A work order that is generated from grouped or both grouped and merged PM actions is a work order containing of work tasks (and for a merge also work task steps) from more than one generated PM action. The grouping of PM actions can be done using either a PM Group ID or a PM Grouping Rule ID (contains one or more parameters). The PM actions within a grouped or merged work order can be for different equipment or linear asset objects and can be set up with any type of generation criteria (calendar, event or condition) but they all need to fulfill the valid criteria for a group and merge to take place.
The reason for grouping or merging several PM actions into same work order is that it will be a benefit to execute them together. One reason for grouping or merging PM actions together can be that they have very much in common regarding planning and execution, but also that they are small and easy tasks that put little demand on preparation and history, such as inspection and lubrication.
Grouped or merged work orders are generated when a generation routine (calendar, event or condition) is run and the system sees that there are PM actions to fall due that will be part of a group/merge.
A work order that is manually generated from a PM action will always end up in a separate work order that is standalone, even if the PM action could have been enabled for both group and merge. However, when a PM Grouping Rule is used on the PM action, Merge functionality will not be applicable. Also, a generation routine (calendar, event or condition) runs on PM actions belonging to a certain Rule ID will always end up in a separate work order that is standalone.
For PM actions that are grouped or merged, Work Types defined on the PM action headers and Work List lines are preserved on the resulting work order according to the PM group/merge logic. When the corresponding Work List Work Types are the same between the PM actions, they are merged into a single work order with one work task containing separate work task steps, and the Work Type from each originating Work List is retained on the resulting work task steps. When the Work List Work Types differ between the PM actions, a single grouped work order is still created, but separate work tasks are created for each originating PM action so that each work task keeps its original Work Type without being overridden by the other PM action.