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Customizing Work Order Tasks, Standard Tasks, and Activity Reports

This topic explains how to work with formatting options when customizing work order tasks, standard tasks, and activity reports. It also explains the need to add mandatory properties to the Work Document Creation Info class so that work order tasks can be created from activity reports.

Working with Formatting Options

Depending on how your work types are set up, each work order task and standard task may have a different user interface. Each work type can have different formatting options that determine which information will or will not appear on a task. The following options are available on the Work Type dialog:

Setting Name

Description

Requirements planning

Select this option to include the Planning tab on work order tasks and standard tasks using this work type. This tab allows you to add start and end dates, labor requirements, materials, tools and services for the task, as well as other planning details. When this tab is hidden, users will not be able to add trade, materials, tool, or service requirements to the task. The Create Pick List and Create Purchase Order options will also not be available.

Documents

Select this option to include the Documents tab on work order tasks and standard tasks using this work type. This tab allows you to add procedures, instructions, and other types of documents to the work order task.

Indicators and indicator snapshots

Select this option to include the Inspection tab on standard tasks and work order tasks using this work type. This tab allows you to plan a list of indicators to read for the task and, on work order tasks, to view any indicator snapshots taken during the task’s life cycle. When this tab is hidden, users will not be able to add indicators to a task or collect indicator readings for a work order task.

Component activities

Select this option to include the Component Activity tab on work order tasks using this work type. On work order tasks, this tab allows you to plan component swaps and repairs. When this tab is hidden, users will not be able to plan or enter component swaps or serialized asset repair information on the work order task.

Asset status information

Select this option to include the Asset Status Change tab on work order tasks and standard tasks using this work type. This tab allows you to set a new status for the asset being worked on when the work order is completed. You can also select whether a new asset life will be started, whether triggering counters will be reset, and whether the asset’s manufacturer information should be changed when the work is completed. When this tab is hidden, users will not be able to plan asset status changes on the standard task or work order task.

Scheduling dependencies

Select this option to include the Dependencies tab on work order tasks using this work type. On work order tasks, this tab allows you to plan scheduling dependencies and lags.

The work order format options rely on the APM-defined user interface in order to work properly. Each of the formatting options corresponds to a tab in the work order task or standard task. The tabs are hidden or shown depending on which formatting options are selected on the work type. Each formatting option corresponds to a group of attributes, relationships, and methods that all appear on the same page in the APM user interface. However, only the tabs on the work order task Properties and standard task Properties views are affected.

Your organization can also change these views using customization. You may want to add your own custom attributes, combine some of the pages, or move one or two attributes from one tab to another. However, when customizing these views, you must keep in mind the effect of the formatting options. Although customizing the views won’t “break” the formatting options feature, the results could be less than desirable.

For example, you may want to add a custom attribute to the Planning tab. However, doing this will mean that the Planning tab will always be visible even for work types for which “planning information” has been disabled. In this situation, your custom attribute would be the only editable control on an otherwise blank page. This is because the custom attribute is not considered to be part of planning information (since it is not on the APM’s version of the Planning tab).

Customers who have customized the work order task Properties view or the standard task Properties view in a previous release may experience similar problems.

Working Around the Formatting Options

If you do need to customize one or both of these views, here are some suggestions to avoid the situation discussed above:

•	Add your custom fields or move existing fields onto tabs not controlled by formatting options (General, Charging Info, and Request Info).

•	Add a new tab to the view and put your custom fields (or existing fields that you want to move) there instead of on a tab controlled by a formatting option.

•	Add a completely new view and organize the fields onto your own tabs.

However, you should note that fields and tables that are controlled by the formatting options will still be disabled when the option is turned off, no matter which tab or view they appear on. All fields that are on the original APM tabs controlled by the formatting options are also controlled by these same options.

Adding Custom Attributes and Relationships to the Follow-up Work Tab

When a follow-up work order is created via an activity report, the system uses the information contained in a class called Work Document Creation Info to create the new work order. If you need to customize the Follow-up Work tab on activity reports, you will need to add your custom attributes or relationships to this class.

Work Document Creation Info Class and Mandatory Properties

When a user creates a work order task from an activity report, the Work Document Creation Info class is used when creating the work order task. The Copy Same Name method copies information from the activity report to the work order task.

If you have marked work order task properties as mandatory (both custom and base product properties), you must customize the Work Document Creation Info class and add the mandatory properties (attributes or references). Be sure to name the new property exactly the same as the work order task attribute or relationship.

The properties also need to be placed on the Report Activity dialog and made mandatory. The Copy Same Name logic will copy the values to the work order task.

Tip: You can also use this technique to add non-mandatory properties to this dialog.