SAP Learning Journey

Introducing Preventive Maintenance (BJ2)

Objectives
After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

After completing this lesson, you will be able to:

  • Introduce preventive maintenance (BJ2)
  • Review process steps for preventive maintenance (BJ2)

Preventive Maintenance Process

Understanding the Preventive Maintenance Process

To keep downtime and maintenance costs to a minimum, the technical systems in a company must be inspected and maintained regularly. Therefore, you must understand the process of preventive maintenance.

Preventive maintenance can be categorized as follows:

Time Based

In time-based preventive maintenance, maintenance tasks are triggered after a specific time period has elapsed: for example, every six months.

Performance Based
In performance-based preventive maintenance, maintenance tasks are triggered when a specific amount of performance (counter reading) is reached: for example, after every 10,000 km.
Condition Based
In condition-based preventive maintenance, maintenance tasks are triggered when a condition is outside a specified value range: for example, a thread depth below 15 mm, or a temperature higher than 85°C.

The maintenance plan is composed of scheduling data and maintenance items, and is used to automatically generate maintenance call objects such as maintenance order and notification.

Maintenance Plans

A maintenance plan is used to automatically generate a call object for a particular date. The maintenance plan is composed of scheduling data and maintenance items, and is used for automatically generating maintenance call objects such as order, notification, and service entry sheet. A task list can be assigned to a maintenance item. The system calculates the times when the maintenance plan is scheduled.

A maintenance plan can consist of several maintenance items. In this case, an order (or notification or service entry sheet) is created for each maintenance item.

A maintenance plan may be either a time-based or performance-based single cycle plan, strategy plan, or multiple counter plan.

Single cycle plans are used to manage the maintenance of machines and operational systems, which are always inspected and/or maintained in the same way at fixed intervals. In this plan, the same activity is executed at regular intervals. Some examples of single cycle plans are:

  • Annual inspection of fire extinguishers.

  • Technical inspection every two years.

  • Inspection of boilers every six years, as per pressure vessel regulations. There is no selection of task list operations.

In the case of a single cycle plan, the complete task list is always due.

Strategy plans are used when activities that are due at different intervals are graded. For example, the strategy plan can be used to manage maintenance activities of a car in the following ways:

  • Check fan belt every 12 months

  • Change fan belt every 24 months

  • Check air filter every 6 months

  • Change air filter every 12 months

You assign a maintenance strategy to a strategy-based maintenance plan. Only a task list that has the same maintenance strategy as the maintenance plan can be assigned to a strategy-based maintenance plan.

Maintenance Strategy and Maintenance Packages

The maintenance strategy consists of several maintenance packages and represents the scheduling rule for preventive maintenance. You can assign maintenance strategies to task lists. The scheduling indicator determines the scheduling type.

You can assign maintenance packages to a maintenance strategy. The packages for a strategy can have different cycle units, such as month or year, but they must always have the same dimension, such as time.

Maintenance packages define the frequency at which specific operations are executed. You can assign maintenance packages to the operations in a task list. Maintenance packages are a part of a maintenance strategy.

Maintenance Task Lists

All inspection and maintenance tasks that must be performed at regular intervals are defined in maintenance task lists.

Maintenance task lists describe a series of individual maintenance activities. You can use the task lists to standardize recurring activities, plan them more effectively, and save time when we create maintenance orders and maintenance plans. Task lists can be object-dependent (such as equipment plans and plans for a functional location) and refer to only one technical object.

Object-independent task lists, such as general maintenance task lists, can be used for multiple objects of the same type. Maintenance task lists can be used for routine and planned maintenance tasks.

Task lists also specify the spare parts and tools that are required for operations, and the time needed to do the work.

If you have created maintenance task lists, you can create maintenance orders and maintenance plans with minimal effort by referencing the operations and processes that were created in the maintenance task list.

For example, if you create a maintenance order for a task for which all the individual operations are already described in a maintenance task list, you only need to specify this task list and the required dates in the maintenance order. You do not need to enter the individual operations, because they are copied from the maintenance task list.

Steps in the Preventive Maintenance Process

The preventive maintenance process involves the planning and execution of recurring inspection and maintenance activities. The steps in the preventive maintenance process typically are:

  1. The task list defines either object-dependent or object-independent process steps to be performed.
  2. The maintenance plan is created for the object and automatically generates orders, notifications, and service entry sheets, in accordance with specific guidelines.
  3. Scheduling is responsible for the regular call-up of orders, notifications, and service entry sheets, as well as the recalculation of planned dates.
  4. The maintenance order is automatically generated by scheduling the maintenance plan. It is entered in the order list, from where it is processed like other orders.
  5. The technical completion marks the order and the corresponding planned date in the maintenance plan as finished. The date of the technical completion is used in the maintenance plan for calculating the next planned date.

Classifying Maintenance Plans

This business function allows you to classify maintenance plans. The grouping of maintenance plans with identical attributes into classes enables you, for example, to search more effectively for maintenance plans with certain characteristic values.

As a maintenance planner, you can use the default class type 80 to specify the classification of maintenance plans in the three apps Manage Characteristics, Manage Classes, and Manage Class Assignments. In this class type you can create your own classes and structure them in a hierarchy.

After you have created classes and characteristics, assign one or more classes to each of your maintenance plans. In the new Classification area with the two subareas Classes and Characteristic Values, you can call up the class hierarchy and assign classes or delete class assignments. Furthermore, the characteristics assigned to the classes are listed. Depending on your settings in the classification system, you can copy the characteristic values that are valid for the maintenance plan from the input help or enter them manually. If you have classified maintenance plans, you can use classes, characteristics, and characteristic values as search criteria in the maintenance plan and maintenance item list.

Effects on Existing Data

In the apps for creating and changing maintenance plans, you can use the new Classification section with the two subsections Classes and Characteristic Values.

In the Maintenance Plan and Maintenance Item list app, the new Classification section is available under Define New Query and Change Query. If you enter classification data here, the system assembles maintenance plans of a given class with selected characteristic values in the results list.

Preventive Maintenance (BJ2)

Overview – Preventive Maintenance (BJ2)

The Preventive Maintenance (BJ2) scope item describes the processes you perform to prevent system breakdowns or breakdowns of other objects that have high repair costs. Such breakdowns result in greater costs due to production downtime.

Preventive maintenance supports processes for planning on the scope and time of maintenance work for inspections, maintenance, and repairs. The quality of manufactured products is substantially affected by the operational condition of the production plant. There is a requirement for quality assurance to be more cost effective to maintain objects regularly and in return avoid a more expensive breakdown.

Preventive Maintenance can be used to:

  • Store activities to be performed, in the form of maintenance task lists.

  • Define the extent of preventive maintenance and inspection work and when it should be performed at pieces of equipment or functional locations.

  • Define the frequency of recurring maintenance and service tasks, as follows:

    • Time-based or counter-based

    • Time-based and counter-based

    • Performance-based

  • Define the cost-based assignment of preventive maintenance and inspection activities from the start.

  • Make a cost preview of preventive maintenance and inspection work to be performed in the future.

You determine the data required for preventive maintenance by using previous data supplied by the system. In addition to internal company aspects for planned maintenance, you should consider external factors due to an increasing number of conditions set by legislative bodies demanding more stringent requirements on planned monitoring and maintenance of objects.

Benefits

The Preventive Maintenance process helps you to:

  • Improve planning by changing from reactive to proactive maintenance.

  • Ensure high availability of equipment and therefore better performance and utilization of assets.

  • Reduce total maintenance costs by reducing breakdowns.

  • Support external requirements, such as manufacturer recommendations and legal and environmental requirements.

Enhancement: Final Due Date

This feature enables determining a final due date on the maintenance order generated from the maintenance Item based on the priority of a maintenance activity.

The final due date is determined as follows:

  • Assign the maintenance item within the maintenance plan to one of the priorities.
  • The final due date is the sum of the following:
    • The planned date of the call of a scheduled plan's cycle
    • The duration of the final due date.
Note
Please mind that this feature applies to the scope items 4HI and BJ2.

When setting up this process, you must adjust the configuration activity Define Priorities for each Priority Type. Maintain the duration for the final due date and the unit of measure for the final due date.

Let us consider this example:

  1. If the duration for final due date is maintained as 2 D (2 days) for the priority as high
  2. If a single cycle maintenance plan with a cycle length of 1 month with one item is created, and the item is assigned with the priority as high.
  3. If the start date for scheduling of the plan is 01st Nov 2021.

  4. Then, when the first call is released, the final due date for the maintenance order that is created through the first call is as follows:

    Final due date of the maintenance order = 3rd December 2021 (01st Dec 2021 + 2 days)

The duration for final due date is maintained as 2 D (2 days) for the priority as high

Applicable Process Steps, Business Roles, and Fiori Apps

The following tables lists the SAP Fiori apps that are used business roles in the Preventive Maintenance (BJ2) process steps:

Preventive Maintenance: Time-Based Single Cycle Plans

Process StepBusiness RoleTransaction/ Fiori App
Create General Task List

Using task lists, you can centrally define and manage maintenance tasks for your technical objects. General task lists can also help you to prepare maintenance plans and orders.

A task list group combines one or more task lists according to their logical features. Within a task list group, each task list is identified by a group counter. This enables you, for example, to combine several task lists in one group. Within the group, the system allocates a sequential number (the group counter) to each individual task list.

Prerequisites:

  • Technical objects in the form of functional locations, equipment, and maintenance assemblies.

  • Organizational units such as maintenance planners and work centers.

  • Cost centers defined in the master data of the technical objects.

  • Maintenance spare parts and assemblies in the MM (Materials Management) module.

Maintenance Planner

Create Task List

Create Maintenance Plan

Maintenance plan will have maintenance or inspection activities to be carried out for technical objects.

The frequency or strategy, and scope of the activities are defined in the maintenance plan.

Maintenance Planner

Create Maintenance Plan

Schedule Maintenance Plan

When you schedule your maintenance plan for the first time, you trigger the maintenance cycle. The system uses the scheduling information in the maintenance plan to calculate the maintenance package that is due next.

Maintenance Planner

Schedule Maintenance Plans (F2774)

Preventive Maintenance: Time-Based Strategy Plans

Process StepBusiness RoleTransaction/ Fiori App
Maintain Maintenance Strategies

A maintenance strategy represents a rule for the sequence of planned maintenance and inspection tasks.

A time-based maintenance strategy contains the maintenance packages that define the cycle in which the tasks must be performed: for example, every 10 days or every 3 months. It contains additional scheduling parameters such as shift factor, preliminary and follow-up buffers, and hierarchy. Maintenance strategies are required in strategy plans.

Maintenance Planner

Maintenance Strategies (IP12)

Create General Task List

Using task lists, you can centrally define and manage maintenance tasks for your technical objects. General task lists can also help you to prepare maintenance plans and orders.

A task list group combines one or more task lists according to their logical features. Within a task list group, each task list is identified by a group counter. This enables you, for example, to combine several task lists in one group. Within the group, the system allocates a sequential number (the group counter) to each individual task list.

Prerequisites to cover crucial planning aspects of task lists:

  • Technical objects in the form of functional locations, equipment, and maintenance assemblies.

  • Organizational units such as maintenance planners and work centers.

  • Cost centers defined in the master data of the technical objects.

  • Maintenance spare parts and assemblies in the MM (Materials Management) module.

Maintenance Planner

Create Task List

Create Maintenance Plan

Maintenance plan will have maintenance or inspection activities to be carried out for technical objects.

The frequency or strategy, and scope of the activities are defined in the maintenance plan.

Maintenance Planner

Create Maintenance Plan

Schedule Maintenance Plan

When you schedule your maintenance plan for the first time, you trigger the maintenance cycle. The system uses the scheduling information in the maintenance plan to calculate the maintenance package that is due next.

Maintenance Planner

Schedule Maintenance Plans (F2774)

Preventive Maintenance: Performance-Based Single Cycle Plan

Process StepBusiness RoleTransaction/ Fiori App
Create General Task List

Using task lists, you can centrally define and manage maintenance tasks for your technical objects. General task lists can also help you to prepare maintenance plans and orders.

A task list group combines one or more task lists according to their logical features. Within a task list group, each task list is identified by a group counter. This enables you, for example, to combine several task lists in one group. Within the group, the system allocates a sequential number (the group counter) to each individual task list.

Prerequisites:

  • Technical objects in the form of functional locations, equipment, and maintenance assemblies.

  • Organizational units such as maintenance planners and work centers.

  • Cost centers defined in the master data of the technical objects.

  • Maintenance spare parts and assemblies in the MM (Materials Management) module.

Maintenance Planner

Create Task List

Create Maintenance Plan

Maintenance plan will have maintenance or inspection activities to be carried out for technical objects.

The frequency or strategy, and scope of the activities are defined in the maintenance plan.

Maintenance Planner

Create Maintenance Plan

Create Measurement Document

The Maintenance Planner needs to record the initial reading of the technical objects (equipment / functional location) in the SAP system. At least one measurement document is required for scheduling the plan. Once the scheduling is done, regular readings must also be recorded in the system by the Maintenance Technician. This process can also be automated by making use of systems which get the reading from technical objects and load to SAP system through interfaces.

Maintenance Planner

Create Measurement Document

Schedule Maintenance Plan

When you schedule your maintenance plan for the first time, you trigger the maintenance cycle. The system uses the scheduling information in the maintenance plan to calculate the maintenance package that is due next.

