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.
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.
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:
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.
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 Configure Connectors topic in the System Management Help system.
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.
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:
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 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.
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:
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.
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.
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