Oracle Enterprise

Asset Management
– Integration
between Enterprise
Asset Management
and Oracle Time and
Labor

An Oracle White Paper

Dec 2013
Table of Contents

1. OVERVIEW.................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 1

2. WHAT ARE THE REQUIRED SETUP STEPS ?........................................................................................................................................................................ 3

3. THE PROCESS FLOW FOR EAM & OTL INTEGRATION....................................................................................................................................................... 4

4. COSTING ASPECTS TO BE AWARE OF.................................................................................................................................................................................... 8

5. TECHNICAL POINTS................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9

6. TABLES USED IN THE RETRIEVAL PROCESS.....................................................................................................................................................................10

7. RETRIEVAL PROCESS STEPS ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 11

8. R12 ENHANCEMENT ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 11

9. TROUBLESHOOTING ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 12

10. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ...................................................................................................................................................................................13

1. OVERVIEW

The objectives of this white paper are to provide an overview of how

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) integrates with Oracle Time and Labor
(OTL) in connection with timecard data provided by OTL. The following topics
will be discussed :

• Required Setup Steps

• Process Flow for Integration between OTL and EAM
• Basic Technical Details (tables etc)
• Product Enhancements
• Frequently asked questions

EAM is the application used to create and implement maintenance procedures for
both assets and rebuildable inventory items. EAM tracks the performance of assets
(including rebuildables and inventory items) using meters, quality plans, and
condition monitoring systems. By effectively monitoring an asset's operating
condition, effective preventive maintenance strategies can be implemented.

Oracle Time & Labor is part of Oracle’s Human Resources Management System
(HRMS) – it is an intuitive web-enabled timecard solution that completely automates
the process of time record keeping. It can help to control costs and time worked,
consolidate timecard information and adhere to organizational time management
rules. For employees, it offers a simplified way to submit, review, track and approve
timecards.
Employees, line managers, authorized delegates or administrators can submit
timecards, and supervisors, managers and/or administrators can review the approval
status on the web. Timecards can be approved automatically or routed for approval
using Oracle Workflow.

Hence, the business scenario is as follows :

 Firstly, work orders are created in EAM to carry out maintenance work on an
asset. There will be operations linked against the work order to carry out
the work and these operations will be linked to departments and resources. The
resources can then be linked to specific employees who will be doing the
work.
 These employees can then enter timecard data against the above work
orders to specify how much time they have spent working on the specific
operation for the work order.
 These timecards are then migrated to EAM where they will result in
resource transactions created against the work order.

This document will describe how the above integration works.

2. WHERE ARE THE REQUIRED SETUPS ?

A. CREATE EMPLOYEE RECORD :

First create the employee as a person record in HRMS as shown below:

B. USER SETUP:

Next, you create a USER using System Administrator and assign the employee
to this user.

You then assign the appropriate OTL and EAM responsibilities to this User as
can be seen below :

C. OTL PREFERENCES :

Next you define the OTL preferences and business rules using the navigation:
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OTL Administrator > Preferences

D. OTL LAYOUT PREFERENCES :

You then need to define the OTL Layout responsibilities. This indicates the
layout to be used for the timecard for data entry, review and for
confirmation.

Use the navigation : OTL Administrator > Preferences

E. EAM SETUPS :

Obviously, EAM needs to be fully setup as well in order to create the work
orders for the assets. The following are minimum setup requirements :

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  Define Asset Groups
 Define Asset Numbers
 Define Asset Activity and associate it to the asset number
 Define Maintenance Routing and link the departments,
resources and employees. The maintenance routing will
default to the work orders created for the assets to which
the routing belongs.

3. THE PROCESS FLOW FOR EAM & OTL INTEGRATION :

The above diagram shows the process flow for the EAM-OTL integration –
these steps are considered in more detail below :

A. CREATE MAINTENANCE WORK ORDER:

The above screenshot shows that a maintenance work order has been
created to carry out maintenance work on an asset.

B. ASSIGN EMPLOYEES TO THE WORK ORDER :

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The work order must have employees assigned to it. This can be done
automatically via setup.

The above screenshot shows that the work order has an operation assigned to
it (this can be automated by creating Maintenance Routings for activities, for
example). The operation has a department assigned to it.

The above screenshot shows that there are resources linked to the
department in the previous screen. The resources can have specific
employees assigned to them as shown above.

