The M5 System has a number of internal batch processes that are critical to the overall integrity and functionality of the system. The Batch Process Manager is the frame from which you will configure, schedule, and execute these important batch processes.
The different Batch Processes will have different parameters to configure but the methods for maintaining and executing them follow the same general steps.
ABC Class Assignment
The ABC Class Assignment batch process produces a report that allows the user to preview how M5 will assign the ABC class codes to stock parts.
When you are satisfied with code assignments, you can set the update value to Yes and run the batch to update the codes. The value in this batch field ignores the setting in System Flag 5038. System Flag 5038 only controls whether the update is performed during the End of Period batch process.
Allocation
The Allocation batch process is a customer specific process used for distributing costs to allocation pools or groups. AssetWorks creates the Allocation Pools when requested by the customer and they can be configured and executed through the Batch Process Manager.
Archiver
The Archiver batch process moves and stores older data that no longer needs to be readily available in "active" M5 tables. The program moves the data from various tables based on the type of transaction. M5 provides the ability to archive eight types of data transactions.
Close Billing Period
You should run the Close Billing Period after carefully verifying all billing transactions for the current period. When selecting this Batch Process, the user will be prompted to make sure they understand that when this process runs, no further changes will be allowed in this period.
Once the system executes this batch process, billing transactions post to the accounting ledgers and cannot be changed. Any adjustments will have to be made in the next billing period and both entries will appear in the audit trail.
End of Day
The End of Day batch process updates specific data into certain tables on a daily basis. By default this process will run automatically every day at the time specified unless you make a change.
The End of Day process performs the following tasks:
Calculates unit downtime accumulated since the last End of Day was run.
Updates part statistics with the last physical inventory date if no last physical inventory date is present.
Updates Parts_Usage_Occ table to identify failures of major parts.
Update Unit_Dept_Comp_Main with current values of Department numbers from Unit_Assign_Hist.
WARNING: The End of Day batch process will NOT run during a system backup. Be sure to schedule it before or after your system backup runs. It is also recommended to run the End of Day process "off-hours" or at a time when there will be limited use of the system.
End of Period
The End of Period batch process must be run no earlier than the first day of a new fiscal period. End of Period automatically closes the oldest currently open period. The tasks of the End of Period include:
Verifying there is a unit history record for each unit for the current period.
Propagating shift table information forward for the module flag designated amount of time.
Running Eop_Inv_Proc, a process that performs inventory processing and cleanup by:
Rolling usage quantities by period and setting current period usage to zero.
Deleting transfers which have been rejected or completed over the number of days indicated by the Inventory Management module flag, Del. expired POs/Trans after (duration).
Rolling period start quantities/inventory dollar value by period.
Getting current on-hand quantity and unit price to calculate the current period start quantity/inventory dollar value. The going price and Rav are calculated in the Part_Get_Price process according to the pricing method set for the Inventory Management module flag- Type of pricing to use for inventory valuation.
These valid pricing methods include:
Location Standard: Locstd - Unit$ = Location Unit $
Location Average: Locavg - Unit $ = Location Calculated Unit $
System Standard: Sysstd - Unit $ = Part Unit $
System Average: Sysavg - Unit $ = Part Calc Unit $
Incrementing the period roll counter (Pd_Roll_Ct) to annualize usage.
Calculates depreciation for all units that have a depreciation type of S (Straight -line), and that do not have a “SOLD” status.
NOTE: System flag 5290 – “Calculate depreciation based on capital journal?” determines how the depreciation of capitalized value is calculated. If set to N for purposes of depreciation, the capitalized value of the unit is the purchase cost plus capital adjustments at the time the end-of-period is run. This preserves existing functionality. If set to Y, the capitalized value of the unit only includes the changes made prior to the end of the period being closed, excluding those after the period was closed and before EOP was run. The Y setting also enables EOP to "catch up" and process depreciation for periods prior to the period being closed, including those values as a depreciation adjustment for the period being closed.
This flag cannot be changed by users because of the potential duplication of values if the flag is changed from N to Y. Only new customers or customers that have not otherwise implemented depreciation calculations in M5 should consider changing the flag.
It also updates the line items in the Budget frame (some applications do not have this frame) if the appropriate budget flags are set in System Management Flags.
Updates Maintenance Class Code history.
Sums past five years of unit history for reporting purposes (rolling five year window).
Closes the period (nothing else can be charged to a closed period).
Renames the user log file that keeps track of users.
Updates the Last End of Period run.
A batch process called Part_Hist can be run separately by setting system flag 5032.
Forecaster
The Forecaster batch process predicts when a Standard Job is due for a unit, department, or component. The Forecaster uses the Standard Job MCC and the Standard Job Tech Spec to create work requests with a future due date.
The system calculates the date based on a time interval, the primary or secondary meter usage and/or fuel consumption. You must complete the setup of the Standard Job MCC and interval prior to running the forecaster in order to have work requests generated.
