CMMS Implementation Tips

When do most organizations buy a CMMS? When things are getting out of control—when you can't keep track of all your information, when repairs and inspections are falling through the cracks, when you don't have the right spare parts in your storerooms, and when you realize you just aren't using your personnel effectively.

What do you have to do before you can set up a CMMS? Get back in control. You can't expect maintenance management software to produce order out of chaos. You have to clean up the chaos first; then a CMMS can help you stay organized from that point on.

To illustrate this, we'll look at a simple example. Suppose you have trouble keeping track of what equipment is under warranty—the information may be hidden somewhere in your files, but it's not easy to find.

A CMMS can indeed make it easier for you to find warranty information...but first, you have to find all that information and record it in your CMMS database. In other words, you must track down all your warranties and type them into the computer. You have to get organized. Once you've done that, your CMMS can make sure you don't lose the information again. The first step, however, happens without your CMMS—you have to pull things together before a CMMS can help.

The point is that maintenance management software isn't a magic bullet. It's only a tool...and like most tools, you have to prepare before you can use it.

To get the most from maintenance management software, you have to start with a plan. You have to decide what you want from your CMMS and how you're going to achieve your goals.

To begin with, look at your current practices. Ask yourself the following:

  • What problems do you want your CMMS to solve?
  • Do you intend to computerize everything all at once, or phase in a little at a time?
  • If you're phasing in, what will you do first?
  • What will you consider success, and how will you know you've achieved it?

Ideally, you want concrete measurements of your current performance levels so you can tell if you achieve improvements. For example, you might find it helpful to have personnel make detailed breakdowns of what they do over the course of a week. How much time do they have to spend searching for information that's hard to find? How often do they have to wander from one storeroom to the next in search of a spare part? How much time is lost through miscommunication and other simple problems (e.g. not having the correct key for a door, or not being able to find the person who submitted a complaint)?

Objective measurements like this can show the current state of your operations. Once you install your CMMS and get past the inevitable shakedown period, you can take the same kind of measurements to see if things have changed. Comparing the two measures can help determine the Return on Investment from your CMMS. Other before-and-after measurements might include:

  • The number of work orders a week that your department completes
  • The number of preventive maintenance jobs a week that your department completes
  • The amount you spend on materials and spare parts
  • The average time between creation of a work order and its completion

Many other measures are possible. These are just a few to get you started. The important point is to think about your priorities, state them explicitly, and come up with before-and-after tests that will measure your degree of success.

If you want your CMMS to be a success, you need commitment from everyone involved:

  • Management
  • Maintenance personnel
  • Any non-maintenance personnel who may use the CMMS software (e.g. to submit problem reports)

All these people have to buy into the idea of making your CMMS work. If they don't, you're in trouble.

For example, management has to support the effort by allocating time and resources. Too often, we've heard stories where management gives lip service to the idea of using a CMMS, but won't set aside time for people to get the CMMS up and running. Maintenance personnel are supposed to set up the software in their spare time, while still performing all their regular duties.

We've also seen situations where management didn't want to assign first-rate people to setting up their CMMS because the best workers were too valuable to spare from their usual jobs. Setting up the CMMS was assigned to the department's least competent personnel—the ones who messed up their normal work and would be no great loss if they were put on something else. Needless to say, this is not a recipe for success!

Management has to show it's serious about making the CMMS work. That means putting good people on the job, and allocating them the resources to do things properly.

But management can't do it alone—they need cooperation from the workers. Your personnel have to understand that CMMS can make their lives easier. If they see the CMMS as a pointless level of red tape, or a management scheme to play Big Brother and micro-manage everything they do, you can't expect good results. Therefore, the workers have to be brought on board by showing them how the CMMS will avoid time-wasting mix-ups and frustrating searches for crucial information. A good CMMS doesn't just eliminate headaches for management; it also solves problems for workers too.

The last set of people who have to buy into the CMMS are those who'll use it outside the maintenance department. For example, department secretaries may use the CMMS to submit problem reports. It's important to remember these people in your planning—you want their willing participation in using the software, and they may have valuable suggestions to make during implementation.

