Maximo to MAS: What to Expect During the Transition

As with any upgrade of an enterprise software solutions, one can expect a significant number of new features, functions, and even different ways of executing processes. Some of the changes will be welcome, while others may be looked at in a negative light by those in the organization most impacted.

Let’s look at the groups of people and what they might experience because of the organization making the transition from legacy Maximo 7.6.x to MAS 9.0+

Users

In many ways, Users of the Maximo solution may experience the least amount of change due to the transition to MAS. Certainly, the user interface is different from Maximo 7.6 to MAS Manage, but the fundamental business flow and features/functions of MAS Manage are nearly identical to that in legacy Maximo 7.6.

Users are still granted access to applications in Manage via Security Groups, and those applications still appear in the left-side main menu. The applications remain organized by the same modules as with Maximo: Assets, Work Orders, Purchasing, etc. Even the applications themselves continue to have the familiar left-side menu, icons across the top of the screen, list views, and tabs within the open record itself.

If the Users have been leveraging applications such as Graphical Scheduling, Calibration, BIM, etc. those sets of applications are just part of Manage with little to no configuration required. If they have been using add-on or industry solution applications such as those available from HSE, Transportation, Utilities, etc., those same applications and add-on specific modules appear as expected.

One new area for Users is the option to use the new Role Based Applications (RBA) that are available across Manage modules. These are the new “mobile” applications that can be installed/used on mobile devices whether on-line or off-line. These applications can also be launched from within Manage into a new browser tab for convenience. Whether the User is on a mobile device, or just using a browser, they can access these focused applications for quick access.

Further, with the availability of other MAS applications, outside of Manage, such as Monitor, Health, and Predict, other groups of Users may find utility and solutions to business issues. IBM MAS provides a platform for expanded use, beyond just that within Manage.

Administrators

In some ways, nothing changes for Administrators from a Manage standpoint, but in other ways MAS brings in several new elements for them to be adept at.

For starters, within Manage, adding Users to Security Groups so they can access applications is no different. While there may be more applications to grant access to than with Maximo, the process is the same. Chasing down stuck workflows, managing report queues, setting up cron tasks, and migrating configurations from one instance of Manage to another are all the same. MAXADMIN is still the king… sort of.

What is a bit different is that User records are now provisioned at the MAS level and then sync “down” to the MAS components like Manage. At the MAS level is where the User record is created, granted access to MAS components, provided passwords, etc. There is now a “MASADMIN” level super user that performs those tasks.

Also, at the MAS level is where add-ons, industry solutions, and deployment of other MAS components is performed. All these components are simply available for deployment as needed… no more downloading from IBM.

Another big change for Administrators is the management of AppPoints. MAS uses a very different approach to licensing the product, and the “honor system,” approach has been eliminated. Now the system will have a pool of AppPoints that Users draw from as the log in. Some Users and MAS functions may have amounts of AppPoints reserved from the pool. Managing the pool and observing usage and peaks is all done at the MAS level.

IT Operations

Because IBM MAS is running exclusively on IBM Red Hat OpenShift (RHOS) as the underlying operating system, the IT Operations staff may be the most impacted by the transition to IBM MAS. While not a new operating system by any stretch, it does have a very different concept of operations than that of legacy Windows Server environments. IT staff will need to learn about pods, operators, services, secrets, and a host of other terms to support IBM MAS in this environment.

This is one reason why many organizations are looking to having their MAS environments hosted out in the cloud by a hosting provider. Going this route removes much of the need to skill up for RHOS, leaving the day-to-day operation to the host. Yet, there are an equal number of IT shops who wish to keep MAS in house and are successfully making the transition.

While the User community may be asking for the upgrade to MAS, the IT side of the house needs to be involved in the decision-making process from the very beginning.

The Organization

Most organizations have been leveraging some of the features/functions of Maximo for many years. The MAS Manage component continues to deliver the same and more of these features/functions. However, MAS itself also contains several other components that can be deployed, which have their own vast set of capabilities. Monitor, Health, Visual Inspection, etc. deliver significant opportunities for any organization to move into the next levels of asset management maturity.

As part of the upgrade process, it is important for the organization to consider what their plans are for adopting the use of these other MAS components. Yes, it is reasonable to “just” focus on the upgrade from Maximo to MAS Manage first, but “phase 2,” should come quickly behind where the other MAS components are explored.

In fact, the organization may discover that there are other IT projects underway that may be overlapping the feature/functions that MAS components already have in place. Internal discussions and presentations will be very helpful to understand where commonalities and perhaps even conflicts may be brewing.

Wrap up

TRM has been helping organizations deploy and maintain the IBM Maximo solution for over 30 years. We were an early adopter of IBM MAS, so we now have several years performing upgrades not only to our Cloud services, but on-premises as well. Contact us to see how we might be able to help you with your Maximo to MAS upgrade.