Path: Admin > Batch Management
Schedules for PM items are established using the PMs Tab; however, repair centers have the responsibility for monitoring the process and generating PM work orders on a regular basis. Make sure that someone is given this task and knows how important it is to generate PMs regularly.
At some organizations, this is a weekly process, at others it may be as much as a month. These selections are made by repair center. WebTMA recommends you generate PMs frequently rather than overload technicians with stacks of work orders that are not due for a long period of time.
The WebTMA System Administrator chooses the number of days in advance to generate the PMs by repair center; however, you can override the number when generating PMs. The Administrator also specifies the length of the PM work week (7 days for organizations that perform maintenance tasks on weekends, 5 days for those that do not).
Regardless of the intervals between PM generation times, establish a regular PM generation schedule. A routine assures that no PM tasks are missed.
The PM generation process is a batch operation using Admin > Batch Management.
PM Job Generation
If you have a large database, WebTMA recommends you generate PMs during times of the day when fewer people are using the application. PMs can be scheduled to run immediately (Manual) or at a time and date in the future (Automatic). Automatic generation does not allow you to edit the list of PMs you want to generate.
E-mails are sent to all designated e-mail addresses when a batch job runs.
Depending on the permissions granted in your User profile, you can Edit/View or simply View. If you have Edit privileges, you see a number of links in the Add Batch Job section at the top of the page. Users with View-only privileges are limited to querying for existing jobs and cannot see the links to establish new batch jobs.
Click the PM Generation link to open the Batch Job Entry window and add new batch jobs. See PM Generation Windows on page 13 for details.
To grant privileges for this page, go to Admin > User Management > Records / Window Access. Click to expand the Admin Menu Name, and look below the menu names for the Window Name section to find Batch Management and the related check boxes.
PM Scheduling Conflicts
Scheduling conflicts are determined by the following rules:
- Only one PM schedule for each repair center can be scheduled at the same time. You can create multiple schedules, but they cannot be scheduled to run at the same time.
- A PM schedule for "All Repair Centers" prevents setting any other PM schedule for the same time frame.
Other than these restrictions, you can set future generation schedules as often as you want.
PM Generation Windows
Click the PM Generation link on the Batch Management / Identity Tab. Enter the Start At date and time in the first field on the Batch Job Entry window. Batch jobs are only generated at a time in the future. If you want to generate the job immediately, be sure to set the time a few minutes ahead to allow you to complete the other Batch Job Entry windows.
Use the Subtabs on this window to enter additional information such as the e-mail addresses of people who need to know when the batch job runs.
If this is a regular PM, click the Recurring Batch Job check box and establish the frequency interval such as every 30 days or every 3 months. If you opt to use the recurring feature, the Manual Selection feature is not available.
Click the Next button on the Batch Job Entry window.
Either the default selections or your own are required for most of the fields, check boxes, and radio buttons on this window. The non-default options are used to narrow the search. For example, if you select Trade or Shop, WebTMA selects only PM Schedule lines with the designated Trade/Shop.
An Auto Print option is available if you want to automatically print PM work orders. A mark in the Auto Print check box is effective when certain conditions are met. First, your WebTMA System Administrator must install and configure the remote printing service. In addition, Repair Center record settings are required. Look to Repair Center / Identity Tab–Preferences Subtab to be sure the Auto Print User and PM WO Printer fields are populated. If these two fields are completed and the remote printing service has been installed, the PMs for that Repair Center will auto-print to the selected printer when you mark the Auto Print check box.
When all selections are made, click the Finish button on the window. See the next topic if you are making manual selections.
WebTMA v5.0.5 and greater requires the latest .NET Framework 4.0 Upgrade.
PM Manual Selection
If you use Manual Selection, a third Batch Job Entry window opens with a list of the possible PMs to generate.
The entire list prints unless you click check boxes of line items you want to remove before you click the Finish button.
If you want to use the Generate All check box, WebTMA requires a Repair Center selection.
Batch Job Query
Path: Admin > Batch Management
The Batch Job Query window opens when you click the New Query link on the Action Menu.
Similar to the Work Order Browse window, you have the option of setting date ranges and other criteria to generate a list of existing batch jobs for your review.
Batch PM Update
Path: Admin > PM Admin > Batch PM Update
Once PM records are created, you may need to make changes to some of the settings on multiple records. Save time using the Batch PM Update window rather than opening each PM record to make the changes individually. The window accommodates changes to:
- Account
- Department
- Priority
- Rate Schedule
- Repair Center
- Technician
- Trade
- Warehouse
The Batch PM Update window allows you to make these changes to multiple PM records at once. For example, you can assign Technician A to some or all the PMs originally assigned to Technician B.
Mark the Is Empty check box to search for PMs where one of the fields listed above is blank. An example is a PM that has not been assigned to a technician. Use the Is Empty feature to search for all PMs without a technician and then assign a technician to the selected work orders.
How to Use Batch PM Update
The Batch PM Update window allows a search for eligible PM records and then amends the records with data entered in the Replace With field.
- Click the down arrow in the first field.
- Select the item.
- (Optional) Mark the Is Empty check box and go to step 5.
- Select the specific item in the next field.
- Click the Find
- Enter new information in the Replace With If you want to clear the original data and leave the field blank on the PM records, omit this step.
- Check needed lines in the results grid.
- Click the Batch Update
At least one row must be checked in the grid to update records.
The Replace With field can be left blank unless it is a required field on the record, i.e., the Priority and Repair Center fields. In some cases, Trade is also in this category when Client Info / Preferences Force a Trade for Each Task is turned on.
When the page requires a Replace With value, WebTMA reminds you with the message "Cannot clear because <FieldType> is a required field".
