Release, execution and confirmation

A planned order is not yet work. Release is the gate between planning and doing. SAP's training lists what release unlocks: printing shop papers, withdrawing material, posting goods receipts, entering time confirmations and completing the work. Before release, SAP can check materials and production resources and tools, and permits assigned to the technical object can be copied into the order and control whether release is allowed.

Shop papers and execution

Released orders can be printed: job tickets, operation control tickets, pick lists, time tickets and completion slips, depending on the order type. With output management active, printing runs through it instead. At Contoso, the mechanic gets the job on a tablet, while the storeroom gets the pick list. The bearing and belt are issued to the order at 11:30. Work starts.

Time confirmation

When the mechanic finishes, he confirms the operation: actual work, start and end, and whether it is a final confirmation. SAP's training describes three kinds of confirmation work: time confirmation against order operations, technical confirmation of findings (object part, damage, cause) on the notification, and measurement and counter readings. Technicians use the Perform Maintenance Jobs app; planners can use IW41 for single confirmations, IW44 and IW48 for collective ones.

The technical confirmation matters as much as the hours. The mechanic records on the notification that the object part was the spindle bearing, the damage was overheating and the cause was missed lubrication, and he updates the malfunction end and breakdown duration. When the notification is later completed, this data moves into the maintenance history, the basis for every reliability analysis.

Permits deserve a test of their own where they are used. Detroit requires an electrical lockout permit for any work on the winding machine drives. Assigned to the technical objects, the permit copies into each order and, depending on its settings, can block release until it is issued. Contoso tests both outcomes: release refused without the permit, release allowed once the permit is issued, with the issuer and time recorded.

Confirmation habits make or break maintenance data. Contoso asks technicians to confirm at the end of each job, not at the end of the week, to enter actual start and end times rather than defaults, and to mark the final confirmation only when the operation is truly finished. Depending on settings, a final confirmation can also clear open reservations and remaining capacity for that operation, so marking it too early can leave the storeroom without a reservation for parts that are still needed.

Walkthrough: confirming operation 0010

1. The mechanic opens the job in Perform Maintenance Jobs (planners can use IW41), selects operation 0010 and enters 4.5 h actual work, actual start and end.
2. He sets final confirmation because the bearing is replaced; remaining work is set to zero.
3. He records findings on the notification: object part spindle bearing, damage overheated, cause lubrication missed; malfunction end 14:20.
4. He enters the vibration reading on the machine's measuring point, if the job asked for one.
5. The planner checks the result: operation status CNF, order cost shows 4.5 h × $95, the work center's cost center 17101102 is credited.