Hence, employees are assigned to the work order via the use of standard
setups using operations, departments and resources. The operations can
automatically be assigned to the work order by the use of Maintenance
Routings.

C. CHARGE TIME TO THE WORK ORDER IN OTL : ENTER TIMECARD

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The next stage is for employees to book time against the work order. This is
done using the Timecard entry functionality in OTL.

The above screenshot shows time has been entered for a work order.

Note the following key details have been entered – all are required details for
resource transactions :

 Work order Number

 Asset Number

 Operation

 Resource

 Employee name and number

 Department

 Date the work took place

 Number of hours spent

D. REVIEW AND SUBMIT THE TIMECARD.

Next the data is reviewd in OTL and then submitted.

E. RETRIEVE THE TIMECARD DATA FROM EAM TO OTL

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Next, the timecard data is retrieved from OTL to EAM. This is done by running
the concurrent program called : Retrieve Timecard Data from OTL to EAM.

The above screenshot shows this concurrent program.

Notice that you can specify parameters to control the data that is retrieved.

F. CHECK THAT THE RESOURCE TRANSACTION HAS BEEN CREATED.

If there are no errors in the retrieval process, then a resource transaction is

created for the employee against the work order.

This is a 2 stage process :

- The validated record is inserted from OTL timecard into

WIP_COST_TXN_INTERFACE table.

- The Cost manager then processes the records in the

WIP_COST_TXN_INTERFACE table and inserts them into the
WIP_TRANSACTIONS table. Any successfully processed records are
removed from WIP_COST_TXN_INTERFACE table.

The screenshot below shows the Cost Manager concurrent process. This is
scheduled to run at regular intervals in the background.

The Cost manager process which deals with the WIP_COST_TXN_INTERFACE is

the Actual Cost Worker, (CMCACW)

This will cost the resource transaction. The costing aspects are discussed in
the next section.

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 4. COSTING ASPECTS TO BE AWARE OF :

The Cost Manager costs the resource transaction as follows:

 Check the resource and pick up the charge rate. The charge rate will be picked
up as follows:

− If the Standard Rate checkbox is checked, the resource charge rate will
be used to calculate the labor cost.

− If the Standard Rate checkbox is unchecked, the employee charge rate

is used to calculate the labor cost

The calculation is simply :

 Actual cost = actual resource units x Resource Charge Rate ( IF standard flag
checked) (STANDARD COST)

Or

 Actual cost = actual resource units x Employee Charge Rate (IF standard flag
unchecked) (ACTUAL COST)

The screenshot below shows the following :

 A resource has been defined

 The standard rate field has been unchecked so the employee rate
will be used.

 Employees have been linked to the resource using the employees

button.

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The screenshot below shows how the employee rate is defined.

It is defined using the Employee Labor Rates form from the setup section of the
Work in Process or EAM responsibilities.

5. TECHNICAL POINTS :

The following technical points are useful to know :

 The concurrent program : Retrieve Timecard Data from OTL to EAM is called
EAMTROLTL

 The code for the retrievel process is contained in the file EAMOTLTB.pls (path
is patch/115/sql/EAMOTLTB.pls)

 PLS package= EAM_OTL_TIMECARD_PUB.retrieve_process

6. TABLES USED IN THE RETRIEVAL PROCESS :

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Here are some of the tables used in the integration process :

 HXC_TIME_BUILDING_BLOCKS : Holds the building blocks that make up the

timecard definitions. (i.e actual timecard data)

 HXC_TIME_ATTRIBUTES : Holds the attributes for the time building blocks.

 HXC_TIME_ATTRIBUTE_USAGES : associates Time Attributes with Time

Building Blocks

 HXC_TRANSACTIONS : records details of the execution of a Deposit or

Retrieval Process in the Time Store. (TYPE = RETRIEVAL). The status field
specifies if the transaction was successfully retrieved or not.

Status column : This has values of : SUCCESS, ERRORS, WARNINGS,

RECOVERED

Column 'Exception_Description' : holds details about any errors

 HXC_TRANSACTION_DETAILS : holds details of the Time Building Blocks that

were involved in a Transaction. The status field indicates whether the time
building block related to the transaction was successfully retrieved or not.

Status column : This has values of : SUCCESS, ERRORS

Column 'Exception_description' : holds details about any errors

 WIP_COST_TXN_INTERFACE : Resource transaction details are entered in this

interface table.

