Q1: How do you distinguish, in a simple manner,
between Equipment that is being charged and not charged for service?
A1: Define different equipment categories. Standard equipment reference
categories for 'Internal Machines' and 'Customer Equipment' exist.
Q2: How do you distinguish between company and
customer owned equipment? Equipment on land owned by the company and land leased
by the company?
A2: Same as Q1. Explore combinations of equip. category and equipment types
to achieve the design objective.
Q3: How do you define equipment/material
loaned/leased to a customer?
A3: Read documentation on 'Structuring Technical Systems' in 'Plant
Maintenance / Service management' modules. You need to define sales area (sales
org/dist channel/division) for an equipment with equipment category being one
for which the equipment reference category is 'Customer Equipment'.
Q4: How can we block service to a customer? It has
to be done through the FL, since most of the Equipment belongs to the company
and is loaned to the customer.
A4: Deactivate the FL. This allows no further creation of transaction data
(service orders, etc.). However, the existing
orders can be processed and closed. The deactivation can be reversed at a later
date.
Q5: Where is a Service Contract assigned to a piece
of equipment?
A5: Service contract is assigned to a material. Material is assigned to the
equipment in the equipment master. This functionality is not intended for
managing equipment bought from vendors (where we are getting service rather than
providing service).
Q6: Is purchasing information (Vendor, date of
purchase, etc.) copied from MM to the equipment when it is being created?
A6: Not in the standard system. But it can be done with ABAP batch jobs.
Q7: When you maintain an assembly in a piece of
equipment, is it possible to get maintenance history of the assembly? Do you
have to create it as a piece of equipment?
A7: As maintenance orders are created for FL/equipment only, maintenance
history can only be tracked at that level, not at assembly level. Assemblies
are mere structuring devices to have spare parts linked to an equipment in a
structured manner. However, in PM orders, you can mention the assembly along
with the FL/Eq. Depending on your reporting needs, an
ABAPer could use the 'PM Assembly' field in PM orders.
Q8: What is the use of the field "Standing order"?
What kind of order is it?
A8: Standing orders are used to carry out on-going maintenance jobs and
settle them at month end rather than creating a fresh PM order every time. Using
order hierarchies, you could attach sub-orders to the standing order and settle
them to the standing order to provide you with more precise recording of maint
costs at sub-order level as well as a budget monitoring at the standing order
level.
Q9: Is it possible to accumulate maintenance history
for an assembly (not part of an equipment) for which no equipment record exists?
A9: No. But, if the assembly is included in a FL BOM, then PM orders at the
FL can be used to carry maint at assembly level (no equipment is required).
