KEYWORDS: Scoops! Oz. CMMS
HELP in Oz
Do you have special reports that you run; do you run the work orders in a specific order?
Why not put together an online user manual for your workers. This is especially handy this time of year when people are taking vacations. Write down the steps, then create a reference sheet in OOPS! called Help, users can view the reference sheet by going under data files, supplemental sheets and putting in R:HELP and pressing enter. You can even set this up as a custom menu option.
The same thing can be done in Oz, but in Oz you use the "Work Order" Sheet field to create and access your sheets. You can have an unlimited, uninterrupted number of pages.
Color coding work orders for Departments, Buildings, Categories (This tip works equally well in both OOPS! & Oz)
If you have work orders going to different departments and this causes loss or confusion, try this tip supplied by Anita Suennen from Tyco. Anita said they use different colored paper for each department. When the work orders are printed, they are sorted and printed by department. As each department is printed, the paper (color) is changed. This speeds up sorting time and also makes it easy for the users to find the work orders on their desks (imagine yellow paper in a mass of white paper) . . . and eases filing too! Thanks, Anita, for this tech tip.
Had any good Audits lately?
We regulary hear from both OOPS! and Oz users when the auditors are in town. Not because these systems can't supply the reports needed, but just because the user isn't quite sure "how" to get the information they need. Rule of thumb: If the information is in Oz/OOPS!, you can get it out! We don't mind these calls, after all that's one reason you keep your support current, right?
Nine out of ten times the auditors go away happy and both systems get good reviews. We believe that this is one area where our CMMSs shine.
By the way, is your department complying with Sarbanes-Oxley? Some of our Oz users are using Oz to make sure they are in compliance.
Using e-Mail to generate WOs in Oz.
Several Oz users have taken advantage of Oz's e-Mail interface to handle Work Requests.
Here's how it works:
The Maintenance Manager has two e-Mail accounts, call them Account1 and Account2.
A Tenant, Employee or Manager notices a problem, such as a burned out light, a dripping faucet, an oil slick, ... this person sends an e-Mail to the Maintenance Manager referencing the problem at Account1.
The Maintenance Manager gets the message, reviews it and if it is a legitimate request, forwards the message to Account2.
Oz continuously monitors Account2, and when it gets a forwarded message, legitimacy is verified, eliminating SPAM and invalid requestors. A Work Order is then automatically generated and printed; a return e-Mail message is also sent to the original requestor saying that the request has been received and is being handled by Maintenance.
This is especially nice for facilities Maintenance, such as Property Managers, Hospital Engineering personnel and any institution that has potential work requestors scattered throughout the facility.
For further information about this e-Mail capability, please give Oz Tech Support a call.
This tip is from one of our Oz Maintenance Managers.
As happens in every plant, facility, etc., he observed that there was sometimes maintenance work necessitated by carelessness, negligence, inattention, and/or failure to follow proper procedures. This is work that eats right into the bottom line, but could have been avoided. He decided to track this work using the "Job Category" field and runs a periodic report to make his crew aware of how much time and money is spent that could actually have been saved. He ties this into an incentive program and the crew with the least amount of "unnecessary work" gets a bonus. This encourages good practices and benefits both the company and the work force.
The Value of Support
Many OOPS!/Oz users don't see the merit to having current support. They argue that they "rarely" call us. That may be true, but you still expect us to be here to help you when you do call. Support is like car insurance; even if you don't have an accident every day, you never know when you will - You can't call the insurance company after you have the accident and expect them to take care of it.
More often than not, when you do need support, you need it asap. If you wait until you have a problem to renew support, it will take more time to get to the point where you get your problem solved. Renewing support promptly keeps support costs down and enables us to have a qualified support person available whenever you need help. Thanks to all of you who understand this and do keep your support current!
I've read many articles that report that "studies show" that most companies go through two, three or even more CMMSs in a five to ten year period. DOS OOPS! was sold from 1983 through 1998 which means that the majority of you who are still using OOPS! have beaten the odds. Some Oz users have too or are well on their way.
Did you know that when we first started selling OOPS!, there were people who refused to purchase it because the database wasn't dBase2 (their Standard)? Has this ever presented a problem for any of you OOPS! users? Some things never seem to change. Nowdays there are people who refuse to buy Oz because it doesn't run on a Microsoft operating system. Some people don't like the fact that Oz is sold turnkey because their "standard is the Dell computer" . . . and there are people who actually want an "Access" database. Go figure. Perhaps the reason so many people have gone through more than one CMMS is that they are using criteria like these rather than judging the quality of the CMMS on its own merits.
How to reprint purchase requisitions or purchase orders. (In OOPS!)
The purchase requisitions are stored in a file called purreq.tmp. This file remains the same until requisitions are rerun. To access this file we will create a custom menu in OOPS! to reprint the purchase reqs.
How to reprint purchase requisitions or purchase orders. (In Oz)
Being more familiar with Oz than OOPS!, I was surprised to see all of the above steps.
To print Requisitions: