Initiation and Screening

During the Initiation phase, you can create maintenance requests for a technical object such as an equipment or a functional location using the Create Maintenance Request app. You can enter all necessary details to help in screening, processing, planning, and execution of the request. You can also include attachments and links. The app allows you to view open requests of a technical object. Until a maintenance request is submitted, the latest draft is available.

Each maintenance request can be prioritized using one of the two options. You can select a priority from the list or assess priority. The priority assessment is done based on a combination of consequence categories, consequences, and likelihoods. Priorities can be assessed only if prioritization profiles are maintained for a combination of maintenance plant and notification type.

When you submit a maintenance request, the new request is available in My Maintenance Requests app. Only your requests are displayed. The requests are grouped and displayed based on their processing statuses. You can view the requests that you submitted, the requests that have been sent to you because information was insufficient, the requests that were rejected, and the requests that have been completed. If you have a request that requires additional information, edit the request and resubmit it for screening. From this app, you can also navigate to Create Maintenance Request app to create a new request.

When you enter details to create a maintenance request and exit the app without submitting the details, the maintenance request is saved as a draft.

As of SAP S/4HANA 2023 it is possible to create several drafts by saving the existing draft and creating an new one. The My Drafts button allows you to view all your drafts in the My Maintenance Requests app.

As of SAP S/4HANA 2023 you can upload a document, add a link or assign an existing document to the maintenance request. Two predefined document types are available – YP1 and YP2. If you configure a document type in the configuration activity Define DMS Document Types, the document type that you define will be available for selection in the dropdown list.

The submitted maintenance request moves to the Screening phase. Here, maintenance requests are screened and accepted.

As a supervisor, you can review all the open maintenance requests in the Screen Maintenance Requests app. If information is insufficient, you can send the request back to the initiator. When the initiator provides information and resubmits the request, you can review the request again.

In the home screen of the app, the maintenance requests are grouped according to their statuses (Open, Accepted, Rejected, Action Required, and Completed). By default, open requests are displayed.

Button (and status) Action Required must be activated separately (see lesson Customizing).

A Rejected request will be Completed automatically.

Notification processing context allows you to create maintenance requests that do not have to follow all the nine steps of the maintenance process. Based on the notification processing context, the maintenance request can receive exception and skip few steps of the maintenance process.

When an asset requires immediate maintenance or urgent repair work, you can create a maintenance request for emergency work. This request will get accepted without the need for screening. This reduces the time it takes for a maintenance request to be accepted for processing and prevents delay in the maintenance work. This also saves the situation from greater damage.

In a minor work, you create a maintenance request with Minor Work as the notification processing context. The minor work maintenance request will be accepted as soon as you submit it. You can record malfunction details and complete the maintenance request.

For the performing work center in the order operation, it is highly recommended to use a work center with HR assignment. In this context, every person within the HR organizational unit is represented by a personel number which is linked to a business partner and an SAP user.