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Work Permit Management

Former Member
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Hi Experts,

I need your opinion / guidance on Work Permit Management implementation in SAP. I have gone through the Work Clearance Management (WCM) but found that it covers very complected business scenario with a very serious limitation when compared to business scenario in my client's organization. I'll explain this in brief.

1. In my client's business scenario for a job which takes 5 days to complete only one order is to be created, however multiple permits are to be created each day/each shift. Each permits has very limited validity (generally 8 hours), and extendable to another 8 hour max. To capture this scenario we need to assign multiple permits against same order on each day.

2. Each permit shall have details of work, duration, field checks required etc information. which are updated before release and final print out of the permit.

3. Once job is completed permits are returned to operations people by maintenance person. Then it is closed in the system.

To complete all such process I found WCM has limitation and this process is better catered by Work Permit Management. A brief process is given in saphelp. link: [http://help.sap.com/erp2005_ehp_05/helpdata/en/de/0b33d5e985426d9706c0b8c5fa6d94/content.htm]

All I need are these -

- some guidance in how to proceed with configuration keeping in view aforesaid scenario.

- T code to list orders with permits. I have seen some screen shot of this but couldn't find what was the T - Code. Also don't know this was done by Z t-code.

Your help will be appreciated and honoured.

Thanks

Premnath

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Accepted Solutions (0)

Answers (1)

Answers (1)

sebastian_lenartowicz
Active Contributor
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Greetings Premnath,

Please be advised that you won't be able to release your PM Order until all the Permits assigned are granted; You could keep assigning those permits "as you go" on the work order, but you won't have a true control in the system then, this will just serve to give you the required information.

Perhaps you could rather look into status management or WCM on Operation level (with an Operation for each day of work)? This might also give you benefits when scheduling)

To help you with your query, I'd expect you'd have to look at the WCM profile, or for the Permit scenario, create at least one Permit for each day's work under SPRO > PM > Master Data in Plant Maintenance and Customer Service > Basic > Permits

The t-codes you're looking for is IPM2, IPM3 and IW38 / IW39 (use the Permit field towards the bottom of the screen area to select Permit-relevant Orders)

Former Member
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Hi Sebastian,

Thanks for being engaged in knowledge sharing. I have still not got a lead. Following mail runs long, kindly bear with it.

The solution you've provided is perfect for WCM. As I mentioned previously WCM business process itself is very complicated due to WC Application, WCD, closing of them in individual step. Also permit assignment does not generate any permit number.

In our case we're considering on a part of WCM, that is Work Permit Management. A little guideline is provided by SAP and is given at the bottom. I want to capture this scenario.

One thing is to mention that in this case when permit is assigned in order it creates unique numbers each time. This document is called "permit", what we know as permit in WCM is actually "permit type", which is basically a master data.

I have got some screen shots of this process which show an icon with name "Work Permit" in order creation page. If I click on this then "permit type"(Permit as defined in master data) pops up and when a "permit type" is selected then a permit form generates where we need to write details of physical permit eg. details of job, duration, checks required. This form also has link to WCD. This particular form looks like WC Application Creation page.I don't know whether it is standard feature or a development.

Please help to know following based on above discussion:

1. Work Permit form link in order : is it a standard feature or a development?

2. Can we create an add in button in order page to generate modified WC application form?

3. T Code to see list of orders with permit numbers (IPM2 t code does not show the permit number only permit type is shown, IW38 has "permit" selection box, which is basically permit type as defined in master data; in none of the t codes we can see permit number)

4. How number can be generated based on assignment of permits in orders? Provision of assigning same permit type, for instance "Cold Work" in order a multiple times and each assignment will generate new number.

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Process Flow

...

1. The maintenance planner creates a maintenance order for the repair.

2. Since the work involves high risks and hazards, the technician who is to carry out the work creates a level 1 work permit for the maintenance order, which is valid the next day.

The work permit describes the work to be carried out and the requirements to be fulfilled.

3. In the afternoon, there is a coordination meeting to check all work permits for the next day. They are added to if necessary and approved by the person responsible.

4. At the end of the meeting, all approved work permits are printed and set out to be picked up the next day.

5. The next morning, the technician who is to carry out the work picks up his or her printed work permits.

Note

At this point in time, the work permit is not yet active. This means that you cannot start the work.

6. Together with the person responsible for the technical asset, all of the required safety measures are put in place.

7. The person responsible for the technical asset confirms the execution of all safety measures to the control room and applies for activation of the work permit.

8. The work permit is activated by the person responsible in the control room, and after this the technician who is to carry out the work can start work.

9. Once the technician has carried out the work, he or she does the cleaning and clearing up work on site.

10. The technician gives the work permit back.

11. All returned work permits are closed in the system.

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Waiting for your inputs in this regard.

Premnath

Edited by: premnath on Feb 11, 2012 6:58 AM

sebastian_lenartowicz
Active Contributor
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Greetings Premnath,

I believe what you are describing here is a scenario with an Enhanced model of Work Clearance Management. Under that model you attach a document called a Work Approval to a PM Order(s).

Under that approval, you can create multiple WCAs which will be individually numbered and can be used to reflect your daily permits issued. In turn you can link those to one or more WCDs if you ever need it.

The WCAs will be numbered according to Number range settings, and you can create severla types by maintaining Usages for them (e.g. operations permit, raditation permit, fire hazards permit etc.) under Work Clearance Management > Master Data > Usages

However you would still need a WCA created in the system each day for the works - if you have an unapproved WCA linked to an Order, you can't proceed with the works. So a scenario I see is that you create an Order and Work Approval for each work, and then create and prepare a WCA each day to register your permit in the system - but bear in mind that there might not be a way to prevent work orders from being processed once the first WCA is prepared. You might want to look at the fields for Validity date and set the validity days for a WCA to 1 day under Work Clearance Management > Master Data > Maintain Application Profile

You can activate the Enhanced model under Work Clearance Management > Master Data > Architecture

This will be a quite complex model for your process and you might also want to look at an alternative e.g. Order and Operation status management and perhaps creating and populating additional fields in the Order or Operation.

PS. Also, looking at your requirements, it may be an issue that you normally only print the work permits in WCM once the WCAs are approved, so this is the reverse of your process flow - you might need to set up additional shop papers to circumvent that, or use a more sophisticated Approval management process - normally an Order can be set "Released for Execution" when permits are printed, so you might need to add an additional Approval to the WCA to prevent this.