In this section:
· SAP Work Order Filter Layout
o Date Fields – using the date selection popup.
o Option Fields – using the option fields, including complex Search Help lookups.
o Multiple Selections – using multiple selections in your filter.
o Wildcard Selections – using wildcard selections in your filter.
The SAP Work Order Filter dialog is very similar to the SAP work order list screen in SAP (see transaction IW39). You can add to the fields displayed on the SAP Work Order Filter, change their order and put them in multiple tabs by using the Filter Template Wizard.
Enter your selection criteria for SAP work orders by entering selections in the fields displayed on the screen. Click on the OK button to start extracting the work orders out of SAP.
Some of the fields displayed on the dialog box have drop-down boxes on them. These fields are option fields which can take a selection criteria and then look up SAP for a range of values. Some of these fields, like Material, have many different ways of selecting information out of SAP. Date fields have a special date selection popup.
You can select individual values and a range of values. You can also specify multiple selections by clicking on the arrow button to the right of the field. These multiple selections can include and exclude individual values and multiple ranges. When a multiple selection is in use, the arrow appears blue, otherwise it is greyed out.
You can use wildcard searches by using the character "*" in a field.
When you use a range of values every time that you filter SAP work orders, you can click on the Save Defaults button so that you don’t have to enter them each time.
SAP’s work order selection screen is the main SAP screen used by maintenance teams for selecting work orders. In its standard form, it has a large number of fields that aren’t used. The number of fields on the screen can be changed by using Screen Variants but this is quite complex to use and isn’t usually taught to maintenance teams.
Weavecentrix Desktop uses the same fields as SAP’s work order selection to extract work orders from SAP. In Weavecentrix Desktop, you select your work orders using filters. The default filter in Weavecentrix Desktop has a few of the most common SAP work order fields in it. You can change the number of fields displayed in your filter by using the Filter Template Wizard.
You can add as many fields as you want to your filter. Unlike SAP, you can arrange these fields in tabs. You can also change the order of the displayed field.
A typically arrangement of tabs has the most frequently used fields on the first tab with the fields which are only occasionally used on another tab. The fields are ordered into groups which make sense for you maintenance business. Fields which you never use are hidden from view.
Date fields in the SAP Work Order Filter dialog box have a date selection helper popup which you can use by clicking on the drop-down box for the field. You can also enter dates directly into the field without using the helper popup.
In the date helper popup, you change month by clicking on the forward and back buttons at the top of the popup. It shows the currently selected day by highlighting it with a blue circle as its background. Today’s date is shown at the bottom left and it is circled in red on the month view. Click a date to select it. To clear an already selected date, click on the word "None" on the bottom right of the date popup.
If a field other than a date field has help available on it, it will show a drop-down arrow against the field. If you click on the drop-down arrow, you will see a search screen for the help on the option field. Some fields, like material, have several different search options which you can select by clicking on the appropriate tab.
In the search screen, enter you search criteria and then click on the Search button. Weavecentrix Desktop will pass your search criteria on to SAP and wait for a list of values to be returned to it. When it receives these values, it displays them in the search results list for the screen.
Select one of the values to use it in your SAP Work Order Filter or click on the Clear button to start searching again.
You can enter multiple selections into a field in you SAP Work Order Filter. The quick way to do this is to enter the start value in the first box for a field and then the end value in the second box for the field. For example, to include order types from PM01 to PM05, you would enter PM01 in the first text box against order type and then PM05 in the second text box for order type. Once you have entered these values, the icon next to the first text box changes into a green range inclusion symbol.
The combination of this way of doing multiple selections and using wildcard selection is sufficient for most people. You may occasionally need to enter more complex multiple selection. For example, you may wish to get work orders of order type PM01, PM02 and PM05. For this kind of example, you need to use the Filter Selections dialog box.
Click on the arrow button at the right of field. The arrow symbol is greyed out if a multiple selection is not active for the field. When you click on the button, the Filter Selections dialog box is displayed.
In the example shown here, there is a single range active for the Planning Plant.
To add a number of single values, click on the Single tab with the green light. The green light is the symbol for a range inclusion. A red symbol is for a range exclusion.
In the Single tab, click on the Add Row button to add a value. Enter the value into the row. You can also change the option for the field from the standard "Equals" to one of a number of options. The most useful of these are the greater than and less than options and the wildcard option. Continue entering your single values in this manner until your selections are complete. Click on the OK button to set your selection.
If you are entering a complex selection for your SAP Work Order Filter, click on the Save Defaults button so you don’t have to enter it each time you use the Filter.
When you have set a multiple selection against a field, the multiple selection button to the right of the field shows a blue arrow on it. This means that you have an active multiple selection.
Another common search technique for fields is to use a wildcard search. You might want to do this if, for example, you wanted to include all work orders with a work order type starting with PM. This would exclude any service orders and is a very common use of wildcards.
To do this, enter "PM*" against the first field for order type. This will then filter for work orders with an order type that starts with "PM".
The green symbol to the left of the field will change to a wildcard selection symbol.
You can also use wildcards in option field search helps as shown in the example below.
