There are many ways to configure and customize Maximo from the user interface down to the object level with Java programming.  With so many options, how do you choose the right one?  The Conditional Expression Manager, Automation Script and Escalation are three separate apps to manage customization changes and each has their own functionality.  We will go through each one so you can pick the right tool when it comes to your own customizations.

Conditional Expression Manager

This app is less similar to the other two applications as this is more geared towards the user interface or screens of Maximo.

The Conditional Expression Manager application is a library of conditional classes and expressions. You can apply the conditions to fields, tabs, and other user interface controls in applications to control the presentation. You can also apply conditions to security groups to control access to applications, controls, and data.

With this app, you can hide or show aspects of the screen, change colors of fields based on the any condition you may define.  This condition can be applied to the screen as well as security groups.  Since this is only related to user interfaces, this app doesn’t allow you to make any changes to the underlying data at the object level.

Escalations

An escalation in Maximo is a cron task, which is a scheduled job that is performed a specific number of times based on the schedule and without user interaction.

You use the Escalations application to automatically monitor critical processes in your enterprise. You can either create an escalation or customize a predefined escalation to suit your business needs.

With the escalation, you can choose to trigger any predefined action or create a custom action with custom Java programming.  To trigger an escalation, you first have to query for records and the escalation can potentially trigger your action for one or many records.

Automation Scripts

This is the newest way to customize Maximo and probably the most powerful.

With the Automation Scripts application, you can create scripts to automate tasks based on the events or attributes of a business object, or based on actions or custom conditions. You can create a script in any of several supported scripting languages, and execute the script without having to recompile Java files or restart the server.

Programming knowledge is required to use the Automation Script and requires a good level of understanding of the Maximo Business Objects (MBO) development to get the full use of this app.  You can run custom code to basically do anything you want from showing an error dialog, updating other fields and much more.  An Automation Script will trigger based on a single business object, attribute or action and can trigger even from a MIF integration.

Key Differences

1. Conditional Expression Manager
   • Used for user interfaces only
2. Escalations
   • Runs on a schedule
   • Runs without user interaction
   • Trigger an action for a set of records
3. Automation Scripts
   • Runs based on the events or attributes of a single business object
   • Most flexible but requires programming knowledge