ACM Assets Quick Overview

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Configuration Managed (CM) assets are different from other product assets because they can be composed of other assets or components defined within a hierarchy that have associated CM rules. Thus, CM assets are also called complex assets and they are built based on its corresponding model.

You can have a better understanding of the ACM Model application and its concepts accessing the following URL: https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/mydeveloperworks/blogs/a9ba1efe-b731-4317-9724-a181d6155e3a/entry/acm_quick_user_guide_models2?lang=en

Since CM assets are complex (such as aircraft and rail vehicles) , the Assets (CM) application and the CM Asset itself have some specialized features. The following considers some of the most important ones:

• BDI

BDI (Build Data Interpreter) is the centerpiece of Maximo Asset Configuration Manager for compliance capability. It provides a comprehensive status derivation for aircraft, rail vehicles and other configuration-managed assets. For the purposes of this blog an aircraft is used as an example, but the principles apply to any complex asset type.

An aircraft is expected to have a configuration that it is in compliance with its engineering design definition (see details on the Model) The BDI will check the current aircraft configuration, position-by-position, to make sure all configuration rules are in compliance. This usually happens as a background configurable server task. It’s possible to check all configurations of the asset but this is more time consuming and may impact performance.

It can also be run manually in the Assets (CM) application.
Go to Assets >> Assets (CM)
Step 1: Retrieve an aircraft (Or any other CM Asset)
Step 2: Click on the View tab
Step 3: Highlight the end item position in the hierarchy
Step 4: From the select action menu, select BDI status option

• Install/Remove Process

Anytime a sub component needs to be taken to the maintenance shop for a repair or a preventive maintenance (PM), it will need to be removed from its parent component and then installed back after all the services are finished or replaced with another component

To perform these operations in Maximo Asset Configuration Manager:

Go To >> Assets >> Assets (CM) >> Select an asset
Step 1: Click on the View tab
Step 2: On the component tree, select and click on the desired component
Step 3: From the select action menu, select Install/Remove option
Step 4a: If you want to remove an asset, click on the Remove Asset? checkbox under Remove Details section on the Install/Remove dialogue and click OK.
Step 4b: If you want to install a new asset, select it on the Asset field under Installation Details section on the Install/Remove dialogue and click OK.

• Maintenance Plan / Work generation

The Maintenance Plan or Maintenance Policy for any asset is represented by all the PMs associated with its related CM Item and those of other CM Items in the same Model. These PMs can be made valid or invalid for a particular model configuration / variation – this is a type of CM rule.

You can define the maintenance plan at the CM Item level (associating a Master PM with it), then associate it with a build item that will be part of a Model. When the assets are created, the master PMs will create PMs for the assets.

An example of a maintenance plan was created in item 3 of the ACM Model blog post that you can refer to with the link at the beginning of this post.

• This Preventive Maintenance (PM) is automatically approved ?

When the PM is due, a Work Order to perform the inspection services for this Asset will be created. After all the services for this Work Order are performed and the WO is closed, the PM is automatically reset and a new cycle starts, Maintenance Plan status and history can be seen in the Assets View tab, Maintenance Plan and Maintenance History subtabs for the Assets and each of its sub components.

We hope you liked the blog entry, feel free to comment, share your experiences.
Alexis (alexisrs@br.ibm.com) & Alessandra (limaa@br.ibm.com)