50 Answers to Help Your CMMS Search

A number of people interested in MainBoss have asked us to answer questions from the web article 50 Questions to Help Your CMMS Search. We thought it would be helpful to post our answers here on the web site so that potential customers could see how MainBoss measures up.

To understand our answers, we should note that Thinkage produces two CMMS packages:

• MainBoss Basic for smaller maintenance departments
• MainBoss Advanced for larger ones

While there's no clear dividing line between what counts as "smaller" or "larger," one useful measure is whether you manage your own computers (smaller) or you have IT professionals who manage your systems (larger). MainBoss Basic is easy for anyone to install; MainBoss Advanced is easy to use day-to-day, but installation and initial set-up requires a degree of technical sophistication that is best left for IT professionals.

Both versions of MainBoss start with the same core features. However, MainBoss Advanced has numerous enhancements that MainBoss Basic doesn't. (For a detailed list, see Differences between MainBoss Basic and MainBoss Advanced.) In addition, MainBoss Advanced can scale up to handle any amount of data; MainBoss Basic has plenty of capacity to handle smaller maintenance departments, but will not perform well under truly enormous data loads.

Since the two versions of MainBoss have many capabilities in common, the following answers will often say "MainBoss does X", meaning that both versions of MainBoss have that feature. Where necessary, we distinguish between MainBoss Basic and MainBoss Advanced.

Work Orders

Produces an easy-to-use work order that allows future conversion to bar codes and other improvements to technology

MainBoss produces easy-to-use work orders, containing as much or as little detail as you choose. MainBoss Basic provides some bar code support. MainBoss Advanced doesn't, but it provides support for workers using web-enabled mobile devices such as iPhones and BlackBerries.

Work order classifies all work by some kind of repair reason code: PM, corrective, breakdown, management decision, etc.

MainBoss lets you define your own work category codes and closing codes (codes that are assigned when you close the work order). Many customers use closing codes to specify the reason for repairs. However, other customers use closing codes for other purposes that are important to them. It's up to you to decide how you want to use these codes.

Provides an easy way for a single person or designated group in maintenance to screen work orders entered by customers before authorization that work can begin

MainBoss distinguishes between work requests submitted by non-maintenance personnel, and work orders created by maintenance supervisors/dispatchers. Requests can be submitted in various ways; for example, authorized people can submit requests by email. You might also have requests created by a help-desk or a maintenance department secretary—people who can record problems but who aren't authorized to write up actual work orders. (MainBoss Advanced also allows requests to be submitted through a web page maintained by your company.)

Once a request is received, maintenance personnel can decide what to do about it. MainBoss makes it easy to use the request as a basis for writing up a detailed work order. However, that's done by authorized maintenance staff, not by the people submitting the request. MainBoss Advanced also allows for levels of approval; for example, you might decide that person A has permission to write up draft work orders but only Supervisor B can actually approve work orders and give them the green-light.

Prints up-to-date lockout procedure on all work orders automatically

Lockout procedures may be included as part of equipment specifications, and then printed as part of the work order. However, this is an option that must be selected when printing the work order; it doesn't happen automatically.

Automatically costs work orders

MainBoss lets you set up cost estimates before the job and record actual numbers after (for both labor and materials).

Provides status of all outstanding work orders

MainBoss lets you obtain many different types of reports about open work orders, including which are overdue (i.e. ones that should have been closed by now but haven't been yet).

Records service calls (who, what, when, where, how) which can be printed in a log format with automated time/date stamping

Service calls are represented by requests (see above). These include a time/date stamp as well as all relevant information about the problem being reported. MainBoss can generate many different reports analyzing your requests.

Allows operations people, tenants or facility users to have access to the system to find out what happened to their work request

MainBoss Basic has an add-on package named @Requests, and MainBoss Advanced has a module named MainBoss Service, both of which provide request submitters with information about the status of their requests. Submitters automatically receive email at various points in the work cycle (e.g. when the request is accepted by the maintenance department and turned into a work order). With MainBoss Advanced, maintenance personnel can also email notes to the submitter at any time they have something to report.

Records backlog of work and displays it by craft

MainBoss can provide information about work orders according to the "trades" of assigned workers and with many other methods of selecting or filtering information.

Work orders can be displayed or printed very easily

Every work order record has a Print button that will print the work order. There are also simple facilities for printing work orders in batches.

The system facilitates labor scheduling with labor standards by task, ability to sort, and re-sort the open work orders by location of work, craft and other ways

MainBoss can report on work orders in all these ways.

Records changes to inventory (receipts, chargeouts, physical inventories)

Yes.

Does the storeroom part of the system have part location to help the mechanic or store keeper find infrequently used parts?

Yes.

Can the system generate a parts catalog by type of part, vendor with yearly usage to facilitate blanket contract negotiation?

Yes.

Does the system recommend stock levels, order points, order quantities?

MainBoss does not automatically recommend stock levels—you must specify the levels you want. However, MainBoss does provide reports that will help you decide which levels may be optimal.

MainBoss does tell you when stock levels are below your specified minimums, and what quantities should be ordered to get back to where you want to be.

Maintenance History and Reporting

Maintains maintenance history that is detailed enough to tell what happened

Both MainBoss Basic and MainBoss Advanced keep essential maintenance histories on your units (the equipment and premises that you maintain). MainBoss Advanced has additional facilities for tracking the progress of maintenance work; for example, it lets you make time-stamped notes throughout the course of a job to record any issues that arise.

Provides information to track the service request-maintenance work order issue-work complete-customer satisfied cycle

Yes.

Provides reports for budgets, staffing analysis, program evaluation, performance

Yes.

Is able to isolate all work done (sort, arrange, analyze, select, or list) by work order, mechanic, asset, building, floor, room, type of equipment or asset

Yes.

Provides the ability to easily structure ad hoc (on the spur of the moment) reports to answer questions that come up. This is sometimes called a report writer

Yes.

Has the ability to generate equipment/asset history from birth (installation, construction, or connection) with all major repairs and summaries of smaller repairs

Yes.

System reports are designed around Pareto principles where the system helps to identify the few important factors and helps you to manage the important few versus the trivial many

In generating reports, you can specify criteria for what you do and don't want to see.

Allows operations people, tenants or facility users to have access to the system to find out what happened to their work request

Answer given above.

System reports on contractor versus in-house work

Yes.

Provides reports charging back maintenance cost to department or cost center

Yes.

Has reports with mean time between failures that show how often the unit has been worked on, how many days (or machine hours) lapsed between failures, and the duration of each repair

Yes (provided that you record the equipment's downtime when a problem occurs).

Will the system highlight repeat repairs when a technician needs some help?

Authorized personnel can use MainBoss to see a unit's maintenance history, including any notes recorded during previous jobs.

PM System

Allows mechanics to easily write up deficiencies found on PM inspection tours as planned work to be done. System then automatically generates a planned maintenance work order

Workers who find deficiencies during an inspection have two options:

• They can create a request asking for work to be done. A supervisor can then create an appropriate work order.
• If authorized, the worker can create the work order directly.

MainBoss Advanced makes it easy to create work orders from "boilerplate" write-ups. For example, you might have a standardized write-up for changing the muffler on a car. You tell MainBoss "Make a work order from this write-up", and then just specify any additional information needed (e.g. which car needs the work and when you want the job done).

Automatically produces PM work orders on the right day, right meter reading etc.

Yes.

Is able to display work load for PM for a future period such as a year by week or month by trade

In order to create future work projections, MainBoss must actually generate work orders for the jobs in question. This is fine in the short term, but usually isn't wise on time-scales such as a year. For example, consider jobs scheduled by meter reading; in most cases, it's a mistake to extrapolate readings too far into the future because the predictions won't be accurate.

Is able to record short repairs done by PM mechanic and actual time spent

Yes. This can be done by editing the work order or by adding supplemental notes to it.

