What is CMMS and Why Your Business Needs CMMS Software

In this article:

• What does CMMS stand for and what does it mean?
• What CMMS software should cover
• What are the benefits of a CMMS system?
• How CMMS software is transforming maintenance
• Selecting a CMMS for your business- Information overload?
• Questions that will actually help you choose the right CMMS software
• Timly for Asset Management – Comprehensive CMMS and more

What does CMMS stand for and what does it mean?

CMMS stands for computerised maintenance management systems, and refers to a SaaS (software as a service) solution that automates and often greatly improves a company’s maintenance procedures.

A CMMS software solution will keep an inventory of all of your company’s assets – digital or physical – that require maintenance, and inform you when any type of maintenance is required. More advanced systems may also include information about related assets and resources – for instance you might be informed if the tools and supplies you need for maintenance are available, if the required personnel is on hand, if there are any internal or external reporting or compliance requirements, and other related data.

These extended features are often found in full inventory management tools, like our own Timly Asset Tracking solution, which work beautifully for maintenance management and which your company would use in many other ways as well.

What CMMS maintenance software should cover

While CMMS systems originally focused on critical hardware, like vehicles and factory equipment, with the availability, affordability and ease of use of cloud-based maintenance management systems, and especially more complete asset management systems, it makes sense to use CMMS for anything and everything that needs regular or scheduled maintenance. CMMS software should cover the maintenance and upkeep of:

∗  IT equipment

∗ Office Equipment

∗ All other machinery or physical equipment

∗ Computer software

∗ Company records and personnel records

∗ Safety documentation and procedures

∗ Legal and regulatory compliance documentation and procedures

∗ Manufacturing equipment

∗ Vehicles and fleets

∗ Tools and supplies

∗ Robotics

What are the benefits of a CMMS system?

Ensures proper maintenance – The most basic and most important benefit of a comprehensive maintenance management system is that it makes sure all aspects of maintenance are performed on schedule, and that nothing is overlooked, delayed or forgotten.

Makes maintenance easier and more reliable – Manual maintenance schedules need to be physically accessed at the right time, but computerised scheduling and reminders bring the required maintenance information to you when needed, saving time and effort and eliminating errors.

Keeps operations smooth and problem-free – Proper and timely maintenance ensures that your critical operations continue to run, without slowdowns or stoppages, and that there are also no interruptions because of software or IT issues, legal, personnel or regulatory oversights.

Ensures legal and regulatory compliance – Both physical maintenance and the proper maintenance of digital assets like health and safety documentation, employee records, licences and regulatory compliance documents, can guarantee complete compliance with environmental, legal, insurance and worker safety, and other internal and external regulations.

Saves time and money – It cannot be overstated how much any company or organisation can save by making sure all equipment, all software and all records are properly maintained – including avoiding productivity slowdowns or stoppages, extending the life of nearly any asset, and eliminating expenses related to regulatory noncompliance.

Includes all assets and systems – Some computerised maintenance solutions focus on a single system, process or asset, like IT equipment, factory machinery or automotive fleets, but when you use a holistic inventory tracking system for maintenance management it can easily automate every maintenance procedure in your organisation.

How CMMS is transforming maintenance

Looking at the above list, which admittedly is just a partial accounting of all of the benefits of computerised maintenance solutions, it is easy to see how CMMS has radically changed maintenance procedures across industries.

That said, even today some companies and organisations still use manual maintenance schedules and work assignment protocols, often employing local software like Excel or complex relational databases, or even paper-based physical schedules and inventories, for keeping on top of maintenance.

But even for the smallest business this can be overwhelming – physical schedules must be consulted in a timely manner, software programs must themselves be maintained, and there is still so much manual intervention on so many levels that such systems are often hugely and unnecessarily time-consuming, are prone to all sorts of errors and oversights, and may not include all assets which require maintenance.

With modern computerised maintenance solutions all of this is automated. There is no need for manual intervention, since the software will always keep you fully abreast of all maintenance work,, and failures and oversights are further reduced or eliminated because all aspects of that maintenance – the tools and personnel required, the exact nature of the work, the stock and availability of required supplies, compliance and accountability issues and much more – can be included in your maintenance reports.

Truly comprehensive, reliable and timely maintenance of all your invaluable assets can be simple and easy, and will ensure that those assets are more reliable, work better and last longer, that employees are freed to do more important tasks, reporting and compliance on many levels is improved and simplified, and productivity (not to mention revenue) can increase dramatically.

Selecting a CMMS for your business- Information overload?

If you’ve been researching CMMS solutions for even a short time, you may well have noticed that guides to selecting the best CMMS solutions can be extraordinarily long and complex, to the point even that they seem to make selecting the right solution rather more difficult than easy.

For example, it is often recommended that you compile a list of every single maintenance procedure currently performed in your company, and even maintenance that is not, but should be, regularly executed. And there are so many other things that you are expected to know before making a decision:

∗ Complete protocols around software, hardware and documentation maintenance

∗ Understanding preventive, predictive, and prescriptive maintenance

∗ Best practices in successful maintenance management

∗ Maintenance as it relates to regulatory compliance

∗ Interrelations of different systems and assets and their maintenance

∗ Specialised software for your industry 

…and so much more.

However, CMMS is supposed to make your life, and your company’s or organisation’s maintenance procedures, easier. Which is why we will now look at some key questions you should ask for looking for the right software solution for your needs.

Questions that will actually help you choose the right CMMS software

So let’s take a practical approach instead, and forge a much simpler path to a CMMS software solution that will definitely work for you and your specific inventory needs – whether your operation is small or large, simple or complex.

The things we really should consider are:

Maintenance-specific or complete asset management? – Software that focuses only on maintenance scheduling is not necessarily less expensive, and is rarely easier to use. Full asset management solutions, on the other hand, are often surprisingly affordable, and can offer even more complete maintenance management, in how they consider all of your assets, supplies, equipment, personnel and documentation.

Cloud-based or local? – There is little doubt these days that cloud-based solutions are the way forward, as they offer much greater reliability, more consistent centralised data sets and processing, universal compatibility across all devices and operating systems, better remote and on-site access, timely automatic updates and more – and are often more affordable than local software implementation.

How much are you willing to spend? – Though you may well find that even the most capable, complete and useful cloud-based computerised maintenance management systems, or even complete inventory management solutions, are much more affordable than you could imagine.

How easy is it to implement and use? – The best CMMS systems should be powerful and comprehensive, thinking of everything you’ll need and many things you might not have considered, but their user interface should always be simple and intuitive.

Who is the solution provider? – The company you choose is crucial, as you need to know you’re getting a complete, well designed and reliable solution, unfailing availability and true data redundancy, and actual customer service and support.