With the release of SAP Service and Asset Manager 2305, we continue the persona-centric support of SAP Service and Asset Manager by offering a new persona to support the Enterprise Health and Safety industry. The mobile solution for SAP Service and Asset Manager will now support SAP Work Clearance Management by offering mobile Lockout/Tagout capabilities for customers using existing SAP WCM on SAP ECC and SAP S/4HANA.
For existing customers of SAP Service and Asset Manager this will be a standard technical upgrade. A separate license in SAP Plant Maintenance / SAP Work Clearance Management backend is needed to utilize the new Safety Technician persona in SAP Service and Asset Manager Production.
Multi-Persona Support Benefits
Persona Introduction – Safety Technician
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In this blog, we provide detailed information about the new standard persona, Safety Technician.
Before standard maintenance work can be started, the work area should be prepared for safe work. Work clearance management is an important process that ensures the safety and well-being of workers in any workplace. It involves verifying that all hazards have been identified and mitigated before work can commence. This process is often time-consuming and involves multiple stakeholders. With the new Safety Technician persona, work clearance management can now be simplified and streamlined with the use of SAP Service and Asset manager mobile application.
Lockout or tagout shall be performed only by the authorized employees performing the servicing or maintenance. A Work Clearance Operator focuses on scenarios in Environmental Health and Safety, such as Equipment or Machine Isolation, Notification of Employees, Application of Control, Preparation for Shutdown, Machine or equipment shutdown, and Lockout or Tagout of Devices.
Work Clearance business processes are supported in SAP systems in the following way:
Support for the new WCM Fiori based UI is planned in future releases. Please refer to SAP Service and Asset Manager Road Map for the latest information.
Process Flow
The picture below shows high level process flow for the Lockout / Tagout for Work Clearance Management in SAP Service and Asset Manager.
SAP Service and Asset Manager mobile app will guide the technician through the main workflow activities required for Work Clearance Management:
Below is a flow diagram depicting how a user would execute an assigned job from start to complete. Preparation of the maintenance order and work permit/ safety certificates should be done on the back-end desktop. On the mobile device, the Safety Technician will see the Isolation requests required for the maintenance order, execute the isolation to conduct the maintenance/ repair. After which, de-isolation can be conducted and updated using the mobile device.
Application Features
Let’s take a quick look at some of the features we have introduced for Work Clearance Persona, for a more detailed listing, please refer to the official help documentation of SAP Service and Asset Manager version 2305 on the help portal.
Work Permit Details Display
Work permits and safety certificates are important documents that help ensure worker safety in maintenance. A work permit is a document that authorizes a worker to perform specific tasks in a hazardous environment. It outlines the safety precautions that must be taken and any special equipment that must be used.
In the application, users can view the Work Permit details relevant for Maintenance work, including the details of:
Work Order Details Display
A work order is a task assigned to a maintenance technician persona and visible to them. Work orders are based on customer requests, or they are created internally within the organization. The maintenance technician persona usually starts the work order after the safety technician persona has completed his work of implementing and maintaining of lockout and tagout procedures to isolate energy sources.
Work Approval Display
Work approval is used to control work execution. Work approvals ask for measures to ensure a safe environment for working on a technical system. In doing so, approvals are used to define certain rules or requirements that must be followed.
As a higher-level object of protection, work approvals are typically used in LOTO isolation certificates, which are assigned to objects to be controlled and monitored. The safety technician must review all work permits before implementing and maintaining lockout and tagout procedures for energy source isolation. The maintenance technician persona must also request work approval from those responsible for the safe execution of work orders.
Safety Certificate
A safety certificate is a document that verifies that a worker has received the necessary safety training and is qualified to work in a hazardous environment. Both documents are essential for ensuring worker safety in maintenance.
In the application, users can view the Safety Certificate details relevant for Lockout and Tagout like:
Support of Lockout / Tagout Functionalities
Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) is a safety procedure used to prevent accidental or unauthorized access to hazardous energy sources. It involves the use of physical locks and tags to isolate and de-energize equipment before maintenance or servicing is performed. This ensures that workers are not exposed to hazardous energy sources, such as electricity, steam, hydraulic, or pneumatic pressure. Lockout/Tagout is an important part of any safety program and should be followed to ensure the safety of workers.
Tagging and Un-tagging
Tagging and untagging are safety measures used to identify and control hazardous energy sources in the workplace. Tagging is the process of attaching a warning tag to a machine or equipment to indicate that it is not safe to use until the tag is removed. Untagging is the process of removing the warning tag and returning the machine or equipment to service. This process ensures that workers are aware of the potential risks associated with the equipment and can take the necessary steps to protect themselves.
This is the core function of the new Safety Technician persona.
In the application, users can:
Show objects on MAP
Roadmap
Please check out the product roadmap for future innovations in this space. You can provide input and influence the future functionality via Customer Confluence by voting on the existing features or putting in a request for new features.