Does the system support multiple levels of PM on the same asset, does it reset the clock if the high level is done (if you do a yearly rebuild, does the monthly PM clock get reset?)

Yes. MainBoss offers you sophisticated controls over when PM clocks do or don't get reset.

PMs are generated by location by trade to facilitate efficient use of people and minimize travel

PMs are generated in batches. MainBoss Advanced has a limited ability to merge certain types of information from different work orders, but effectively, each generated work order is independent of others, even on the same unit.

Allow the input of data from Predictive Maintenance subsystems

At present, the only relevant data that can be entered is meter readings.

Highlights situations where the PM activity is more expensive than the breakdown

MainBoss can provide information on preventive vs. corrective costs. However, it does not highlight situations where preventive is more expensive than corrective; you have to notice that yourself on the reports.

Are there simple reports that relate the PM hours/materials to the corrective hours/materials to the emergency hours/materials? This will show the effectiveness of the PM program

Reports can be subdivided into PM expenses vs. corrective expenses, and in various other ways that may allow you to analyze PM effectiveness.

General

Can the system handle 3-4 times more assets than you imagine having?

MainBoss Advanced can handle any amount of data. This is because it makes use of Microsoft's SQL Server database software. SQL Server is actually a family of packages designed for various quantities of data; you can choose the size that's right for you, and upgrade if and when it becomes necessary.

System has a logical location system to locate assets and where work is done

Yes.

System tracks the warranty for components and flags warranty work

MainBoss tracks warranties for all units and sub-units. It does not flag warranty work in any special way, but you can quickly determine whether or not a particular unit is currently under warranty.

Is easy to use for novices and quick to use for power users

Yes.

System integrates or can be integrated to purchasing, engineering, payroll/accounting

At present, there is no direct integration between MainBoss and purchasing, payroll, or accounting programs. However, MainBoss has its own purchasing facilities which may be used on their own, or as an aid to organizing your information (which will make it easy for you to use other purchasing software). Similarly, MainBoss accounting information will make it easy for you to organize your information before you manually enter it into an accounting package.

MainBoss can associate engineering information with unit records. Specifically, each unit record can have a list of associated file names and URLs referring to such things as schematic diagrams, online instruction manuals, equipment specifications, etc.

Can the system easily handle a string PM such as a lube route, filter change route?

No facilities for this at the moment—all work orders are independent.

System runs on standard computer hardware, not some special hardware incompatible with everything else. Is the system compatible with Local Area Networks if it is a PC product?

Yes. Both versions of MainBoss run on Windows XP, Vista, and Windows 7. No special LAN facilities are required.

System vendor has filled out vendor information sheet and has the financial strength to complete the contract (and stay in business for several years)

We are happy to provide information about our company upon request. Thinkage has been in business since 1991 and has an excellent track record for satisfying customers.

Does the vendor have software support people, can you easily get through to a person? Is there an 800 number? Once you get through do the people know the product and something about maintenance? Is there an Internet site with technical support, user discussion groups, updates available for downloading, and other useful information?

Yes, we have software support available through an 800 number. Our support personnel are knowledgeable about the software, and can call on development programmers if necessary. Since we've been in the maintenance software business for many years, we have experience in many maintenance markets. Our web site provides technical support and useful information; all updates are supplied through downloads from the web site. We do not have user discussion groups at this time.

Can the vendor provide economical, necessary customization? Is this capability in-house?

We have a price structure for providing customizations from in-house personnel, but few customers have ever required it.

Does the vendor have a local installation organization?

We have dealers in various regions.

Are they experienced in the management of installation projects of the size of your facility? Do they have start up experience with projects this size?

The answer to this question depends on your organization's size and needs. Contact us and we'd be happy to provide you with the desired information.

Are the vendor's technical people well cross-trained (software, hardware and reality ware, like how a real building works)? It is important that the computer people have experience with building/facility maintenance.

Our software developers often talk directly with maintenance customers to determine their needs and wishes. Many of the features in MainBoss Advanced arose from customer suggestions and requests.

Has the vendor been in business 5 years or more?

Yes—since 1991.