Work Orders for VIM Serials

When distributing maintenance tasks in IFS/VIM (IFS/Vehicle Information Management) to a work order, the distribution type, workshop at which the work is to be performed, the planned dates for the start and finish of work as well as the requested start and finish dates must be defined. A task can be distributed as a Simplified Work Order or as a Work Order.

Simplified Work Order

When a task is distributed using distribution type Simplified Work Order, the task is processed in IFS/VIM although transactions for the task are created automatically in IFS/Work Order Management. With the generation of transaction records, tracking economic transactions and recording material consumption is made possible. All the information for a simplified work order is entered in IFS/VIM. Once the simplified work order is finished, a work order is automatically processed in the background as follows:

  1. The work order is created with one single operation and materials registered in IFS/VIM.
  2. The status of the work order is set to Started.
  3. Time is reported and authorized on the operation.
  4. Registered materials are issued from Inventory.
  5. The status of the work order is changed to Finished.

Note: You will not have any interaction with a work order when processing simplified work orders.

The handling of material transactions on simplified work orders can be handled in different ways. You can let the simplified work orders issue material directly from inventory to each work order. This works fine if it is not important to have strict control on which inventory locations the material is issued from. If this is not satisfying, it is possible to define material requisitions for each site, where the users can perform the inventory transactions before the maintenance task is finished. When the maintenance task is finished, the inventory transactions will be "moved" from the material requisition to the work order that is executed in the background. Follow these steps to set up the material requisitions:

  1. Define one material requisition for each site where simplified work orders will be executed. Material requisitions are created in IFS/Distribution.
  2. Enter permanent material requisitions for each site. A permanent material requisition defines the material requisition on each site to use for material transactions on simplified work orders. Note that material transactions will be executed directly against inventory if permanent material requisitions are not defined. This step is optional.

Work Order

When tasks are distributed with distribution type Work Order, a work order is generated for each task and will be processed in IFS/Work Order Management. All financial transactions are traced by the work order.

For more information on how work orders are processed, refer the about description Work Order.

Work Order Integration

Transfer Maintenance Task to Work Order

When maintenance tasks are distributed with the distribution type Work Order or Simplified Work Order, each task becomes a single work order in IFS/Work Order Management. No work order structure is made, so that the connection between each work order in a structure can be performed independent of the maintenance order in IFS/VIM. When a maintenance task is distributed, the following attributes are transferred from the task to the work order:

Attribute Description
Task Number The task number of the maintenance task distributed to the work order. It is used to identify the task when status changes are sent from the work order.
Part Number The part number of the serial on which the work order is performed. 
Serial Number The serial number of the serial on which the work order is performed.
Contract The site that the work order will be created on. The task gets this values from the workshop the task is distributed to.
Task Type The task type of the maintenance task. The task type becomes the Work Type of the work order and contains one of the values below. Note: this attribute cannot be changed for work orders from IFS/VIM and business logic is connected to each type:
  • Intervalmaint - 1
  • Serial rep - 3
  • Modification - 4
  • On-condition - 5
  • Post Maintenance Check
Task Code The task code of the maintenance task.
Task Description The description of the maintenance task.
Workshop Code The workshop code of the workshop performing the maintenance task. Maintenance tasks are transferred to the message receiver connected to the site of the workshop code. This becomes the Executing Dept of the work order.
Location Code The location of the serial when the maintenance task was distributed to the work order. If the task is to be performed on a connected serial, the location of the top serial is used.
Planned Start Date The planned start date and time of the maintenance task.
Planned Finish Date The planned finish date and time of the maintenance task.
Required Start Date The required start date and time of the maintenance task.
Required Finish Date The required finish date and time of the maintenance task.
Vehicle ID The registration number of the vehicle.
Order No The order number of the maintenance order.
Fault specific attributes
Identity The identity (category) of the person that reported the fault.
Symptom The symptom entered on the fault. It is transferred only for the "Serial Repair" task type.
Warranty The warranty information entered on the fault. It is transferred only for the "Serial Repair" task type.
Model The product and model number entered on the fault. It is transferred only for the "Serial Repair" task type.
Function Breakdown The three levels of function breakdown reported on the fault.
Rule for Function Breakdown The required number of levels of function breakdown when reporting the fault.
Deferral Information Information regarding deferral of the fault.
Modification specific attributes
Current Execution Type The current execution type if the transferred task is a preventive check on a modification.

