Introduction

Through this configuration, you can set SAP to generate the Order Inspections. This option removes the load on the device for evaluating Inspections for Orders with many objects, for example power pole Inspections.


A secondary benefit is that the generation of Order-based Inspections happens without any user input, data becomes available in SAP enabling reporting on upcoming, or incomplete Inspections.


If background generation option configuration is not active, BlueWorx will continue to match Inspections to Work Orders within the running application. Regardless option use, BlueWorx will continue to match Inspections within the application for:

  • Ad-hoc Inspections on Equipment and Functional Locations
  • Equipment and Functional locations changed or added to Orders (Order Header or objects List)

Triggers

There are two triggers to generate Inspections:

  1. Administrators can set a background scheduled job.
    • Details are available in the article Master Data and Batch Jobs under “Create Job to process Inspection Order Generation”. Please, refer to the “Days before and after start date” section below.
  2. A BADI implementation on Order change triggers an event if the Order is released and not technically completed.
    • You must set up a new Event Linkage (ORDER_CHANGE event) as defined in the Installation Guide under BlueWorx Technical Configuration > Plant Maintenance Configuration > Events > SAP Standard Workflow Events.

Settings

Maintain the settings on Administration app > Core Settings > Settings > Inspections.

Days before and after start date

This configuration time bounds the Inspections generated. The generation horizon is the greater of:

  • the Inspection admin parameter or
  • the user profile Work Order days forward and back.

This prevents BlueWorx syncing Orders to the application without their associated Inspection relationships.

Remove CNF Orders

If you have the Core Config Setting > Order > Order Globals > Remove CNF Orders switched ON, then Orders that are CNF (completed) will not be evaluated for Inspection generation.

Generation Design

Once triggered, BlueWorx back-end will generate the Inspections for each Order using the following design:


If the Order is in a user profile and within the generation horizon:

  1. Match this Order objects to all Inspection templates objects that apply. That is, Order and operation-based Inspections. Do not match against ad-hoc Inspections (to understand this match, check the Inspection detail page).
  2. For all matched Inspection templates matched:
    • Is there already an Inspection for this template? If not, generate. Else:
      • Is the Inspection status different from “Generated”? Do not generate. Else:
        1. Has the template changed? If yes, regenerate. Else do not.
  3. Mark as “Deleted” any earlier Inspections with status "Generated" that did not match.

Evaluation in the Application

If generation is active, BlueWorx will only evaluate fieldWork Order Inspections, and Inspections from adding technical objects to the Order object list.

End-to-end example process flow

This example covers a scenario that explains most of the complexity involved with the generation.

March 1st

The administrator turns Background generation of Inspections ON, with 10 “days of before and after generation horizon”. 


The administrator also setups the background job to run everyday at 2AM. He also enables the Order change event linkage.


For simplicity, let us say that there are not any Orders in the system.


The administrator also sets up the following Inspection templates:

  • An Order Inspection “Pole Inspection”, for “WOOD_POLE” Equipments for Order type “PM03”.
  • An operation Inspection “Transformer Inspection”, for “TRANS” Equipments for Order type “PM03” and standard text key “TRIN”.

The administrator also sets up a user profile for these poles and transformer Inspections. It sets that BlueWorx should sync Orders from 14 days forward and backwards.

March 3rd

The planner creates a PM03 Work Order (number #4500001) with a start basic date as of 20th March. This Order has one operation with the “TRIN” standard text key. This Order has two objects: “Wooden Pole #1” and “Transformer #1”.


The planner releases the Order. Creating and changing the Order triggers the event. Since the Order is not within the date horizon, the system does not generate Inspections.

March 6th, 2AM

The background job starts. Since the Order 4500001 is now within the horizon, and there are Inspection templates that match the Order objects, the background job generates the two Inspections.

March 7th

The administrator renames the “Pole Inspection” to “Wood pole Inspection”.

March 8th, 2AM

The system regenerates the “Wooden Pole Inspection” because its data has changed.

March 9th 

The user syncs to the device. He starts the “Transformer Inspection” and sync again.

March 10th, 2AM

The background job runs, and it does not regenerate the Inspections. For one has started and another did not change.

March 11th

The planner adds a new object to the Order: a “Street Light #1”, type “LIGHT”. He saves this Order, and this triggers the background generation. However, since there are not matching templates or changes, it does not (re)generate Inspections. Later, the Administrator creates a new “Street Light Inspection”, that will match the “Street Light #1” Equipment.

March 12th

During the background job run, the system will generate a new “Street light Inspection” for that Order.


The user syncs this new Inspection in the early morning. When performing the Work on the field, the user notices that there is an extra Equipment “Street Light #2” that the planner did not add.


The user adds “Street Light #2” to the list of Order objects. This triggers the evaluation of a new Inspection “Street Light Inspection” to “Street Light #2”. The user completes the Inspection for both the Street lights.


Note: If the user had not started the “Street Light #2” Inspection, adding the object would later regenerate it.

March 13th

The administrator changes the “Street Light Inspection” to only evaluate for PM02 Orders. However, the regeneration will not affect Order 4500001 because its “Street Light Inspections” are completed.

Frequently asked Questions

  • Can you generate Equipment and Functional Location Inspections? Response: No

  • If I update a Functional Location or Equipment with values that will now included/ exclude it from Inspection criteria, will that change results be executed on Save: No, the evaluation will take place on next generation job. Where as, if you were using on device generation, then it would be effective after next sync

  • Are Inspections regenerated? Response: It depends. Check the design section above.

  • Are Inspections cleaned-up when an Order is completed? Response: No

  • Response: In what support pack was generation introduced? Response: Support Pack 7

  • How do I differentiate a generated Inspection from a non-generated Inspection? Response: For the end user there should be no difference. From a technical perspective, the generated Inspections have status 5 and its ID starts with "GEN". When evaluating on the app, the Inspection is only created when it starts. 

  • Does adding an Operation in BlueWorx trigger re-evaluation? No.