How to manage asset downtime

During the life cycle of an Asset, there will likely be times that it must be set out of service for one reason or another. Maintenance Connection provides the critical ability to easily set Assets in and out of service, retain historical records of Asset downtime and manage the various processes that could be affected by downtime.

It is very simple to set an Asset in and out of service, but it is important that administrators understand and manage the other processes that could be affected by an Asset shutdown, especially regarding PM schedules associated with the Asset.

Set an Asset out of service:

• Access the Asset record that needs to be set out of service. In the Status section of the Details tab, uncheck the In-Service indicator to take the Asset out of service.

• The "Asset Status Change: Shutdown" dialog will appear in which the current date and time will appear by default to indicate when the Asset was taken out of service. This field can be modified if necessary. A text box is also provided to give a detailed reason for the shutdown/downtime.
• Click Apply to close the dialog, and then return to the Status section for the Asset. Typically, we recommend unchecking the Available for Service Requests indicator so that no new Work Orders will be generated for the Asset from the Service Requester.
• Save the Asset record when finished.

If the Asset is associated with any PM schedules, a Preference is available to determine if these schedules should continue generating PM Work Orders or not. Follow the steps below to set this Preference:

• Access the Asset Preferences from the Tools menu.

• Select the Preference named, "Suppress PM Generation for Assets that are not In-Service?"

• In the Set Preference dialog, set the Current Value to "Yes" to keep PM schedules from generating Work Orders for the Asset, and to "No" if PM Work Orders should continue to generate for the Asset.
• Setting the Preference to "Yes" will not result in the Last Generated Dates, Last Completed, or Meter Interval Readings to automatically adjust to suppress the generation of Work Orders. Instead, the system will ensure no new PM Work Orders generate for the Asset while retaining the historical PM data true at the time the Asset is taken out of service.

Return an Asset to service:

• Once again, check the In-Service checkbox to indicate that the Asset has returned to service. If the Asset is ready to "go back to work," ensure the Available for Service Requests checkbox is checked so that new Work Orders will be generate for the Asset form the Service Requester.

• The "Asset Status Change: In-Service" dialog will appear, where the date and time for the Asset shutdown and the return to service can both be modified.
• By default, the Shutdown field will reflect the date/time the Asset was originally taken out of service, and the In-Service field will show the current date/time. Further, the Downtime field will show the total amount of downtime in the time increment specified.
• Add necessary details to the Reason text box, keeping in mind that any notes added when the Asset was taken out of service will also display.
• Click Apply to exit the dialog and Save the record.

In addition to manually setting an asset in and out of service, you can configure certain work order settings to automatically bring an asset down and/or return it to service when it is associated with a work order. Here are the settings available:

Automatically set assets out of service when associated with work order

In Preferences > Work Order > Settings you can automatically bring assets out of service either when a work order is requested for them, or when a work order is issued for them.

• Setting Bring asset down on work order request to Yes shuts down assets when work orders are requested for them.
• Similarly, setting Bring asset down on work order issue to Yes shuts down assets after requested work orders have been issued for them.

You should only set one of these preferences to Yes.

Automatically return assets to service when associated work order completed

In Preferences > Work Order > Complete/Close - Defaults you can automatically return assets to service once work orders are completed for them.

You can do this in one of two ways:

• Setting Return asset to service default to Yes brings assets back into service after any work orders are completed for them. This is a blanket preference for all work orders.
• Setting Return asset to service by work order type to a particular work order type (or multiple work order types) brings assets back into service after work orders of that type are completed for them. This is especially useful in cases where preventive maintenance work should not set an asset out of service and thus work orders of that type do not need to be set up to return assets to service once work orders are completed.

You should only enable one of these preferences.

Require technicians to set asset downtime upon work order completion

Often, the settings described above for automatically setting an asset out of service are not enabled because this is not always appropriate for every organization's asset management. In these cases, it is important to record asset downtime accurately when work orders do bring assets out of service. To accomplish this, in Preferences > Work Order > Complete/Close - Defaults you can require technicians to record asset downtime when they are closing a work order for that asset. The downtime is then captured in asset history so you can better track asset lifespans, meantime between failure, and so on.

