Please contribute:

General PM/CS Cost Reports:

Value Category Reports:

General PS Cost Reports:

General SD Cost Reports:

General CO Reports:

If you want to be able to create non-user-specific layout from the actual/planned cost report in the order (Cost tab), you have to flag the field "layout visibility - shared" in transaction OKN0. Then you will see that the user-specific field is no longer greyed out anymore.

Settlement:

General PS Reports:

General MM Reports:

Tables:

Please feel free to add you own favourite reports.....

Please contribute:

SAP Standard Authorisation Objects:

To confirm:

C_AFRU_APL: Confirmations [ARBPL, TRTYP, WERKS]

C_AFRU_AWK: Confirmations [ACTVT, AUFART, WERKS]

Authorisation Tables:

Authorisation Objects for System-Statuses:

Authorisation Objects for User-Statuses:

B_USERSTAT (TCode BS52)

User-Exits:

BADIs:

Authorisation Groups:

These can be created via TCode SM30 and table T370B. They can then be assigned to the following objects:

1. Equipment (IE02)
2. Functional Locations (IL02)
3. Maintenance plans (IP02)
4. Entry List for Measurement Documents (IK32)
5. Object links (IN05, IN08)

Authorisation Debugging:

TCode SU53: Evaluate Authorization Check

BETRVORG Settings (BS33):

The business transactions relevant in maintenance are stored in table T354B, the corresponding language-dependent texts are stored in table TJ01T.

Please contribute

- Selection screen variants (e.g. IW38)

- Report display variants (e.g. IW38)

- Strategies for maintenance plans

- Number ranges (manual transports)

- Data for non-customisable Z tables

- QuickView/ABAP Query reports

- Transfer open orders/notifications from legacy system to SAP

- Schedule maintenance plans from start-date of go-live

- Classes & Characteristics (you can ALE these from one system to another)

- Schedule background jobs (e.g. IP30, custom developed reports/programs, etc)

Please contribute:

Transaction Variants:

TCode: SHD0 1,2,3,

Used to amend the sap standard transaction screens.

Global Field Values:

TCode: SHDG

Used to amend the sap standard fields (similar to field selection in the IMG).

Field Exits:

TCode: None

1. The SAP system has to be configured for field-exits (see ABAP Team)

2. Run TCode CMOD and enter FCode PRFB

3. Create field-exit and function module

4. Ensure both FE and FM are active

5. Test

Business Transaction Events (BTEs):

TCode: FIBF

Program-exits:

TCode: SE38

Customer-exits:

TCode: SMOD/CMOD

BADIs:

TCode: SE18/SE19

Enhancement spots (from ECC6):

TCode: SE18/SE19/SE38

The latest generation of enhancement options.

Enhancement options are automatically available at certain pre-defined places. Some of the implicit options are:

• At the end of all the programs (Includes, Reports, Function pool, Module pool, etc.), after the last statement
• At the beginning and end of all FORM subroutines
• At the end of all Function Modules
• At the end of all visibility areas (public, protected and private) of local class

Search the SAP web site for a document called Introducing: Enhancement Framework

Field Selection:

TCode: SFAW/SFAC

Read the SAP Help

The function field selection allows you to change the attributes of screen fields dynamically at runtime. However, you should only use this option if you often need to assign different field attributes to the same screen for technical reasons.

Business Data Toolset

SAP Help

SDN Document

Please contribute:

Selection Variants:

You can set-up many selection variants for most reports in R/3.

These selection variants can contain fixed data such as plant. They can also contain dynamic data such as today's date minus 30 days. You can make fields mandatory, or hide them, etc.

There is one nice function mainly applicable to the PM/CS modules in which the user can default their own settings each time they enter the report. This can be done as follows:

• Enter your data in the relevant selection-screen. You can use dynamic selection fields to defaut dates
• Page to the bottom of the screen and enter display variant name entered in step above
• Save variant as U_XXXXXX where XXXXX is your user name
• Re-run the transaction to test. You should find your defaults have been automatically assigned from variant U_XXXXXX
• Your variant will be called every time, even if you log-off and back on again

The above does not stop you from manually selecting another variant once the selection-screen has been displayed.

One negative aspect of this functionality is that a company that uses the PM module extensively may have 1000s U_XXXXXX type of variants.

You can include this functionality in your own ABAP programs too. Have a look at SAP's ABAP code in program RIAUFK10 and routine VARIANT_START_F68.

Layout Variants:

Layout variants are used to control which data columns are shown in the report display screen.

The data columns can be chosen while the list is being displayed by using menu option Settings > Display variant > Current. The pop-up which is presented displays the current fields which have already been selected (on the left of screen) and those which can be chosen (on the right). List order, totals / subtotals and filtering can also be defined in a display variant and saved for future use with the menu options under the "Edit" submenu.

Note that if one or more columns have been selected (by clicking on the column title) when these menu options are initiated, the system will assume that the user wishes to order, filter etc. on those columns, otherwise a selection will be presented.

Once the display variant has been set up it can be saved using menu option Settings > Display variants > Save as variant. Subsequently the display variant can be selected by using menu option Settings > Display variants > Get.

Alternatively each user can nominate one default display variant using menu option Settings > Display variant > Administration. Select the display variant required and execute menu option Edit > Set initial var or simply click in the Initial variant column. Note that sort criteria, filtering and totals are not taken into consideration when downloading (e.g. to spreadsheet).

Lastly you can add this layout variant to the selection variant defined in the above section. This enables you to link the selection-screen data and the report display data together.

To deactivate the ALV grid view, enter the following PID Q_ALV_GRID_INACTIVE in your user profile

Also try PID 0AV (Order list: List variant)

Downloading to MS Access:

Before you can use MS Access you must first ensure that the following two RFCs have been created:

• PS_ACCESS_1 is used for downloading the table structure in MS Access format.
• PS_ACCESS_2 is used to populate the table created with PS_ACCESS_1.

These RFCs can be also used in the various PM/CS list edit reports to download data into MS Access. In the display screen you will find a menu option for Access. They can also used in the IBIP transaction.

For further details see OSS Note 583698: MS Access Interface

User-Exit for List Edit Reports:

IWOC0004: Change single-level list editing PM/QM/SM ALV settings

You can use this customer exit to alter how single-level lists are displayed in Customer Service, Plant Maintenance and Quality Management. When doing this, you can change accordingly various parameters and tables that are transferred from the report in the ABAP List Viewer (ALV). For example, the following changes are possible:

• Deactivate alternating white/gray display
• Set print parameters (with/without cover sheet)
• Change field attributes in the field catalog (hide fields, set automatic optimization of column widths, define fields as being mandatory)
• Change field grouping for field selection
• Enter a title for the list

BADIs for List Edit Reports:

You can use the Business Add-In to exchange the views used for elections in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service lists. To do this, you can use the methods CHANGE_VIEW to optimize the selection. In addition, you can exclude the main selection criterion from the selection, depending on the number of entries. The selected data records are then later checked according to these selection criteria.

Report Management:

• Remove selection variant protection - report RSVARENT. Allows you to delete somebody elses variant .
• Delete all user layouts for a user - report BCALV_LAYOUT

Emailing List Edit Reports:

Note: this will only work if your system is set-up for external emailing (see TCode SCOT)

1. Create variant for the report you want to run
2. S023: Create distribution list and add the email or SAP user name in distribution lists
3. SM36: Define a simple job
4. Specify Job start condition: Immediate checked and periodic job scheduled start No. start after
5. Steps: ABAP program name and variant name
6. Spool List Recipient: Define internal user or distribution list or external address.
7. Save and release the background job.

Please contribute.

How to find tables in SAP:

1. Select the required field
2. Press F1 for help
3. Press F9 for technical information
4. Double-click on the data element field
5. Double-click on the domain field (provided it isn't something like CHAR1, otherwise go to step 6)
6. Select the where-used button (button with little yellow square with 3 arrows radiating)
7. Select indirect application from the pop-up box
8. Double-click on the database tables line in the next pop-up box
9. You should now have a list of all DB tables where that field is used (this should work in about 90% of cases)

Alternatively:

1. Run TCode ST05 (performance analysis)
2. Press <activate trace> button
3. Enter the transaction you want to use (e.g. /NIW32) in the command code box
4. Enter an order number in the Order sub-screen
5. Execute, or F8
6. Enter /NST05 in the command code box
7. Press the <deactivate trace> button
8. Press the <display trace> button
9. Review tables

Here is a list of PM/CS tables:

The following information is taken from OSS Note 45433

--------------------------------------------------

Customising influences the behaviour of scheduling of the Order.

See the following IMG menu path: Plant Maintenance ->Maintenance Order Management ->PM Orders and service Orders -> Scheduling ->Configure scheduling parameters.

Basic dates: Order header

The basic dates for Orders can be entered directly by the user, determined from the priority of the Order, or determined from the revision.

The basic dates for Orders are used as initial dates for scheduling. They represent the required start or end dates. The start/finish dates can only be moved after scheduling. The scheduling result can move the basic dates for Orders. 

Customising controls whether backwards or forwards scheduling is carried out.

Scheduled dates: Order header

These dates are determined from the Operations of the Order. The earliest scheduled start date of the Operations is used as the start date of the Order. The latest scheduled finish date of the Operations is used as the end date of the Order.     Therefore, the scheduled dates of the Order can only be filled after the scheduling of the Operations.

Scheduling the Operations of the Order

If the Order is scheduled, all Operations of the Order (which are relevant for scheduling) are scheduled.

With the basic dates, (start date if forward scheduled or end date if backward scheduled) the system can determine the dates of the individual Order Operations.

To determine the dates of the various Operations, different information and methods are used. The units of work and the duration affect scheduling. Different information from the Work Centre and Operation also have an influence on scheduling.

Units and scheduling

Based on the units, scheduling is carried out in different ways.

There are the following cases:

Case 1: Unit Weeks or larger.

In this case scheduling of the operating times/Work Centres are not taken into account. The calendar of the Work Centre or the plant is important.

Start-date of the Order:          18/08/97

Duration:                2 Weeks

Calendar: Saturdays and Sunday are not workdays and 01/09/97 is a public holiday.

1 Week is always calculated as 7 days.

1 Month is always calculated as 28 days, and so on

18/08/97 + 7 days = 25/08/1997

If at least 1 workday occurs within these dates, these 7 days (this week) are determined as a scheduled week.

Next week

25/08/97 + 7 days = 01/09/1997

If at least 1 workday occurs within these dates, these 7 days (this week) are determined as a scheduled week.

Since 01/09/1997 is a public holiday, the earliest finish is on 02/09/1997.

Similar calculations are used for the units larger than a week.

Case 2:     Unit Day

In this case scheduling of operating times of the Work Centres is not taken into account. The calendar of the Work Centre or plant is important.

Start date of the Order:          18/08/97

Duration:               3 Days

Calendar:               Saturdays and Sundays are not workdays and 01/09/97 is a public holiday.

08/18/97 + 3 work days = earliest finish

Case 3:     Unit smaller than one day

In Order to calculate the dates of the different Operations, the operating times of the Work Centres are used, in connection with the duration of the respective Operation and the calendar of the Work Centre or the calendar of the plant.

For example:

Forward scheduling is defined.

Start date of the Order:          20/07/96 at 4:00 a.m.

Operation 0010 Duration:          15 Hours.

Work Centre Operation time:      08:00pm to 17:00pm = 8 hrs 7 days shift (1-hour break)

Result:                     Earliest start: 20/07/96 at 8:00am hours can be worked on the first day.

Earliest finish: 21/07/96 at 16:00pm

The following should be noted:

If intervals of available capacity of the Work Centre were to be maintained, they would be used by scheduling.

If a factory calendar in the capacity header were to be maintained, it would be used by scheduling.

If precise break is activated in the header of the Order or in Customising, and intervals of available capacity with shift sequence are also maintained in the Work Centre capacity, then they are used by scheduling.

No capacity is considered during regular Order scheduling.

The capacity scheduling (for PM and PS Orders as of 3.0E) can be performed as separate function. Finite scheduling functions as above will take remaining available capacity into account. See the Work Centre capacity screen for relevant settings to use the capacity scheduling (transaction IR02).  (Transaction IR02).

Please contribute.

Legacy System Migration Workbench

TCode: LSMW

CATTs

TCode: SCAT, SECAT

PM Upload/Download

TCode: IBIP

SAP Help

See OSS Note 583698 and 38300 for details

Microsoft Visual Basic

You can use VB in Access and Excel to pull data from R/3. These scripts can call standard RFCs/BAPIs to retreive the data, then use them in the standard Access/Excel applications to create forms, charts, queries, reports, etc.

Examples: 1,2,

IDOCs

TCode: WEDI, WE30, IORD, INOT

Standard Reports & ALV Grids

TCode: Multiple e.g. IW73

Download to MS Excel, Access, Word etc

ABAP program

TCode: SE38

QuickView & SAP Query

TCode: SQVI, SQ01, SQ02

SAP Lumira
http://scn.sap.com/community/lumira

SAP Predictive Analysis

http://scn.sap.com/community/predictive-analysis

3rd Party Tools

WinShuttle

Please contribute:

Documentation:

There is an excellent PDF document for RRB that you can download from SAPSERVE (see OSS Note 301117).

Tips & Tricks:

1. Check your DIP Profile consistency via TCode ODP2 or ODP2A (later versions only)
2. Try confirming one item at a time (ie labour, material or GR/GI)
3. Create a billing request (DMR) manually via TCode VA01 and add the material that should have been determined via DP90. This will check that the sales order and material master data is correct.
4. You can simulate creating billing requests in DP90 via menu: Goto->Simulate sales....
5. Ensure that your blank-entry for material determination in the DIP profile is the last entry
6. Ensure you have planned/actual costs on the service order (Cost tab)
7. Ensure your SOURCES are correct in the DIP Profile
8. Put a break-point in function module AD15_DLIS_FOR_OBJECTS_READ to debug DP90 problems. Check LT_DLIA for the number of summarisation lines to be created in DP90.
9. Put a break-point in function module AD15_MATERIAL_DETERMINATION to debug DP90 problems
10. Put a break-point in function module AD12_ATTR_COVP to debug DP90 problems
11. Check the material origin flag is set in the Costing 1 tab on the material
12. Dynamically determine DIP Profile: Use user-exit IWO10009 with field-symbols to import (SAPLCOI3)gt_pmsdo[], Then use function module PMSDO_SAVE_DB to save new value
13. Individual materials for the multiple confirmations with the same data: ensure the document number is flagged in the characteristic view
14. See OSS Note 350320 to delete saved DIP data
15. External services and DP90 - see here
16. If you are using planned costs in RRB, then these costs are agregated into groups in tables COSS, COSP, etc. This means that, as standard,  you cannot use the summarising/individual functions of the DIP Processor. An example would be if you planned the same material twice; this is stored in COSP as a single record with the combined price of both materials. The DIP processor reads this data and does not "know" it is two seperate materials. All is not lost, you can utilise the RRB user-exits to rectify the problem.

Common Errors:

AD01-155: Error during material determination for sales document item. Material Origin field was not checked in the Costing tab of the material master.