When you want to determine the cost of a particular CMMS package, you have to look beyond the basic sticker price; try to consider all the costs associated with putting in the software. These costs include:

  • The actual price of the software
  • The price of any hardware upgrades you may have to make to run the software
  • The price of any software upgrades you may have to make to run the software (e.g. some packages only run on the most up-to-date version of Windows, so if you're running an older version, you have to upgrade your system before you can put in the CMMS)
  • The price of support for the CMMS
  • The cost of training for the CMMS (remember that training may be needed for management, maintenance personnel, and/or non-maintenance personnel)
  • The cost of implementation (which includes any costs in time that your personnel spend setting up the CMMS rather than doing their usual jobs)
  • The cost of the learning curve—any slow-downs that might occur while people are getting used to working with the CMMS

This may seem like a big list...but it's important to be realistic when you're planning to get started with a CMMS. Your plan has to cover all the bases. If you ignore possible costs, you'll be in for unpleasant surprises later on.

When preparing to set up your CMMS, you have to decide who will do the work. The worker(s) you assign should be familiar with both the CMMS software and your maintenance operations. Otherwise, you'll end up with a system that doesn't suit your needs.

Some companies turn the set-up job over to outsiders—the dealer who sold you the CMMS, or a third-party consultant. This can certainly help you avoid a lot of problems...but outsiders can't work in a vacuum. They need advice, they need answers to questions, and they need feedback at various points in the process.

You have to appoint liaison people to work with consultants, and you have to make sure your liaison personnel are allotted enough time to do the job properly. In particular, you must schedule time for your people to review the consultants' work. Some companies ask their workers to squeeze in the review process while fulfilling all their normal duties too...but this can lead to a superficial review that misses potential problems. As noted in our Buy-In discussion, everyone involved should be committed to the process. Commitment has to include allocating sufficient time to get something you're happy with.

Allocating time for personnel is even more important if you decide to do the set-up on your own. The people doing your set-up have to get used to the software, and have to experiment with different approaches to see which works best.

While your set-up team will do most of the work, you'll probably find that they need help from other workers. For example, suppose the set-up team is writing up what should be done during a preventive maintenance task. In many cases, the set-up people have to go to the workers who usually do the task to get information (how long the task usually takes, what materials are usually required, and so on). Your regular personnel have to take the time to sit down with the set-up team and spell out the details...and this time should be factored into your implementation plans.

Recognize that early ideas may have to be changed as you work with the CMMS package. For example, you may find that your initial scheme for assigning ID codes to items doesn't really suit your needs. This is the sort of thing you can only discover by using the software in practical tests, where you try to simulate how people will actually work with the CMMS on the job. If your initial set-up makes it hard for you to find certain types of information, there are usually ways to improve the situation...but it's best to make corrections early, before you've keyed in a lot of data that has to be changed afterward.

The people assigned to implementation have to keep their eyes open for possible problems. They have to be ready to change if their initial approach doesn't work. They have to be open to suggestions from co-workers.

Most importantly, the set-up team has to keep in mind the goals of everyone involved. What kind of information does management want? What kind of help will workers need? It's counterproductive to produce a set-up that works for management but not for the workers, or vice versa. Often, this means that your set-up team should have representatives from both management and workers. Otherwise, you may end up with an implementation that doesn't work as well as it ought.

Once you've decided what you want out of your CMMS and who will do the work, you have to figure out how to achieve your goals. Some organizations may need a strictly formalized plan, while others may only require a general idea of where they're going. Nevertheless, every organization should consider the following:

Resources
  • How much are you ready to spend on computer hardware and software?
  • How much on-the-job time are you going to allow for the set-up process?
  • Are the people in charge of set-up going to work on it full-time, or do you want them to squeeze it in between other duties?
  • How much will you spend on training?
Schedules
  • Do you intend to phase in a bit at a time, or all at once?
  • When will you start the process?
  • What milestones do you expect along the line?
  • How often will you review the process, and how will you evaluate its progress?
  • When do you expect data entry to be finished?
Training
  • What types of training will you need?
    • Implementation training (for those who will work on set-up)?
    • Management training (for those who will use the CMMS to obtain information for making management decisions)
    • Worker training (for those will use the CMMS to record information on the job)

    (Depending on the CMMS, there may be no clear difference between some or all of these types of training.)

  • When will you need training?
  • What specific issues do you want training to address?
  • Whose duties may change because of the CMMS's installation, and what type of re-training might be necessary?
Process
  • What will be the actual process for starting to use the CMMS?
  • How will you decide it's ready to go?
  • How will you track use in the early days?
  • Who will deal with problems encountered during the shakedown period?
  • How will all these decisions be communicated to those affected?
Review
  • How often will you review your plans as you proceed with implementation?
  • Who will be involved in the review process?
  • How will you decide if and when your plans need to change?
  • What will you do if there's a major change that requires unexpected resources?

Entering data is a key part of CMMS implementation. It's not the only part—there's also planning, training, and reviewing your current work methods in light of your intended use of the CMMS—but you simply won't be able to use your CMMS until you've recorded fundamental data about your working environment.

In addition to recording data, you usually have to assign ID codes to various types of information. For example, most CMMS packages require you to specify codes for equipment, spare parts, personnel, and many other elements of your operations.

Codes are meant to make things easier and more uniform. For example, you wouldn't use a code like BX59-1234 to refer to a building (unless that kind of code was obvious to everybody). Instead, you'd use codes like 400 MAIN ST. or MECH SHOP: short but descriptive names that everyone can recognize quickly.

Don't assume that codes should just be short versions of something's full name. Codes can include all kinds of information. Ideally, you should choose codes that follow a pattern everyone can understand. For example, you might have the codes for all your forklift trucks start with FLT. The codes might continue with a location identifier or some other kind of ID. For example, the first forklift truck in the South Building at Plant 1 might be given the code FLT-SB-P01-1.

By using codes that mean something, you make it easy to pick out the right code when you're looking at lists that might contain hundreds or thousands of items. Good codes can also make it easier to use any search facilities in the CMMS to find what you want quickly. Finally, a good code can convey selected information about an object. The code mentioned previously (FLT-SB-P01-1) isn't just an arbitrary identifier; it tells the type of equipment and its location.

Most CMMS packages let you store equipment specifications online. For example, you can record each dryer's capacity, motor size, voltage, amperage, fuse usage, and so on. You can also store tips like, "This model requires a special screwdriver to open the access panel." Workers can use this information to make sure they have the right tools and materials before going out on a job, thereby avoiding frustration and wasted time.

Before you can record this kind of information, you usually have to prepare templates for each type of equipment you use. A template lists the information you want to record, and leaves blanks to be filled in with values. For example, here's a sample MainBoss template on a laundry ironing machine:

Ironing machine template

You record information about a particular machine by filling in the blanks.

It's up to you what information you want a particular template to record. What information will workers need to do their jobs? What information might you want to record for other purposes (e.g. insurance assessments)? Different companies will likely make different decisions.

Once you've decided what information you want to record about your various types of equipment, you have to gather that information. This information can be gathered in various ways: from printed manufacturer specifications, from specifications on the Internet, or even by opening up the machine and seeing what's written on the parts.

Typically, some information will be easy to come by, while some takes a lot of work. As a loose rule of thumb, we estimate that one person can collect full information on about 5 pieces of equipment an hour. This varies according to many factors: how much information needs to be gathered on each piece of equipment, how much you already have on file in one form or another, how hard the information is to find, and so on. Many companies find they make rapid progress at first, because they've got good specifications on a lot of their equipment. Then things slow down as they finish the easy part and have to work harder for the rest. You may think that 5 pieces an hour sounds slow, but it's a reasonable average considering how much difficulty you might have getting information on your last few pieces.

In addition to gathering information on equipment, you have to type it into the computer. This process takes time and resources too. For example, many companies assign data entry to secretaries or someone else with typing skills...but such people often lack knowledge about what they're typing. They can make mistakes, or need help understanding what someone else has written.

Our rule of thumb is that a company can input equipment specifications for about 15 pieces per hour of typing time. No matter who types in the data, someone knowledgeable should review everything afterward to catch any obvious mistakes.

One of the great benefits of a CMMS is that it can help you do a better job of preventive maintenance (PM). It can schedule PM jobs according to manufacturer recommendations. It can also let you adjust PM schedules in response to actual conditions. For example, if a particular piece of equipment is in almost constant use, it may require maintenance more often than normal; if another piece of equipment is used rarely, it may not require maintenance as often as the manufacturer recommends. A CMMS will make it easy to change PM frequencies little by little until you have a schedule that really fits the way you work.

In preparing for preventive maintenance, you must create PM task descriptions. These are typically checklists or step-by-step instructions for what must be done in each PM job. PM task descriptions can come from a variety of sources:

  • Your current policies—many companies already have written checklists or instructions for PM jobs
  • Manufacturer specifications
  • Your CMMS provider—many companies that make CMMS packages provide libraries of standard PM tasks for use with their products
  • Professional associations—for example, BOMA (the Building Owners & Managers Association) offers its members standard PM task descriptions that cover all aspects of building management
  • Government sources—for example, the U.S. General Services Administration has extensive PM requirements for government buildings that are often used by private companies too

Our rule of thumb is that one person can enter about 8 PM task descriptions per hour. This does not include the time required to gather the task descriptions in the first place. We don't have a good rule of thumb for gathering task descriptions; it just varies too much from case to case for us to establish a general average.

It's better to phase in your CMMS rather than try to start using all its features immediately. No matter how easy the software is to use, it's best not to bite off more than you can chew.

We recommend the following phase-in process:

  1. Start with computerizing your corrective work orders: your day-to-day repair requests and responses to other problems. Most companies find that computerizing their work orders leads to immediate benefits: problems don't fall between the cracks, you have an easier time setting priorities, and you can get a clear picture of where workers spend the most time. The information you get from tracking work orders often lets you make better management decisions of where to invest time and resources.
  2. Next computerize your preventive maintenance. This can lead to big returns—instead of being reactive, you become proactive. You find little problems before they become big problems. You also reduce the amount of emergency jobs your people have to do: you get out ahead of your work.
  3. Finally computerize your inventory operations (purchasing, receiving, reserving materials for upcoming jobs, and so on). By getting better control of your inventory, you can ensure that workers have the materials they need for whatever jobs come up. However, computerizing your inventory can entail a lot of work—you have to take complete inventory of your materials and enter that information into the computer—so it's best to leave this until you're through the shakedown period with other aspects of CMMS use.

Often, an organization has several different sites, each with its own independent maintenance department. We've seen cases where each department has been allowed to set up their CMMS however they liked...but in our experience, it's better to have all departments choose a consistent approach. Here are some reasons:

  • The more information you can share, the better. For example, most CMMS packages let you write up instructions for what should be done during equipment inspections and other preventive maintenance jobs. It's a waste of time for every department to write up their own version of these instructions, especially when they're dealing with the same or similar equipment. Do it once, do it well, and share the results with everyone.
  • Workers may transfer from one site to another. If all sites have similar set-ups, there's no learning curve for the transferred worker.
  • Why force a lot of separate departments to reinvent their own version of the wheel? It takes foresight and planning to set up a CMMS package in a workable way. You have to examine the strengths and weaknesses of your particular CMMS software, then decide the best approach for using it in your shop. If you ask each independent department to go through their own decision process, you duplicate a lot of effort...not to mention risking that some departments may make mistakes that lead to hard-to-use set-ups. (Many maintenance people don't have the expertise to make informed judgments about using software productively.) Get your best people to figure out a good way of doing things, then have everybody adopt the same approach, rather than going their own way.
  • Ultimately, management may decide to integrate the separate operations in whole or in part. For example, even if the departments remain mostly independent, management may decree that parts and materials be purchased by a single group. If the independent departments are already using the same ID codes for materials, integration will go easily; if not, you're in for major headaches.

Of course, it's not always easy to get multiple departments to agree. If you want to produce a workable set-up for your CMMS, you need a process that every department buys into. Everybody has to be on-side with the final arrangements, and has to understand why certain decisions were made. Otherwise, some departments may not have much enthusiasm for using their CMMS, leading to omissions and poor record-keeping.

What's the best way to get started? Carefully, and with commitment. We've heard of a company that asked each separate department to send one person to a "crash CMMS development program" where matters were to be thrashed out in an intensive week-long session. What naturally happened? Each department sent their most incompetent worker, since those were the people whose absence would cause the least trouble for everyone else. Things went downhill from there...

So what's the answer? Thinking ahead. Planning. Allocating enough time and resources to do a good job. Management must commit to the effort and communicate that commitment to everyone else involved. CMMS can make everyone's job easier...but you only get out what you put in.

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