Best CMMS Software

Author: Sonali Gaikwad

CMMS stands for computerized maintenance management software. Top CMMS software is designed to organize, plan, measure, track and simplify maintenance operations on a digital platform. It is also known as Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software. CMMS also has applications for service providers. It offers measurable returns on your investment.

These solutions are used by manufacturers and other organizations that need to manage equipment and other assets. Assets are an important and often expensive investment for any business, and CMMS solutions help optimize asset use and productivity. This software covers all stages of the lifecycle of an asset, from acquisition all the way to disposal. The technicians rely on CMMS to keep assets in optimum conditions, and management teams use it to make informed decisions regarding the improvement of asset utilization.

CMMS Software provides a central storage location for the data and information of a company’s assets. The software manages the company’s work and materials management. It is a bundle of applications used to manage the organization database regarding maintenance operations.

Any industry with valuable assets needs maintenance software. There are several industries that can benefit from a CMMS system including Manufacturing, Facilities, Equipment, Building, Property, Hospitality, Restaurants, Churches, Fleet, School, Government, Gyms, Golf, etc. The software is designed to work well for both small businesses and large corporations.

There are two types of CMMS software – Cloud-based CMMS software and on-premise CMMS software.

  • Cloud-based CMMS – Cloud-based or SaaS-based software is a computerized maintenance management software that runs online through a software provider. The software provider can look after all IT, hosting, security, and backup of the system and the software can be accessed through any computer with an internet connection and web browser. Cloud or SaaS-based solutions do not require you to configure servers or perform server maintenance. The software can update automatically on a daily basis with no hassle on your part. A good CMMS vendor provides an advanced security and storage features, including frequent data backups.
  • On-premise CMMS – An on-premise CMMS is a traditional way of deploying a CMMS. It installs the software at your office on your servers. On-premise CMMS installation provides more control over the design and functionality of the CMMS and complete data privacy. On-premise installation are maintained by IT staff, and often require a large setup fee and ongoing server maintenance costs. This installation also includes higher costs, complex implementation, constantly maintain back-up, and update hardware and software. An on-premise CMMS can update anywhere from every 3 months to once a year.

Features of CMMS Software

  • CMMS simplifies maintenance operations and help the maintenance teams to maintain the record of all assets and keep a historical record of processed work. It eliminates the need for spreadsheets and paper-based systems that saves your time and minimize human errors.
  • CMMS can organize and track all of your work orders, scheduling of preventive maintenance (PMs), receiving external work requests, managing assets, manage part inventories and generating maintenance reports. It also manages preventive maintenance tasks, inventory, safety, and more.
  • Work Order Management includes to check what work needs to be done, who needs to do it, how much time it takes to complete, how many parts were used, what invoices were needed and much more. The Work Orders can be connected to specific assets for making critical business decisions if an asset should be replaced or allowed to run for another few years.
  • CMMS helps to develop better maintenance practices, proving the value of maintenance, cut down the overall maintenance costs, reduces equipment downtime, automates preventative maintenance scheduling, extend asset life and the fuel used by production facilities to increase ROI.
  • CMMS offers the preventative maintenance benefits including longer equipment life, less energy consumption, fewer production delays, and much more. The maintenance software can create a platform where you can automatically schedule your work for months or even years. The planned schedule is automatically sent out for the right person with the work reminders. All preventative maintenance schedule can be tracked so that you should know how much time it takes and if they are being done on time.
  • CMMS system automates work requests process by allowing anyone from your organization to submit a work request. Then the work request will automatically deliver to the right maintenance team member. When the work is completed, the person (who requested the work) receives a notice for its completion along with its completion notes.

Benefits of CMMS Software

  • CMMS systems enable you to track anything including work orders, asset history, preventative maintenance, predictive maintenance, labor costs, parts costs and more. It can also records and can attach manuals, PDFs, serial numbers and any other piece of data you need recorded. An extensive repository of information for each asset helps the businesses to take critical decisions.
  • Best CMMS software keeps a running inventory of critical parts that are needed for your maintenance operations. The parts or tools are integrated with work orders and preventive maintenance so that the maintenance team can easily check if you have the right parts in stock before performing the work.
  • CMMS helps in putting your data and reports to work for you and helps to answer the questions you were never able to answer before – How many features or modules are you trying to implement? What asset is breaking down the most? Do you have maintenance team buy-in? Is the right maintenance work being done? What asset is costing me the most? Is maintenance work done on time? Where is my maintenance team’s time being spent? Which of my maintenance team members is performing best? How difficult to use is the CMMS software you are choosing? How much time can you put into the implementation?

CMMS software used for –

  • CMMS software has a lot of tools and can perform several tasks to maximize the system’s value and using it to improve maintenance.
  • CMMS system can help managers to build, review, prioritize, assign, and track work orders from their desktop, mobile phone or tablet.
  • CMMS can track how your equipment is being used and how it’s performing with including details-operational hours, mileage, minute-by-minute gauge readings, and many more.
  • Technical Individuals are alerted for new work orders and can see key details, like checklists, asset manuals, and repair histories. They can mark a job as complete, input notes, and switch the status of an asset from offline to online. The managers are notified about completed work orders and can immediately file them away to use in reports whenever they need to.
  • CMMS software produces asset profiles that includes every detail about a machine within a few clicks, including maintenance checklists, failure codes, required safety equipment, etc.
  • The system simplifies every step of the maintenance work order process and provides a better way to collect, analyze, access, and apply equipment data to increase productivity.
  • The maintenance software creates custom reports on everything from asset downtime to the cost of inventory in minutes. This will help to know about a 360-degree view of your maintenance operation.
  • CMMS software allows for preventive maintenance schedules by setting up time, usage or condition-based maintenance triggers.
  • It can also connect your CMMS with other software at your company, and shares accurate and up-to-date maintenance data the right systems and people.

Difference between CMMS and EAM

Computerized maintenance management system software is also known as an enterprise asset management software that helps to improve your maintenance operations, teams, inventory, workflows, compliance, and other processes or activities. CMMS and EAM software term are often used interchangeably while searching for maintenance management systems. At a previous time, CMMS and EAM were considered as different solutions for maintenance management. However, with the introduction of modern IT systems, the varied lines between the two systems have obscured. From time to time, CMMS and EAM differences have evolved from software functionality to a maintenance state of mind.

CMMS system maintains electronic databases of information about the maintenance operation of an organization. CMMS used to schedule and dispatch work, improve efficiency, help management and support regulatory compliance.

EAM is the optimal life cycle management of an enterprise’s physical assets. EAM includes business operations, maintenance and decommissioning, replacement of a plant, equipment and facilities, design and many more.

Conclusion –

Maintenance is essential in every industry, and CMMS system can help businesses plan and manage that maintenance. CMMS helps the maintenance departments in the process of preparing for audits. The audit logs and automated reports helps an organization to track key metrics and immediately extract asset information and tasks performed on it.