Asset Group and it’s relationships within Oracle eAM

The word “Asset Group” trips out many people and remains a clearly un-answered question for range of Oracle users including technical consultants and business end users. explaining the Asset Group to different user groups is challenge, particularly when it comes to linear assets.

For better clarity on the data model of the eAM Asset Group, please read my blog where I have explained the eAM Assets inter-relationships with other modules.

Objective:-

In this blog I want to explain how an Asset Group relates to the key data objects within Oracle Enterprise Asset Management (eAM) module. These relationships are very important to consider while deciding on eAM Asset Groups for an organisation.

Details:-

Please take a look at following diagram that illustrates the direct and indirect links between eAM Asset Groups with other objects:

Asset Group relationships within eAM

•  eAM Attribute Groups are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the assigned attribute groups.
• eAM Activities are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the assigned activities.
• eAM Meter Templates are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the meters that are part of the assigned meter templates.
• eAM PM Schedule Templates are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the PM schedules that are part of the assigned PM Schedule Templates. Same goes with PM Suppression templates.
• Bill of material are defined at eAM Asset Group level only. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group share that bill. Although the effectivity of a particular bill component can be limited to one or range of eAM Asset Numbers the process of maintaining that effectivity control can get quite cumbersome.
• Routings are defined at eAM Asset Group level only. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group share that routing.
• Quality Plans are assigned at eAM Asset Group level. This can be done right at the eAM Asset level as well, but the data management can get complicated and over burden.
• eAM Failure Sets are assigned to a particular eAM Asset Group. ie, all eAM Assets belonging to that eAM Asset Group inherit the failure sets, there by the failure codes, causes, etc.
• Documents (or links) can be attached to the eAM Asset Group that can be shared across the related eAM Assets. although this is not a major advantage it just helps to simplify the management of attachments.

Final note:-

When it comes to deciding on the asset groups, although the Oracle eAM documentation states the Asset Group is simple as the combination of Make and Model of the assets, in reality it’s a tough decision to make. The Oracle EBS shouldn’t be overloaded with too many unneccessary asset groups, same time the seeded functionalities of eAM can be comprehensively used. The consultants and business process owners needs to work closely to get the balance right.

Thank you for visiting this blog. Have a great day.

…Jag