When to use Child Work Orders, Tasks and the Multi Asset Location Table on Work Orders

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When to use Child Work Orders, Tasks and the Multi Asset Location Table on Work Orders in Maximo


In my blog entry this week I wanted to talk about the different ways you can utilize work orders to create projects or work packages in Maximo. The first question people tend to ask is: Should I use Child Work Orders, Tasks or this new Multi Asset/Location table? This is a very good question and the answer to this question depends on a number of factors. Let’s discuss those factors.

When you have a large amount of work that needs to be done and you want to break it into manageable pieces, you need to understand what level of functionality you would need to have available at each of the levels you have broken it in to.

The questions you need to ask are:
Does each piece need to be scheduled separately?
Does each piece need to be statused separately?
Does each piece need to be assigned separately?
Will flow control of each step be required?
Will you report actual usage against each step?
Is all the work for a single asset/location or many?
Is the work the same for a large list of assets or is it different at each asset?


When to use Child Work Orders
Child Work Orders offer you the most functionality. They are essentially full blown work orders with all the features a work order offers. They are simply related to each other as a work order hierarchy. Use child work orders when you want to manage each one of them as individual entities. Child Work Orders can each be scheduled, statused and assigned. They can each have their own set of tasks which can describe the functional steps required to perform the work.
Child work orders are often the best choice when different types of work are being done on different assets and locations. This allows each child to be created for the specific asset or location and the tasks define the steps to be performed on that asset or location.

It is also recommended that Work Orders are further broken into Child Work Orders where there are:
•Activities with different completion/ closing requirements e.g. the final activity is not time limited and completion data is required in a timely manner
•Activities with different approval requirements e.g. technical and financial approvals or materials with a long lead time, the child WO is approved prior to that containing the Work Activities
•Campaign activities e.g. individual work orders are grouped to create a campaign. Resources may be shared from the parent and the costs rolled up.
•Failure reporting is required at the child work order level.

When to use Tasks
Tasks offer a smaller subset of functionality than child work orders offer. They can each be scheduled, statused and assigned, but they cannot have their own tasks underneath them. Tasks are more common when the work is on one piece of equipment or location. Each task is just another step to be performed on the same asset.

It is also recommended that Work Orders are further broken into tasks where there are:
•Activities using multiple crafts
•One task per logical activity (e.g. scaffolding erection, scaffolding removal)
•The detail of the work is explicit e.g. laser align motor/pump to .003” etc
•One task per craft per logical activity (e.g. scaffolding erection, scaffolding removal) where craft hours are different
•Activities with tasks expected to require multiple permits - one task per permit activity
•Activities where status tracking is required at a task level
•Activities where tasks have differing Conditions for Work


When to use the Multi Asset/Location Table
The new Multiple Asset and Location table can be used to organize a group of Assets or Locations on a single work order. This new table allows for multiple assets without the use of a work order hierarchy.
When you want to do work on a long list of assets or locations, this table allows for those assets and locations to be defined on the work order as a list. If Tasks are also defined on the work order, it is assumed that those Tasks are meant to be performed on all of the entries in the ’Multi’ table. If each asset or location has specific work, then the use of child work orders would be better than the ‘Multi’ table.
If individual GL Accounts are required for each asset, then you cannot use the ‘Multi’ table as this does not provide distributed costs. Everything is still applied to the GL on the work order header.

It is also recommended that Work Orders carry a listing of multiple assets where there are:
•Where Conditions for Work are the same
•With a single Job Plan/ Work Instruction
•Where dissemination of data is not required
•That are closed together
•Where a record of the visit is required
•Where completion data can be aggregated