One of the most powerful features of Maximo is sometimes the one least used... Workflow.

Workflow features let you automate repetitive business and record management processes. This provides a means for greater efficiency and accountability throughout your enterprise.¹

One of the most common workflows are approval processes - work order, purchase request, etc. A common step in an approval workflow (WF) is checking to see who reported/requested a given record and then direct the next actions to be taken on that record, based on that check. Here's a simple work order WF that checks who reported the work order to automatically set the work order status.

The Condition Node (yellow diamond) checks to see who reported the WO. If the work order was requested by either REYNOLDSM01' or 'WASHBURNEZ01', the WF will set the work order to 'APPR' status, otherwise the WF will set the status to 'WSCH'.

So what happens if the people responsible for the approval changes?

Opt 1: Update the WF

The out of the box solution is to make a process revision, update the Condition Node, re-validate, and reactivate the WF. The problem with this method is WF administration is usually left to a high level administrator or an IT Dept.

So the administrator updates the Condition Node from:

:reportedby = 'REYNOLDSM01' or :reportedby = 'WASHBURNEZ01'

to

:reportedby = 'REYNOLDSM01' or :reportedby = 'FRYEK01'

This process would happen each time the list of people who should have their work orders automatically set to 'APPR' needs to change. While the update is simple, the modification exposes the WF to other adjustments. This can be a challenge in heavily regulated industries - life science, pharmaceuticals, food processing, nuclear, etc.

Opt 2: Use Person Groups

An alternative is to use Person Groups in the Condition Node to check who reported the work order.

:reportedby in (select resppartygroup from persongroupteam where persongroup = 'FF_001')

In this case, the reportedby is checked against members of a given Person Group. As the Person Group is updated, a Person is either added or removed, the WF is essentially updated as well. The benefit to this method is the WF is not exposed to a process revision or the potential to other unwanted changes. Local site administrators, or power users, can manage the Person Group list of who should have their work order approved without having to alter the core WF process.

Workflow Reference Docs

Some of the reference documents listed below are from v7.5, but are still 90% applicable to v7.1 Maximo users.

• Implementing Workflows in Maximo
• Maximo Implementation Guide (v7.5)
• Advanced Workflow Implementations