Maximo Open Forum

Hello all,  I recently came across attributes for Classifications (it is not something that we have used before that I know of) and I was curious what would be the benefit of attaching an attribute to a classification.  Does anyone have any examples of how this would be beneficial and where those attributes are selectable?

Thank you

#Administration
#EverythingMaximo

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Danny Richardson
Maximo Administrator Manager
Technimark LLC
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Danny,

Asset specifications allow users to track information about an asset that is only applicable to a certain class of equipment. Rather than adding a column to the ASSET table called HORSEPOWER, which will be not applicable for many different types of assets, you can associate the HORSEPOWER attribute to a MOTOR classification and tag assets with that MOTOR classification. That will keep the ASSET table in a much more manageable state long-term.

The attributes themselves can be populated on the Specifications tab in the Assets application. It's a little cumbersome to search for assets that have given attribute values, but it can be done. You can click on the arrow next to the Advanced Search (in Maximo 76x) or the vertical ellipsis (in MAS 8) and choose Attribute Search.

Hope this helps, 

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Alex Walter
A3J Group, LLC
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A few real-life examples:

1. Inventory/Items -- creating the Classification, PROPERLY specifying both the Attributes (with ALNDOMAINs or NUMDOMAINs where appropriate), and their order, and having Maximo generate the Description based on the values selected/input for those Attributes . . .it's much harder to detect duplicate item records if the Descriptions don't follow a standardized/normalized pattern.  There have even been times when, as an Inventory Manager, I would take all the Items in a given Classification, download the list/export to Excel, split the Description field as a comma-separated list, then look through and see if I had any duplicates or if there were any records where I had failed to fill in an Attribute value that wasn't set as required but could've & should've been filled in (think along the lines of a dependent value there, i.e. if this Attribute has this value then this other attribute should have a value but otherwise it would be blank).

2. Inventory/Items -- I've experienced that searching Descriptions for fractions is difficult; not sure if that's true on every backend database or just SQL Server we're using; e.g. if I need to find an inch-and-a-half (1-1/2") bolt.  That slash is considered a wordbreaker and the search goes wonky.  The Attribute Search is helpful in these situations.

3. Locations -- we have several rental houses.  I use Attributes to track square footage, year built, foundation, exterior, number of bedrooms. . .all the stuff you'd find on Zillow or would want to know from a real estate agent.  Recently, I was asked to make PMs for all the houses that had septic tanks.  Sure, arguably we should have those septic tanks as Assets, but we don't. . .but I did have an Attribute on the Location records to indicate whether the wastewater was going to a septic tank or city sewer.  Made the task of figuring out which houses needed the PM easy!

4. Service Requests/Work Orders -- the last 4.5 years, I've been working more for IT, less for Facilities, and I have learned the importance of classifying/categorizing work.  It's a given in IT Service Management.  You'd have a Service Catalog; the Catalog is broken up into sections (the classifications/categories), and eventually the customer finds the "thing" they need to request.  This is exactly how Maximo's user portal works.  The Attributes, in this case, are the "questions" you'd want to ask the customer.  For example (borrowing from a college campus example), suppose a student reports a light bulb burned out in his room.  We could ask, "which one?" so as to figure out if it's a light in the closet, the vanity, the bathroom, etc., which might make a difference in which kind of bulb is needed (e.g. a screw-in base A-shape vs. a linear tube), and might save a technician a few minutes of elevator rides or stairclimbing by knowing ahead of time which bulb to take.  (I use this example on purpose because Danny and I went to the same college; I'm sure he'll appreciate this one :-)

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Travis Herron
Pensacola Christian College
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-09-2024 08:58
From: Alex Walter
Subject: Wanting to understand benefits of attributes on classifications

Danny,

Asset specifications allow users to track information about an asset that is only applicable to a certain class of equipment. Rather than adding a column to the ASSET table called HORSEPOWER, which will be not applicable for many different types of assets, you can associate the HORSEPOWER attribute to a MOTOR classification and tag assets with that MOTOR classification. That will keep the ASSET table in a much more manageable state long-term.

The attributes themselves can be populated on the Specifications tab in the Assets application. It's a little cumbersome to search for assets that have given attribute values, but it can be done. You can click on the arrow next to the Advanced Search (in Maximo 76x) or the vertical ellipsis (in MAS 8) and choose Attribute Search.

Hope this helps, 

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Alex Walter
A3J Group, LLC
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Hi Danny,

The attributes are great in many cases:

• Assets: to collect name plate information based on the asset class
• Work Orders: to collect special information that refer to the work classification, or even create an inspection check list (if you don't use inspection forms yet)
• SR: stablish a questionary to define the issue based on the SR classification.

In a nutshell you can add as many custom fields that you don't necessarily want to add as an actual field in the database. Many of us dismiss this powerful data intake just because is a bit complicated to understand but in reality is one of the greatest features available.

You can create them as you go, Maximo will ask you if you want to save the new entry, there is also the the actual list of attributes under the more action menu on the classifications application where you can create a list off all the attributes you will need and then call them as required. My recommendation is to crate a file with your classifications and what attribute you will need on each , then make sure you standardized them so you can reuse them in multiple classifications.

Quick example:

Asset Classification : Pump

Attributes: RPM, Weight, GPM, Case Material

Asset Classification: Motor

Attributes: RPM, Weight, AMP, Frame, HP

Another great advantage is that you then can do a Attribute search from Asset application and find all the pumps with a specific case material or all the motors with specific HP

There is so much more to the attributes, like specifying the unit of measure, creating a dropdown with predetermine values, validations to make sure they get populate upon saving and more, all these to enable great data quality.

I hope this help :)

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erika mazza
Region of Durham
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Hi Danny,

You can find examples of this use at https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/mfsp/7.6.3?topic=classifications-attributes

Cheers

JB

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John Bauer
Mercury
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Danny, for a visual example, take a look at Searching & Querying in Maximo Video and skip to about 32:45 for an example

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Christopher Winston
Projetech Inc.
IBM Champion 2024
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Hi Danny, 

The attributes are also great in helping with autonaming the assets which will maintain consistency in asset description. When you classify an asset and the attributes are entered you can determine which of those the asset description can be generated off of. 

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Carl Savadge
Princeton University
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-10-2024 08:29
From: Christopher Winston
Subject: Wanting to understand benefits of attributes on classifications

Danny, for a visual example, take a look at Searching & Querying in Maximo Video and skip to about 32:45 for an example

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Christopher Winston
Projetech Inc.
IBM Champion 2024
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Also, in earlier versions of Maximo, specifications were only available on locations, assets and items. Now they are not everywhere, but they are a great deal more available in other applications, including persons, line level transactions, work orders and more. Here is an example using service requests and how they can appear and be set up for the SR Work Center in this video

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Christopher Winston
Projetech Inc.
IBM Champion 2024
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Maximo keeps a history for specification attributes, so you can tell who changed one and what the previous value was (I see this in the Assets app, but not Locations.) Change history tracking on table columns is a whole other ball of worms.

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Robert Goff
Xanterra Travel Collection
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Thank you @Alex Walter, @Travis Herron, @erika mazza, @John Bauer, @Christopher Winston, @Carl Savadge, @Robert Goff for all of the suggestions.  I see its potential and want to begin trying to use it.  Thank you also to @Derek Steele who gave me some good advice on this.  We are starting with HVAC and child classifications, then listing the attributes there for tracking FREON type and amount needed per unit.

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Danny Richardson
Maximo Administrator Manager
Technimark LLC
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