Implementing a Recommendation

1. Asset Performance Management (APM): A framework and set of practices designed to optimize the performance of physical assets, focusing on reliability, efficiency, and availability.
2. Recommendation: Suggestions based on assessments (like FMEA, RCM) aimed at improving or maintaining asset performance.
3. Manage Recommendations Tile: A feature within APM where recommendations can be created, monitored, and refined before implementation.
4. Status Levels:
5. Created: Initial state of a new recommendation.
6. In Process: Recommendation is being actively worked on or refined.
7. For Review: Recommendation is ready for evaluation before final approval.
8. Ready for Release: Recommendation has been reviewed and is almost ready for implementation.
9. Released: Recommendation is finalized and ready to be implemented.
10. Implement Recommendations Tile: A tool within APM for executing the final steps required to apply recommendations.
11. Rework Required: A status indicating that a recommendation needs further refinement or changes before it can be implemented.
12. Technical Object: Physical components or assets within a system that recommendations apply to.
13. Assignments Needed to Implement: Specific actions or tasks required to effectively implement a recommendation, which vary based on the type and subtype of the recommendation.
14. Proactive Recommendations: Suggestions aimed at preventing future asset failures, categorized into subtypes such as condition, performance, and calendar.
15. Reactive Recommendations: Suggestions focused on responding to and correcting asset failures after they occur.
16. Improvement Recommendations: Advice aimed at enhancing the overall performance or efficiency of an asset, not directly tied to specific failure events.
17. Condition Subtype: A category of proactive recommendations that require a scheduled rule for implementation, focusing on the current state of an asset.
18. Performance Subtype: A category of proactive recommendations that relate to the asset's performance metrics, requiring specific indicators and maintenance plans.
19. Maintenance Plan: A scheduled plan for conducting maintenance activities on technical objects to ensure their optimal performance and reliability.
20. Indicator: Metrics or measures used to monitor the condition or performance of technical objects within APM.

In this lesson, Jessica will learn how to critically apply and manage the process of implementing the recommendations within SAP Asset Performance Management systems.

Recommendations are a key part of APM as they allow for suggestions as to how to appropriately handle asset failure. Recommendations can be created manually via the Manage Recommendations tile or can be created directly from Strategy Assessments, RCM Assessments, and FMEA Assessments. Once these recommendations are created, they can be further refined and given additional information regarding them until they eventually are sent over for implementation. When using the Implement Recommendations tile, users can either send the recommendation back to the Manage Recommendations tile to be further refined or they can be given the appropriate assignments, if any at all, before being fully implemented.

Recommendations must be set to the status "Released" before they can be seen in the Implement Recommendations tile. Assuming you already have a recommendation created that you would like to have set to the Released status and is not already at said status, navigate to the Manage Recommendations tile and select the recommendation to be released from the list page.

Video Summary

Learn how to implement recommendations in SAP Asset Performance Management. This video covers the process of implementing performance and condition recommendations.

The Manage Recommendations feature in APM allows for multiple different recommendation statuses to choose from. From the APM help documentation, here is an image detailing the different statuses a recommendation can fall under.

In a real world scenario, these recommendations would be monitored and altered before heading over for implementation. The purpose of just moving a recommendation to be able to be implemented, the status of the recommendation should go from Created -> In Process -> For Review -> Ready for Release -> Released. All newly moved recommendations to be implemented will start off under the Released Status.

Within the recommendation in the Manage Recommendations tile, choose the Change Status drop down button on the top right of the page. Continue to alter the recommendation status until it is set to Released.

With the recommendation now ready for implementation, we can move over to the Implement Recommendations tile on the main page of APM to manage the recommendation. Before showcasing that however, we can also determine if a recommendation should be sent back to the Manage Recommendations tile for further review. When a recommendation is set to Released in Manage Recommendations, it moves to the Implement Recommendations tile and cannot be further edited in the Manage Recommendations tile. If deemed necessary, we can say that the recommendation needs further rework and needs to be changed. To do this, open the Implement Recommendations tile on the main page.

Select the recommendation from the list that we wish to work on.

On this page, choose the Rework Required button on the top right of the screen next to the Change Status dropdown button.

The recommendation will be sent back to the Manage Recommendations tile and the status will be set to In Process as stated in the confirmation dialog box that appears after choosing the Rework Required button. Choose the blue OK button to go through with this process.

Going back to the Manage Recommendations tile, we can see that the recommendation has now been set back to the In Process status and can be edited again until the status changes back to Released.

Recommendations before they can be fully implemented need to have certain assignments configured. Each recommendation type has its own assignments that need to be created before they can be set to the Implemented status. As a refresher, there are the Proactive, Reactive, and Improvement type recommendations, with Proactive type recommendations having three subtypes. Those are Condition, Performance, and Calendar. Here is an outline of which requirements are present for each recommendation type/subtype.

The table organizes the text above into columns for Type, Subtype, Assignments Needed to Implement

A full list of what is required for each recommendation type to be set to the Implemented status can be found on the APM help documentation. Much of this configuration, such as what Task Lists, Counter Indicators, and available Maintenance Plans, must be set up on the back-end and then subsequently synced over to APM. While we won't focus too much on those details, it is important to still make note of this. For this guide, we will go over Condition and Performance subtype recommendations as they encompass the requirements of all other recommendation types.

Condition subtype recommendations are the only recommendations that require a rule to be assigned to them to be implemented. The rule that needs to be assigned for them is a scheduled rule, which is one of the four types of rules that can be created. Other than this, it is similar to the other types of recommendations in terms of assignments needed for release.

Assuming you already have the recommendation set to Released status and it is open in the Implement Recommendations tile, you can go ahead to the Assignments tab to enter these assignments.

On the Assignments tab, you will notice that it is not possible to assign anything to the recommendations just yet. To assign objects to the recommendation, its status must be changed from Released to Implementation in Process. On the top right of the page, choose the Change Status dropdown and choose the option Implementation in Process.

Now we see that we are able to assign fields to the recommendation. If we move back to the General Data tab, we can also see that we are able to edit the recommendation again. If a technical object was not previously assigned to the recommendation when it was in the Manage Recommendations tile, choose the Assign Technical Object(s) button to assign a technical object to the recommendation.

Check one or more technical objects from the list and choose the blue OK button on the bottom left once finished. Utilize the search bar or filters to find a specific technical object if necessary.

Next, assign the indicators from the technical object for the recommendation. Choose the Assign button in the Indicators section to do this.

Check off one or more indicators from the list and choose the blue OK button at the bottom right of the screen to continue. Keep in mind that if there are no indicators present for the technical object selected, then indicators need to be either created locally in APM via the Explore Technical Objects tile or they need to be created in SAP S/4HANA as a Measuring Point.

Now we need to assign a task list to the recommendation. Choose the Assign button under the Task Lists section.

The available task lists come from the planning plant field of the technical object assigned to the recommendation. If no task lists are available to choose from, then a task list needs to be created in or modified to be associated with the same planning plant for the technical object in S4. Choose the desired task list and then choose the blue OK button once finished.

Now to create the rule for the recommendation. Choose the Create button under the rules section to create the rule.

On the Create Rule pop-up, the fields will prepopulate with all required fields filled in based on the recommendation that the rule is being created from. Because only a Scheduled rule is supported, the Rule Type can't be changed. If no fields need to be changed, choose the blue Create button to continue.

The rule has now been created but it must be put into the Released status before the recommendation the rule is in can be set to Implemented. Choose the rule name to pull up a Rule Details dialog box. From there, choose the View More Info section to navigate to the rule page.

A new tab will open up with the rule and many of the fields preconfigured. If necessary, change the rule Input and Output fields if needed. If not, choose the blue Save button at the top right of the page to confirm the inputs and outputs are good for use in the Rule Editor.

Configure the fields in the Rule Editor as desired. Once finished, choose the blue Save button at the top right of the page to keep the changes made here. After that, choose the Release button to release the rule.

Assuming the release of the rule was successful, the status at the top left of the recommendation should be set as Released.

Going back to the recommendation page and refreshing the page after releasing the rule, the status of the rule will now reflect the new Released status. Now with everything finished, the recommendation status can now be set to Implemented. Choose the Change Status button and the Implemented button on the dropdown.

The status of the recommendation is now set to Implemented and the recommendation is complete.

