What We Saw at Fall MUWG 2022 – The Next Evolution of Maximo

Introduction 

At this year’s Fall MUWG conference, attendees were focused on one topic above all else: evolution. Whether it was upgrading to IBM’s Maximo Application Suite (MAS), integrating Maximo and Esri’s Utility Network (UN), or looking at the future of Maximo integration, everyone was excited about the latest evolution of Maximo. This blog will look at what that focus on evolution means for the future of MAS and how Geonexus can help organizations benefit from integrating Maximo with other systems. 

Upgrading to Maximo Application Suite (MAS) 

MAS is a notable evolution for Maximo, bringing a host of improvements to the platform while also making substantial changes to core features. The suite includes tools like Maximo Manage, Monitor, and Health, all of which work together to enhance your organization’s EAM capabilities. In MAS, developers, admins, and buyers will see the widest variety of new features and other changes, including the additions of new development and testing processes, ways to install and run MAS components, and simplified licensing models. While end users may not see many major changes in their workflows, every section of Maximo users is likely to find some new benefits within MAS. 

For example, new development features allow developers to add new and necessary functionality to their MAS implementations, while the new testing features simultaneously make it easier to do so. For admins and buyers, being able to purchase, install and run individual MAS components simplifies the implementation process while ensuring your organization still has access to the necessary tools you need for your workflow. Admins will also find it easier to manage users, configure systems, and upgrade individual components using MAS’ new component installation model. 

Overall, the upgrade to MAS is one of the most substantial system-wide changes Maximo has seen in a long time and is clearly meant to be the beginning of a new direction for the platform.  

Maximo and the Utility Network 

While the introduction of MAS is one of the biggest changes to Maximo in years, Esri’s Utility Network is an evolution of the same caliber on the GIS side of the modern enterprise asset management alignment. With the combination of Maximo and ArcGIS as two of the most popular systems in today’s asset management tech stack, many of our customers have been realizing the gains of a Maximo–GIS integration pairing for years. The Utility Network and its effect on existing ArcGIS-Maximo integrations has been a popular topic with our customers for the past year. Judging by the amount of buzz around this topic at Fall MUWG, designing a path to the UN and implementing a Maximo-UN integration solution is a primary focus for most Maximo organizations across the globe. 

The move to the UN brings plenty of challenges for organizations with integrated systems (which we’ve covered in other blogs) but at Fall MUWG, attendees were especially interested in how to conserve their unique ArcGIS-Maximo workflows during and after the move from the GN to the UN. To appease those interests, presenters highlighted how the UN is perfectly suited for integrating with Maximo due to the UN’s new asset-focused model. 

The asset-focused model is a major change for the UN. For example, pieces of equipment in the UN are now referred to as “Assets” for the first time. Additionally, labels such as “Street Light”, “Switch”, and “Regulator” are now simply known as “Electric Devices”, and this naming scheme is applied to other asset types throughout the UN – not just electrical equipment. While at first this change may seem like it will complicate system integration between the UN and Maximo, the opposite is true. JSON Mapping Conditions can be used to separate equipment based on the UN’s Asset Group and Asset Type domains. Because field mapping is more consistent and there are now less JSON records to manage compared to past versions of ArcGIS, synchronization with Maximo is easier and faster with the UN. 

Integration and the Future of Maximo 

The most important takeaway from this year’s Fall MUWG is that it’s not just about Maximo anymore – organizations all over the world are integrating Maximo with as many GIS, CIS, and other systems within their enterprise. The benefits of integrating Maximo with other systems are clearer they’ve ever been, and it appears that the utilities industry is starting to explore broader integrations as organizations work to unify all enterprise systems and enhance data quality across teams. In addition to the recent updates to Maximo, it’s important to remember that so many other systems are also innovating in their own ways. Taking advantage of these innovations is perhaps the biggest key to unlocking the true potential of every system, including Maximo. 

At our booth, we helped organizations understand what they could gain from integrating Maximo with their other enterprise systems. We discussed leveraging Geonexus to drive access to integrated data, how to spot and fix a poor integration, and how we can help simplify the process of maintaining a Maximo integration while moving to the UN. We gave demos on how the Geonexus Integration Platform can be used to manage data from multiple systems in one place, and explained how our platform’s reporting functionality can reinforce data integrity and save countless hours that would otherwise be spent hunting for and fixing erroneous data.  

We’re always happy to showcase the capabilities of our platform to interested organizations, but this year’s Fall MUWG attendees were especially intrigued by the Geonexus Integration Platform’s potential to improve their workflows and futureproof their integrated systems. Plus, attendees learned that our platform’s loosely coupled integration approach eliminates the need to rebuild integrations to take advantage of major system upgrades like Maximo is receiving. Geonexus handles all the latest updates for every system in our extensive library of connectors, avoiding version lock and ensuring your systems will always be up to date. 

As an IBM partner and an expert in enterprise system integration, Geonexus has been innovating alongside the latest versions of Maximo for years. We’re thrilled to see all the new features aimed at improving Maximo’s compatibility with other systems, and after all the optimism we found at Fall MUWG, we’re excited to see what the next major evolution of Maximo will look like. 

More About Geonexus 

At Geonexus, our mission is to ensure the integrity and reliability of enterprise data to support effective decision-making. The Geonexus Integration Platform is an enterprise-grade integration platform that’s easy to use, reliable and includes out-of-the-box connectors for Esri® ArcGIS®, IBM® Maximo, SAP®, ABB® Ellipse, Oracle® Utilities, and other leading enterprise systems. Asset-intensive organizations across the globe use the Geonexus Integration Platform in industries including utilities, telecommunications, pipeline, transportation, and government.