Job Initiation
Most work is initiated in PM using a notification. A notification defines the work to be performed, lists the specific equipment to be worked on, records information on cause of damage if applicable, and can include a list of tasks to be assigned to one or more individuals. From the notification, a work order may be created. The ihwork orderld further defines the work to be performed and has the functionality to support the planning of resources and tracking of costs. It contains information on the location, scope of the work, job type, and work order status. When a work order is created requiring a GIS design, SAP will trigger a SQL command that will add a record to the GIS Job Management table. This record will contain work order information from SAP, and this initiates the creation of the GIS job. The following workflow diagram illustrates this process.
In addition to the creation of jobs, this interface will support updates to the GIS job management table when changes are made to the job information within SAP.
Job Estimation
SAP PM is different from many of the Work Management systems available today. This module does not have estimating capabilities. This information must be stored and calculated in the GIS and associated with a job. After the work order has been designed in the GIS, GIS will transfer labor and material estimates to SAP PM. Multiple estimates can be sent to SAP for the same job. To accomplish this transfer, GIS will initiate a Remote Function Call (RFC) to SAP PM via a Business Application Programming Interface (BAPI).
The RFC will call a Change Maintenance Order transaction and update with Stock and Exempt Materials, Non-stock material, Contract Special Services, Special Equipment and Labor data. The material availability check will be carried out in SAP, and if the material is partially available or totally unavailable, a message can be sent back to the GIS.
Job Completion
SAP PM stores the electric facility data model in a technical object hierarchy broken into Functional Locations and Equipment. A Functional Location is a way to organize the data for ease of reporting and queries. Equipment is an item of plant associated with a facility within the GIS. The definition of the hierarchy can be unique with each SAP PM implementation. The following diagram illustrates a sample technical object hierarchy.
