SAP Library / PM / EAM / Cheat sheet
SAP PM / EAM cheat sheet
24 objects in 3 groups. Each links to its full reviewed page.
T-Codes16
- IE01IE01 creates an equipment master record, the standalone technical object used to track a physical asset (pump, vehicle, motor) through its maintenance life. The structural fact that causes most confusion: equipment category is fixed at creation and cannot be changed later, and the installation link to a functional location is stored as a separate time-dependent record, not as a permanent attribute of the equipment itself.
- IE02IE02 is the transaction for changing an existing equipment master record in Plant Maintenance and Enterprise Asset Management: installing or dismantling equipment at a functional location, updating classification, status, partner, warranty or organizational data. The structural fact behind most confusion is that equipment master data is split between time-independent data and time-dependent data, so many changes create a new dated record instead of overwriting the old one.
- IE03IE03 displays an equipment master record: technical data, location and cost center assignment, structure links to functional locations or superior equipment, classification and status. It is read-only. The confusion it generates almost always comes from its time-dependent segment: installation location, cost center and functional location assignment live in date-bound slices, so the same equipment number can show different assignments depending on the date being displayed.
- IL01IL01 creates a functional location master record, the fixed point in a technical hierarchy where equipment is installed and maintenance work is planned. It captures the location label, structure indicator, organizational data (plant, planning plant, cost center) and the superior functional location link. The label's format and the superior location field are maintained independently, which is the main source of hierarchy inconsistencies.
- IL02IL02 is the transaction used to change an existing functional location master record in Plant Maintenance: structure data, location and account assignment, classification, partner assignments, and status. It does not create a new functional location (that is IL01) and does not just view one (IL03). Most confusion around IL02 comes from the structure indicator, which fixes how the hierarchy and superior location can be edited after creation.
- IL03IL03 displays the master record of a functional location - the technical object identifier used to represent a place, system boundary, or asset position in the plant hierarchy. It shows classification, partner, organizational and structure data but is display-only; the actual equipment installed there has to be checked separately through its time-dependent installation history, not from this record itself.
- IP01IP01 is used to create a preventive maintenance plan with cycle, scheduling parameters and maintenance item/object assignments. It is most useful when recurring maintenance must generate calls, notifications or orders according to time/performance strategy. Start from the exact business object, organizational scope and status, then prove the result through document flow, logs or master data before applying a corrective action.
- IP02IP02 changes an existing preventive maintenance plan, including permitted cycle or strategy data, scheduling parameters, and maintenance items. Use it when an approved maintenance-policy change requires the plan itself to be updated. Review already generated calls before changing scheduling data, because modifying the master plan does not automatically mean existing orders or notifications should be rewritten.
- IP03IP03 displays a maintenance plan without changing it. It is the safest starting point for understanding cycle or strategy, scheduling parameters, maintenance items, technical-object assignment, and other plan settings when expected maintenance calls are missing or mistimed. Pair the master-data view with actual scheduling results rather than inferring call behavior from the cycle alone.
- IP10IP10 runs scheduling for one maintenance plan, calculating due dates for its maintenance items based on the assigned strategy or cycle set, and generates the maintenance call (order or notification) when a due date is reached. It is a diagnostic and manual-trigger transaction; production scheduling for the full plan population normally runs as a background job through IP30.
- IP30IP30 performs deadline monitoring for multiple maintenance plans. It checks selected plans against their scheduling parameters and can generate due maintenance calls such as orders or notifications. When a call is missing, first verify the plan's cycle, call horizon, scheduling status, start data, and selection parameters before treating the situation as a program error.
- IW21IW21 creates a plant maintenance notification, the record used to document a malfunction, damage, or maintenance request against a piece of equipment or a functional location. It is separate from a maintenance order: the notification captures what happened and why, the order (created separately or from the notification) plans and executes the work and carries the cost.
- IW22IW22 changes an already-created Plant Maintenance notification: adding damage codes, causes, tasks, activities, partners, long text, or closing it. It is the counterpart to IW21 (create) and IW23 (display only). The structural fact that trips up most users: the notification and any linked order are separate objects, and notification status controls which fields can still be edited.
- IW31IW31 creates a maintenance order in Plant Maintenance, the document that plans and tracks labor, materials, and costs for a repair or preventive job. The order type selected on the initial screen drives almost everything downstream: number range, screen layout, settlement profile, and whether the order must be linked to a notification or technical object.
- IW32IW32 changes an existing PM or CS maintenance order: header data, operations, components, dates, and status. Most confusion comes from the order's system status controlling which fields are editable — a technically completed or settled order will silently reject changes to costs or components that were freely editable before release.
- IW38IW38 selects a list of maintenance or service orders by plant, order type, planner group, work center or status, and lets the planner change several of them at once directly from the ALV list or drill into individual orders. It is the multi-order counterpart to IW32, used for mass release, mass technical completion, mass closing and date shifts.
Key Tables5
- EQUIEQUI holds one row per equipment master record - the technical object representing a physical piece of maintainable equipment. It stores identifying and classifying data (category, manufacturer, serial number, acquisition date) and the object number that links the equipment into status management, notifications, and orders. Installation location and history live in EQUZ, not EQUI.
- IFLOTIFLOT stores one row per functional location, the technical key TPLNR, and its master attributes such as category, structure indicator, planning and maintenance plant, cost center and planner group. It is the functional-location counterpart to EQUI for equipment. It does not hold equipment installation history, texts, or classification data, which live in separate linked tables.
- MPLAMPLA is the header table for a maintenance plan in Plant Maintenance. One row represents one maintenance plan, holding its category (single cycle, strategy, or multiple counter), assigned strategy, and status object. The technical objects covered by the plan, the task list, and order type sit at the maintenance item level in MPOS, not in MPLA itself.
- MPOSMPOS stores maintenance items, the individual lines within a maintenance plan (MPLA) that tie a specific technical object, via the generic object list key ILOAN, to a task list (PLNTY, PLNNR, PLNAL). One row is one maintenance item; a plan can contain several items scheduled together on the same cycle or strategy calls.
- VIQMELVIQMEL is the database view SAP uses to select and list plant maintenance notifications, joining the generic notification header table QMEL with the PM-specific extension that carries equipment, functional location and breakdown data. One row is one notification. It underlies notification list transactions such as IW28 and IW29 and most custom PM notification reports, rather than being a table application code writes to directly.
Common Issues3
- Preventive maintenance plan not scheduling the next callMost commonly the previous call's maintenance order was never technically completed, and the plan's completion requirement flag is holding the next cycle back. Other frequent causes are a missing or failed deadline monitoring background job, a plan or item deactivation flag left set, or a performance-based plan waiting on a counter reading that nobody posted.
- Maintenance order not settling to the cost centreMaintenance order settlement to a cost centre fails when the settlement rule is missing or incomplete, the settlement profile does not permit cost centre as a receiver category, the cost centre is locked or outside its validity period, the CO posting period is closed, or the order has not been technically completed. Check the settlement rule in the order first, then the settlement profile, then the cost centre master and CO period status.
- Equipment not assigned to the functional locationThe equipment master shows a functional location value but the equipment does not appear when the location's installed equipment list is pulled, or the field is blank entirely. This almost always means the location was written directly into the equipment master field without running a formal install, so no time-dependent installation history record was created, and structure or usage-list reports that read that history find nothing.