Maintenance Planner

Schedule Maintenance Plans (F2774)

Preventive Maintenance: Performance-Based Strategy Plan

Process StepBusiness RoleTransaction/ Fiori App
Maintain Maintenance Strategies

A maintenance strategy represents a rule for the sequence of planned maintenance and inspection tasks.

A time-based maintenance strategy contains the maintenance packages that define the cycle in which the tasks must be performed: for example, every 10 days or every 3 months. It contains additional scheduling parameters such as shift factor, preliminary and follow-up buffers, and hierarchy. Maintenance strategies are required in strategy plans.

Maintenance Planner

Create Task List

Create General Task List

Using task lists, you can centrally define and manage maintenance tasks for your technical objects. General task lists can also help you to prepare maintenance plans and orders.

A task list group combines one or more task lists according to their logical features. Within a task list group, each task list is identified by a group counter. This enables you, for example, to combine several task lists in one group. Within the group, the system allocates a sequential number (the group counter) to each individual task list.

Prerequisites:

  • Technical objects in the form of functional locations, equipment, and maintenance assemblies.

  • Organizational units such as maintenance planners and work centers.

  • Cost centers defined in the master data of the technical objects.

  • Maintenance spare parts and assemblies in the MM (Materials Management) module.

Maintenance Planner

Create Maintenance Plan

Create Maintenance Plan

Maintenance plan will have maintenance or inspection activities to be carried out for technical objects.

The frequency or strategy, and scope of the activities are defined in the maintenance plan.

Maintenance Planner

Create Maintenance Plan

Create Measurement Document

The Maintenance Planner needs to record initial reading of the technical objects (equipment / functional location) in the SAP system. At least one measurement document is required for scheduling the plan. Once the scheduling is done, regular readings must also be recorded in the system by the Maintenance Technician. This process can also be automated by making use of systems which get the reading from technical objects and load to SAP system through interfaces.

Maintenance Planner

Create Measurement Document

Schedule Maintenance Plan

When you schedule your maintenance plan for the first time, you trigger the maintenance cycle. The system uses the scheduling information in the maintenance plan to calculate the maintenance package that is due next.

Maintenance Planner

Schedule Maintenance Plans (F2774)

Preventive Maintenance: Multiple Counter Plan

Process StepBusiness RoleTransaction/ Fiori App
Create General Task List

Using task lists, you can centrally define and manage maintenance tasks for your technical objects. General task lists can also help you to prepare maintenance plans and orders.

A task list group combines one or more task lists according to their logical features. Within a task list group, each task list is identified by a group counter. This enables you, for example, to combine several task lists in one group. Within the group, the system allocates a sequential number (the group counter) to each individual task list.

Prerequisites:

  • Technical objects in the form of functional locations, equipment, and maintenance assemblies.

  • Organizational units such as maintenance planners and work centers.

  • Cost centers defined in the master data of the technical objects.

  • Maintenance spare parts and assemblies in the MM (Materials Management) module.

Maintenance Planner

Create Task List

Create Maintenance Plan

Maintenance plan will have maintenance or inspection activities to be carried out for technical objects.

The frequency or strategy, and scope of the activities are defined in the maintenance plan.

Maintenance Planner

Create Maintenance Plan

Create Measurement Document

The Maintenance Planner needs to record initial reading of the technical objects (equipment / functional location) in the SAP system. At least one measurement document is required for scheduling the plan. Once the scheduling is done, regular readings must also be recorded in the system by the Maintenance Technician. This process can also be automated by making use of systems which get the reading from technical objects and load to SAP system through interfaces.

Maintenance Planner

Create Measurement Document

Schedule Maintenance Plan

When you schedule your maintenance plan for the first time, you trigger the maintenance cycle. The system uses the scheduling information in the maintenance plan to calculate the maintenance package that is due next.

Maintenance Planner

Schedule Maintenance Plans (F2774)

Preventive Maintenance: Order Processing

Process StepBusiness RoleTransaction/ Fiori App
Release Preventive Maintenance Order and Print to Job List

The maintenance order is used to collect all costs for a maintenance task and to debit the cost center that incurred the costs by using the settlement functions in the CO module (Controlling).

Hint Before or after you release the maintenance order, you can use the Schedule Material Availability Check with business role Maintenance Planner to run a material ATP check for daily check. If parts are missing, the maintenance order will show system status MSPT Material shortage when you check the maintenance order.

