As promised I would like to go into more detail about visualization. There are a lot of people agreeing that a picture tells us more than a thousand words. We started on this journey already when delivering the Maintenance Worker role with EhP 5 in 2010, based on the NetWeaver Business Client or the portal, as a one-stop-shop for information technicians need at work. By then, it was possible to embed animated repair instructions, leveraging Right Hemisphere's technology, into the job card. In the meantime, we could also demonstrate how easy it is to show additional analytics information, directly linked to the asset view, or, how to embed manufacturer information into the same plane (see SAP note 1636398, picture below shows data from Endress + Hauser). Goal is to make all information, that is needed for completing a job, available in one place. We also discovered that there had to be a more out-of-the-box integration of maps, hence delivering ESRI technology allowing for this with SP03 of EhP 6.
Ultimately, the vision is that maintenance people can see their assets on a map, manipulate respective data already there, or drill down to the plant or site environment, having a closer look, and finally looking at details of the respective equipment or component. Visual Enterprise at this end can become an alternative UI and not a separate application. Respective projects are under development.
What are other use cases that you could imagine? A change request for an equipment master record directly launched from the 3D object? Automated safety instructions for a worker entering a certain part of the plant on his mobile?
Please find the next blog in this series here!
- SAP Managed Tags:
