My organization wants to prevent users from closing WOs for the following reasons:

1. Users accidentally close WO and have no 'window of opportunity' to reverse the mistake.
2. Transactions from integrated systems (i.e. Fuel/Lubricant System) fail to integrate against WOs if the WO is closed.
3. PO integration messages from Financial system (PeopleSoft) fail if any of the PO Lines reference closed WOs.
   • Related costs need to be manually added to work orders, Maximo PRs and POs need to be cancelled, and new PRs and POs need to be set up in the Financial system.

As an alternative, we want to use the technique described here: The Nightmare of Accidentally Closed Work Orders

Does anyone have any experience with that solution? Any tips/gotchas?

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Paraphrased steps:

1. Prevent all users from closing WOs.
2. Use a synonym status of COMP called PRECLOSE.
3. Use an escalation to change PRECLOSE to CLOSE -- if WOs have been PRECLOSED for a set amount of time.
   • This duration represents the 'window of opportunity' to correct or integrate to WOs.
4. If applicable, update reports and saved queries to treat PRECLOSE as CLOSE. (Our Maximo system has only be live for one month, so this should be manageable. We don't have many queries or reports yet.)

#AssetandFacilitiesManagement
#Maximo

We use this method and it seems to work well.

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Robert Goff
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Is there a reason why you would want to add a new status?  We have this setup as well, except that we just use COMP.  To be closed, the work order needs to meet the following criteria:
- Status is COMP
- No open POs referencing it
- No changes for at least 90 days

Basically, I tell my users that they're responsible for getting the work order to COMP status - after that, it will automatically close.  We've had this setup for about 15 years, with minimal problems.


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Shannon Rotz
InComm Solutions
New Westminster BC
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Original Message:
Sent: Mon June 14, 2021 09:29 AM
From: Robert Goff
Subject: Prevent users from closing WOs; use PRECLOSE (COMP) instead

We use this method and it seems to work well.

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Robert Goff
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Thanks @Shannon Rotz and @Biplab Choudhury. That's a very interesting take.

The reason we're considering creating a custom PRECLOSE or WCLOSE status (COMP synonym) is:
Our users want a way to explicitly indicate that a WO is ready to be closed.

• We want it to be obvious to anyone who's looking at the WO.
• And we want it to be obvious to the automatic escalation too.
• We also think we want to be able to easily query for WOs that are ready to be closed (for reporting purposes). A custom status might be the best way to do that.

But not creating a custom status is also an appealing option. I hadn't considered that.
#Maximo
#AssetandFacilitiesManagement

I Agree with Shannon. You do not need a synonym of comp status.
The Synonym Status will be required only if you have a business scenario saying I want some individual to mark the work order as closed before a back ground process closes the work order or any other scenario which needs users to tell if a work order can be closed now.
Otherwise, removing user access to CLOSE status should work for your scenario.

Almost all the project I have worked on use the similar approach where Maximo closes the  WO or SR after certain period of time rather than users closing the work order.

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Biplab Choudhury
Maximo Consultant
Tata Consultancy Services
Melbourne
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Its a method we use too - it is be driven by business process.  If your process doesn't require this step, don't add a status.

We will COMP a work order to show it is physically completed in the field - labor can still be added and failure reporting updated if necessary.
The next status is WCLOSE - this indicates that the WO is technically closed, i.e. it has been reviewed and all follow up work etc. has been identified, and no updates are required.
After 90 days then the status is moved to CLOSE by an escalation.

​

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Brian Williams
Maximo System Administrator
Ineos FPS
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Folks,

Brian and Biblap hit the nail on the head.  The complexity of your business process drives this decision.  Shannon's team (and likely process) does not require it.  Other team's and processes' do.  So simple solution: add the synonym if you want to more finely control a more complex process, then limit access to synonyms (e.g. Security Group Data Restrictions) to prevent users from doing undesirable things. Finally, create a Work Flow process in Maximo to automate what pieces to the process you can.

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Bradley K. Downing , MBA
IBM Certified Adv. Deployment Prof. Maximo v7.6.1
IBM
Bakersfield CA
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Original Message:
Sent: Tue June 15, 2021 10:20 AM
From: Brian Williams
Subject: Prevent users from closing WOs; use PRECLOSE (COMP) instead

Its a method we use too - it is be driven by business process.  If your process doesn't require this step, don't add a status.

We will COMP a work order to show it is physically completed in the field - labor can still be added and failure reporting updated if necessary.
The next status is WCLOSE - this indicates that the WO is technically closed, i.e. it has been reviewed and all follow up work etc. has been identified, and no updates are required.
After 90 days then the status is moved to CLOSE by an escalation.

​

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Brian Williams
Maximo System Administrator
Ineos FPS
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