Closing Service Requests, Work Order Tasks, and Work Orders

This chapter provides an overview of service request and work order close and describes how to:

Run WM_CLOSE for service requests, work order tasks, and work orders.
Run the Cost Summarization process.

Understanding Service Request and Work Order Close

This section gives an overview of closing work orders and discusses:

Service request close.
Work order task close.
Work order close.

Service Request Close

Employees and non-employees can create service requests using a self-service page, or an agent can create a service request for a requester based on the agent's knowledge of an existing problem. Once either a requester or the agent creates a service request:

The agent can send a technician to resolve an easy problem without a work order, such as adding toner to a printer or moving one piece of furniture in an office, or the agent can resolve a problem, such as changing a user's ID.

Once the agent or technician resolves this type of service request, the agent adds a note about the work performed, changes the status to complete, and saves the page, which automatically sends an E-mail informing the requester that the service request is complete and that the request will be closed in N days. The number of days until the service request is closed (N days) is set up in the service request business unit Definition page. The requester can:
- Click the link in the E-mail to access the self-service service request update page and reopen the service request.
- Manually change the status of the service request to closed.
- Allow N days to pass and the system closes the service request automatically.
  
  Note. All service requests with a status of complete are closed automatically whenever the Work Order Close batch process is run on the date the number of close days expires for the service request (the process must be run with the Transaction Type field set to All or Service Request). Typically, the Work Order Close process is run once or twice a day depending on volume.
If the agent cannot easily resolve the problem, the agent can create a work order to resolve it. When either the technician or the agent changes the status of the work order to complete:
- A notification is sent to the requester providing a summary of work performed, and the number of days before the service request automatically closes.
- If the requester reopens the service request within the allowable number of days before the close, the agent can close the service request and create a new service request and a new work order.

For example, if the value in the Days to Close field service is 20 for service request business unit SRBU1 and the following service requests are marked complete on the dates in the following table:

Service Request	Completion Date	Service Request automatically closes on:
SR001	01/01/2005	21st January 2005 Note. The requester or agent can manually close this service request on or before this date.
SR002	01/10/2005	30th January 2005 Note. The requester or agent can manually close this service request on or before this date.
SR003	12/31/2004	19th January 2005 Note. The requester or agent can manually close this service request on or before this date.

Once a service request is canceled or closed, the fields in the service request are display only.

Manual and Batch Closing of Work Order Tasks and Work Orders

Once a user changes the status of a work order task to complete, then the user can close the task. To close a work order task:

An authorized user can manually change the status of the task to close, based on the established Maintenance Management user preferences.

This marks the task for closure, so that when you run the Work Order Close process (WM_CLOSE), the system ignores the Close Days (grace period) in the work order business unit or work order type and closes the task.

Note. This setup in User Preferences - Maintenance Management only determines whether a specific user can set the work order task to complete or close. It does not prevent a user from running the batch Work Order Close process. You must set up PeopleTools Security if you want to prevent a user from running the batch Work Order Close process.
The system automatically closes a task after the expiration of the close days (grace period) specified in the work order business unit or the work order type. If there is no activity against the work order task based on the defined close days then the task is subject to closing.

For example, if the close days interval is 10 and the completion date of the task is July 1, 2005, then the work order close process automatically closes the task after ten days.
The user runs the Work Order Close process (WM_CLOSE) for the work order, which closes all tasks associated with the work order as long as they have a status of complete.

In this case, the Work Order Close process (WM_CLOSE) ignores the close days (grace period) specified in the work order business unit or the work order type.

When you manually change the status of a work order task, which marks the task for closure, then you can no longer add any costs to the work order task in feeder systems such as Purchasing, Payables, and Inventory.

For example, you can no longer create a purchase order from the work order task or create a purchase order directly from Purchasing and associate it with a work order task once the work order task is closed. However, if you created existing purchase orders or requisitions before changing the status of the task to complete and Purchasing has not processed them, then these purchase orders and requisitions can continue to process the costs. This remains true for any work order task transactions that reside in any of the subsystems associated with Maintenance Management.

Work Order Close Batch Process

When you run the Work Order batch process:

The process triggers the cost summarization process, which summarizes the actual costs for labor, materials, for the work order and each work order task based on the work order task and displays them in the Cost page of the work order.

See Staging Time Entries.
The process updates the asset maintenance costs that display in the Asset Management Maintenance History.
The process applies project activity asset integration rules for work order managed projects, which include:
- Evaluation of the capitalization limit specified for each work order task to determine if the dollar amount is subject to capitalization.
- Updates the asset integration rules and retirement rules in Project Costing, including filters, for asset capitalization and retirement.
The process applies chargeback rules for tasks associated with work order managed projects, which include the:
- Validation of the project activity owning organization information is entered in the work order task if the work order tasks are marked for chargeback.
- Update of the distribution status for the work order task rows in Project Costing to enable these rules to be available for chargeback accounting generation if applicable.
  
  You must close a work order task to generate chargeback accounting entries.

Note. If an asset is not associated with a work order task, then the process does not update Asset Management.

You can only close a work order if the status of each the work order tasks associated with the work order is closed or canceled. If any work order tasks are incomplete, the process does not close the work order. If there are any technicians with pending time sheets assigned to a work order task, the process does not close the work order task. Work order tasks that are associated with an asset require a defined maintenance type.

Note. Standing work orders are an exception to this rule. You select a check box in the Miscellaneous page of the work order to identify that the work order is a standing work order.

See Using the Work Order - Miscellaneous Page.

Capitalization Processing for Work Order Tasks

If a work order task is associated with a work order managed project, the Work Order Close process (WM_CLOSE) verifies that an asset is associated with the work order task and that the task is set up for asset capitalization in the Maintenance Management Task Accounting page. If the currency specified for the asset in Asset Management is different that the currency specified in the work order business unit, the Work Order Close (WM_CLOSE) converts the cost from the currency specified in Maintenance Management to the cost for currency specified in the Asset Management business unit. The process checks the capitalization limit on the work order task. Based on the capitalization limits, if the task is eligible for capitalization, then the process selects (activates) the Capitalization Switch for the Project Costing project activity that is associated with the work order task and also updates the Filter ID with the capitalization filter selected for the work order task in the Maintenance Management Task Accounting page. However, the Work Order Close process (WM_CLOSE) does not run the Capitalization process. The Capitalization process is run separately by Project Costing.

Important! Project Costing only capitalizes financial assets.

See Managing Assets.

Chargeback Processing for Work Order Tasks (WO Managed only)

During the execution of a work order task that is associated with a work order managed project, each of the subsystems sends the transaction costs to the PROJ_RESOURCE table. When the Project Costing Pricing engine prices a work order task transaction, the Pricing engine updates the GL_DISTRIB_STATUS in the PROJ_RESOURCE table to hold, which prevents the Project Costing Project Accounting engine from selecting these rows. When the Work Order Close (WM_CLOSE) process runs for a work order task, the process updates the GL_DISTRIB_STATUS to costed. The accounting engine can then pick up the costed rows to generate chargeback accounting entries to post in the General Ledger. The costs are charged back to the organization indicated in the ChartField distribution row in Maintenance Management.

See Pricing Transactions Associated with a Work Order.

Retirement Processing for Work Order Tasks

When the Work Order Close process (WM_CLOSE) closes a work order task associated with a work order managed project that involves the retirement of the asset, then the process initiates the retirement cost flow. The Enable Integration check box is selected, the applicable Filter ID is selected, and Retirement is selected as the Integration Type in Project Costing for the project activity associated with the work order task.

See Retiring Assets.

Running WM_CLOSE for Service Requests, Work Order Tasks, and Work Orders

To close work orders and work order tasks use the Close Work Order (WM_CLOSE_REQUEST) component.

This section describes how to close work orders, work order tasks, and service requests.

Pages Used to Run the Close Process for Service Requests, Work Order Tasks, and Work Orders

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Close Work Order	WM_CLOSE_RQST	Maintenance Management, Work Order Management, Work Order Processing, Close Work Order	Close service requests, work order tasks, or work orders.

Closing Work Orders, Work Order Tasks, and Service Requests

Access the Close Work Order page.

Transaction Type

Select:

All (Work Order and Request)

Select this value and the value All displays in the Processing Option field, which enables you to close all eligible service requests, work order tasks, and work orders.

Service Request

Select this value and the value All displays in the Processing Option field, which enables you to close all eligible service requests.

Work Order

Select this value and select one of the Processing Options listed below to close all work orders that are eligible to close that fall within the selected processing option value.

Processing Options

Select Work Order as the transaction type and then select:

All to close all eligible work orders in the system.

Bus. Unit (business unit) to display the Close Parameters group box.

You can add and select one or more business units for which you want to close eligible work orders.

Group to display the Close Parameters group box.

You can add and select one or more business units and associate each business unit with a service group for which you want to close eligible work orders.

Shop to display the Close Parameters group box.

You can add and select one or more business units and associate each business unit with a shop for which you want to close eligible work orders.

Task to display the Close Parameters group box.

You can add and select one or more business units and associate each business unit with a work order ID and a task number that you want to close.

WO Type (work order type) to display the Close Parameters group box.

You can add and select one or more business units and associate each business unit with a work order type for which you want to close eligible work orders.

Work Order to display the Close Parameters group box.

You can add and select one or more business units and associate each business unit with a work order ID that you want to close.

Run

Click this button to run the Work Order Close process (WM_CLOSE). You can click the Process Monitor button to monitor the processing and click the Report Options button to access and manage any reports associated with the process.

Running the Cost Summarization Process

To run the Cost Summarization process use the Cost Summarization (WM_SUMCOST_RUN) component.

This section presents an overview and describes how to:

Summarize costs.
View the results of the Cost Summarization process in the work order.

Understanding Cost Summarization

The Cost Summarization process in Maintenance Management enables you to see up-to-date actual costs whenever you need to in the Cost page of the work order. This process uses the Cost Collection application engine in Project Costing to gather the labor, Inventory, and Purchasing actual costs (from Payables) and updates the work order's Cost page. The costs for a work order are collected for 30 days after the work order is closed. The work order header, task and all resource rows are updated with the task information. The cost summarization process also performs any currency conversions.

The only exception to this is the actual tool costs. When the tool usage is entered in the Technician Workbench for each task and the cost is calculated based on the tool cost rates set up in the shop or in Asset Management, then the actual costs are immediately updated in the work order's Cost page when the Technician Workbench page is saved.

Pages Used to Run the Cost Summarization Process

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Cost Summarization	WM_SUMCOST_RUN	Maintenance Management, Work Order Management, Work Order Processing, Cost Summarization	Run the Cost Summarization process (WM_SUMMCOST) to update total actual costs generated in Project Costing in the work order's Cost page.
Work Order - Cost	WM_WO_COST	Maintenance Management, Work Order Management, Work Order. Click the Cost tab.	Review the total estimated, scheduled, and actual costs in a work order.

Summarizing Costs

Access the Cost Summarization page.

Important! The Cost Summarization process only updates the actual costs for the work order. The estimated costs are based on the task resource requirements, and the scheduled costs are based on the scheduled resources.

Options

Select one of these options:

All, which summarizes costs for all work orders and all shops associated with all business units.
Business Unit, which enables the Business Unit field where you can select the work order business unit associated with the work orders for which you want to summarize costs.
Shop, which enables the Shop field where you can select the shop associated with the work order for which you want to summarize the costs.
Work Order,which enables the Work Order ID field, where you can select the specific work order for which you want to summarize the costs.

Run

Click this button to run the WM_SUMMCOST process.

Viewing the Results of the Cost Summarization Process in the Work Order

Access the Work Order - Cost page.

Work Order Header Totals

Estimated Total Costs	Displays this figure if you calculated estimated costs for each resource row for each task in the Requirements page. This is updated when you save the work order requirements.
Scheduled Totals	Displays this figure if you calculated the scheduled costs for each resource row for each task in the Schedules page. This page is updated when you save the work order schedules.
Actual Total	Displays this figure when you enter the time, material, and tool usage amounts in the Technician Workbench. When you run the Cost Summarization process, the total costs are collected in Project Costing and displayed in these fields. Total tool costs are the exception. Total actual tool costs are updated when you enter the actual usage in the Technician Workbench, because they do not load to the Project Costing PROJ_RESOURCE table.

Task Totals and Actuals

This grid displays the total estimated and scheduled costs for each work order task, when you enter the resources lines and save the requirements for estimated costs and the schedules for scheduled costs. The total actual costs for each task are derived from Project Costing when you run the Cost Summarization process and the variance is calculated. Again the exception is the total actual tool costs value for the task, which is updated when you enter the actual usage in the Technician Workbench. The system calculates a variance between the estimated costs and the actual costs.

Labor Actuals

This grid displays the total actual labor costs for each employee assigned to a work order task line. These costs display based on running the Costs Summarization process. The Cost Summarization process is automatically run when a work order is closed.