A Computerized Maintenance Management System, also known as CMMS, centralizes the process of maintaining and managing assets, such as as cars, machines and equipment. The system helps firms in preventing problems and downtime, complying with OSHA and other legal requirements. Many industries use CMMS to help managing suppliers, warranties and insurance policies on the pricy items. Even hotels are now using computerized maintenance management systems to help out cleaning, plumbing and other issues involved in maintaining a hotel chain.Some CMMS systems are linked to accounting, updating fixed assets and in reporting any losses in real-time.
The best CMMS for strictly office use would be one that interfaces with office applications; it’s easy to use and management can run queries on it. If maintenance costs go beyond budgeted amounts, managers could research and figure out the reason for the overage by reviewing CMMS reports and queries.
With a CMMS, maintenance and repairs are scheduled on a methodical fashion, helping the back-office in planning and cash flows. For example, if a sophisticated equipment need routine checkups that are costly, knowing about those beforehand can make an accounting manager smile.
A CMMS requires lots of setup time to input all information about assets, including insurance and notes; but it’s a worthwhile effort because you will have all data in one place. You could run reports and prioritize the workload. If you run a car rental business, for instance, you will want to know what cars are scheduled to be maintained this week, so you don’t rent those now.
The best CMMS system is usually the one customized for your industry, requiring very little set up. An industry-specific CMMS can save you lots of time and money, minimizing the time it takes to get the system up and running. Be sure that after acquiring a CMMS, you and your staff input as much information as possible to make the system work right away to your advantage ASAP.
The process of choosing a CMMS solution can be fairly overwhelming. There are dozens of vendors available and each system has its own advantages and drawbacks. If you're not careful, you could choose a solution that is not able to meet your company's needs or costs quite a bit more than expected. more