Introduction

This page discusses Linear Asset Management concepts and functions supported by BlueWorx.

Business and SAP Context

Linear Asset Management (LAM) is an optional area of functionality provided by SAP to assist in the management and analysis of linear assets such as railway lines, roads, pipelines, etc. When enabled in SAP users can maintain linear data against their Functional Locations and Equipment as master data and use this as the basis for identifying faults and work on the asset using linear reference points. For further information see: SAP Help Portal - Linear Asset Management and Settings Tab - Technical Objects

Important Information

SAP configuration relating to linear asset management, and the relationship defined between Orders and their respective operations can be found in the SPRO path: Plant Maintenance and Customer Service -> Maintenance and Service Processing -> Maintenance and service orders -> Functions and settings for Order Types -> Define change documents, collective purchase requisition, and MRP relevance


For the BlueWorx LAM implementation, we have defaulted the logic to match the SAP configuration option: "Default from tech. obj in op (preferably) or header". What this means is when an Order Operation is created, it will default to using the linear data of the Order, however it can be changed by updating the Operations prime asset. Furthermore, following SAP's usage, should the Order at any point have it's prime asset changed, all Operations linear data will be removed. Users will have the option to individually access each Operation and update the linear data to reapply the default configuration.

LAM In BlueWorx

In all cases where updates are applicable only the Start and End Point values are maintainable - as opposed to maintaining a reference start and end marker and distances from each. Our primary reason for not including in the initial release is due to data volume and management concerns. Contributing to that is the way in which SAP maintain LAM marker information; the lack of SAP change pointers on that data; and the potential for massive numbers of LAM records in some industries. Our customers requirements will influence the potential delivery of marker related functionality in future releases. Note that relative distances from the maintained reference markers for an asset, will be updated on processing in SAP using Start and End Point data - as they do for SAP GUI updates.

Integration Points

BlueWorx delivers LAM data and functionality within the following areas:

  • Functional Location and Equipment View - Read only information in the General tab Linear data section.
  • Measurement Point View - Read only information in the General tab Linear data section. 
  • Measurement Document Creation (Single Entry Only)- LAM data is adopted from the associated Measurement Point and: 
    • For Measurement Documents not associated with Orders the LAM values can be maintained.
    • For Measurements Documents associated with an Order the values can not be maintained and are adopted as per the Measurement Point.

                The reason for the difference between the two is that the SAP technical function for creation of Measurement     

                Documents from Orders does not expose the LAM data for update.

  • Notifications - LAM data is adopted from the prime asset (FL or Equipment) and can be maintained.
  • Orders - LAM data is adopted from the prime asset (FL or Equipment) and can be maintained. Note that if the Order is created with reference to a Notification then the Notification LAM data is proposed.
  • Operations - LAM data is adopted from the Order prime asset (FL or Equipment) and can be maintained. Note, if the operation's prime asset(FL or Equipment) is updated, it will change the linear data for the Operation. 
  • Confirmations - When creating a Confirmation for an Order the following LAM data is available to edit. The initial values are copied through from the associated Functional Location or Equipment. Note that LAM data review/ entry is not available from the multi-timesheet entry screen nor where CATS time sheeting is used.