Equipment objects in a facility can be of two different types, functional or serial. The main difference between a functional object and a serial object is that a functional object, after it has been created, cannot be moved to a different location or connected to a different parent object. A serial object can be moved to other object structures, as well as moved into inventory.
A functional object can be used to represent a function within the facility such as a Production Line, Air Conditioning System, Department, etc. Technical requirements are often defined for functional object to describe the requirement that needs to be in place in order for the function to perform. In IFS Applications, a functional object is a non-tangible object, and therefore there would never be a need to change a location of a functional object.
Non-movable serial objects, such as turbines or any other very large pieces of equipment that are not actually functional objects, but which will not be moved from their locations, can also be registered as functional objects with suitable object levels. For objects such as these that represent tangible parts, you also can define a part number and a serial number, just like you can for serial objects.
To indicate the position of the functional object, you must assign an object level to the object, indicating on which level of the facility's equipment structure that the functional object exists. To further indicate the facility location of a functional object, you can include the parent object's ID as part of the ID you enter for the functional object.
You can create functional objects manually or allow the system to create them automatically. If you create them manually, you will create the object in IFS/Equipment. If you use IFS/Project Delivery, you can allow the system to create the functional object automatically from tagged parts when transferring a build structure from IFS/Project Delivery.
In IFS/Equipment, you will use the Functional Objectwindow to enter, change, view, or delete information (such as technical data, costs, etc.) for a functional object.
In IFS/Service Management you may consider entering your customers as functional object, and connect the serial object you are selling or servicing to the functional object. This will give you an easy way to view all service parts that belong to a certain customer.
The operational status describes the functional object's status in the operative lifecycle. Possible values for functional objects are shown in the table below:
| Value | Definition |
| In Operation | The object is in use. When you enter and save a new object, the system will set the object's operational status as In Operation. |
| Out of Operation | The object is temporarily out of use due to activities such as routine maintenance, repair, management decision, or lack of need. |
| Scrapped | The object has been scrapped and is permanently out of use. |
Note: Although you cannot set objects to a Planned for Operation status from within IFS/Equipment Administration, objects that are delivered to IFS/Equipment Administration from IFS/Project Delivery may arrive in a Planned for Operation status. You can set these objects to In Operation in order to use them in IFS/Equipment Administration.
A functional object can be defined as a geographical object in order to function as a location, for example a service company may have a contract to take care of computers for an organization which has multiple geographic locations (e.g., airports) and multiple buildings at each location. Here you have a location-building-computer hierarchy where the computers might be moved between buildings or locations overtime.
Category objects are a type of functional objects that is used to group objects, e.g., Printers. A category object is created using the Category Object window, locations on the other hand are created using the Functional Object. Both locations and category objects are used in service contracts.