What is CMMS Software

CMMS Software stands for “Computerized Maintenance Management System”. A CMMS software package helps maintenance teams record work orders, track maintenance tasks, and store all information related to the organization’s maintenance operations. CMMS greatly helps improve communication between employees and helps management make more informed decisions about preventative maintenance and resource allocation.
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This is all done through a software package which can be either hosted by the company or more increasingly popular, hosted on the cloud. Other features of a CMMS system include scheduling, asset management, part and inventory tracking, and cost breakdown.

1. Work Order Management
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Work Order management is the core for any CMMS system- whether it is a preventative maintenance work order, inspection sheet, or a breakdown maintenance work order. Your CMMS should be able to assign work orders to individuals or teams and do it in a manner that is fast and efficient. With many CMMS’s you have the option to customize work orders, assign it to a location, and an asset.

2. Manage Work Order Requests
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Allow anyone from within your facility to submit work order requests. From your mobile device you can approve, reject, and follow up with request tickets. Respond to work requests promptly from anywhere and update the requester as jobs are being completed.

3. Asset Lifecycle History
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A CMMS should track the entire lifecycle of an asset from the original purchase date up until it gets decommissioned. It should hold a preventative maintenance schedule and also show a history of previous work orders performed on a particular asset. In layman’s terms, your CMMS should be the data center for all things related to your asset.

4. Group Collaboration
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Group collaboration is typically not something CMMS systems do well, but us at UpKeep are committed to making communication better between everyone in your team. We think real-time updates and direct messaging is going to be crucial in the future for CMMS systems. So what does this mean in practice? Well, if a piece of equipment breaks down and we need to communicate with a group of people what went wrong and how to fix it – it should all be done within the CMMS system in real time.
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In short a CMMS is a software package that maintains a database about an organization’s maintenance operations. This information helps technicians do their jobs more efficiently and help make better, more informed decisions about costs and resources. UpKeep does all of this and more and if you want to see what you can do with UpKeep, we’d love for you to give it a shot!

Before deciding which maintenance management features a company needs, it’s important to establish a goal or purpose for the system. What specific result do you want the CMMS to deliver? Maybe it’s increasing asset availability, or reducing maintenance costs. Either way, maintenance managers should meet with company executives to determine their goal; from there, you can work with the software vendor to choose a customized feature set that can help meet that goal.

Mobility is the hottest topic in maintenance management software today. Maintenance departments are always looking to streamline their daily tasks, and a mobile CMMS can essentially eliminate the time needed to travel between the office and the worksite. Aside from time savings, managers gain oversight on preventive maintenance tasks and work orders no matter where they may be.

Maintenance teams need real-time information to make the best decisions about which work orders are a priority, who is assigned each task and the location of each technician. When everyone is on the same page, managers can make smarter decisions about where to allocate resources and can avoid creating redundant work orders. Many modern CMMSs offer a way to communicate with team members via instant messaging or comments on projects.

For the software selection process, companies need to determine their goal for the software, but that’s only part of the picture. They should also evaluate a software vendor’s support resources, tutorials, training sessions and upgrade process. A CMMS can be used for several years, and ongoing support will be critical in getting the most out of your investment, especially for those without a dedicated IT team. Once you sort out your top features and necessary integrations and create a short list of products, we recommend reaching out to software vendors like UpKeep to set up a product demo.

Other common names for CMMS include: