A recent reply from @Wayde Prejean had some interesting thoughts about alternatives to tasks:

"...Tasks/Activities actually create records in the Work Order table, we try to limit the number of tasks on Job Plans to keep our work order table more manageable.  We try to limit tasks to steps that require an observation or response, and utilize the Job Plan long description to capture other required information needed to accomplish the work.  We have also added a separate checklist field on Job Plans and Work Orders to publish checklists instead of using numerous activities / tasks."
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I too am worried that tasks will clutter up my WORKORDER table.

• Example: 100,000 inspections per year x 5 tasks = 500,000 WORKORDER records for inspections alone (not considering regular WOs).

Does anyone have any other interesting/creative ideas when it comes to tasks, WO checklists, etc.?

Thank you.
#Maximo
#AssetandFacilitiesManagement

Thanks for this post. There are competing thoughts on the sage of tasks.  My first encounter with usage of the LD for storing procedural info was in 2001.  The client wanted to take all of their process information on how to conduct the work and put it into the LD so they would not have so may steps.  This was not for concern over the number of records in the WORKORDER object. it was to make it simpler on the crews from having to "check the box" on the paperwork.  This was for a Nuclear operation.

If we (as IT workers) worry about the "size of a database" and take steps to reduce the amount of data in the system which we can analyze then we do a disservice to the organization.  We have to remember that modern databases can scale, so having millions of records in an active database is not really an issue.  With proper indexing and a judicious restraint and adding columns to what is admittedly a fairly wide record (200+ attributes out of the box, depending on which, and how many industry solutions you use,) having lots and lots of tasks is really OK.

The larger challenge is balancing the need for analytics and making life difficult on the technicians.  Inspections is a great use case.  Inspections is one of those areas which regulatory requirements ensure the organization keeps records on the fact that a) the inspection was performed and b) the results of the inspection are kept.  But so what!?  if you store the data on paper it is largely useless since it will NEVER get analyzed (thus turning it in to knowledge instead of just ink on paper!😏 ) Therefore if you do NOT use tasks and capture the information you may as well not do the work in your EAM system at all.  It is all pointless otherwise. (maybe a bit dramatic? 😳😁)

The answer is the new Inspections application in Maximo Work Center.  The Inspections are a completely new object in the database which are tied to Workorders but do not introduce the hundreds of thousands of work orders.  Further the inspections are designed to allow the user to design the inspection for whatever is needed.  A bridge inspection will not have the same questions as a pipeline inspection for example, since the user will design the questions on the inspection form to meet the specific need.  This information is now available to be analyzed and not just stored on paper.  Plus it keeps it out of the work order table, thus making the database a lot more efficient.

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Bradley K. Downing , MBA
IBM Certified Adv. Deployment Prof. Maximo v7.6.1
IBM
Bakersfield CA
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This seems like it would help:

Tasks: Won't this use many more work order autonumbers?

Answer: Work Order Class was incorporated into Maximo. Each Class of Work Order can have its own autonumber seed and prefix. Tasks are ACTIVITY class work orders and traditional work orders are now WORKORDER class records. This allows different numbering systems for the work orders and the tasks. Your work orders can now be created in sequential order without the appearance of numbers being skipped.

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/work-order-operations-are-now-tasks-overview-and-faq

#AssetandFacilitiesManagement
#Maximo

Thanks Bradley for your input.

I will think it all over.