From the Maximo Support Desk - Basic Troubleshooting Checklist For PM Work Order Generation

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"No Work Orders Generated from PMs!"

Throughout my time here in Maximo application support I speak with many different clients who have the exact same problem, but the issue has been resolved differently for various reasons.  Sometimes, the resolution and actual steps that need to be taken to resolve the current issue are quick and easy, but that doesn't erase from our memories the experience of a Maximo User who endured some heart-stopping drama and panic of a being on the firing line of a show-stopping Maximo problem!

Not even the writers of "Grey's Anatomy", in the first several seasons, were able to capture this kind of gripping, workplace drama.  Although my next statement is not a scientific fact, it is based on several years of observation and customer interaction...  if your panic level shoots up the charts quickly, and you are "freaking out", then another client has likely already experienced this issue and a known resolution is probably immediately available with the help of a Maximo support engineer (but likely already documented online).

One of the skills that a good support engineer here at IBM will possess is to calmly and confidently rely on the tools, technology, and talented human resources that are constantly available here, and not to panic in these situations. So, if you're the Maximo administrator, or lead User, this article is dedicated to you.  You're the team lead, and eventual hero, whose inbox is filling up with emails with subject lines like, "WORK ORDER PROBLEM" (yeah, they used all caps on that one), "No Work Orders Printed Today", "PM Issue", "RE: FWD: RE: FWD: pM iSSuE" (from the person in your office that panics and randomly capitalizes letters within words).

Of course, the introduction above is an overly dramatic segue into some basic PM Work Order Generation Troubleshooting...

Before you call IBM support, you should run through the common "gotchas" described below.  It is also helpful to break the failure down into these three categories first, and systematically run through each one.  The areas of concern are:

1. the PM record
2. the PMWOGen Cron Task
3. the server/database connection

If the PMWoGen Cron Task IS running, then the PM records need to be checked to ensure that they are eligible to generate Work Orders:

1. The PM record:
You can run through the fields on the PM record to determine if there's a problem here:
-Status: Is it Active
-Location: Is the Location record valid and has a status other than Decommissioned, Out of Service, or another status that will prevent activity
-Asset: check for the same situation as the Location
-Route: If a Route is being used, check the status of the Route, and check the Locations and Assets as above

-Lead Time/Lead Time Active: Is it too early for the PM to generate Work Orders?  This is the number of days in advance of the Next Due Date that Work Orders will get generated from this PM

-Job Plan: verify that the Status is Active
-Last Start Date/Earliest Next Due Date: proceed to the Freqeuncy tab if these are not as expected

On the Frequency tab:
If this is a Time Base Frequency type of PM, then view the Estimated Next Due Date; compare this to whether the checkbox is checked for "Use Last Work Order's Start Date to Calculate Next Due Date?"; in other words, if this is checked, then the Work Order will generate based ONLY on the frequency settings - it will not wait for a Completed status on the previously-generated Work Order from this PM.

Similarly, if this is a Meter Based Frequency, verify that the meter frequency has been reached for the asset.

Seasonal Dates tab:
The Active Days section works in conjunction with the Active Dates section. If there are no rows set up in the Active Dates section, then the PM will generate Work Orders on any or all of the days checked in the Active Days section.  Of course, if there is a date range set up in the Active Dates section, then Work Orders can only get generated within the dates specified.
 
2. PMWOGen Cron Task
If no obvious problems are found on the PM record, check the PMWoGen Cron Task. You can view this in the Cron Task Setup application, for the record, PMWoGenCronTask.

The Class field - the value should be psdi.app.pm.PMWoGenCronTask; I mention this because if there is a custom class file being used, this may be the source of the problem.

The Access field - the value should be FULL

Next, expand the details for the Cron Task Instance Name that is in question.
Before we look at the Schedule field, the Run as User field value should be MAXADMIN

The Active box should be checked

The Keep History checkbox and the Max Number of History Records can run with their default values of checked, and 1,000 respectively... these can be useful in troubleshooting.

The Last Run Timestamp is read-only, but keep an eye on that

In the Schedule field, you can get a better view by clicking on the Set Schedule button to the right:

In the Parameters section, for the logfile Parameter, see if there is a file location and filename in the Value field.  If there is a valid location on the application server, open the file and see if there are any error messages that indicate what the problem might be, such as "PM is not due, or not active", etc.

3. Server/Database Connection
You can try to re-initialize the Cron Task from Select Action/Reload Request

Well, these are the basics.  There have been other User-accessible solutions that have resolved issues with Work Orders not getting generated...

-Create a new instance

-Uncheck the Active checkbox and then Save the record; then check the Active box, Save the record, and perform the Reload Request action

-For some reason, the global system property, mxe.crontask.donotrun is enabled for this cron task; view this document to correct it:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21964244

If you've made a reasonable investigation into these things, and there is still an issue, feel free to go into the panic room and contact your IBM Maximo support team here at IBM!

Tom Richardson is an IBM Maximo Support Engineer and frequent contributor to the Asset Management Blog community.  For a complete index of links to his articles, visit
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