You can configure this requirement in one of two ways:

• Setting Set downtime default to Yes requires technicians to record asset downtime when they close work orders for an asset. This is a blanket preference for all work orders.
• Setting Set downtime default by work order type to a particular work order type (or multiple work order types) requires technicians to record asset down time when they close work orders of that type. This is especially useful in cases where preventive maintenance work should not set an asset out of service. Setting this preference to the corrective work order type, however, forces technicians to record asset downtime when corrective work is done on an asset.

You should only enable one of these preferences. In either case, when technicians access the Complete/Close dialog for a work order meeting the criteria set in these preferences, the Set Downtime option is automatically selected. When the technician clicks Apply to close the work order, the Asset Downtime window appears, in which they can indicate how long the asset was out of service for the work performed.

Make Set Downtime read-only

When a work order requires a technician to record asset downtime, the Edit downtime check box on enhanced complete close access group right keeps the technician from clearing the Set Downtime check box in the Complete/Close dialog before closing the work order. Making the option read-only forces the technician to record asset downtime when it is required.

You can configure the access group right in the Access Groups Rights page, in the Work Order Module and Type: Edit list.

Setting an Asset out of service automatically creates a downtime record for the Asset in the History > Downtime sub-tab. This tab will show all the occurrences of downtime for an Asset, including the date and time for shutdowns and returns to service, total downtime, and other details about the Asset's time out of service.

The following controls allow you to better manage these downtime records:

• Select the All Levels checkbox to view any other Assets below the current record on the Asset tree that might also have been effected by downtime.
• New downtime records can also be created from this tab using the New button, but this method should be used for historical purposes only, and not as a replacement for the method described above for taking an Asset out of service.
• Any records on the Downtime sub-tab can be deleted using the Delete button, but we recommend keeping all historical records unless they were created in error.
• Use the Print button to print all the downtime records on the sub-tab or select individual records using the checkboxes on the left to print only those records.

Experienced administrators have probably learned to watch out for a flood of newly generated Work Orders when an Asset returns to service. Return Asset to Service messaging helps administrators by warning beforehand if an Asset returning to service may in turn require adjustments to PM Asset schedules.

PM's do not generate for Assets that are out of service, but once returned, the system will retroactively generate any missed PM Work Orders. So, if an organization has a PM that generates a daily inspection Work Order on a given Asset, and that Asset returns to service after being down for two weeks, the system could create 14 Work Orders in the nightly PM process if the next scheduled date is not adjusted. This warning displays as soon as an Asset is returned to service, which allows for changing affected PM Asset schedules prior to nightly PM generation, and reduces the generation of unwanted PM Work Orders.

This feature lets you set a threshold, indicating the number of days an Asset must be out of service for a warning to occur upon return. If the Asset reaches this threshold, whenever it returns to service, the technician will receive a warning that PM Schedules could be affected by the downtime.

The warning only displays if the Asset has associated date-based PM Schedules that may need adjustment. Administrators can also set the preference so that no warnings occur.

To adjust affected PM schedules, it will be necessary to set the next scheduled PM date in the Preventive Maintenance module, or in the PM/Tasks tab of the Asset. To see more details on how to set the next scheduled PM date, check out the Preventive Maintenance and Assets article under the "Setting Next Scheduled PM Dates for Assets" header.

Since not all technicians are members of an access group with permission to edit PM Asset next scheduled dates, the warning will not provide access to make this change. However, the warning includes a helpful Email link to allow for sending a reminder to a supervisor. Users can even send the email to themselves as a reminder to check the PM Schedules before the end of the day.

When it comes time to set an Asset out of service permanently, we recommend using each of the following steps to correctly categorize the retired Asset and remove it from any system processes, especially PM schedules:

• In the Details tab for the Asset being retired, uncheck the In-Service box in the Status section.

• When prompted, enter the out-of-service date and reason.
• Change Sub-Status to RETIRED. You will need to create this Sub-Status in the lookup if it doesn't exist already.
• Uncheck the box for Available for Service Requests

• Enter the Disposal Date on the Details>Costs sub-tab.

• Check the PMs/Tasks>Preventive Maintenance sub-tab to ensure the Asset is not associated with any PM schedules. Remove any PM records present in the tab by selecting the checkbox on the left and clicking the Remove button.
• Save the Asset record.
• In the Asset Tree, move the retired Asset to the parent "Retired Assets." You will need to create this parent Asset if it does not exist already.