Section 1: Current Architecture and Environment - Given the details of the customer's current environment, analyze the technical architecture including networking, hardware, software and security, so that the customer's current environment is understood.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Determine size of environment (servers, locations, etc).
- Determine which operating systems are being used.
- Determine which 3rd party products are in use (database, application servers, etc).
- Determine which authentication and security protocols are in use.
- Determine whichat hardware is in use and available for future expansion.
- Determine the number of assets to be managed.
- Determine the number of potential concurrent users.
Section 2: Business Drivers - Given the need to have knowledge of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM), understand the theoretical concepts of EAM, the business benefits that an EAM solution brings to the enterprises, and to have an understanding of various solutions available in EAM domain, so that the EAM solution has been defined.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Have an understanding of the concepts of EAM.
- Understanding of EAM:
EAM is a business paradigm that integrates strategic planning with operations, maintenance and capital investment decision-making. On the operations side, EAM caters to increased efficiencies of all assets including inventory, regulatory compliance and human resources by combining the salient goals of investment, maintenance, repair and operations management. Simultaneously, EAM addresses business challenges that include productivity enhancement, maximizing asset life cycle, minimizing total cost of ownership, support of the technology and supply chain infrastructure.
Competitive pressures force organizations to minimize asset total cost of ownership and streamline their asset management operations (these typically involve myriad activities ranging from inventory, parts and labor management to contracts and vendor management for new works). As downtimes become increasingly expensive, both in terms of lost production capacity and unfavorable publicity, organizations are compelled to maximize their asset productive life cycles via optimal maintenance programs. Asset registers, risk registers, work planning and scheduling, life cycle costing and systematic methods for problem identification, root cause analysis and continuous improvement are increasingly seen as prerequisites for a robust asset management system. By providing a platform for connecting people, processes, assets, industry-based knowledge and decision support capabilities based on quality information, EAM provides a holistic view of an organization's asset base, enabling managers to control and optimize their operations for quality and efficiency.
Information Technology Assets are maintained and managed by Information Technology EAM (ITEAM or ITAM). ITAM differs from EAM only in its focus on IT assets. This focus is important for a number of key reasons:
-Organizational dependence on these assets
-High cost, particularly of datacenter assets
-Rapid pace of change/turn-over for assets
ITAM focuses on both hardware and software asset management, ensuring that the organization has the ability to manage these assets throughout their life. In the case of software, there is the added component of ensuring license compliance.
EAM packages offer a wide range of capabilities and cover a correspondingly wide range of prices. A typical package deals with some or all of the following:
-Work Orders: Scheduling jobs, assigning personnel, reserving materials, recording costs, and tracking relevant information such as the cause of the problem (if any), downtime involved (if any), and recommendations for future action
-Preventive maintenance (PM): Keeping track of PM inspections and jobs, including step-by-step instructions or checklists, lists of materials required, and other pertinent details. Typically, the CMMS schedules PM jobs automatically based on schedules and/or meter readings. Different software packages use different techniques for reporting when a job should be performed.
-Asset management: Recording data about equipment and property including specifications, warranty information, service contracts, spare parts, purchase date, expected lifetime, and anything else that might be of help to management or maintenance workers.
-Inventory control: Management of spare parts, tools, and other materials including the reservation of materials for particular jobs, recording where materials are stored, determining when more materials should be purchased, tracking shipment receipts, and taking inventory.
-Safety: Management of permits and other documentation required for the processing of safety requirements. These safety requirements can include lockout-tag out, confined space, foreign material exclusion, electrical safety, and others.
- Have an understanding of the business benefits that EAM solutions bring to the enterprise.
- Business benefits of EAM:
EAM helps maximize return on assets, and develop comprehensive programs for preventive, predictive, routine and unplanned maintenance. Together, these programs contribute to organization goals of reducing costs and increasing asset uptime. Following are the key benefits of EAM:
-Improve return on assets.
-Decrease costs and risk.
-Increase productivity.
-Improve asset-related decision making.
-Increase asset service delivery responsiveness and revenue.
-Facilitate regulatory compliance efforts.
-Lower total cost of ownership.
-Improve use and performance.
-Extend asset life.
-Increase labor efficiency and reduce overtime.
-Implement effective equipment-based maintenance schedules to reduce downtime.
-Manage Work Order processes to ensure on-time delivery.
-Reduce maintenance-related inventory levels for increased savings.
-Model various scenarios to determine optimum asset levels and drive decision making.