Implementation Considerations
For more details, please refer to the official help documentation of SAP Service and Asset Manager Configuration Guide, version 2305 on the help portal. Details such as pre-requisites, oMDO configuration, mobile application parameters, etc, are in the new Safety Technician Configuration guide.
There are a few guidelines that must be applied to the SAP system for the user to be able to use the safety technician persona:
Limitations
In Conclusion
SAP Service and Asset Manager Safety Technician Persona has been designed for Environment Health and Safety technicians. It brings easy to use Lockout / Tagout functionalities to the mobile device, allows them to perform and record the work done using mobile device wherever they go, whether online or offline.
The 2305 app is now available to download from the App Store or Google Play store with built in pre-loaded demo data, allowing you to check out the new Safety Technician persona as well as new innovations for Maintenance Technician, Field Service Technician, and Inventory Clerk personas.
Finally, feel free to provide feedback, comments or suggestions that will help us make the product even better.
For existing customers of SAP Service and Asset Manager this will be a standard technical upgrade. A separate license in SAP Plant Maintenance / SAP Work Clearance Management backend is needed to utilize the new Safety Technician persona in SAP Service and Asset Manager Production.
Multi-Persona Support Benefits
- SAP Service and Asset Manager is a multi persona app, with multi-persona approach, we support different role based business processes with optimal user experience and sync performance along with the functionality. SAP Service and Asset Manager comes with a set of different personas that will support an expanded list of Service and Asset Management related business processes.
- Simplified custom enhancement, testing, and deployment process. Customers can use feature-toggle configuration in the Mobile Application Integration Framework to activate/deactivate component features.
- Each standard persona is designed with an optimized user experience, data model and performance improvements. A user may be assigned multiple personas at the same time, and switch between personas on the device.
- New licensing model based on Full Use Equivalent (FUE) Usage Type. Standard SAP persona can be classified as either Professional Persona (1 FUE) or Standard Persona (0.5 FUE). Read more about the commercial pricing model and usage types for standard and custom personas.
Persona Introduction – Safety Technician
.
In this blog, we provide detailed information about the new standard persona, Safety Technician.
Before standard maintenance work can be started, the work area should be prepared for safe work. Work clearance management is an important process that ensures the safety and well-being of workers in any workplace. It involves verifying that all hazards have been identified and mitigated before work can commence. This process is often time-consuming and involves multiple stakeholders. With the new Safety Technician persona, work clearance management can now be simplified and streamlined with the use of SAP Service and Asset manager mobile application.
Lockout or tagout shall be performed only by the authorized employees performing the servicing or maintenance. A Work Clearance Operator focuses on scenarios in Environmental Health and Safety, such as Equipment or Machine Isolation, Notification of Employees, Application of Control, Preparation for Shutdown, Machine or equipment shutdown, and Lockout or Tagout of Devices.
Work Clearance business processes are supported in SAP systems in the following way:
- Legacy Work Clearance Management in SAP ECC or S/4HANA
- Standard and Enhanced Model are both supported
- S/4HANA Service (Available in S/4HANA 1909 or later)
Support for the new WCM Fiori based UI is planned in future releases. Please refer to SAP Service and Asset Manager Road Map for the latest information.
Process Flow
The picture below shows high level process flow for the Lockout / Tagout for Work Clearance Management in SAP Service and Asset Manager.
- When a Notification is logged of a malfunction, both Maintenance Order and required safety measures for the maintenance work - like Work Permits, Safety Certificates with the required lockout/tagout points - are planned.
- Safety Technician conducts the lockout / tagout
- Maintenance Technician conducts the maintenance / repairs
- Safety Technician conducts the unlock / untag
SAP Service and Asset Manager mobile app will guide the technician through the main workflow activities required for Work Clearance Management:
- Execute isolation – Lockout / Tagout
- Execute Maintenance (Maintenance Technician)
- Test cycle, and Temporary de-isolation (planned in a later release)
- Execute de-isolation / Untagging
Below is a flow diagram depicting how a user would execute an assigned job from start to complete. Preparation of the maintenance order and work permit/ safety certificates should be done on the back-end desktop. On the mobile device, the Safety Technician will see the Isolation requests required for the maintenance order, execute the isolation to conduct the maintenance/ repair. After which, de-isolation can be conducted and updated using the mobile device.
Application Features
Let’s take a quick look at some of the features we have introduced for Work Clearance Persona, for a more detailed listing, please refer to the official help documentation of SAP Service and Asset Manager version 2305 on the help portal.
Work Permit Details Display
Work permits and safety certificates are important documents that help ensure worker safety in maintenance. A work permit is a document that authorizes a worker to perform specific tasks in a hazardous environment. It outlines the safety precautions that must be taken and any special equipment that must be used.
In the application, users can view the Work Permit details relevant for Maintenance work, including the details of:
- Functional location or equipment
- Status and details of required approvals
- Status and list of Work/Certificate Requirements
- SJA/PPE Catalogs
- Involved Parties
- Related Work Orders
- Related Safety Certificates
- Notes
- Document attachments
Work Order Details Display
A work order is a task assigned to a maintenance technician persona and visible to them. Work orders are based on customer requests, or they are created internally within the organization. The maintenance technician persona usually starts the work order after the safety technician persona has completed his work of implementing and maintaining of lockout and tagout procedures to isolate energy sources.
Work Approval Display
Work approval is used to control work execution. Work approvals ask for measures to ensure a safe environment for working on a technical system. In doing so, approvals are used to define certain rules or requirements that must be followed.
As a higher-level object of protection, work approvals are typically used in LOTO isolation certificates, which are assigned to objects to be controlled and monitored. The safety technician must review all work permits before implementing and maintaining lockout and tagout procedures for energy source isolation. The maintenance technician persona must also request work approval from those responsible for the safe execution of work orders.
Safety Certificate
A safety certificate is a document that verifies that a worker has received the necessary safety training and is qualified to work in a hazardous environment. Both documents are essential for ensuring worker safety in maintenance.
In the application, users can view the Safety Certificate details relevant for Lockout and Tagout like:
- Certificate details, validity information
- Functional location or Equipment details
- Status and details of required approvals
- Status and list of Isolation points / Operational Items
- Related Work Orders
- Related Work Permits
- SJA/PPE Catalogs
- Notes
- Document attachments
Support of Lockout / Tagout Functionalities
Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) is a safety procedure used to prevent accidental or unauthorized access to hazardous energy sources. It involves the use of physical locks and tags to isolate and de-energize equipment before maintenance or servicing is performed. This ensures that workers are not exposed to hazardous energy sources, such as electricity, steam, hydraulic, or pneumatic pressure. Lockout/Tagout is an important part of any safety program and should be followed to ensure the safety of workers.
Tagging and Un-tagging
Tagging and untagging are safety measures used to identify and control hazardous energy sources in the workplace. Tagging is the process of attaching a warning tag to a machine or equipment to indicate that it is not safe to use until the tag is removed. Untagging is the process of removing the warning tag and returning the machine or equipment to service. This process ensures that workers are aware of the potential risks associated with the equipment and can take the necessary steps to protect themselves.
This is the core function of the new Safety Technician persona.
In the application, users can:
- view the details of the isolation points (Operational Items)
- Change the status of the isolation points to either Tagged or Untagged as per the physical process
- Record physical Lock number
- Record signatures to the tagging action
- Add attachments – like photos – during the tagging/untagging process
Show objects on MAP
- A map view is available for the Safety Technician to overview the locations of the Work Permits, Safety Certificates and Isolation points or Operational Items.
- The Maps view has some common quick searches built into the application, such as: Expire Today, High Priority, and Near Me.
- The SAP Service and Asset Manager application has made it easy for you to search for the Isolation points and related Safety Certificates you must access right away with three built-in search queries.
Roadmap
Please check out the product roadmap for future innovations in this space. You can provide input and influence the future functionality via Customer Confluence by voting on the existing features or putting in a request for new features.
Implementation Considerations
For more details, please refer to the official help documentation of SAP Service and Asset Manager Configuration Guide, version 2305 on the help portal. Details such as pre-requisites, oMDO configuration, mobile application parameters, etc, are in the new Safety Technician Configuration guide.
There are a few guidelines that must be applied to the SAP system for the user to be able to use the safety technician persona:
- According to SAP note 2551483 "No transfer of lock number for item maintenance for API", lock numbers are not transmitted during the maintenance of existing items in the work clearance document using the API used by the SAP Service and Asset Manager mobile application. This is necessary because safety technician persona can enter the physical lock number during the tagging process.
- According to SAP note 327760 "Data provision for Asset Management", you must use BAdI/Exit to effectively delta-synchronize the WCM data for SAP Service and Asset Manager.
- According to SAP note 2431765 "Processing the user status in the APIs for WCM objects", you must use the WCM APIs to execute function codes (ACTION_EXECUTE suffix) to support setting or resetting the user status. User status can be entered in Mobile Status configuration at the Syclo Config panel.
Limitations
- Maintenance Order Header level assignment available of Safety measure objects in the initial release. No operational level assignment supported in the initial release.
- Temporary Un-tagging and test cycle support is planned in the upcoming releases
- RFID scanning of equipment is planned in future release
In Conclusion
SAP Service and Asset Manager Safety Technician Persona has been designed for Environment Health and Safety technicians. It brings easy to use Lockout / Tagout functionalities to the mobile device, allows them to perform and record the work done using mobile device wherever they go, whether online or offline.
The 2305 app is now available to download from the App Store or Google Play store with built in pre-loaded demo data, allowing you to check out the new Safety Technician persona as well as new innovations for Maintenance Technician, Field Service Technician, and Inventory Clerk personas.
Finally, feel free to provide feedback, comments or suggestions that will help us make the product even better.
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