How to Make the Most of S/4HANA Asset Management
Senthil Kathirvel, Sr. Director of SAP Practice, Total Resource Management (TRM), Inc.
Posted 8/29/2024
Every software application evolves over time and sometimes moves faster than a company can keep up. With the evolution of software at this breakneck pace, you may not be getting the most out of your current SAP implementation if you aren’t taking advantage of its latest enhancements. Let’s look at some examples.
If you’re still relying on SAP GUI (Graphical User Interface) and transaction codes within S/4HANA Asset Management instead of utilizing Fiori, designed to provide an integrated user experience, you might not be fully leveraging its capabilities. The same could be said for those with S/4HANA Asset Management implementations who continue to use the legacy Plant Maintenance (PM) module functionalities rather than embracing the updated features of S/4HANA Asset Management.
S/4HANA Asset Management now supports several features/functions that may be new to you:
- Phased Maintenance
- Simplified Emergency Maintenance
- Checklist Processes
- Standard Resource Scheduling
- Service and Asset Manager (SAM)
- Field Service Management (FSM)
Additionally, SAP has integrated legacy PM (Plant Maintenance) & SD (Sales & Distribution) processes under the service umbrella, incorporating product services without RRB (Resource Related Billing) and maintenance services.
Let’s take a look at a few of these new developments in the light of how they might benefit your operations.
Phased Maintenance
SAP phased maintenance process facilitates end-to-end maintenance of technical objects through nine standardized phases, with phase control codes ensuring the correct sequence of phases.
SAP phase-based maintenance orders are processed with additional planning, approval, preparation, scheduling, and execution steps which are reflected in additional system statuses. Further, phase control codes can be activated for order headers and operations.
Below is an example of a Phase Model.
A task for you is to map these process steps to your current approach to maintenance. Certainly, you do not need to adhere to every step, but it is worth considering that this SAP tool set accommodates activities under each step.
Emergency Maintenance Process in S/4HANA Asset Management
In emergency situations, the Reactive Maintenance process facilitates immediate action without intermediate stages. This built-in process expedites the maintenance activities to address the situation.
The process is as follows: Submit a maintenance request and specify the emergency work as the ‘notification processing context’. The system will automatically accept the request, generate the maintenance order, release it and then assign an order operation.
The value here is leveraging the automation inherent to the Emergency Maintenance process. Let the software solution take care of the processing side of the situation, enabling your staff to do the physical activities needed.
Inspection Checklist
Within SAP, this end-to-end process involves creating inspection plans, recording results, and taking follow-up actions. Inspection checklists are triggered by (1) classification data assigned to equipment or functional locations and an inspection plan and (2) checklist type assignments to a maintenance order operation.
For the inspection checklist process, QM (Quality Management) inspection lots are created and assigned to the inspection checklist. If QM inspection lots are not required, they can be skipped for the sake of simplification.
Resource Scheduling
The SAP S/4HANA Asset Management for Resource Scheduling (RSH) Add-On optimizes maintenance order processing through scheduling, enabling planners and schedulers to select the most suitable schedule and monitor schedule attainment.
Key features of Resource Scheduling include: due maintenance orders, work center utilization, unconfirmed maintenance orders, hierarchical display of maintenance orders and operations, and order visualization in a Gantt chart and operation on a timeline. Being able to visualize the work ahead for you and your crews is very valuable and provides a medium to have discussions and make decisions around.
Moving Forward with S/4HANA Asset Management
Now that you are aware of these enhancements to the familiar S/4HANA Asset Management and Service tool set, you have an opportunity to maximize their value to your operation. Embracing these advancements may take a bit of thought upfront but given how businesses in other industries are using them, mapping them to your operation may be easier than you think.
You may discover a noticeable scarcity of consultants proficient in implementing these new S/4HANA Asset Management and Services scope items, indicating a steep learning curve to acquire these skills. You have come to the right place.
TRM, an SAP partnered company, specializes in SAP Asset and Service Management solutions. We boast over 30 years of experience in asset management processes and various supporting technologies.
Contact TRM to discover more about our unique service offerings and how we can help you leverage the full capabilities of SAP S/4HANA Asset Management.
Related Articles
Too Small for a CMMS? Think Again
The Role of Information Technology in Plant Reliability
The Future of CMMS