-Track information to improve the ability to collect on warranty claims.
-Database structure and hierarchy
-Preventive maintenance scheduling
-Cost accumulation and tracking
-Inception recording and tracking
-Standard and exception reporting
-Maintenance administration
-Predictive maintenance analysis
-Maintenance alternatives analysis
-Physical asset risk management
-Reliability-centered maintenance
-Root cause analysis
-Financial cost/life analysis
-Technical document change management
-Strategic usage analysis
-Strategic planning for asset management
- Have knowledge and experience about the ROI on EAM solutions, and the average duration of Implementation of an EAM Solution.
- Potential Cost Savings/ROI Benefits:
-Labor utilization up by 10-20%
-Asset utilization up by 3-5%
-Increased planned maintenance by 50-80%
-New Equipment purchases down by 3-5%
-Lost warranty recoveries up by 10-50%
-On-hand inventory needs down by 20-30%
-Inventory carrying costs down by 5-20%
-Material costs reduced by 5-10%
-Purchasing Labor reduced by 10-50%- Other benefits:
-Improved warehouse productivity
-Support for Sarbanes-Oxley compliance
-Improved regulatory/safety compliance
-More accurate data for improved decision making
-Improved work planning/coordination
-Sales growth through improved service
- Have an understanding of the different industries that may require EAM Solutions.
EAM software suite can be configured to meet the needs of a variety of different businesses, including:- Manufacturing and utilities production
-Power generation equipment
-Refineries, chemical plants
-Manufacturing lines- Facilities
-Corporate buildings
-Hotels, hospitals
-Airports, government facilities- Transportation
-Rail, rolling stock
-Over-road vehicles
-Ships, aircraft- Information technology (IT) assets (Hardware and Software)
-Servers, laptops, network devices
-Software configurations, licenses
-Service
- Have a knowledge of different companies that offers products in EAM domain and understanding of brief overview of important key products.
Important key players in the EAM domain are IBM, SAP, Oracle, Infor, Indus International, etc.
There are a number of products that cater to the needs of EAM.
Some of the important product suites are:
-Datastream (Infor EAM)
-SAP EAM
-Oracle EAM
-IBM Tivoli Suite
-Indus Insite
- Given the need to understand how to position IBM to the customer, the solution advisor should analyze the competitive products being evaluated. This helps understand customer's mindset towards other products, so that the IBM solution is appropriately based on customer's requirements and competition.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Determine the competitive products the customer is considering.
- Determine how IBM solution compares with the competitors solution.
- Determine how IBM solution needs to be positioned.
- Determine customer's mindset towards IBM solution.
- Given a list of key decision makers, interview key decision makers and compile the customer's Asset Management requirements so that a document is created containing the customer's business and desired Asset Management objects, goals and current pains.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Determine Customer Inventory issues.
- Shrinkage / Replenishment / Reorder process
- Reservation process
If there are reservations occurring then there would be issues recorded and tracking of usage. Replenishment should occur in a timely manner with reservations since we know what we need in advance of usage. If there are no reservations, the stock flies off the shelf without proper accounting - some of it goes to equipment and some goes out the gate. When this happens, the storeroom will not have the material required by the craftsperson in a timely manner, because they think they have material that has already left the storeroom. This means that the maintenance person will stockpile parts in unauthorized cubby holes to cover their needs (if they don't trust the store to have what they need, they'll take care of it themselves). This means more and more inventory money being poured down the drain without knowledge of where the money is going, reducing the ability to pinpoint under performing assets. Without material usage data, one does not have the information needed to make asset replacement decisions.
- Understand Maintenance culture within the organization.
Does maintenance report to plant management or operations? Is maintenance an equal partner with operations or in a subservient role? If the operations department is in charge, they might be more concerned with the amount of product that goes out the door today rather than a longer term productivity view based on PMs performed. If I'm a new operations manager and I want to impress-I might cut costs by cutting PMs, therefore driving down maintenance costs and improving the short-term balance sheet and hoping I'm promoted before the consequence of missed PMs hitting the production facility. Operations are generally focused on meeting productivity goals and sometimes might forget the long term picture. Operation Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are probably based daily production goals, which can conflict with maintenance goals.- Determine the customer's Goals and Objectives as it relates to EAM.
Management defines financial targets for the organization and sets goals for other issues, ranging from product development, market expansion to productivity targets. Objectives are specific and quantifiable one-year targets. Goals are four-to-five-year milestones against which to measure progress. Possible goals and objectives are:- Reduce the cost of doing business.
- Increase profitability.
The goals should be tangible and have measurable metrics that can be used to inform and guide you and let you know when you've achieved your goal.
- Determine what your customer's problems are, what is not working or what could be working better for the customer. Determine the problem that needs to be solved.
What are the subassemblies / spare parts for the assets?
What is the user trying to do?
Contracts expiring without notification
Which information about the assets is being sought, and for which purpose?
In ability to track work loads / plan labor / work
Unable to compare planned work to actuals- Determine the customer's core competencies, and then use them as a stepping stone to help determine how you can best leverage the IBM solutions.
- Determine how much change will be required ' which type of solution do they have today? Their organization will need to move ahead with a solution to relieve their pain, and which processes, systems and applications will be affected.
- Document the customer's short term objectives, long term goals and areas of pain.
- Infrastructure they're looking for in a solution
Are they a .NET environment?
Hosted requirement
J2EE experience
Database / Web server experience / preference
- Given the need to summarize the value of EAM, deliver a presentation that focuses on the three areas of Visibility, Control, and Automation, so that the customer understands IBM's approach to asset management.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- What does it mean to have visibility into your assets?
Business and operational audiences lack the visibility needed to directly support and deliver against business objectives.
- What is happening in your business and supporting infrastructure?
Targeted real-time dashboards - Business, Compliance, and Operational dashboards leverage existing assets and provide the real-time visibility needed to manage against business objectives.- How can customers help control their assets?
Poor control increases capital expenditures, operational expenditures, risk impacting growth and innovation.
- How do you control your assets to maximize business value?
Unified Asset Control - Helps recover assets, implement effective access control and change management processes across business and technology investments'maximizing ROI, minimizing service problems and improving security. It includes EAM and IT Asset management in a single solution, along with other IT related products and solutions.- How can customers automate the process?
Single solution for EAM / IT assets
Workflow included helps enforce business flow within the solution
Notifications / escalations / KPIs to automate the process of getting the work completed.
Also extended capabilities with the other Tivoli IT tools are available and should be combined into a single solution.
- Given the need to identify the Tivoli Solution that will meet customer's requirements, define the software solutions provided by IBM and the ability to map the solution and potential industry solutions to the customer's requirement, so that a proper solution can be identified for the customer.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Have an understanding of the major business processes that Tivoli Software Solutions focus upon.
Following are the Business areas IBM EAM is focusing on:- Asset Management
- Procurement
- Work Order management
- Planning capabilities
- Maintenance capabilities
- Have an understanding of the different industry solutions available for EAM as applicable to the customer.
- Nuclear
- Transportation
- Utilities (formerly Transmission and Distribution)
- Service Provider
- Calibration (Life Sciences)
- Government
- Oil and Gas
- Have an understanding of the client's requirement related to above mentioned business processes and the ability to map it with product family.
- Have an understanding of the SWOT analysis of the products in the Tivoli Suite.
The ability to understand the key features and limitations of various products and certain examples of successful or failed implementation scenarios of the above mentioned products.
Section 3: Functional Requirements - Given a description of the customer's documented business processes, identify the key areas of the processes that relate to Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) so that the customer's current business processes fit and gaps have been identified.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Interview key contacts to gather information about each process.
- Attain a full understanding of all the steps of the processes.
- Determine objectives of each process.
- Determine risks within the process.
- Determine key controls used within the process.
- Create high level process flowcharts mapped to IBM EAM solutions.
- Identify value-adding and non-value-adding activities.
- Given a customer contact, an organizational chart, and a list of key roles, create a document that represents the organizational structure of the customer's EAM environment and describe key EAM roles so that the customer's EAM organizational structure and key roles are clearly understood as they relate to the customer's business processes and the proposed IBM EAM solution.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Identify key approval or authorization channels by position and role for each EAM process.
- Identify key reporting channels by position and role for each EAM process.
- List and describe the key EAM roles and responsibilities.
- Describe the customer's organizational structure and key roles as they relate to the proposed IBM EAM solution.
- Given a requisite asset management experience level in at least one industry sector, describe typical asset management processes across multiple asset classes such as facilities, fleet, or production assets, so that the applicant demonstrates a basic knowledge of asset management processes for different asset classes such as facility, fleet, production, etc.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Describe a basic process flow for asset lifecycle management.
- Describe a basic process flow for work management.
- Describe a basic process flow for inventory management.
- Describe a basic process flow for purchasing and receiving materials and spare parts.