IX-057: No cost management is provided for sales document (contract) item. This is usually because there is no requirements type assigned to the contract item (see procurement tab).

No material appears in DMR/CMR. In the material master costing view, set the "Material Origin" checkbox (see OSS note 174382)

No expenditure item found.

• Go back to the service order and check there are actual costs
• Check your DIP Profile; specifically the sources section to ensure you are not filtering out any dynamic items
• Check the dates on the initial DP90 screen

No materials transferred from the order.

Check that your material master Material Origin is checked (Costing 1 tab)

CO Configuration:

1. KL03: Check activity type validity dates
2. KA03: Check cost element validity dates
3. KA03: For labour, check cost element category is 43
4. KA03: Check if Record qty flag is set on Indicators tab
5. KA03: Check cost element assigned to your controlling area
6. KP26: Check that activity type is linked to cost centre
7. KP26: Check that there is a rate for the activity type/cost centre
8. KP26: Check are you using the correct version

Useful OSS Notes:

544123 FAQ: AD01 176 / AD01 312 / Resource Rel.Bill./Quot./Res.Ana.

545095 FAQ: Billing/accrual/quot./results analysis

364425 New analysis and print program for DPP profile

371769 Reset PTBL status after DMR deletion

Please contribute.

SAP Process in Machine Shops: Issues and Remedies

Author: Jogeswara Rao Kavala

Introduction:

This article deals with a case, which is believed to be resembling with some of SAP-Plant Maintenance implementations. This basically discusses the problems arise during and after implementing SAP, in Centralized Machine Shops of large manufacturing industries, where a legacy system (like CMMS ) existed,  the issues thereby and the possible solutions.

Backgroud:

Machine shop process involves two main functions, namely

1. Spares Fabrication (like Fasteners, Sleeves, Bush Bearings, Flanges, Couplings, Gears and so on, for production unit maintenance.)
2. Repairs of Machine parts (Dismantled & brought from production unit to the Machine shop)

When SAP was implemented, SN1. above was identified as Production process and SN2 as Refurbishment Process.

Eventually, the machine shop process was  split into 2 modules, PP module for SN1., and PM module for SN2.

Process1: Initiated by Sales Document, then a PP order is processed and ends with Usage decision in Quality Module.

               Tcodes: VA01,2,3  CO1,2,3 , CO11n, MB11, MB1B, MIGO, COOIS, QA32,33 etc.

Porcess:  Initiated by a Repair notification, then a Refurbishment Order is processed and ends with UD in QM.

                Tcodes: IW21,22,23,28,32, MB11, IW8W, MB1B , MIGO, QA32,33 etc

{Legacy system was addressing both these functions in a single  system.}

Issues:

1. The end-user (machine shop person) is having to deal with many Tcodes related to PP and PM modules.
2. He does not have a consolidated reports retrieving of factors like

          -     Total machine capacities booked for PP & PM orders in a single screen.

          -     Order status for both categories in a single screen

          -     Total Tonnage produced in a single screen

          -     Goods movement (start to finish) information against each order in a row.

                due to which, he had to

                  i. Go through too many commands (Tcodes) for retrieving information.

                  ii. Importing this data to Excel sheets and combining, to prepare consolidated report for administrative purposes.

and several such.

Remedies adopted:
There was no option for the user, to have a single order system for both functions referred above. But the reporting part can be addressed to relieve him to a good extent. But there were technical constraints. The development of such PP-PM integrated reports, was demanding expertise in PP, PM and ABAP (also a about tables related to SD, QM and MM). During implementation, the consultants could not help in this area before they left.

After quite sometime, someone from ERP PM team of this organization, could develop himself, to reach these levels to address the above requirements.

Several PP-PM integrated reports were developed to serve the data required in a single ALV screen.

Few main reports are referred here, (several drilldown reports are not discussed)

Reports on Machine Capacities

(Development based on tables  S024, S022, VIAUFKS, VIAUFK_AFVC, JEST, TJ02 etc)

Selection-screen

ALV

Drilldown Report (Operation level)

Reports on Order Status, Operation Status, Goods Movement

(Developments based on tables AUFM, AUFK, AFKO, AFPO, AFVC, AFVV, AFVU, JEST, TJ30, TJ02 etc)

Selection-screen

ALV

May notice DMS column (1st), where the icon, on clicking directly takes to the related drawing.

Drilldown Report (Operation level)

The screen-shots might be good inputs for the members who are in similar situations.

The objectives of this Post:

1. To give inputs to members who are in similar situations, pre/post-implementation.
2. SAP might take a call about this function (Machine shop process) and provide a sub-concept under Plant Maintenance (like Fleet Management).

        This would help reduce the end-user pain, in both, Data Entry and Reports areas.

----000----

Objective:

This document can guide the consultants as check list during the Cut Over Activities of SAP Plant Maintenance Implementation.

1. Characteristics to be used in Measuring Points & Technical Objects
2. Classes to be used in Technical Objects
3. Cost Element Groups maintained in PM Costing Variants / Settlement Profile / Allocation Structures
4. Permits
5. Strategies for Maintenance Plans
6. ABAP Query Reports
7. Preparation of Template & Execution of Strategy based / Multi Counter Plan scheduling
8. Maintenance Notification / Order uploading template

Characteristics:

All the characteristics should have been created as per the usage in Measuring Points & Technical Objects. This will avoid the duplication of master creation, errors, etc., Characteristics which will be used in Permits also should be created accordingly.

Classes:

All classes should be created based on the usage either in Equipment / Functional Location / Permits (Licenses) category.

Cost Element Groups:

Cost Element groups should be created as per the assignment of those groups in the configuration front. Generally, cost elements will not / should not be assigned in the configuration directly as it tends to change according to client (DEV / QAS / PRD). So, its advisable to create cost element groups & assign them in the configuration.

Those cost element groups should be defined as Master data before uploading Maintenance orders / scheduling Maintenance plans.

Permits:

During Cut Over activities / Back logs, Permit functionality may not be required as the orders are in past & they might have got approval in legacy system already. Once all the Back logs are uploaded, these Permit system should be activated.

Maintenance Strategies:

As per the business requirement, Maintenance Strategies should have been defined before uploading Task List & Maintenance Plans. Maintenance Strategy should be defined as per Scheduling Indicator. Each scheduling indicator should be restricted with one or 2 (max) maintenance strategies.

ABAP Query Reports:

ABAP query reports should be created in the Live Production Client as per the requirement.

Template for Maintenance Plan Scheduling:

This template should have been shared with Power Users & the same should have been prepared as per the Technical Object. This template is required for strategy & multi counter plan. For single cycle plan, start date can be arrived easily, so this template will not be required.

This template should contain details like Technical Object, Operations on that, Last date / reading happened on operation wise, next date / reading on which that operation should fall on due, current counter reading for performance based cycle.

Template for Notifications / Orders:

This Template should have been shared with the Power users & these details should be captured from cut off date. This details contain Open orders, In Process Orders with Partial Confirmation / Partial GI, etc., Completed Orders without Settlement, etc.,

Historical Orders can be captured separately using IW61.

Conclusion:

This document can guide you in the critical phase of Implementation Project as check list. This list may not have 100 % data, but it will give some overall idea on the Cut Over details.

This document refers many of the existing documents. As its not possible to mention all the documents / blogs link, I thank you all the authors who gave some insight on that.

Objective:

This document will give some overview on giving extra mileage by using SAP PM.

Role wise requirements:

In a company, each user will play different role & each would like to see different set of data. As per their wish, some of their requirements can be mapped this way.

Generally, all the PM related organizational structure will contain Maintenance Manager, Maintenance In-Charge, Maintenance Planner / Engineers, Maintenance Foremen & Maintenance Technicians.

