SAP's Linear Asset Management and Operation Account Assignments

At last month's SAP for Utilities event we learned more about two specific enhancements in SAP Business Suite 7 that are particularly interesting to utilities. Linear Asset Management (LAM) for Plant Maintenance enables very granular documentation of assets like power lines and water pipes, such that maintenance (and associated costs) can be tracked to specific portions of the asset instead of the whole entity—for example, a segment of line between two mile markers, or a distinct vertical location on a length of pipe.

With Operation Account Assignments (OAM), utilities will gain useful functionality to assign multiple operational accounts to one work order. Tasks will be allocated to the right accounts, resulting in fewer order numbers, greater flexibility, and detailed information for Finance—without increasing complexity for the field. In fact, when properly implemented, we anticipate that crews will have an even easier time, as they won't have to think about accounting.