- Describe a basic process for preventative maintenance (PM).
- Describe the basic process and benefits of various maintenance philosophies.
- PM
- Predictive Maintenance
- Conditioned Based Maintenance
- Run to Failure
- Reliability Centered Maintenance
- Describe key differences between managing fixed assets and mobile assets.
- Describe basic processes for ensuring regulatory compliance of asset lifecycle activities.
- Describe the benefits and examples of a fully integrated IBM EAM solution strategy.
- Given an understanding or prior experience with basic preventive maintenance processes, apply basic preventive maintenance processes to an IBM EAM solution in order to demonstrate a clear understanding of preventive maintenance processes and the ability to apply then in an IBM EAM solution.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Describe a basic PM process.
- Describe the benefits of a basic PM process.
- Describe the drawbacks to a basic PM process.
- Describe the purpose of an IBM EAM PM.
- Describe the purpose and benefits of an IBM EAM Master PM.
- Describe the high level process of creating an IBM EAM PM.
- Describe the high level process of creating an IBM EAM Master PM.
- Describe the difference between a PM and a Master PM in an IBM EAM solution.
- Describe the difference between a PM and a PM Work Order in an IBM EAM solution.
- Describe the process of creating an IBM EAM PM Work Order.
- Describe how the IBM EAM PM process achieves the benefits of a basic PM process.
- Describe how the IBM EAM PM process minimizes the drawbacks of a basic PM process.
- Describe the interaction between a PM Work Order and Inventory in an IBM EAM solution.
- Given an understanding or prior experience with basic Work Order processes and Assets life cycle, apply the knowledge to an IBM EAM solution in order to demonstrate a clear understanding of Work Order, Assets, Locations and Classifications and the ability to apply then in an IBM EAM solution.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Describe the impact of asset decommissioning on maintenance process.
- Describe the process of Asset Move and its impact on the hierarchy.
- Describe the association of meters to assets and how it benefits in PM process.
- Describe the impact on various transactions on Asset or Location decommissioning.
- Describe the purpose and benefits of creating Rotating Asset and applying Classifications to it.
- Describe the benefit of using Classifications and how it can be used to generate Asset and Location description.
- Describe the high level process of creating an Asset.
- Describe the high level process of creating Location.
- Describe the high level process of creating Classification.
- Describe the benefit of using Condition Monitoring in Asset's Life Cycle.
- Describe the high level process of creating a Condition Monitoring Point.
- Describe the high level process of how the Work Order options can be set up to meet Business Process Requirements.
- Describe how different Work Order statuses can be configured to define Edit Rules during the Work Order process.
- Given an understanding or prior experience with basic Purchasing cycle and Inventory transactions, apply the knowledge to an IBM EAM solution in order to demonstrate a clear understanding of Purchasing cycle and Inventory transactions and the ability to apply then in an IBM EAM solution.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Provide a high level overview of various applications used in Purchasing.
- Provide a high level overview of various applications used in Inventory.
- Describe the process of distributing cost of an item among different departments.
- Describe the high level overview of different type of Purchase Orders which can be created in Maximo.
- Describe the different statuses which the Purchase Order has to go through from it's creation to completion.
- Describe the benefit of using Classifications and how it can be used to generate Asset and Location description.
- Describe the high level process of Purchase Order.
- Describe the high level process of Purchase Requisition.
- Describe the high level process of creating Request for Quotations.
- Describe the high level process of creating Inventory Transactions.
- Describe the high level process of Reorder Cycle.
- Describe the benefits of using Item Kits and how these Item Kits are managed.
- Describe high level process of setting up Tools.
Section 4: Reporting Requirements - Given a requisite level familiarity with IBM Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) reporting solutions, describe reporting options so that it is clear that you understand reporting options available in an IBM EAM solution.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- List reporting options with various IBM EAM solutions.
- Use of built in Query by Example functionality provides result sets that can be downloaded to spreadsheets for analysis and reporting.
- Built in Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) functionality can be used to present on screen snapshot reporting of asset or organizational conditions.
- Built in historical analysis of KPI trend data
- Advanced query capabilities can be used to generate specific result sets that can be downloaded for analysis and reporting.
- Describe the B.I.R.T. application.
- Describe B.I.R.T. architecture and integrated installation.
- Describe B.I.R.T. user interface.
- Describe B.I.R.T. reporting functionality such as report outputs, scheduling, and security.
- Describe out-of-the-box reports delivered with B.I.R.T.
- Describe pros and cons of ODBC reporting options.
- Pros
-ODBC allows connectivity by any ODBC compliant reporting tool.
-Reports can be run outside of EAM solution as stand alone process.
-Use customer's existing reporting resources (skills and tools).- Cons
-Security issues with sensitive data must be designed into processes and solution architecture.
-Data integrity issues if outside reports allow data manipulation (add, edit, delete).
-System performance considerations must be designed into solution architecture.
-Reports must be run outside of EAM solution or custom integration developed.
- Given a requisite level familiarity with IBM and 3rd party reporting applications, and the customer's reporting requirements, describe an assessment of current versus proposed reporting solutions such that IBM EAM solution reporting options are positioned favorably against existing reporting applications.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Determine customer's current reporting requirements.
- Who gets reports and how are they delivered?
- When and how frequently are reports generated?
- How many reports are currently actively being used?
- How many are printed versus screen presentations?
- Determine the customer's capabilities and comfort level with existing reporting applications. (i.e. Crystal shop, Cognos, Brio, etc.)
- Compare existing reporting capabilities with proposed IBM EAM reporting options. (i.e. common 3rd party reporting tools versus Actuate or B.I.R.T.)
- Describe benefits of using integrated reporting applications.
- Optimum utilization of built in functionality and cross function integration. (i.e. integrated work and inventory management applications)
- Unified support for total EAM solution
- Built in 'standard' reports can be a base for modified and custom reports.
Section 5: Integration and Interfacing Requirements - Given a thorough analysis of the customer's current Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) applications, understand and describe available migration options so that a high level migration/integration strategy to move the customer from the existing applications to the proposed IBM EAM solution can be delivered.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- Determine the applications currently in use supporting existing EAM processes.
- Determine issues or pain the customer has with their current applications.
- Determine what the customer likes best about their current applications.
- Determine how the current application is integrated, or interfaces, with other applications.
- Determine if there are any plans to include other applications into the current or new system.
- Describe the IBM migration/integration solution.
Section 6: Customization - Given the client's working knowledge of the included tailoring tools, explain the capabilities of the Application Designer and Database Configuration, so that the customer has an understanding of the functionality.
With emphasis on performing the following tasks:
- What tailoring tools are included?
The Database Configuration and Application Designer are included with the solution. Workflow designer can also be considered.- What is the Database Configuration tool?
The Database Configuration tool allows customers to edit existing tables (objects), create new tables (objects) and create new fields (attributes). This allows them to record and manage additional details to further extend the capabilities of the solution to further fit their needs.- What are e.Audit and its capabilities?
Additionally, e.Audit can be enabled to further track historical information recorded in fields. Auditing is quickly and easily enabled using the Database Configuration and does not require a DBA.- What are e.Signature and its capabilities?
E.Signature can further the auditing process by requiring an electronic signature on sensitive fields or other areas where additional security measures are required. Together the auditing capabilities help customers track changes made to key pieces of information. These changes are quickly and easily enabled using the Database Configuration. This tool does not require a DBA.- When can I run Database Config?
It's important to understand that many changes can be made to the solution while they are up and running and users are logged in; committing database changes requires the application to be in 'admin mode.' This mode still allows administrators access to the system, but users can not log in. The database must be updated using the Action menu before database changes are saved to the underlying database.
- What is the Application Designer tool for?
The Application Designer allows implementers and customers the ability to change the layout and design of the User Interface. The simple to understand and quick to learn interface allows administrators the flexibility to make screen changes to the out-of-the-box applications, or even create their own. Fields can be marked at read-only, required, and validated from a previously defined set of values, and others.- What can be upgraded to the next release?
When using the out-of-the-box tailoring tools, the changes made to the solution can be preserved during future product upgrades. This includes changes made by both the Application Designer and the Database Configuration tools.- How is Conditional User Interface used?
Conditional User Interface allows customers/administrators to change the information required within a given application based on conditions within the record set. Based on the type of asset, for example, additional fields can become required. Another example might include removing fields from the screen based on nearly any asset attribute or condition.- Determine the understanding of using color and other font changes within the application.
Although the Application Designer is flexible and powerful to make changes, font colors and section colors are true to the word customization. They are NOT part of the Application Designer and require Java Scripting (style sheets) and custom work, which do not automatically upgrade to the next release.- What is not considered tailoring?
GUI changes and other functional changes that are not created / modified using the included tools are considered customization in the true sense of the word. When someone programs their own Java class and styles, this is not tailoring.
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