Assets / Enterprise Assets / Facilities Asset Manager
Assets / Enterprise Assets / IT Asset Manager
Real Property / Strategic Financial Analysis / Background Data
Reconciling Enterprise Assets
Archibus connectors enable you to import your asset data from multiple enterprise systems into Archibus so that you can report on this data in one place. The connectors enable you to compare changes made in other systems to the data in Archibus by presenting the differences. When you run the Connectors using the Reconcile Enterprise Assets task, the application presents reports that you can use to see the data that has been added or updated based on the data from other systems, and to review the assets that you might need to delete. Running the connectors gives you a complete picture of your enterprise asset data. See Reconciling external systems and your Archibus data.
Asset Data and Strategic Financial Analysis
If you are using the Strategic Financial Analysis application, the Reconcile Enterprise Assets task provides a way to import asset data from other systems throughout your enterprise, so that it can be used in Archibus applications, such as the Strategic Financial Analysis Console.
The Reconcile Enterprise Assets task imports equipment records that you can use in the Financial Analysis Console to create cost records for this data, so that it can be used in summaries of past and current costs, and used in forecasts, See Project and Equipment Costs for SFA.
Default connector templates are provided
Archibus ships with default connectors that use an Excel file of sample data. These connectors are for Maximo, SAP, and Oracle enterprise systems. These connectors map key equipment data in these systems to Archibus data.
The default connectors are:
| Use this Connector | if you have changed |
|---|---|
| Asset_Maximo_Equipment | asset information in Maximo |
| Asset_Maximo_Equipment_Std | asset standard information in Maximo |
| Asset_Maximo_Equipment_Vendor | asset vendor information in Maximo |
| Asset_Oracle_Equipment | asset information in Oracle |
| Asset_Oracle_Equipment_Std | asset standard information in Oracle |
| Asset_SAP_Equipment | equipment information in SAP |
| Asset_SAP_Equipment_Std | equipment standard information in SAP |
| Asset_SAP_Vendor | vendor information in SAP |
Creating a custom template for a connector
You can also create your own templates for other asset types, or create a new connector based on your standard processes for exchanging data with your external systems. See the Configure Connectors topic in the System Management Help system.
The list of connectors shown in the Reconcile Enterprise Assets task is pre-filtered to “Asset_%”. For this reason, if you develop a custom connector for your asset data, the connector should start with “Asset_” followed by the name of the system, for example, Asset_maximo. Using this naming convention enables you to work with this connector in the Reconcile Enterprise Assets task.
Reconciling external systems and your Archibus data
A key question when using the connectors is which system - Archibus or the external system - is the system of record and for which data. For some assets, there is only one system of record for all the fields of information associated with the asset. In that case, the external system would update Archibus. This is how the connectors provided with the application are configured. However, in many cases, a given asset may be “owned” by an external system, but some of the fields are “owned” by another.
An example is the depreciation value. Typically, the asset itself is owned by one system, but the depreciation value is “owned” by Finance. In that case, Maximo may own the asset, Oracle may own the depreciation value, and Archibus may own the move process and other information about the asset. In this case, the connectors would be used to import the asset from Maximo, and then update it with an another import from finance.
When an asset is moved (by Archibus in this case), the finance department needs to know about the move since the location may impact the depreciation calculations due to local tax laws. In this case, the location data could be exported back to Oracle. Although a default connector is not provided for this, you or your business partner could configure a custom connector according to the standard practice for transferring data used by your enterprise.
See the System Administrator / Archibus Connectors / Configure Connectors topic in the System Management Help system.
Run the Connector
Using the Reconcile Enterprise Assets task, you can run the connectors, view the comparison reports, and reconcile the data. Connectors might also be automatically run on a regular schedule.
Click Run Connector in the row for the connector you want to run. Your business process owner should run connectors when data updates have occurred. For example, if there have been changes to equipment standards and the equipment standards connector has not been run since these changes were made, that would cause an error when you run the equipment connector. In this case, run the equipment standard connector first, and then run the equipment connector, so that equipment data has the updated standard information.
View Connector Logs
When you run a connector, the Connector Log pane fills in with the log entries to monitor the progress of the Connector execution. At first the Connector Log pane shows the log entries from the last time the connector was run. If you have just run the connector, click Refresh to see the latest log entries. Each time a Connector is executed, the Connector records various events into the Connector Log table (afm_conn_log,)
As the Connector executes, you may wish to refresh the log to watch the progress. The default behavior of the Connector logging process is to log the following events:
- periodic progress (every 1000th record processed)
- total number of processed records
- other items for specific Connector Rules
To see the Connector Log when working on the Assets Added on, Assets Changed on, or Assets Deleted on tabs, click the Report button.
Select the Connector and Date:
Select a connector and a date to review the assets that were shown to be added, changed, or deleted when the connector ran. The date is selected from the Connector Log table, and restricted to the dates that the selected connector was run.
Select Continue. The Assets Added on {date}, Assets Deleted on {date}, and Assets Changed on {date} tabs are enabled.
Reconciling Archibus data with your external systems
After you run the connector and select the connector and date, the Reconciliation Console presents three tabs - Assets Added on (Date), Assets Updated on (Date), and Assets Deleted on (Date). Each tab is comparing the source (external system) data with the Archibus data. Typically, the system of record is an external system for some or all of the asset data, and the Archibus data needs to be synchronized with the external system. You can review the changes on the following tabs:
- The Assets Added on (Date) tab shows items that are in the external system, but not in Archibus. The connector has added these assets to your Archibus data.
- The Assets Changed on (Date) tab shows assets that have been changed in the external system. The connector has updated your Archibus data with the information from the external system. See Reconciling external systems and your Archibus data.
- The Assets Deleted on (Date) tab shows assets that have been deleted from the source system, but are still in Archibus. These assets are listed for your review. Generally these assets should be removed or archived from Archibus, unless they are involved in other activities in Archibus (for example, there is a move order or work order that is active). For assets, typically the asset manager would want to process the “deleted” asset through their asset disposal process using the Asset Disposal Console, rather than just deleting the asset. In the Asset Disposal Console, you can change the status to Disposed, and possibly add additional information for the disposal process. For example, if there is hazardous material contained in the asset, the disposal may require other activities. Larger assets might be part of a disposal project. There may be leases or warranties or insurance associated with the asset, and this information might need updating as well.
Edit or Delete. Click the Edit button next to an item to access the Archibus record. You can make changes to this record, or you can delete the record from Archibus.
View asset transactions occurring in Archibus
Selecting a record from the grid opens and populates the Asset Activities pane. This pane enables you to review the Archibus activities, such as moves, assessments, work orders, project actions, or surveys the asset is associated with. Knowing the other stakeholders working with this asset helps you better coordinate your activities. It also informs your decision about how to respond to the asset changes. For instance, you would not remove an asset from the database until all transactions are completed.