Each will request / desire to view different set of data.

Set Start Transaction:

I had this requirement from one of my client to get the details immediately once he log-in to SAP.

Maintenance Manager - He wish to look at only Approvals pending from his side on day to day basis

Maintenance In-Charge - He wish to have either list of Pending Approvals from his side or List of PM Orders running currently

Maintenance Engineers - He wish to have list of Outstanding Orders which needs to be executed today / Status of In Process Orders

Maintenance Foremen - He wish to see list of In Process / Released Orders assigned to him

Maintenance Technician - List of Operations assigned to him on day to day basis

This may not be the exact requirement in all cases, but most of the case.

Of course, through development, anything & everything can be achieved. But in standard, there are some constraints.

For the above requirement of having the screen at log in time, Set Start Transaction functionality will work out on some extent. But constraint here is only one transaction can be defined here.

For Maintenance Manager, either Work Order approval or PR approval will be the priority. As all / most of the Maintenance PR will be triggered from Maintenance Orders, the appropriate transaction could be either Permit Release or Work Order release. This is again based on the company hierarchy.

1. Permit Approval (IPM2)
2. Work Order Release (IW38)

Here, user based selection screen variant can be defined to make their job easy. Just one click, they get the report with the List of Permits pending from their side.

Layouts can be defined as U_<User Name>, so that default layout for that user id will be created.

For Maintenance In-Charge, again the same set of transactions as Maintenance Manager has in case of multi level permits & work order release.

1. Permit Approval (IPM2)
2. Work Order Release (IW38)
3. In Process Orders display (IW39)

Layouts can be defined for each transaction as U_<User Name>. But any one of the transactions can be set in Set Start Transaction.

For Maintenance Engineers, following transactions can be set.

1. Mass Release of Work Orders (IW38)

For Maintenance Foremen:

1. Mass Confirmation (IW48)

For Maintenance Technician:

1. Display of Orders with Operations (IW49N)

For Maintenance Store Keeper:

1. Maintenance Availability Information (IWBK)
2. Material where used List report (IW13)

These are the day to day activities done by people as per their role in the Organization.

Reporting through Mail - Background Job:

All the reports as per the interest of the users can be sent to their outlook.

Already creation of Background jobs & sending reports through that have been discussed & documented.

1. Do the settings in SCOT
2. Define Selection Screen Variant for any kind of Report
3. Get the Program name either through Status bar in the bottom or through menu System - Status
4. Define distribution list in SO23
5. Define the Background job in SM36 using the Program, Variant
6. Schedule on Daily basis before office hours

http://wiki.sdn.sap.com/wiki/display/ABAP/Send+Spool+list+of+background+job+to+SAP+inbox

The above link explains about sending mail to SAP inbox. It could be even outlook as well.

Conclusion:

All the users desire to get the information on single click. They will not even prefer to log in to SAP to get the data. For those kinds, this will be very much helpful. Even small things can make the users happy. I feel its one of them. There are many such.

So, the list goes on.

Working in siloes used to be the norm for asset-intensive industries, but today, it has become clear that achieving corporate objectives can only succeed when organizational boundaries are permeable. Stakeholders across the business should be able to access the risk, cost, and performance information needed to make informed decisions.

Raise Efficiency, Reduce Risk, Increase Sustainability

Operational excellence can help you combine real-time technical data with business information to improve your operations, manage risks, and reduce costs and is an integral part of the idea to performance product life cycle — which also includes sustainable innovation, responsive manufacturing, and aftermarket service.

To learn more about how crucial it is for any asset-intensive industry to integrate and connect environmental health and safety, energy management, quality, and asset operations in order to achieve operational excellence, read this new article from Dr.-Ing. Achim Krüger—responsible for SAP’s solutions for operational excellence.

SAP Driven Innovation at Goldcorp

Customers from all industries rely on solutions from SAP to achieve operational excellence.

Take Goldcorp Inc. for example. The world’s second largest gold producer drives operational excellence by improving asset performance and operational safety through simpler business processes and smarter performance management. Find out more on their journey to operational excellence and watch the presentation they gave at SAPPHIRE NOW.

If you want to find out more about SAP´s idea to performance approach, check out the overview video or visit our website at www.sap.com/idea-performance.

Great news ... I have just heard from Jeff Smith ( one of the ASUG EAM SIG Chairs ) that ASUG is launching a four part SAP EAM webcast series this fall.

They have pulled together four great webcasts that will run from September to December 2013.

The ASUG Enterprise Asset Management Community is delivering these virtual webcasts as part of their efforts to provide year round content to their community members. Jeff said that ASUG is also opening this series to non-ASUG members.

If you are interested in these webcasts and you are not an ASUG member, please contact Kaela Altman Kaela.Altman@asug.com; she can get you the details to attend according to Jeff.

Please pass this on to others in your organization that might be interested in attending. This is a great way to improve your SAP EAM knowledge at no cost.

Jeff also suggested that it is very useful to book a conference room in your organization and invite people to watch the session together, and then discuss as a group the learning's from the webcast and how you could put these into action in your organization.

Here are dates, topics, links to the registration page for ASUG Members, and detailed abstracts for these sessions for these free webcasts. This should be a great educational series that the ASUG EAM Community has pulled together for both its members and a special opportunity for non members to participate.


Featured Webcasts

September, 16 2013 1pm EST- 2pm EST     

Supporting ISO 55001 with SAP Enterprise Asset Management

http://www.asug.com/events/detail/Supporting-ISO-55001-With-SAP-Enterprise-Asset-Management


October, 16 2013 12pm EST- 1pm EST      

Lost "LOV” Care and Feeding of Assets - Inspired by Actual Events

http://www.asug.com/events/detail/Lost-LOV-Care-and-Feeding-of-Assets-Inspired-By-Actual

November, 6 2013 12pm EST- 1pm EST  

Wisdom from the North American SAP EAM Community - SAP Centric EAM 2013

http://www.asug.com/events/detail/Wisdom-From-the-North-American-SAP-EAM-Community

December, 4 2013 12pm EST- 1pm EST  

SAP EAM Customer Stories - Dow Corning and Owens Corning

- SAP PM / EAM Continuous Improvement through the Cycle of Communication

- Improved Failure Coding in SAP - Owens Corning assures Data Quality

http://www.asug.com/events/detail/SAP-EAM-Customer-Stories-Dow-Corning-and-Owens-Corning

Webcast Abstract and Speaker Details

September 2013 Webcast  9/16/2013 1pm EST - 2pm EST

Supporting ISO 55001 with SAP Enterprise Asset Management

The new ISO 55000 series on Asset Management is asking more than ever before for establishing an integrating asset management system. This is involving information technology spanning the whole lifecycle of physical assets and addressing cost, risk, and performance. Additionally, we are living in a period of major and disruptive changes to technology, processes, and business models. Assets are getting smarter and smarter, allowing for machine-to-machine communication; boundaries between manufacturers, service providers, owners and operators are blurring more and more. Achim will elaborate on how SAP Enterprise Asset Management can help with the new challenges and also gain benefits from the new boundary conditions. This will include mobile, in-memory analytics, asset visualization, and other pieces of functionality.

Lessons:

* Key content of the ISO 55000 series

* Asset Management and the influences of hyper-connection and the industrial internet

* Major SAP solution offerings like mobile, in-memory analytics, asset visualization, and amendments to ERP

Speaker: Achim Krueger - SAP AG VP EAM Solutions

Dr. Achim Krüger started his career as an officer with the German Air Force. He held several positions in the areas of maintenance of helicopters and transport aircraft as well as systems engineering, before he worked in higher commands as a logistics general staff officer. Joining SAP Germany in 2002, Achim first served as a consultant before establishing the SAP for Defense & Security industry portfolio at SAP AG. After several other duties in solution management and development, Achim now serves as vice president for SAP's solutions in the area of Enterprise Asset Management. Achim obtained a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of the Federal Armed Forces at Munich as well as a degree in economics from the University of Hagen. For his thesis on the fatigue life behavior of metallic materials, he was awarded a doctorate in engineering.

http://www.asug.com/events/detail/Supporting-ISO-55001-With-SAP-Enterprise-Asset-Management

October 2013 Webcast - 10/16/2013 12pm EST -  1pm EST

Lost "LOV” Care and Feeding of Assets - Inspired by Actual Events

More executive attention is being paid to asset management systems than ever before.  Asset Intensive companies realize what asset failures are costing them.  During quarterly calls senior executives are reporting hundreds of millions of Lost Opportunity Value (LOV) because of unplanned outages due to failing assets.  The real fear is that one of these incidents may land them on the six o'clock news.  So cross-functional teams are being assembled to build a scalable work process to manage asset criticality, strategy methodology, and maintenance plan execution and modification.  Their mission?  Remove as much uncertainty about the future as possible.

We will discuss how companies are simplifying business processes in order to support asset criticality, develop asset strategies, and improve reliability.  They are writing standards, guidance documents, and work processes. We'll show how they are investing in EAM to improve how they manage data quality and master data for technical objects to enable those work processes.   You will also learn how SAP and Meridium are being used to optimize maintenance and monitor plans to balance spend and mitigate business risk.

Lessons:

-  The simplification of business processes for successful asset strategy management

-  Taxonomy, failure coding, FLOC and equipment criticality for safety, environmental and production risks

-  Data quality, data hierarchy, and event history utilization is central to the sustainment of asset visibility, risk and performance

Marc LaPlante - Meridium

As a pre-sales Solution Consultant at Meridium, Marc's primary tasks include surveying business and technical needs, work process facilitation, software demos, and periodically speaking at events in the field of asset management. He works as a member of a core team for APM software project implementations for asset-intensive organizations. Marc is also a member of the US Technical Advisory Group to PC 251 and works alongside some of the finest minds in the field of asset management. He is helping to write the ISO standard 55000 which is expected in early in 2014. Marc earned his Diploma in Chemical Engineering Technology from Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 1992. He also continued with his professional development by attending the Centre for Maintenance Optimization and Reliability Engineering at the University of Toronto. He came to Meridium after 14 years working in the field of condition monitoring. He has had exposure to various industries from energy, resource mining, pulp and paper, petroleum, petrochemical, manufacturing and power generation.

http://www.asug.com/events/detail/Lost-LOV-Care-and-Feeding-of-Assets-Inspired-By-Actual

November 2013 Webcast  11/6/2013     12pm EST- 1pm EST

“Wisdom from the North American SAP EAM Community - SAP Centric EAM 2013”

For the past nine years, the Eventful Group's SAP-Centric EAM North American Event has brought together the EAM community to network, share ideas and experiences, and explore solutions for Enterprise Asset Management. In this session you will hear key insights from top North American customer success stories from this year’s SAP-Centric EAM event that was held in Huntington Beach, California. You will learn what their challenges where, what worked, how they solved their challenges and most importantly how you can turn these insights into action in your organization.

Wisdom shared will be from both from an EAM Business and a Technology perspective.  Don't miss this opportunity to also learn about what will be happening at SAP Centric EAM 2014 in Austin.

Lessons

- Top 10 North American SAP EAM Community issues, solutions to resolve these and information sources

- What are the EAM Business Imperatives that you need to focus on today

- What are the key tools from both a SAP EAM and Partner Ecosystem perspective to improve EAM in your organization

Norm Poynter, Nexen

Norm Is a management consultant, specializing in SAP PM along with Integration to engineering and plant process systems. For the past 16 years he has been involved in continuous improvement, best practices, plant turnarounds, re-engineering, process improvements, process safety  and operational excellence development & implementation projects.  Norm has held technical & functional roles with Agrium, NOVA Chemicals, DuPont, Canexus and Nexen Inc,  Marathon Oil, Suncor.  Today, Norm focuses on Knowledge Execution Management and Asset Information Management Systems through the creation of sustainable communities of practice. Key passions for Norm are the enabling of standardization, consistency and productivity through better use of grass root technologies like SAP.  

Jeff Smith, Fairfax Water

Jeff Smith has been with Fairfax Water (FW) for over 24 years where he worked his way up the plant maintenance department from a plant mechanic, plant maintenance assistant supervisor and plant maintenance planner/scheduler. Jeff was the EAM team lead when FW implemented SAP in 2009. After implementation, was promoted to business process analyst working in FW (SAP) Solution Support Center. This has allowed Jeff to gain valuable SAP experience with PM, MM, & FI modules. Jeff is also Fairfax Water’s SAP testing lead. Jeff is the ASUG Plant Maintenance SIG Program Chair.

http://www.asug.com/events/detail/Wisdom-From-the-North-American-SAP-EAM-Community

December 2013 - Webcast  12/4/2013    12pm EST- 1pm EST

SAP EAM Customer Stories - Dow Corning and Owens Corning

- SAP PM / EAM Continuous Improvement - Dow Corning

- Improved Failure Coding in SAP - Owens Corning assures Data Quality

SAP PM / EAM Continuous Improvement through the Cycle of Communication

Master Data has been entered into your SAP PM/EAM system. Your system has gone live or has been live for years. Work notifications and work orders are being created. NOW WHAT?  This presentation will explore the Cycle of Communication - the flow of information and corrective feedback between the operations, maintenance coordinators, maintenance shops, and engineering departments for the continuous improvement of your SAP PM/EAM system. Key aspects of work notifications, work orders, technical findings, and Standard Analysis Plant Maintenance Information Systems (MCI reports) will be explored.

Lessons:

- Understanding how and where PM data is used is key

- Start with the end in mind

- Everyone needs feedback

Alex Lackner, Dow Corning

Alexander (Alex) Lackner holds a mechanical engineering B.S. degree from Michigan Technological University. He has twelve years of experience working in various project management, reliability engineering, and manufacturing engineering positions within Dow Corning. Alex is currently the team leader of the Enterprise Asset Management and Integrity (NDT Inspection) departments at Dow Corning's Carrollton, Kentucky, manufacturing plant. He is also leading a number of Six Sigma Blackbelt projects that focus on the optimization, implementation, and data accuracy of the SAP Plant Maintenance and Materials Management (MROS) modules.

Improved Failure Coding in SAP - Owens Corning assures Data Quality

Owens Corning's implementation of SAP ECC 6.0 from v3.1i has provided an opportunity to improve current practices and develop new solutions to enhance reliability in SAP PM with assistance from Meridium. A major opportunity identified is in equipment catalog profile and failure coding. Unique catalog profile design forms the code base and provides for asset category, class and type searches, reporting, and analysis. Using ISO-14224-2006 as a model, the solutions include Owens Corning's Reliability Work Practices (RWP) methodology and Meridium's best practices for taxonomy and event coding. Using master library concepts, minimal SAP customization results in simplified user interfaces that assure data quality in detection, cause, and activity codes, and reduce asset object part and damage code mismatches. This enables enhanced reliability analysis and standardized maintenance and operational reporting. This presentation will cover the project's history, key concepts and functionality, and current implementation.

Lessons:

- Qualitative asset history

- Standardized coding

- Standardized asset classification

Bob Kazar, Owens Corning

Bob Kazar has 30 years of Reliability and Maintenance experience in positions such as craftsman, maintenance manager, maintenance engineer and project manager in various industries like food and beverage processing, packaging equipment and building materials. Bob holds certifications in Project Management (PMP), is a Certified Maintenance and Reliability Professional (CMRP) and currently an officer in the Society for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals. He has a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and Bachelors in Information Systems. Currently Bob is a Reliability Project Manager and an IT Architect for the Owens Corning Corporate Manufacturing Reliability Group responsible for Enterprise Asset Management, Reliability Work Processes and the SAP Plant Maintenance Module.

http://www.asug.com/events/detail/SAP-EAM-Customer-Stories-Dow-Corning-and-Owens-Corning

This should be a great educational series that the ASUG EAM Community has pulled together. 

Insights from the SAP-Centric EAM 2013 Event - Huntington Beach March 2013 (Part 1 of 12) : This is part of a twelve part blog series brought to you by Norm Poynter and Paul Kurchina, designed to inspire and educate by sharing experiences with the SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Community. For the past nine years, the Eventful Group's SAP-Centric EAM North American Event ( Supported by SAP and ASUG ) has brought together the EAM community to network, share ideas and experiences, and explore solutions for Enterprise Asset Management.

It’s a common cliché: Those who don’t learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. But while seemingly obvious, this cliché has a great deal of relevance for the Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Community. The knowledge about how to create successful EAM exists and has for quite some time. As we reflect on the history of the SAP-Centric conferences, we are convinced that over the past nine years, every question about successful EAM has likely been asked and answered.  So why are companies still struggling ? Why do the same problems keep popping up ?

The answer is simple: We are not putting information into practice. Every year, when we leave these conferences, along with the used towels and half empty shampoo bottles in our hotel rooms, we leave behind too much of the wisdom that’s been presented. This has to change. We have to implement the lessons we’ve learned. It’s very costly not to learn from experience.

It’s time for EAM users to go beyond the basics. EAM can help ensure safety and reliability. But to truly harness the power of EAM, we have to reach the stage of in-depth analysis, where we’re not just answering the what, but also the how and the why.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be posting a series of blogs, based on presentations made at the 2013 Eventful Group's SAP-Centric EAM North American Event. These blogs go a long way in codifying key insights that can help companies take that next step.

The series kicks off with Bob Williamson’s fascinating look at how much we can learn about EAM from an unexpected source. In “ Achieving 100% Equipment Reliability: Learning from Top NASCAR Teams ”, Williamson, president of Strategic Work Systems, related reliability in NASCAR to facilities maintenance. His most important conclusion is that human factors play a more integral role in reliability than technology. He offers seven principles of reliability that draw heavily on NASCAR’s use of visualization to ensure reliability. Williamson notes that visualization is where EAM is headed. Visualization helps employees stay vested in their work and not turn the responsibility of reliability over to technology.

In the second blog in the series, “ An EAM Policy – Can Your Organization Improve Without One ? ”,  we outline why policies and procedures, while essential, cannot drive systemic EAM organizational change by themselves. Human thoughts and behavior impact change and cannot be overlooked as crucial components of an organization’s EAM policy. While policies are the foundation on which all successful EAM is built, buy-in only occurs when policy motivates and inspires, rather than seeming like an unnecessary burden.

The third blog in the series, “What’s Sabotaging Your Business Software and How You can Release the Power to Innovate”, reflects on a talk by Harold Hambrose, the CEO and founder of Electronic Ink. Hambrose was unambiguous in stating that IT must design business processes and software for today, not 30 years ago. Design has been overlooked as a driving factor in a company’s return on investment. Design must incorporate visualization since it more closely mirrors the way people think and should complement, rather than supersede, the human component.

In “ SAP Enterprise Asset Management – Enabling Asset Managers and Maintenance Professionals ”, we chronicle the keynote presentation of Dr. Achim Krüger, Vice President Industry Business Solutions - Operational Excellence and LoB Asset Management (EAM) at SAP. Krüger details the exciting enhancements SAP is putting into their EAM user experience. These enhancements include mobile and 3D features, as well as linear asset management, worker safety, asset analytics, and management of change. Krüger points out just how far SAP EAM has come since the 1970s. SAP EAM can now link asset management to business objectives, unleashing new potential.

“ It’s Not the Silos: It’s the Bridges ” looks at a talk by Natalie Christensen, SAP Project Manager of the City of Abbotsford, British Columbia. By providing specialization, Christensen believes that silos serve a purpose in companies but can impede collaboration if bridges are not built between them. The way to break down silos is by empowering employees and it is up to a company’s leadership to cultivate leaders internally towards understanding across functionalities.

The sixth blog in the series, “ Nuggets of Gold: Unearthing the New EAM Functionality in SAP ERP 6.0 ”, recaps Dean Fitt’s presentation. Fitt, an SAP Solution Manager at SAP specializing in EAM in the Industry Business Solutions group, details functionality available in SAP’s Enhancement Packages, focusing especially on Maintenance Event Builder, Shift Notes and Shift Reports, Inspection Rounds, Customer Connection, and Improvement Finder.

In “ A Simple Screen Modification Can Renovate a Crafts World ”, we discuss an enlightening session by Wesley Dean, Senior Asset Care Engineer at MillerCoors. MillerCoors simplified their SAP interface so that it was as easy to use as an ATM machine, creating a “One-Stop-Shop” for its workers. The results have been profound: less training time and greater employee satisfaction. But perhaps most importantly, the new system is capturing more decisions than ever before, which improves analytics capabilities and the company’s bottom line.

The eighth blog, “ Building Integration Literacy between Major Projects & Operations”, summarizes a presentation given by Mario Abella, Senior Manager of Process Integration at Suncor Energy, and Teresa Brooks, Director of Process Integration at Suncor. Abella and Brooks advised how to improve internal information flow, especially for new projects. Too often, big projects experience an information black hole, which frustrates employees and stymies productivity. Abella and Brooks offer seven recommendations on how to build literacy between major projects and operations to get rid of this type of friction.

“ Data Quality Taxonomy & Failure Coding Structure at Owens Corning ” reflects on a presentation by Brian Gilson, Lead Reliability Project Manager at Owens Corning and Ralph Hanneman, Senior Consultant at Meridium. Gilson and Hanneman examine companies’ use of failure coding. Drawing on the experience of Owens Corning’s work with Meridium to implement a new failure coding system, Gilson and Hanneman point to the impressive results the company has experienced since the change. It’s not enough to just do coding structure; code reporting analysis and asset performance management must be a part of the process as well.

The tenth blog in the series, “ Mobile Asset Management: Successes and Roadmap ”, is based on a presentation by Karsten Hauschild, Industry Business Solutions - Operational Excellence and LoB Asset Management (EAM) at SAP. Hauschild pushes us to recognize that today’s operations demand mobility. He argued that good asset management practices cannot happen without mobility. Mobility empowers employees to operate in real-time, but any adoption of mobility must be well thought out to really improve productivity.

In the final blog in the series, “ How Adding a Visual Layer to EAM Brings New Depth in Maintenance ? ”, we look at a presentation by Mark Foster, Managing Director of Revisia. Foster extols the benefits of visualization, especially in terms of capturing institutional information from veteran workers who may be nearing retirement. Visualization can be a tool for training, education, simulation, and testing, which leads to efficiency and effectiveness gains. 3D models of EAM are not just the wave of the future; they’re the way to excel in the present.

By discussing the concepts presented during the conference, we can make sure we don’t forget what we learned and can really put it into practice, helping our EAM efforts drive real competitive advantage.

