Hi all - We have a fairly robust set of activity codes (1000+, 800+ with tasks) and maintenance schedules (400+ unit schedules, 1700+ group schedules) set up for our district, and are growing our group inspection schedules (1100+ on 2 inspection types today, just introduced 50+ more inspection types for piloting). One of our next challenges is doing a better job of planning and scheduling work. We have a lot of work to do in this area as we currently have different departments doing things slightly to significantly differently, but almost all of them are doing things in spreadsheets and spending a lot of time on emails etc. I thought that one of the easier tasks would be to set the standard / expected duration of different tasks and activities so we can use start using the schedule calendar, but after reviewing the documentation and sending in a ticket for clarification, it appears the only way out of the box to set a duration is in configuration editor, and it applies to every work order or inspection, no matter the activity or inspection type. We average 140-150K work orders and 20-25K inspections per year, so manually adjusting the duration after the item is generated isn't feasible.
I recognize that in some ways IPS is more like a Lego kit than an OOB solution and there are days when I love that flexibility, but the ability to set duration at the task and activity level seems like a pretty basic requirement of a CMMS / ERP system that I don't want to build from scratch, and I hope I'm missing a piece of the puzzle. Has anyone else tried to tackle this problem? What have you tried, sorted out, and/or implemented that has worked for you?
