MainBoss Newswire

January 2003

Topics:

CMMSCity – A great resource for CMMS users
Upcoming tradeshow: Springfest 2003 in Toronto, Ontario
MainBoss welcomes new Dealers
Special Reminders

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1. CMMSCity – A great resource for CMMS users

Today’s markets are flooded with CMMS software solutions and information on how to use them. While there are many beneficial resources on the Internet, I recently came across a particularly comprehensive site: www.cmmscity.com. This site provides information on industry news and contains many CMMS specific articles. It features a newsletter, discussion group and information on the various CMMS products on the market. By clicking on the CMMS vendor link you will find a list of most of the CMMS vendors on the market and can easily gain access to their websites (including the MainBoss website). Of special interest is the option to benchmark the CMMS you are currently using. By answering a few questions about your CMMS software you can gain insights on how it stacks up compared to your expectations and to also see what the industry averages are in terms of product features and pricing. On the CMMSCity homepage click on CMMS Benchmark, or simply click on the following link: http://www.maintenancebenchmarking.com/survey/cmms_benchmark_1002.htm to begin the survey. Once completed, you will be able to view a summary of all responses to date. Following are a few highlights of the answers (as of January 31, 2003), which may be of interest to you even if you do not complete the survey (keep in mind that this survey accepts answers from users of all CMMS products, whether they cost $1000 or $1,000,000):

The following functions were reported to be most important: Work Order Management, Spare Parts Management, Scheduling Function
Most companies use their own maintenance department to implement their CMMS and to provide the training
Companies seem to spend either more than $250,000 (about 36% of the responses) or less than $25,000 (31% of the responses) to purchase and implement their CMMS
Most companies spend less than $10,000 a year on support and product upgrades
The majority of the responses indicated that their CMMS did not generate the anticipated Return on Investment
The most highly rated critical factors to a successful CMMS implementation were top management support, a low learning curve, and a fully defined maintenance work process

What do these results tell us? Perhaps CMMS products could achieve the expected return on investment if all staff members receive proper training not just from the maintenance department but also from the CMMS vendor. Perhaps more planning, including defining how your maintenance works right now and how it can be improved, is necessary prior to purchasing a CMMS product. Perhaps the success of a CMMS product should not just be measured in terms of monetary savings but also in terms of better organization of maintenance related activities, better employee efficiency, and faster response times to maintenance requests.

The important thing is for you to closely look at how your CMMS is working for you right now. Look at where you are and where you would like to be. Then research ways of achieving that goal.

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2. Upcoming tradeshow: Springfest 2003 in Toronto, Ontario

MainBoss will be attending this year’s Springfest at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario on March 28^th, 2003. MainBoss will be represented in booth 67 by the DA-TROL group.

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3. MainBoss welcomes new Dealers

MainBoss welcomes the following new representatives to the MainBoss team:

Brad Fulton and Bruce LaForest from DA-TROL Group, covering regions of Ontario

By the way, you can now get an up-to-date list of all MainBoss dealers at http://www.mainboss.com/english/support/dealerlist.shtml.

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4. Special Reminders

MainBoss offers some great programs and services. Don’t forget to take advantage of them:

· The MainBoss Referral Program allows current MainBoss customers to make referrals and get great rewards in return! For more information visit http://www.mainboss.com/english/support/referral.shtml

· MainBoss Training services are offered by either MainBoss head office or a MainBoss representative in your area and are invaluable to expanding your proficiency with MainBoss. Email info@mainboss.com for further details

· Would you like to email your work requests directly to MainBoss? You can do this with MainBoss @Requests. Click here to find out more: http://www.mainboss.com/english/products/product-requests.shtml

· Interested in becoming a MainBoss dealer and promoting an exceptional maintenance solution package in your area? Click here: http://www.dealers.mainboss.com/english/newdealer/index.shtml