Your first morning on MAS 9: what users will notice on day one
In part 1 I compared the move from Maximo 7.6 to MAS 9 to moving house. This article is the first morning in the new house. The furniture is where you left it, but you’re opening every cupboard to find the mugs.
It’s written for everyone who meets MAS 9 on day one: users finding their way around, administrators deciding what to switch on, and trainers who’ll show everyone else. It follows one user’s first morning on MAS 9.2, screen by screen, and ends with a cheat sheet you can use in your first training session.
1. Your header bar and profile menu
Top right of every screen is a small row of icons: bulletins, reports, help and your profile. Depending on what you’ve licensed, you may also see the Maximo Assistant. In MAS 9.2 an administrator can also add a dedicated logout button, a change many users asked for.
The profile menu is worth five minutes in your first training session. It’s where users set their default information, change their personal details, set their e-signature key and set up Maximo Mobile. In 9.2, Default Information also lets each user choose a default application, so Maximo opens straight into the screen they use most.
2. Your new e-signature key
If your organisation uses electronic signatures, this is the day-one job most likely to catch people out. In MAS 9, the e-signature key is separate from the password users log in with, even if they sign in through LDAP or single sign-on. Every user who signs records needs to set a new key.
Users must set their key before they can change an e-signature-enabled field or carry out an e-signature-enabled action. Tell them before go-live, and show them where it is: Profile → Set or Modify E-Signature Key. It takes 30 seconds, and saves a queue at the help desk when the first approval comes round.
3. Set up Maximo Mobile yourself
The profile menu also has Set up Maximo Mobile. It walks the user through three steps. First, scan a QR code to download the app for Android, iOS or Windows. Next, scan a second QR code (or copy the URL) to point the app at your server. Finally, log in with their user ID and password. Technicians no longer need someone to read out a long server URL over the phone. An administrator can set this URL up once, using the Maximo Mobile API endpoint. Technicians often learn this fastest from a two-minute narrated video of your own set-up, recorded once and reused at every depot.
The Set up Maximo Mobile wizard, from the profile menu. Click any step to see it full size.
4. Finding your applications
In 7.6, users had to remember which module held which application. In MAS 9 there’s one menu down the left with a Filter navigation box at the top. Type a few letters, such as “work”, and every matching application appears, grouped by module.
What each user sees depends on what’s installed and on their security groups. This demo system has several versions of Work Order Tracking because it has industry solutions and add-ons installed. On a live system, it’s a good prompt for administrators to tidy up what each group can see.
In 9.2 users can also switch on Focused Navigation from the bottom of the menu, and pick the handful of applications they actually use. It’s a good one to set up together in the first training session.
5. Where you land
After logging in, users land on one of three places: their start centre, an Operational Dashboard for their role, or the default application they’ve chosen for themselves in Profile → Default Information or been given through their security group (the profile setting overrides the group). Dashboards are the modern option. Each role gets its own tab of KPI cards, lists, favourites and quick actions.
The Low Health list comes from Maximo Health, which is included with Base-tier licensing. I’ll explain what that means in the licensing part of this series. It’s a good example of the suite at work: one screen pulling together Manage and Health data.
6. The familiar screens, refreshed
Open a classic application like Item Master, and a 7.6 user will feel at home. The fields are the same, and so are the Common Actions and More Actions down the left, with Find navigation item to search them. The styling is lighter, and in 9.2 users can hide that side panel from their profile if they’d rather have the space.
The other thing people ask for on day one is their saved queries. They’re behind the ⋮ button next to the search icons, along with Where Clause, Attribute Search, View Search Tips, Save Current Query, View/Manage Queries and Bookmarks. Saved queries are also listed under Available Queries in the left-hand panel.
7. The new screens
The new Role Based Applications look and work differently. Open a work order in the new Work Orders application, and the status history runs across the top as a timeline. It’s my favourite change: anyone can see at a glance where a job has been and where it’s going next, without opening a dialog. The record’s sections run down the left: Summary, Plans, Related records, Workflow assignments, Work log, Communication log and Failure reporting. Most of what you can do to the record sits under one Actions button.
8. Small 9.2 changes your users will thank you for
Three settings in MAS 9.2 fix small annoyances that 7.6 users have lived with for years. They’re switched on by an administrator, so it’s worth deciding before go-live:
- Prevent Asset population from Location? An organisation-level setting. When it’s on, picking a location on a work order no longer fills in an asset automatically.
- Use Job Plan Description. A site-level setting. PM work orders take their description from the job plan instead of the PM.
- Set Due Date to End of Month. A site-level setting for monthly PMs that should fall due on the last day of the month.
9. A day-one cheat sheet for trainers
If you only have half an hour with each team, show them these eight things:
- Log in, and where to go if the password doesn’t work
- Set your e-signature key (if you use them)
- Choose your default application in Profile → Default Information
- Find an application with Filter navigation
- Set up Focused Navigation for the applications you use most
- Find the actions in a classic screen’s side panel
- Find your saved queries behind ⋮
- Open a work order in the new Work Orders application, and find the Actions button
If you’d like this as a one-page job aid for each role, on your own screens and in your users’ languages, we build those.
If you remember one thing
On day one, users don’t need to know what OpenShift is. They need to know where their things went. Show them the profile menu, the navigation filter and the ⋮ menu, and most of the day-one questions go away. And if your super users are the ones showing them, a short train-the-trainer session before go-live pays for itself on day one.
What would you add to the eight-point cheat sheet above?
Join the discussion ↓No need to name your organisation. Tell us what you’ve seen, not who you saw it at.
What’s next
Part 3 works through the free readiness checklist for one example 7.6 system, area by area: the SQL and screens that answer each check, and a red, amber or green rating for each. You can see all ten parts of the series, and what’s coming, on the series page.
4max builds day-one training for MAS 9: role-based quick references, short videos of your own screens, and instructor-led sessions for users and super users, in your users’ languages.
Comments