Performance recommendations carry many of the same fields to have objects assigned to them similar to Condition subtype recommendations. Unlike those however, there are two main differences. These are the indicators that are able to be assigned to the recommendation as well as having a maintenance plan assigned to the recommendation. The indicators that can be assigned must be measuring points configured as counters. This configuration is done in the back-end system and cannot be done within APM. Counters must also share the same unit of measurement that appears in the cycle of the rule. Maintenance Plans are created in the back-end just like task lists and must be configured so they have the same task list and planning plant as the recommendation does.

We will assume from here; you have opened your Performance subtype recommendation in the Implement Recommendations tile, the status has been changed to Implementation in Progress, and the technical object and task list has been assigned to the recommendation already. From here, we will assign the objects that were not present within a Condition subtype recommendation.

Note that for the Indicators assignment, the indicator that is being used must be a counter and that counter must be created as a measuring point from the back-end. The indicator Unit of Measure must also be the same as the Cycle unit of measure for the recommendation being implemented. In the Explore Technical Objects tile, navigate to the Indicators tab and check to see if there is an indicator with a counter there and what its unit of measure is. Indicators that are counters will have a stopwatch icon on them signifying that they are indicators. If you choose the indicator on this page the unit of measure will come up and an additional field stating whether it is an counter or not will show.

Back on the General Data tab for the recommendation being implemented, look at the Cycle field. If the Cycle field unit of measure is not the same or has not been set to be the same as the unit of measure as the counter indicator that will be assigned, make sure to make this adjustment.

With all the prerequisites verified, now we can assign the indicator. Go back to the Assignments tab and check the technical object to add the indicator to. Choose the blue Assign button. Note you should only check one technical object at a time if multiple technical objects are present.

We can see that our indicator that we were looking at earlier is the only indicator present in this list. If we did not follow the prerequisites mentioned above, no indicators would be present. If necessary, a counter indicator may need to be created in S4 given the technical object and unit of measure being used. Check the indicator from the list and choose the blue OK button.

Now to assign the maintenance plan to the recommendation. Note that the maintenance plans that will show up will only be ones that are under the same planning plant as the recommendation and the same task list as assigned previously to the recommendation. Check one technical object from the Maintenance Plans section and choose the blue Assign button.

Also note that the status of the maintenance plan must be either Created or Deactivated for it to be assigned. Choose the maintenance plan and then on the blue OK button to assign it to the recommendation.

With all the necessary assignments made, we can now change the status of the recommendation to Implemented by choosing the Change Status dropdown button on the top right and then choosing the Implemented button.

If successful, the status of the recommendation is now set to Implemented.

Implement Recommendations

Reflect on the process of handling recommendations in SAP Asset Performance Management. Consider the life cycle from creation to implementation, including the stages of refinement and assignment of specific tasks.

How might this systematic approach impact your decision making and prioritization when managing asset reliability in your work environment?

The systematic approach of SAP Asset Performance Management in managing recommendations from creation to implementation profoundly impacts decision-making by enforcing a structured workflow. It ensures that all potential asset failures are not only identified but also thoroughly analyzed and matched with appropriate response strategies. This methodical progression through various recommendation statuses before reaching implementation instills a discipline of continuous improvement and ensures that no aspect of asset failure management is overlooked. In my work environment, this would mean making informed decisions, prioritizing asset reliability, and efficiency, thus reducing downtime and enhancing overall performance. The clear, defined stages of recommendation refinement and task assignments provide a roadmap that would allow for effective resource allocation and risk mitigation.

• Creation to Implementation: Recommendations can be generated from Strategy, RCM, and FMEA Assessments. They go through a process from creation, review, refinement, and eventually, release for implementation.
• Recommendation Statuses: They must be 'Released' to be visible in the Implement Recommendations tile for further action. The progression of status includes Created, In Process, For Review, Ready for Release, and Released.
• Refinement and Rework: Once ready for implementation, a recommendation can be reworked if necessary, changing its status back to In Process for further refinement.
• Assignment Configuration: Before implementation, recommendations require specific assignments depending on their type-Proactive, Reactive, or Improvement. For instance, Proactive recommendations may need technical objects, indicators, task lists, and rules assigned.
• Special Considerations for Subtypes: Condition subtype recommendations require the assignment of a scheduled rule, while Performance subtypes need counter indicators and maintenance plans with matching units of measure.
• Final Steps to Implementation: After all prerequisites and assignments are in place, the recommendation's status is changed to Implemented, marking the completion of the process.