INTEGRATING INFORMATION FOR MAINTENANCE

• US 20080103843A1
• Filed: 10/27/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Kessler, Thomas, Goeppert, Joerg
• Application Number:
  US11/553,928
• Publication Number:
  US 20080103843A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06314 Calendaring for a resource
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06315 Needs-based resource requirements planning or analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06395 Quality analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment

Abstract

Systems and techniques for integrating information for the planning and performance of maintenance activities are described. In one aspect, a method includes receiving a collection of descriptions of maintenance tasks in an enterprise, accessing one or more data stores to receive asset information characterizing assets in the enterprise, process information characterizing assets involved in processes of the enterprise, and process value information characterizing values of the processes to the enterprise, integrating the asset information, the process information, and the process value information to assign costs associated with performance of each of the maintenance tasks, generating a work list including a subset of the collection of maintenance tasks based on the assigned costs, and making the work list available over one or more output devices.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a collection of descriptions of maintenance tasks in an enterprise;

accessing one or more data stores to receive asset information characterizing assets in the enterprise, process information characterizing assets involved in processes of the enterprise, and process value information characterizing values of the processes to the enterprise;

integrating the asset information, the process information, and the process value information to assign costs associated with performance of each of the maintenance tasks;

generating a work list including a subset of the collection of maintenance tasks based on the assigned costs; and

making the work list available over one or more output devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the data stores are accessed to receive human resource information characterizing abilities of maintenance personnel to perform the maintenance tasks; and

the human resource information, the asset information, the process information, and the process value information are integrated to assign the costs.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein making the work list available comprises outputting the work list at an output device on a task-by-task and location-by location basis.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the collection of descriptions of maintenance tasks comprises descriptions of regularly-scheduled maintenance tasks in the enterprise.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising planning a route for maintenance personnel to perform the maintenance tasks on the work list.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the route is planned based on the costs assigned to each of the maintenance tasks.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after generating the work list, receiving a notification of a malfunction of an asset of the enterprise;

accessing and integrating the asset information, the process information, and the process value information to assign a cost associated with a failure to perform a maintenance task responsive to the malfunction;

revising the work list to include the maintenance task responsive to the new malfunction; and

making the revised work list available to the maintenance personnel over the one or more output devices.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after generating the work list, receiving an indication that maintenance personnel has moved to a new position;

accessing and integrating the asset information, the process information, and the process value information to assign revised costs associated with performance of each of the maintenance tasks;

revising the work list in light of the revised costs; and

making the revised work list available to the maintenance personnel over the one or more output devices.

9. An article comprising one or more machine-readable media storing instructions operable to cause one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

receiving information characterizing a past performance of maintenance activities, the information characterizing the past maintenance activities, an entity performing the past maintenance activities, one or more assets involved in the past maintenance activities, and the duration of the performance of the past maintenance activities;

storing the past performance information in one or more collections of information;

integrating the past performance information with information characterizing participation of assets in processes of an enterprise and values of the processes to the enterprise to assign costs to open maintenance tasks of the enterprise;

generating a work list including a subset of the open maintenance tasks; and

making the work list available.

10. The article of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

after generating the work list, receiving a notification of a malfunction of first asset of the enterprise;

accessing and integrating the past performance information with the information characterizing participation of the first asset in processes of the enterprise and values of the processes to the enterprise to assign a cost to a first maintenance task responsive to the malfunction;

revising the work list to include the first maintenance task; and

making the revised work list available.

11. The article of claim 9, wherein the past performance information comprises information read from a machine-readable tag associated with the one or more assets involved in the past maintenance activities.

12. The article of claim 9, wherein the past performance information further comprises information characterizing quality of the past performance of the maintenance activities.

13. The article of claim 9, wherein the past performance information is stored in data collections associated with different modules of a distributed data processing system.

14. The article of claim 9, wherein travel time between locations where maintenance tasks are performed is integrated to assign costs to open maintenance tasks of the enterprise.

15. The article of claim 9, wherein availability of equipment or supplies consumed for performance of maintenance tasks is integrated to assign costs to open maintenance tasks of the enterprise.

16. The article of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise making safety information characterizing safety issues associated with performance of the maintenance tasks available to the maintenance personnel.

17. The article of claim 9, wherein the work list is made available to maintenance personnel over one or more handheld front-end devices on a task-by-task basis.

18. The article of claim 9, wherein assigning the costs comprises:

multiplying each of one or more elements of the past performance information, the information characterizing participation of assets in processes, and the process values by factors reflective of a cost indicated by that information; and

summing the factors to assign the costs to the open maintenance tasks.

19. The article of claim 9, wherein generating the work list comprises determining a route to be taken by maintenance personnel in the performance of the open maintenance tasks in the work list.

20. The article of claim 9, wherein determining the route comprises selecting the subset of the open maintenance tasks based on maximizing a total cost associated with not performing the selected subset or minimizing a total cost associated with performing the selected subset.