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  Technical Objects (CS-BD/PM-EQM)

Purpose

If DP-supported maintenance is to be set up properly at a company, it is necessary to structure the existing technical systems on the basis of technical objects.

Advantages of structuring:

  • The time required for managing the technical objects is reduced.

  • Maintenance processing is simplified.

  • The time spent entering data during maintenance processing is reduced considerably.

  • More specific, thorough and faster evaluation of maintenance data.

    Note Note

    When displaying and editing technical objects, you can use preconfigured side panels to display context-sensitive data and charts, call Web services, or visualize the objects in the SAP 3D Visual Enterprise Viewer.

    For more information and prerequisites, see Working with Side Panels in Plant Maintenance .

    End of the note.

Implementation Considerations

You should allow sufficient time for planning the structure. Weigh up all the pros and cons for your company that each structuring approach will bring. Note that it takes longer to restructure objects later than it does to structure them in the first place.

Caution Caution

Before you start representing technical objects in the system, it is imperative that you read the corresponding texts in the Implementation Guide (IMG).

End of the caution.

Integration

Structuring your systems forms the basis for implementing the application components Plant Maintenance (PM) and Customer Service (CS) .

Features

Before you begin representing technical objects in the system, you should be aware of the organization of maintenance planning within your company. You should focus primarily on the structure of the entire company. This involves defining correctly the maintenance plants and maintenance planning plants in your system.

Maintenance Plant

The maintenance plant of a technical object is the plant at which it is installed.

Example Example

Clarification plant C1 is located in plant 0001.Plant 0001 is therefore the maintenance plant of the clarification plant C1.

End of the example.
Maintenance Planning Plant

The maintenance planning plant of a technical object is the plant in which the maintenance tasks for the object are planned and prepared. Maintenance planner groups work at the maintenance planning plant to plan and prepare the maintenance tasks for the plants that are assigned to the maintenance planning plant. The following activities are performed at the maintenance planning plant:

  • Definition of task lists

  • Material planning based on bills of material in task lists and orders

  • Management and scheduling of maintenance plans

  • Creation of maintenance notifications

  • Execution of maintenance orders

    Example Example

    The maintenance plant of the clarification plant C1 is the plant 0001. The plant 0001 does not perform its own maintenance planning. It is assigned to plant 0002, in which a maintenance planner group works, and that, for this reason, is indicated in the system as being a maintenance plant. The maintenance planner group in plant 0002 plans for the plants 0001 and 0002.

    The maintenance plant for the clarification plant C1 is therefore the plant 0002.

    End of the example.

The way in which you represent the organization of maintenance planning in your company depends on the structure of the entire company. You have three options:

  • Centralized Maintenance Planning

  • Decentralized Maintenance Planning

  • Partially Centralized Maintenance Planning

Centralized Maintenance Planning

With centralized maintenance planning, you can have the following combinations of plants:

A The company comprises only one plant, that is both maintenance plant and maintenance planning plant for all the technical objects.

B The company has several maintenance plants, however only one plant in which maintenance planning is performed. The plant in which maintenance planning is performed is indicated in the system as the maintenance planning plant. All other plants are assigned to this plant as maintenance plants, for which the maintenance tasks must be planned in the maintenance planning plant.

Example Example

End of the example.

Plants:

0001, 0002, 0003

Maintenance plants:

0001, 0002, 0003

Maintenance planning plant:

0001

Plants assigned to the maintenance planning plant:

Assigned plants:

0002, 0003
Decentralized Maintenance Planning

The company comprises several maintenance plants. Each plant performs its own maintenance planning. In this case, all the plants in the system are indicated as maintenance planning plants.

Example Example

End of the example.

Plants:

0001, 0002, 0003

Maintenance plants:

0001, 0002, 0003

Maintenance planning plants:

0001, 0002, 0003
Partially Centralized Maintenance Planning

The company comprises several maintenance plants. Some of the maintenance plants perform their own maintenance planning, others do not. The plants without their own maintenance planning are assigned to maintenance planning plants in which planning is also performed for them, whilst the plants in which maintenance planning is performed are indicated in the system as being maintenance planning plants.

Example Example

End of the example.

Plants:

0001, 0002, 0003, 0004, 0005

Maintenance plants:

0001, 0002, 0003, 0004, 0005

Maintenance planning plants:

0001, 0004

Plants assigned to the maintenance planning plant 0001

Assigned plants:

0002, 0003

Plants assigned to the maintenance planning plant 0004

Assigned plants:

0005

Once you have represented the organizational structure of your company, you can choose between three different options for representing technical objects:

  • Functional structuring (only functional locations)

  • Object-related structuring (only equipment)

  • Combination (equipment at functional locations)

Functional Structuring

With this type of structuring, you subdivide your technical system into functional locations . For example, when you subdivide a production line into functional locations, you can represent the individual function units as functional locations in the system.

If you use functional locations when structuring your technical system, you can also take into account the process-oriented or spatial structure of the system.

For more information, see Functional Location and Reference Functional Location .

Object-Related Structuring

With this type of structuring, you subdivide your technical system into pieces of equipment . A piece of equipment is an individual, physical object that is to be maintained independently, and that can be installed in a technical system or part of a technical system.

Combination

You can combine object-related structuring using pieces of equipment with functional structuring using functional locations. In this case, the pieces of equipment are installed at functional locations (installation/dismantling of individual objects at a functional location).

  • The functional location represents the site where the technical tasks are performed.

  • The piece of equipment represents the object with which the technical tasks are performed.

Within the framework of a damage analysis, you will then be able to recognize, for example, whether or not damage occurring repeatedly is linked to the usage site, or is specific to the objects made by a particular manufacturer.

For more information, see:

Equipment

Hierarchical Equipment Structure

Equipment at Functional Locations

Structuring From a Technical and/or Accounting Perspective

When you perform structuring from a technical perspective, you assign the technical objects of the system to particular object classes (equipment, functional location and assembly classes).

You can use this type of structuring in addition to structuring from a functional and/or object-related perspective.

For more information, see Classification of Technical Objects .

When you perform structuring from an accounting perspective, you assign the system and its technical objects to certain cost centers or tangible assets .

You can use this type of structuring in addition to structuring from a functional and/or object-related perspective.

For more information, see Equipment as Units of Tangible Assets .