[ Insights from the SAP-Centric EAM 2013 Event - Huntington Beach March 2013 ( Part 2 of 12): This is part of a blog series brought to you by Norm Poynter and Paul Kurchina, designed to inspire and educate by sharing experiences with the SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Community. For the past nine years, the Eventful Group's SAP-Centric North American Event ( Supported by SAP and ASUG ) has brought together the EAM community to network, share ideas and experiences, and explore solutions for Enterprise Asset Management.]

This story is based on the presentation that was voted by attendees as the most popular from the Huntington Beach SAP-Centric EAM 2013 Community Event.

The stakes are high for drivers, support teams, and sponsors in NASCAR racing.  How high? According to Bob Williamson, president of Strategic Work Systems, in 2013 a Daytona 500 win paid $1,525,275; a 36^th place finish paid $334,118. The cost of failure: $1,191,157.

The stakes and cost of failure are just as high—or higher—at industrial facilities and plants around the globe. In his keynote presentation at the SAP-Centric EAM 2013 conference in March, Williamson, president of Strategic Work Systems, said failures cost and reliability pays. In his talk, entitled, “Achieving 100% Equipment Reliability: Learning from Top NASCAR Teams,” Williamson took the concept of reliability (to win) in NASCAR and related it to the most basic aspects of facilities maintenance.

"Equipment and facilities were not designed to sputter, fail, or break down, but they do. Imagine what would happen if you could make your most critical assets run at 100% reliability using some of the most common sense reliability improvement principles in the world,” said Williamson.

That is a promising thought, yet in our industrial lives (practices) I highly doubt most corporate vision or mission statements include such simplicity and direction regarding reliability.

"Why is it that we often struggle to improve the way our equipment and facilities run—faster, better, consistently? It should be a lot easier... and it can be easy. Reliability is more about the 'human factors' than it is about new technologies and tools,” said Williamson.

Those human factors weigh heavily in his 7 Principles of Reliability. One of the principles, “maintenance efficiency and effectiveness,” illustrates the importance of simple techniques around visualization. For example, NASCAR team car parts are visually inspected for quality and correctness, neatly categorized, and protected before going on the shelf or in the toolbox. Inspection and Maintenance histories are logged on labels, markings, and placed on the parts themselves whenever possible. These references are hugely impactful because they are visual. Visualization removes ambiguity, improves understanding, and simplifies training requirements. Given the nature of our technology driven age, visualization is ultimately where the technology of EAM is headed. The beauty of Bob’s presentation using NASCAR as an example is that no intense, expensive, or complicated technology was referenced. Again, human factors are significant contributors to reliability and often it’s the humans, not the technology, which are the keys to success.

Williamson compared the racing principles of top NASCAR teams with how the industrial world should think about reliability. Three of my favorites include:

     ·“Go slow to go fast” (Right the first time, every time—flawless human performance)

     ·“The green flag drops at 1 o’clock on Sunday… whether you’re ready or not” (Plan your work and work your plan)

     ·“If you’re not cheating you’re not racing” (Think inside and outside the box for a better way)

It’s the basics, and arguably, Williamson’s principles, when shifted into the industrial world would readily apply if we just took the time to focus on them.

Instead, we choose to check our personal brain and our personal expectations of reliability at the plant gate and switch to our industrial brain, which seems to be less creative, less expectant of performance and overly influenced by external business forces. (See an upcoming blog on how our personal expectations of reliability are very different from our industrial ones. For example, we expect 100% reliability when traveling by plane. Why can’t similar expectations be transferred to the industrial world ?

Toward the end of the presentation, Williamson summed up his learnings as a performance and reliability consultant:  "Lessons learned: 50 industries, 400 plants, thousands of equipment items, tens of thousands of front-line people and their leadership... but the problems are mostly all the same. Focusing on the foundations of good performance and reliability of our most critical physical assets can be very sustainable. Without a solid foundation, things tend to crumble away."

From the 1950s to today, failures and reliability in the domain of racing have declined to staunchly low rates. Can the same be said for our plants and physical assets we are managing?  Some industries have set this bar high—pharmaceutical, airline, and nuclear industries come to mind. Other industries, however, still have a long way to go.

To learn more, watch the videoof Williamson’s presentation, and view the powerpoint . 

Introduction

As most of you know, in many objects related to plant maintenance module (technical objects as equipment, functional location but also notifications, orders, confirmations) we can fulfill long text field. The functionality itself is really nice and helpful but very painful in terms of reporting / extraction activities.

Long text reporting / extraction

We have 2 options to get long text in PM reports

1. Development done on standard reports - adding additional column(s) for long text - this activity needs to be done by developers 

2. Creation of SAP query with small piece of ABAP coding inside. This is the scenario which I will describe bellow.

As the background, you should be familiar with SAP Queries functionality (SQ01, SQ02, SQ03 transactions).

Following links can be helpful:

SAP Adhoc Query SQ01 SQ02 SQ03

Using Infoset Query, SAP Query and Quick Viewer

Steps to be done:

Step 1. Create Infoset (SQ02)

I will not describe this step, as setup of tables can be different for each requirement. You should base here documents linked above.

Step 2. Create and program additional field in infoset.

In this step, you need to add new field to infoset.

From the main screen you need to navigate to 'Extras'

Than create new field ...

And define parameters for this field

From list of additional fields select the newly created one (by placing the cursor on it and 'click') and go to coding section

Here you have to place a little bit of ABAP code ...

The example code (in case of extraction long text for operation within PM order) looks like bellow.

CLEAR ltext.

***************************************************

* Data definition for input parameters

***************************************************

DATA:

         name LIKE thead-tdname,

         spras like STXH-tdspras.

***************************************************

* Data definition for output

***************************************************

DATA BEGIN OF txtheader.

         INCLUDE STRUCTURE thead.

DATA END OF txtheader.

DATA BEGIN OF txtlines OCCURS 15.

         INCLUDE STRUCTURE tline.

DATA END OF txtlines.

***************************************************

* Getting parameter 'name' which in case of operation long text

* is combination of mandant, routing number and general counter

***************************************************

CONCATENATE afvc-mandt afvc-aufpl afvc-aplzl

         INTO name.

***************************************************

* Determining language which has been used for long text

* (assuming, that there is only one used

***************************************************

Select single TDspras into spras from STXH where TDOBJECT = 'AUFK'

   AND TDID = 'AVOT' and TDNAME = name.

***************************************************

* Reading long text into internal table

***************************************************

CALL FUNCTION 'READ_TEXT'

   EXPORTING

     client                  = sy-mandt

     id                      = 'AVOT'

     language                = SPRAS

     name                    = name

     object                  = 'AUFK'

     archive_handle          = 0

*   LOCAL_CAT               = ' '

   IMPORTING

     header                  = txtheader

   TABLES

     lines                   = txtlines

   EXCEPTIONS

     id                      = 1

     language                = 2

     name                    = 3

     not_found               = 4

     object                  = 5

     reference_check         = 6

     wrong_access_to_archive = 7

     OTHERS                  = 8.

IF sy-subrc <> 0.

* Implement suitable error handling here

ENDIF.

***************************************************

* Concatenating long text rows from internal table

* into one, output field

***************************************************

LOOP AT txtlines.

   CONCATENATE ltext txtlines-tdline INTO ltext SEPARATED BY space.

ENDLOOP.

REFRESH txtlines.

 

As you can see, they work is done by function module READ_TEXT.

At the end of this post I will describe the way how to get feeding parameters for this FM in case of different reference objects for Long Text.

Step 3. Add new field to fields group.

This action is as for the standard fields. Basically you will see newly created field in catalog on the left side of the screen and you need to add this field to one of the catalogs which will be visible in Query. Use drag&drop technique ...