For task types Intervalmaint, Modification and On-Condition, pre-defined operations with material lists and tools/facilities are transferred to the work order. The following table shows all the attributes that are transferred (the same attributes independent of the task type):

Attribute – Operations Description
Operation Number The operation number of the operation.
Operation Description The short description of the operation.
Part Number The part number of the component to be maintained.
Part Revision The part revision of the component to be maintained.
Part Name The part name of the component to be maintained.
Part Description The part description.
Work Description The description of the work to be done.
Competence The required competence of personnel to perform operation.
Number of Persons The number of persons with the required competence to perform the operation.
Hour Consumption The hourly consumption when performing the operation.
Instruction Type The type of operation.
Instruction Location Placement on the serial/vehicle where the work will take place.
Signature Requirement Requirements to sign off the operation when completed work.
Reference Number Free text that can hold a reference to the manufacturers operation number.
Product Number The product number of the function breakdown.
Model Number The model number of the function breakdown.
Function Number The highest function level of the function breakdown.
Sub Function Number The second function level of the function breakdown.
Bottom Function Number The bottom function level of the function breakdown.
Attribute – Material Description
Operation Number The operation number of the operation that requires the material.
Part Number The part number of the required part.
Site The site from which the part is to be retrieved. The value of this attribute is the site connected to the workshop where the task has been distributed.
Quantity The required quantity of the part.
Unit of measure (UoM) The UoM for the serial as defined on its Part Catalog record. If the UoM for the site at which the work order is created is different, an automatic UoM conversion is performed during the transfer. The transferred material quantity will then be correct in accordance with the UoM on the site.
Attribute – Tools/Facilities Description
Operation Number The operation number of the operation that requires the tool/facility.
Facility Number The facility number that is required.
Quantity The quantity required of the facility.
Hour Consumption The planned hour consumption per unit of the facility.

Status Changes on Work Orders

When the work order has been created, information is sent to the maintenance task on certain status changes on the work order. The status changes and information sent are shown in the table below:

Change Status To Information Sent to Maintenance Task
Started When the work order status is changed to Started from any of the previous statuses. The work order start date is sent to the maintenance task, and the task changes status to Released.
Released When the work order status is changed from Started to Released. The status change is sent to the maintenance task, the start date of the task is set to null, and the task status is changed to Distributed.
Work Done When the work order status is changed to Work Done from any of the previous statuses. The finish date (if given) and work description (Work Done) are sent to the maintenance task. If the work order has the work type 3 (repair of fault), fault mode and code are also sent. The maintenance task becomes historic (Serial Order History), and task-specific history is created.
Finished When the work order status is changed to Finished from any of the previous statuses. The total cost, actual start and finish along with finish date and work description (Work Done) are sent to the maintenance task (historic). Crafts with time reports and issued material are also sent. Note: If the UoM for the serial (in IFS/Part Catalog) is different to the UoM for the site at which the work order is created, an automatic UoM conversion is performed when issued material is sent back to the maintenance task. As a result, the material quantity that is sent to the task will be correct in accordance with the UoM for the serial.
Cancel When the work order is canceled, a cancellation cause is sent to IFS/VIM and the maintenance task is cancelled.

Historical Work Orders

Work orders originating from IFS/VIM, have included some information necessary to transmit the result of the work done and update the vehicle maintenance schedule in IFS/VIM. Information about the work done is collected from work order historical data. These data are available once the status of the work order changes to Completed.

Because of this historical replication of data, you cannot re-open a historical work order in IFS/Work Order Management for work orders that originated from IFS/VIM.

For more information on historical work orders, refer the about description Work Order History.