Maintenance Planner

Manage Orders and Notifications in Information Center (W0019)

Print Job Card

After the maintenance order is released, the maintenance technician may print the job card. The job card contains maintenance order details, such as operations, time ticket, completion confirmation slip, and object list.

Maintenance Technician

Display Job List (W0016)

Confirm Preventive Maintenance Order

After finishing the preventive maintenance, we have to confirm the order to record the real work time and the spare parts consumption. The data can be used for follow-up cost evaluation.

Maintenance Technician

Confirm Jobs (W0020)

Create Follow-On Order

You can use this function to create maintenance orders as follow-on orders for an order or order operation. When you create a follow-on order, you create a relationship to the reference order or operation. You can display this relationship in the document flow.

You can create follow-on orders directly from Fiori tile or when you change or display an order.

You can display the relationship between the preceding order and the follow-on order in a hierarchical structure using the document flow.

Maintenance Planner

Manage Orders and Notifications in Information Center (W0019)

Show Costs on Preventive Maintenance order

The planned and actual costs are displayed here.

Maintenance Planner

Manage Orders and Notifications in Information Center (W0019)

Technically Complete Preventive Maintenance Order

If an order is executed, it must be completed in the system to be dealt with. In the Plant Maintenance module, there are two types of completion, technical completion and business completion.

Technical completion shows that an order was technically successful (or can be seen as technically completed by Plant Maintenance).

Maintenance Planner

Manage Orders and Notifications in Information Center (W0019)

Review Document Flow of Preventive Maintenance Order

You can display the document flow of the order in a hierarchical list. You can then select the order in the document flow and choose Follow-On Orders. The system displays the relationship between the preceding order and the follow-on order. This list displays no more than one level above and one level below the selected order. In other words, only the orders directly preceding and directly following the order that you selected are displayed.

If you have created follow-on orders for more than one order operation, the system displays all the follow-on orders that have been created for the selected order or its operations.

Maintenance Planner

Display Maintenance Order (MaintenanceOrder-display)

Condition Based Monitoring

Automatic Notification creation based on the measurement reading entered in the measuring document and the predefined conditions defined in the measuring point are met, for Asset Management in SAP S/4HANA Cloud, public edition 2202.

Note
Condition Based Monitoring - Automated Maintenance Notification is not exclusively available for Scope Item Preventive Maintenance (BJ2).

Key Benefits

  • Auto generation of notification based on exceeding threshold (details to be auto populated)
  • 5 levels of control (very high, high, normal, low and very low) through tolerance definition
  • Standard implementation behind sample class in Cloud BAdI

Consider the prerequisites when setting up the Condition Based Monitoring-Automated Maintenance Notification creation:

1. Configure Measuring Point Category

2. Set flag Create Notification at the Measuring Point Category

3. Set flag Enable Condition at the Measuring Point

4. Set flag Active at the Measuring Point Individual Condition

5. Configure the predefined conditions e.g. MEASUREMENT READING > UPPER LIMIT

6. Object Type: You can specify the Notification type that should be created when the predefined conditions are met

7. Priority: You can specify the Priority that should be updated in Notification, which is created when the predefined conditions are met

8. You can specify the Long Text that should be updated in Notification, which is created when the predefined conditions are met

9. Description: You can specify the Description that should be updated in Notification, which is created when the predefined conditions are met. If the description is not filled in condition table, SAP will use the default description in the Notification.

10. Measurement Tolerance: You can specify the Upper and Lower measurement tolerance which will be checked against the related conditions to check if the threshold is reached. Note that the Limit units can be specified the characteristic unit or in %

11. Measurement Tolerance: You can specify the Upper and Lower measurement tolerance which will be checked against the related conditions to check if the threshold is reached. Note that the Limit units can be specified the characteristic unit or in %

12. The Notification number is linked to the measuring document for tracking. If the corresponding measuring point has one or more conditions active, the check box ‘Conditions are active’ will be checked in the measuring document

Additional notes

  • Condition Based Monitoring feature will not be applicable for Counter based measuring points
  • Condition Based Monitoring will not be applicable if in the measuring point configuration, the value for Online Message Category when Measurement Range Exceeded is set as Error
  • Condition Based Monitoring will be applicable for the Measuring Reading Transfer scenario too, if the receiving measuring point have a valid predefined condition which are met, then the Notification will be created for those transferred measuring documents too

How to Technically Complete a Preventive Maintenance Order (BJ2)

How to Review Maintenance General Task List (BJ2)

How to Create a Maintenance Plan (BJ2)

How to Confirm a Preventive Maintenance Order (BJ2)

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