Step 4. Assign infoset to user group (SQ03 or SQ02)

Step 5. Create Query based on newly created infoset (SQ01)

Step 6. Enjoy ....

In the order we have:

And in Query :

Parameters for FM READ_TEXT

To get the parameters for function module, while being in long text editor please choose following path.

All 3 parameters marked bellow will be different for different reference object of long text.

Parameters in red are describing type of object (AUFK - Orders, AVOT - operations in order).

Text name (In yellow) is identifying single long text segment (in this case single operation). This field is tricky one and in fact you have to resolve the quiz how it's build (sometimes it's easy - ex. are materials or equipments, sometimes more complicated ...)

Example for equipment long text (text name is pure equipment number with leading zeroes)

And ... That's All Folks !!!

Hope it will help you a little bit with long text reporting & extraction.

Remarks:

I'm not  ABAP consultant, so for sure this piece of code is not optimized and could be done in better way

In case of really long long texts you can face some issues due to capacity of ALV field (I think, it can contain up to 255 characters. In this case maybe you will need to split long text into 2 display fields (each for 255 characters)

heniek

The new ISO 55000 series on Asset Management is asking more than ever before for establishing an integrating asset management system. This is involving information technology spanning the whole lifecycle of physical assets and addressing cost, risk, and performance. Additionally, we are living in a period of major and disruptive changes to technology, processes, and business models. Assets are getting smarter and smarter, allowing for machine-to-machine communication; boundaries between manufacturers, service providers, owners and operators are blurring more and more.

Dr. Achim Krueger, SAP AG, elaborated in his recent ASUG Webcast from September 16, 2013 on how SAP Enterprise Asset Management can help with the new challenges and also gain benefits from the new boundary conditions. This includes mobile, in-memory analytics, asset visualization, and other pieces of functionality.

Access the Webcast Recording and Slides here.

[ Insights from the SAP-Centric EAM 2013 Event - Huntington Beach March 2013 ( Part 3 of 12 ): This is part of a blog series brought to you by Norm Poynter and Paul Kurchina, designed to inspire and educate by sharing experiences with the SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) Community. For the past nine years, the Eventful Group's SAP-Centric North American Event ( Supported by SAP and ASUG ) has brought together the EAM community to network, share ideas and experiences, and explore solutions for Enterprise Asset Management.]

This blog is based on Norm Poytner’s presentation from the Huntington Beach SAP-Centric EAM 2013 Community Event.

Newsflash: SAP itself is not the driver behind most of the changes in asset management. Instead, human thoughts and behavior are the drivers of such change. SAP comes to the EAM party empty.  To make it valuable, people must populate the system with foundational information about assets, plans and schedules for how to manage them, and finally the business decisions on what happened while doing so. If all of this goes well, the data turns into information through analytics and the ever so important continuous improvement loop is engaged.

Supporting the human interaction are policy, process, standards, procedures, and associated governance. Without them, change will not occur. In fact, policiesform the foundation for building EAM and enabling business analytics. Clear, concise, consistent, and commonly understood policies are key to organizational improvement. Just as they are in our everyday lives, whether it be parenting our children or conforming to governing laws of our home country, policy (overarching expectations) set the stage.

But simply having an EAM policy in place doesn’t guarantee success. In addition to policy, there are the important components of business processes, standards, and procedures. Without them, a policy might just as well be a blank piece of paper. As the acronym EAM suggests, a complete management system is required to effectively and efficiently manage safety, reliability, availability, and analysis of physical assets. The components help complete this package. In this post I explain the relationships between these components and offer some guidance for implementing and sustaining useful EAM policies.

You Need a Vision

The ultimate goal of any policy is to change behavior. The trouble is, everyone in an organization behaves differently. Everyone has their own perspective depending on their role and responsibilities. A CEO’s perspective might be financial: “Are we running on budget? I need to know where we are on spend.” A manager’s perspective is different: “Why are we so far behind schedule, again ? ”

The common thread needed to unite the disparate perspectives of these different roles is a universal vision. For example, in the oil and gas industry, the vision may be “To be the safest, most reliable, low-cost operator in the universe” (the “universe” is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek statement, but you get the idea). A key first step is to seek alignment through vision, but, as often happens, this step is taken far too lightly, skipped over entirely, or given a patronizing attempt. This is a serious foundational step in the evolution of your EAM program and without it your chances of success diminish quickly.

Add in Policy

So you have established a sweeping vision. Without a policy to support it, vision won’t be enough.

Investors and the CEO are happy when a vision is in place. However, a manager might see it from a different perspective: “What’s all this garbage the CEO is sending me? I don’t have time to read all this. I have a business to run.” An operator may be even farther away from the vision: “Is my machine fixed yet ?  What’s the hold up ? ”

The formalization of the vision and the associated workshops to “commit it to paper” are important steps to gain alignment. A written vision alone cannot change behaviors though. You need some written rules and clarity around the vision. This translates into policy. It describes the high-level expectations and actions to take when addressing a given business scenario.

Create a Process

So now you’ve got a written, formal policy, but the CEO notices that little progress is being made. However, progress is fully dependent on tasks being performed in a consistent manner, targeted at achieving a common goal. To this end, a well-articulated business process is required to create and manage your task expectations and data collection requirements. A business process can be defined as identifying what happens over time (first this happens, then that happens).

Hold Everyone to the Same Standard

You might think that with the business process in place, all should be right with the world. Not so. Typically, even with a documented business process, everyone seems to be doing their own thing. To get people on the same page, they need to be measured against a set of requirements. To be able to measure, you need a to have a standard. A standard is a document that sets out the minimum requirements (the things you must have and must do, and the quality expectations for those things and tasks). Without these minimums, performance measurement becomes subjective at best. And let’s be clear that it’s not enough to just write down the standard; you must roll it out, implement it, and make it part of the corporate fabric. Consider your favorite restaurant franchises. We all expect the same food items (menu), quality, and experience no matter what country, state, province, or city we are in. This is an example of a well rolled out standard. Now, for a moment, reflect on your various plants and facilities. Can you say the same for them?

Get ‘Er Done: Add in Procedure

Now the CEO is jazzed. With all of these mechanisms in place, he can’t wait to see the progress. His manager isn’t so enthusiastic. “I’m all for this data program, but I looked at the numbers. At this rate, it’ll take us 10 years to complete it. We’re effective (high quality) but we need to be more efficient ( greater speed ).” So they need a procedure. Henry Ford’s introduction of the assembly line is a world-renowned example of an effective and efficient procedure. Provide both quality and speed to garner business value ( profit) . This concept changed the world then and is still the benchmark today.

A procedure is defined as a tool ( document or other media ) that provides step-by-step instructions explaining how to perform the tasks identified in the process to meet the requirements of the standard. Often a procedure will also consider the implications of variance to that procedure. Consider the installation of a new refrigerator. The installation procedure clearly states “Do not plug in for X hours after delivery or serious damage will occur.” Further, if it has an icemaker the procedure will clearly state not to activate the icemaker without first connecting the water line. Again, or “serious damage will occur.”

Keep It Interesting !

There’s one more component:  Imagine if you had the power to make all of this really interesting. Is there emotion tied to it ? Does it motivate and inspire ? To explore this, check out Volkswagen’s The Fun Theory.

Until you create the structures (Vision, Policy, Process, Standards, Procedures) required to correctly populate and harvest information from the SAP system, how can there be value to an organization?  Undoubtedly millions of dollars were spent to by IT to implement it – in an empty state. Shouldn’t you place equal focus on the people and business structures ? Once you see this gap and begin to close it, the sky’s the limit on what you can accomplish with SAP EAM.

To learn more, watch the video of Norm's talk, and view the presentation slides.