What is a CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System)?
Managing maintenance can be challenging at times. This is especially true if you don’t have CMMS maintenance software or don’t know how to use it to its fullest.
You can break down maintenance management into three main things: getting maintenance regularly scheduled, making sure equipment runs at its best, and ensuring maintenance work is completed according to schedule. As if managing these tasks isn’t tricky enough, you must also make them fit within your budget. Doing these three things correctly can make sure your company experiences as few breakdowns as possible.
This struggle is common, but there is a tool to make it at all a bit simpler. A Computerized Maintenance Management System, commonly called a CMMS, can help you manage all of these tasks and more.
A CMMS is explicitly designed to help you address every aspect of your maintenance operations. It’s easy to see why many maintenance managers rely on a CMMS to get their jobs done. If you set up a CMMS, you can reduce reactive maintenance, increase productivity, decrease facility downtime, and significantly lower part spend.
What is a CMMS?
The first step to understanding how to use any tool to its capacity is understanding what makes it work in the first place. A CMMS is no exception. Using a CMMS can have many benefits, but you can’t take advantage of them if you don’t know what they are.
People often have questions regarding CMMS functionalities and how to implement this software correctly. In essence, a CMMS stores information regarding work orders, preventative maintenance schedules, assets, logs, work histories, inventory, vendors, purchase orders, and maintenance reports. As you might expect, managing all of that information can be a real pain. If you’re using multiple systems to track these various aspects, and they don’t communicate very well, keeping them updated can become a nightmare.
That’s why a good CMMS will store and track all of that for you, leaving you to focus on the more critical aspects of maintenance management. It also means that you can access all of this information from one spot, decreasing the likelihood of misunderstandings and miscalculations.
A good CMMS will also automate assignments, thus holding your team accountable. It should also provide reports in real-time, making them more actionable than they would otherwise be. Not to mention that automation may dramatically decrease the amount of manual work involved in completing these tasks.
How does a CMMS System Work?
Due to ever-evolving technology, most modern CMMS systems have become cloud-based in their technology. Working from the cloud means that you can save all of your vital data and essential information in one place, then access it from the same place later.
This singular centralized location is often referred to as a database. You can typically access it from any device with working internet capabilities, requiring only your designated username and password.
How is a CMMS Used?
You can use and implement e a typical CMMS using the following steps:
Maintenance Managers do All of the SetUp Work
When implementing a new CMMS, the maintenance manager’s job is to combine the right equipment and assets with the correct work order schedules and preventative maintenance information for the maintenance team in real-time. You can also set up a CMMS to submit reactive work orders through a work request ticketing system.
Maintenance Techs and Operators Access the CMMS to Fulfill Work Orders
After the maintenance manager sets up the CMMS, the maintenance technicians and operators can use a mobile app to access the CMMS. From there, they can access their work orders, complete assignments, and report which orders have and have not been completed. They can also access any other information stored in the CMMS relevant to their job or current assignment.
Maintenance Managers can use Either the Mobile or Desktop CMMS to Monitor and Manage Work Reports
Maintenance managers can use their own unique KPIs to take the information they put in the CMMS and the information added by maintenance techs and operators. The best CMMS can allow you to use that information to build custom reporting KPIs based on your individual and company needs.
Other Useful Types of Facility Management Software
While a CMMS is quickly becoming a must-have tool for maintenance management leaders, it’s not the only kind of helpful management tool out there.
SimpleFM offers loads of software designed specifically to make facility maintenance and maintenance management jobs as hassle-free and straightforward as possible. From accounting, dental, and food-related services to credit unions, fitness studios, and warehousing- SimpleFM has something for everything.
Click here to learn more or start working with SimpleFM to make your management maintenance a breeze.
