Increasing the length of a GL attribute when it is Must Be attribute.

Problem(Abstract)

Database upgraded from an earlier version of Maximo has GL attributes set to a length of 27 but client is not able to set new GL attributes in version 7.5 to the same length as they are Must Be fields with a length of 23.

Resolving the problem

In Maximo 7.5 the variables of type GL are set to a length of 23 by default on a new database. If the client has an upgraded database where his GL values are set to a length greater than 23 (for example 27) then it is not possible to change new GL variables in 7.5 such as the INVUSELINE.GLCREDITACCT attribute to a length of 27 because it is a Must Be attribute.
You can do this by changing your GL configuration to make
them all length 28, and then do it again to go back down to 27.
Try this on a test environment with your database and
application backed up.

Goto Database Configuration - Select Action - GL Account Configuration
Increase the length of one of the components (like the last one) by 1 so
that the total length is 28.

Apply configuration changes.

Now go back and decrease that last one by 1 so that the total is 27
again. Apply changes again.

The GL config process works on ALL attributes which have a maxtype of GL
rather than by using SAMEAS relationship information. (Same way that Field
Length and Format works on all AMOUNT and INTEGER maxtypes.) These all
have MUSTBE set to 1 to prevent them from being changed in the usual
way.

IBM Support