The Cost Manager then processes the transactions in this interface table and if
the transaction is successful, it is removed from WIP_COST_TXN_INTERFACE
table and entered into the WIP_TRANSACTIONS table.

7. RETRIEVAL PROCESS STEPS :

The retrieval process works as follows :

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  The where clause is built to retrieve the OTL timecards based on the selected
parameters (e.g where department = 'xx' and organization_id = 'yy')

 Retrieve the data based on the request parameters.

 Start processing the building blocks from the OTL tables.

 Validate the data that will be used to create the Resource Transaction. Ensures
all data is correct and that the transaction date is AFTER the work order
release date.

 Insert the validated resource transaction data into

WIP_COST_TXN_INTERFACE table.

 Log will show successful processing as : “Success: Building block processed

successfully” and “Success: Resource transaction completed successfully.

 Failure messages are like : FAILURE -- Building Block Processing Failed“.

 The Cost Manager then processes the transactions in this interface table and if
the transaction is successful, it is removed from WIP_COST_TXN_INTERFACE
table and entered into the WIP_TRANSACTIONS table.

8. R12 ENHANCEMENT :

Currently OTL entries from dates belonging to a closed inventory accounting

period fail in resource transaction processing, due to system validation with the
error as: Record not found in WIP_PERIOD_BALANCE. This resulted in the
following issues:

1. Unable to successfully import employee hours from OTL into EAM - when
period close process has been completed for some dates in the submitted time
card.

2. Overhead of handling of resultant error transactions

The following changes were made to the OTL-EAM Integration for supporting
time card entries in Closed Inventory Accounting Period.

A. ‘Retrieve Timecard Data from OTL to EAM’ concurrent process is modified

by having additional logic to process OTL dates that are in closed inventory

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 accounting period. The interface program will pass the transaction date in
this scenario as ‘First Date of the Next Open inventory accounting period.

B. This change makes the ‘transaction date’ in wip_cost_txn_interface for

resources transactions to be in open period for OTL dates reported in
closed inventory accounting period, to avoid the error during transactions
processing.

NOTE : To get this enhancement, you need to apply patch 17028190:R12.EAM.B

on top of 12.1.3)

9. TROUBLESHOOTING :

The following troubleshooting points should be noted:

 After every API call to OTL, any error messages, if any, are updated by package
EAM_OTL_TIMECARD_PUB.

 The error messages are visible in the log file of the concurrent request :
Retrieve Timecard Data from OTL to EAM

 If any transactions are stuck after the concurrent request is run, run the query
below:

select * from wip_cost_txn_interface where wip_entity_id = <problematic

wip Entity Id>

 Once the transaction is processed, it is removed from the table

wip_cost_txn_interface and is reflected on the work order (the transaction is
now held in the WIP_TRANSACTIONS table).

10. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS :

Q1: Is it possible to capture the employee rate from payroll data to use in the
Costing Process?

A1: No – this is not possible. Payroll is a separate application.

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Q2: Can we calculate labor costs for a work order using multiple rates for an
employee? (e.g overtime rate, standard rate)

A2: No – this is not feasible. Workaround is:

Use 2 resources : STD_RESOURCE and OVT_RESOURCE. Assign the same

employee to each resource and assign the appropriate rate to each resource.
Then book time using the required resource.

Q3: Can we use different charge rate based on employee rather the standard
resource rate?

A3: Yes – this is standard functionality as previously shown. Define the

required employee rate using the Employee Labor rate window. Assign the
employee to the resource and uncheck the Standard Rate checkbox on the
resource.

Q4: Can we use OTL for absence/leave management for maintenance crew?

A4: Yes – this is feasible. How?

Use an open work order for this purpose - e.g: for all employees holidays or for a
specific employee. Keep this open for the whole year (the period for reporting
leave/absense).

Then import OTL timecards for absence/leave for the department.

The details are shown as resource transaction for the employee9s) against the
open work order.

Since the work order is specific for holidays, the resource transaction is therefore
seen as a holiday transaction.

Q5: Is it possible to use the same OTL template for both EAM and Payroll?

A5: There are separate seeded templates for EAM and Payroll. The standard
functionality requires both to be used separately. It is technically possible to use
the same template for both EAM and Payroll but this is a complex exercise and is
beyond the scope of this document. We will create a white paper for this in the
future.

Q6: Is it possible to use time clocks with the EAM Integration?

A6: Not possible at this moment in time.

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EAM-OTL Integration
December 2013
Author: Zar Ahmed

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