaults to a reorder quantity of 1.
Reorder Review	A record created by the system that allows users to review items that have been picked for automatic reorder.
Repair Quantity	The number of items in repair.
Repairable	An asset that can be repaired if it is broken or damaged. These components have an indicator checked on the Asset record to indicate that they are repairable.
Requestor	The person who requests items or services on a purchase order.
Required Field	A field that must be filled in on a record before the record can be saved.
Results of Search	The screen displayed after a search is executed. It shows a listing of all records that were returned by the search.
Return	Items received but needing to be returned to vendor for replacement.
Return for Credit	Items received but needing to be returned to vendor for credit (no replacement items needed).
Revised Estimate	The current total dollars planned for a work order; continues to grow even after the work order is active in order to capture current estimates; maintained by the system.
Revision	The number of times the blanket contract or purchase order has been revised.
Routing for Approval	Sending a document for review and approval.
Saved Search	A link on the Home Page to a frequently used search in the system.
Scheduler	The person who schedules when the work order activity will be completed using craft resources.
Service Call	A service call enables work to be created when a call from either an internal or external resource is received by a company representative. Some examples of these types of calls would be as follows: Customer calls in to report a streetlight out, odor in area, sewage overflow, service run to new home, and so on. Contractor requests new service to be run for a new subdivision or a business requests an upgrade in service for an expansion project.
Service Condition	A one time assessment performed to understand stress and environmental factors related to the asset, such as humidity and corrosion levels for plant assets and soil acidity levels for below ground assets. Typical values include Severe and Mild. (Attribute on the Asset Location record)
Service History Question	Refers to the types of questions that are created to guide workers through a service history inspection process.
Shift	A duration of time worked by an employee.
Shift Differential	The value added to the wage rate based on the shift worked by an employee.
Shipping Memo	A record of shipments leaving a plant, including stock items being returned to vendors for credit or replacement and items being repaired at an offsite facility. Shipping memos can also track the return of rented equipment and other miscellaneous shipments. Shipping memos can contain a description of the items shipped and information about quantities, shipment value, and expected return date.
Specification	A specification contains the manufacturer, model, and other information about a set of assets. Specifications may also contain written procedures, careful handling instructions for hazardous or delicate materials, or any other set of attributes needed to provide information about a set of assets.
Stock Code	A unique stock identifier.
Stock Item (SI)	Any item that a business wants to keep in inventory of. Each item is assigned a unique “stock code,” a “stock type,” and a description.
Stock Item Detail (SID)	Additional details for the stock item which is created when the stock item is added to a storeroom. Provides storeroom-specific information such as pricing, storeroom location, reorder information, quantity purchased, and so on.
Storeroom	A physical or virtual place where items are “stored” in the system.
Stores Replenishment	Orders used to increase inventory quantities or re-stock inventory items.
Subproject	A breakdown of a project; may be comprised of several work orders.
Subsystem	A working part of a whole system. Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management is comprised of several subsystems for example, Assets, Resources, Preventive Maintenance, Purchasing, Inventory, to name a few.
Template Construction Work Order	Template document that enable construction work orders to be re-used to aid in repeat planning of similar jobs.
Tool Tips	The description of what an icon does that appears when the cursor rests on the icon in the toolbar.
Total Risk Priority	Total Risk Priority provides a total risk value in terms of scheduling work at a particular location. Total risk is calculated as work priority multiplied by Asset Location Criticality. For example, if Work Priority is 6 and Asset Location Criticality is 7, then Total Risk Priority equals 42 (6 x 7 = 42). This value can be overridden by the user.
Trackable Stock	Items in inventory that merit being individually identified and followed from initial receipt on-site through complete usage.
Transaction Log	A log containing detailed information for each item or cost transaction processed. Transaction logs are compiled and maintained by the system.
Transfer Quantity	The quantity issued from one storeroom, not yet received by the receiving storeroom.
Unit of Purchase (UOP)	The system uses the Unit of Purchase (UOP), Unit of Issue (UOI), and Purchase to Issue Ratio (PI Ratio) information to maintain quantities as parts are issued and new parts are received. You may, for instance, issue in individual items but order the items by the box where one box would contain 10 individual items. The Unit of Purchase would then be BOX, the Unit of Issue would be EA, and the PI Ratio would be 10.
Unit of Issue (UOI)	The system uses the Unit of Purchase (UOP), Unit of Issue (UOI), and Purchase to Issue Ratio (PI Ratio) information to maintain quantities as parts are issued and new parts are received. You may, for instance, issue in individual items but order the items by the box where one box would contain 10 individual items. The Unit of Purchase would then be BOX, the Unit of Issue would be EA, and the PI Ratio would be 10.
Unused Demand	Demand placed on stock items that is not used after work documents have been completed. When the items are not used the over-demand causes inventory quantities to be increased over the maximum level.
Update	The process of modifying existing records.
Used Amount	The total dollar value (across purchase orders) which has been spent to date against the blanket contract.
User-Defined Fields (UDF)	Fields defined by an organization to customize the system.
User Interface (UI)	The way in which a user interacts with an application; desktop, screens, and so on.
User Limit	The maximum dollar amount a user has available for each purchase order against a blanket contract.
Vendor	The supplier or carrier of items or services.
Work Design	A record used for construction projects to produce one or many construction estimates with resource requirements.
Work Order (WO)	A record used to manage work in need of completion.
Work Order Activity	A specific job that needs to be completed as part of a work order. A work order can include any number of activities. Activities can then be can be planned and scheduled independently of the work order. Activities allow planners to break up work for more efficient planning and management.
Work Request	A request for work or services to be performed; often the first step of performing work.