Go-To Menus
Many fields have lookup menus which link to data in another table. As you know, there are almost always at least always two different options: ‘Select Value’ and ‘Go To [some application]’. One purpose of the ‘Go To [application]’ option is to allow you to create records that don’t yet exist, or to make changes to the related record. Most users know this, but still under-utilize this capability. Here are a couple examples of how to use it effectively.
1. While creating a PR, you realize that the item you want to order doesn’t exist yet. Instead of leaving the PR half-completed to switch applications, you could open the ‘Item Master’ application from within the PO line item by selecting ‘Go To Item Master’ from the lookup menu. While you’re there, you can even add the new item to the appropriate storeroom. When you’re done and have saved the new item, you’d return to the PO by clicking the Return with Value button in the upper, right-hand corner of the screen. But what if the vendor for the item you just created doesn’t exist yet? You could dive in further by selecting ‘Go To Companies’ from the Vendor field’s lookup menu (you’d now be three layers deep). After saving the vendor, you’d return to the item, then back to the PR.
2. While receiving a PO, you realize that the PO hasn’t been approved yet. Assuming you have the permission to approve POs, you could open it by selecting ‘Go To Purchase Orders’ from the Purchase Order field’s lookup menu. After changing the status, you’d return the Receiving application by clicking the Return button in the upper, right-hand corner of the screen.
NOTE: After returning, you will probably need to refresh the record since the ‘Receiving’ application still doesn’t know that the PO has been approved. Go to the ‘List View’ tab, click the Refresh button, and then return to the PO. It’s a few extra steps, but it’s still quicker than hopping between applications!
Multiple Tabs
Although you won’t hear this from IBM (shhh!), Maximo will allow you to have multiple tabs open at the same time. Let’s say you want to review data in the Purchase Orders and Receiving applications at the same time. You can open a different tab for each. In the original tab, just copy the portion of the URL up until “…/maximo” and paste it into the address bar of a new tab.
One caveat: it doesn’t always work perfectly. On rare occasions, Maximo will detect a conflict and give you an error, usually when you click the ‘Save’ button on one tab and it conflicts with something on another tab. But it won’t cause any damage. The worst that can happen is that you’ll lose a bit of data entry.
Browser Search
Sometimes it can be frustrating to try and find something when it seems like there are 500 different fields on the screen at once. Let the browser help you. Most all browsers can search for text on a webpage by typing ‘CTRL + F’ (hold down the control key while pressing ‘F’). As you start to type the name of the field, the browser will find it and highlight it for you.
Field Help
There are a lot of fields on the Maximo screens, and you might occasionally find one that you don’t understand. To learn about it, click your cursor inside the field (or checkbox, etc.), then type ‘CTRL + I’ (‘I’ is for “information”). Maximo will display a dialog that gives you a brief description of the field. It’s a bit hit and miss – sometimes the descriptions are helpful, while other times they’re insultingly useless. But it’s a good first resource.
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