If the MCC setting is left at the default of zero the Forecaster will not calculate usage at all. The job may be set as recurring or one time only. The Forecaster is a powerful tool for ensuring that your units remain in compliance with warranties and in optimal working condition.
Part History Update
The Part History Update batch process allows the user to close the Part History on exactly the last day of the month separate from the End of Period Process. System Flag 5032 must be set for this to occur. See the section on the End of Period process for more details.
Parts Requisitions
The Parts Requisition batch process will automatically create requisitions, requisitions and purchase orders or part transfers within the parts inventory module. When reordering is done manually the quantities are based on the Standard Order Quantities from the Part Inventory Location Manager screen.
When reordering is scheduled automatically, the quantities are based on the Economic Order Quantities established by the ABC classification and historical transactions.
Employee Planned Absences
The Planned Absences batch process updates employee holidays and vacation schedules. These will appear on the Labor Time Card frame. This process should run on a daily basis. Once you schedule the process it will run automatically every day. Use the Holiday Calendar frame to set up the Company holidays to automatically appear as part of the Employee Absences.
Repeat Work
Used in conjunction with enhanced repeat repairs functionality and System Flag 5212 – Use Enhanced Repeat Repairs System? This flag must be set to ‘Y’.
See also System Flag 5359 – Use “Ignored” WACs when evaluating ob history for Repeat Repair - When a job is entered, default behavior is to check previous job occurrences whether or not the previous jobs have a WAC with the Ignore Repeat Repairs flag set to Y.
Also, when clicking on a previously flagged job to see its history, jobs will appear in the history whether or not the WAC is set to Ignore.
The only function of the Ignore flag is that a job with an Ignored WAC will not itself be flagged as a Repeat Repair. However, if you set this flag to N, jobs with WACs that have the Ignore flag set will not be considered at all and will not appear in the Repeat Repair job history.
Run Billing Period
The Run Billing Period batch process produces a detailed report showing all the items in the current billing period, but it is not directly connected to the End of Period process. You can run the process anytime you would like to examine the details of the items in the current Billing Period.
M5 bases the Current Billing Period on the last time you closed a Billing Period by running the Close Billing Period batch process. The report produced by Run Billing Period gives you the opportunity to find any mistakes in billing transactions before posting them to the current billing period ledgers.
The Run Billing Period process will populate data into specific tables based on the configuration of the billing structure in the M5 System. After the Run Billing Period process finishes, you should carefully review the reports to make sure the data is correct. If not, you can make corrections and then run the Run Billing Period batch again (as often as needed).
Once you have verified the data, you can finalize billing by running the Close Billing Period process. REMEMBER: After the Close Billing Period process is complete, you cannot make any additional changes to the current period. Any changes discovered after this have to be corrected as adjustments in the new period and both items, the incorrect original charge and the corrected charge, will appear in the audit trail.
Sold Units Archive
The Sold Units Archive batch process is a customer-specific batch process that provides the ability to archive off units from M5. This process will remove all the historical data behind the units to limit the amount of data being searched when retrieving data from the M5 application.
The Look Back Value, Term, and Type defines which units and the cutoff for which of those units are eligible to be archived.
For example, if the term is set to years, the value is ‘7’, and the unit type is ‘Sold’, then units sold MORE than seven years ago would be eligible to be archived by the batch process.
IMPORTANT: once archived, the data cannot be recovered.
Unit/Component Record Purge
This batch process allows for the purging of disposed of (sold) assets after a determined amount of time has passed since the date of sale. The process selects and then permanently deletes asset records based on the defined batch process parameters when the user schedules the program.
Work Request Planner
The Work Request Planner is a batch process to be used in conjunction with the Shop Planning module.
For more details on the specific batch processes see the M5 Batch Processes User Guide.
System Flags
5032 - Running END-OF-PERIOD PART_HIST update separately? (Y/N) - This flag indicates if the Part History process which updates the parts usage information should be run separately from the EOP process.
5038 - Update ABC Class codes to the Part Inventory Location frame? (Y/N) - If the user sets the flag to Yes, then the ABC Class codes will be updated at the location level by the running of the PINVMM process (via EOP) following the Physical Inventory count.
5290 - Calculate depreciation based on capital journal? (Y/N) - If "N", for purposes of depreciation the capitalized value of the unit is the purchase cost plus capital adjustments (plus accessories and other things) as of the time end-of-period runs. If "Y", the capitalized value of the unit only includes the changes made prior to the end of the period being closed, excluding those after the period was closed and before EOP was run. "Y" also enables EOP to "catch up" and process depreciation for periods prior to the period being closed, including those values as a depreciation adjustment for the period being closed. The flag is not user-changeable because of potential double-counting if the flag is changed from "N" to "Y". Please contact M5 Support for help.
Last Updated: 10/08/2021
NOTE: To view a list of System Flags and Role Privileges that may impact this screen, hover over the screen title in M5 to display the bubble help/tooltip. At the bottom of the bubble help/tool tip, there is a Settings hyperlink. Click that hyperlink to display the list of flags and privileges.
Additional training and technical documents on this subject may be available in the Resource Files area.