Key CMMS features and platform requirements

A Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is a cloud-based software solution that streamlines and optimizes asset and maintenance management strategies. CMMS solutions are especially valuable for businesses that rely on physical assets for their operational continuity and productivity. Below, we take a closer look at the features you should look for in a CMMS solution, as well as some of the advanced features that set the top CMMS providers apart.

What is a CMMS? 

A CMMS is essentially a digital hub for managing all of your organization’s maintenance activities, from maintenance planning and task scheduling to inventory management and maintenance data analysis. Your organization’s CMMS software should effectively streamline maintenance procedures, enhance the efficiency of your maintenance operation, and improve organizational accountability. 

The typical CMMS will help you achieve these goals by including the following standard features:

• Asset Management: Cloud-based CMMS tools offer dashboards for tracking asset performance to help optimize maintenance plans, schedules, and budgets. 
• Maintenance Work Order Management: CMMS users can create and track work orders with templates and 
• Spare Parts & Inventory Management: Tools for managing spare parts and MRO inventory levels ensures your team always has access to everything they need for completing maintenance tasks.  
• Reporting and Analytics: Automating reporting and analytics for key metrics helps maintenance teams deliver on their KPIs by boosting uptime, and elevating their status within the organization.  
• Mobile CMMS: With the ability to access key data and documents from their smartphones, technicians can work more efficiently to meet your organization’s maintenance needs. 

Together, these features empower your maintenance program to operate more efficiently while reducing downtime, mitigating productivity losses, and lowering the costs to repair and replace your physical assets. 

For organizations who have typically relied on excel spreadsheets to manage their maintenance data, a CMMS can speed and simplify the transition away from reactive maintenance to proactive and predictive maintenance.  

What are the key features of an effective CMMS? 

Below, we take a closer look at how each of these standard CMMS features contributes to the overall effectiveness of your maintenance strategy.

Asset management 

Your CMMS should include a comprehensive set of asset management tools so that you can track and maintain all of your physical assets in a single place. Standard asset management programs will typically include features like asset tracking, maintenance logs, and warranty management. 

In addition to these standard features, top CMMS platforms may also include advanced organizational capabilities, which can improve your maintenance operation’s efficiency, time management, and resource allocation. Look for a CMMS platform with centralized asset data aggregation and the capacity for hierarchical organization. 

Work order management

In addition to asset management, your CMMS solution should include features for digitizing and streamlining maintenance task completion through work order management. Work order management refers to the creation, assignment, and tracking of work orders for maintenance tasks. 

Your maintenance management software can improve the efficiency and consistency of maintenance operations by incorporating features like task calendars, maintenance logs, and automatic work logging. These features provide enhanced visibility into the status of each work order, as well as facilitating communication between team members, and ensuring that tasks are completed on time. 

Your CMMS work order management feature can also be used to trigger preventive maintenance scheduling, which can reduce asset downtime, lower repair costs, and lengthen the useful lifespan of your equipment. 

Spare parts inventory management

An effective CMMS will include a reliable spare parts inventory management system. Effective inventory management is critical for both minimizing downtime and reducing costs. Overstocking inventory can tie up valuable capital. Understocking inventory can lead to delays in equipment repair, extended downtime, and reduced productivity. Both errors have the potential to be costly.

Your CMMS inventory management features should simplify and optimize inventory management with automated reordering based on historical usage trends, real-time stock level tracking, and visibility into the availability of spare parts from a variety of sources.

Leading CMMS platforms also offer sophisticated tracking systems for coordinating spare part stocking, tracking, and reordering. For instance, your CMMS may offer a custom ticketing, barcode, or QR code system as an easy way to track and access your inventory. Other inventory management features may include automatic part usage tracking, instant push notifications triggering reorders, and yearly forecasting for optimizing stock levels.

Reporting and analysis 

CMMS solutions enable organizations to gather valuable data on equipment performance, maintenance costs, downtime metrics, and more. These data points can be used to perform in-depth analysis and draw valuable insights–both into the health of your physical assets and the performance of your maintenance team. 

Your CMMS should function as a strategic ally. It is a source for customizable, data-rich reporting on critical maintenance KPIs, maintenance logs, asset performance, and more. By paying close attention to these metrics, your maintenance team can identify asset inefficiencies, anticipate equipment failure, and schedule preventive maintenance tasks with greater precision. 

Mobile application

A user-friendly mobile CMMS application lets your technicians access, log, and communicate information no matter where they are. Implementing a CMMS solution with an advanced mobile app makes it possible for members of your maintenance team to receive work orders, access maintenance logs, update task statuses, and submit inspection reports directly from their mobile devices. This level of accessibility and efficiency improves coordination between management, maintenance teams, and the various team members submitting work requests, ultimately leading to faster and more efficient equipment and facility management.

The next level: more advanced CMMS features

In addition to the standard features outlined above, leading  CMMS solutions may offer a variety of advanced features, including seamless integration with other business solutions, customizable workflow automation, and data-driven predictive maintenance capabilities. 

Below, we take a closer look at some of the advanced features offered by top CMMS providers.

Integrations with other solutions

The best CMMS platforms will be compatible with the systems already in place for your business. For instance, advanced CMMS platforms will integrate seamlessly with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), or IoT platforms. This integration improves data sharing between departments and allows for enhanced automation in areas like task management, inventory procurement, and financial analysis. 

Workflow automation 

Advanced CMMS platforms can streamline maintenance processes by automating repetitive tasks like work order generation, approval routing, and notification triggers. In fact, the top CMMS providers make it possible for you to customize workflows by enabling you to determine which tasks can be automated. This gives you a tremendous amount of control over your workflow while still minimizing the manual oversight and delegation required to make it work. 

Predictive and prescriptive maintenance capabilities

Predictive and prescriptive maintenance capabilities are proactive maintenance models that rely on advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms to predict equipment malfunctions, failures, and breakdowns. Advanced CMMS platforms utilize these capabilities to anticipate and schedule maintenance tasks. 

World-class CMMS platforms may include features like automated preventive maintenance scheduling. Maintenance task assignments may be triggered based on increments of time, asset performance, or sensor meter readings. Predictive and prescriptive maintenance abilities offer an excellent return on investment (ROI), minimizing equipment downtime, reducing maintenance costs, and extending the lifespan of your physical assets.

How does using CMMS solutions support organizations? 

CMMS solutions offer a critical support pillar to organizations that rely on physical assets for their operational continuity. A robust CMMS platform casts a spotlight on your maintenance team, and magnifies the absolutely essential role this department plays in ensuring organizational success.

Below, we take a closer look at some of the ways that CMMS solutions can elevate your maintenance strategy while advancing broader organizational goals.

Improved operational efficiency

CMMS solutions streamline maintenance processes, automate workflows, and provide real-time visibility into asset performance. These features lead to faster maintenance response times, reduced downtime, and increased overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).

Reduced maintenance costs

CMMS platforms make it possible for businesses to implement preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, which are proven to optimize equipment performance, reduce repair costs, and extend the lifespan of your physical assets. 

Data-driven decision making

By providing access to comprehensive maintenance data and analytics, your CMMS makes it possible to render more strategic maintenance decisions. You can use this powerful combination of performance metrics, equipment performance data, and historical maintenance records to allocate resources and labor more effectively, prioritize maintenance activities, and optimize asset lifecycle management strategies.

CMMS vs. EAM

An Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution. The key difference between these solutions and other computerized maintenance management software lies in their scope. EAM platforms generally offer a wider variety of features for more holistic facility maintenance and asset management. 

Are you ready for a CMMS? 

Is your organization ready to implement a CMMS system? The right platform can help you optimize the performance of your assets, reduce your maintenance costs, and maximize organizational productivity. 

But before you can implement a CMMS, be sure that you have the right conditions in place to achieve implementation success. Lay the groundwork for your CMMS implementation by meeting the following prerequisites:

• Define clear objectives such as improved efficiency, reduced downtime, and optimized asset management.
• Prepare your data for migration to your CMMS by curating and vetting asset information, maintenance history, inventory records, and more.
• Cultivate organizational buy-in by ensuring that key stakeholders–from management to maintenance teams–support adoption of the CMMS.
• Institute training and support in order to reduce user resistance and operational disruption.
• Outline an integration strategy by auditing existing systems (i.e. ERP software, IoT devices, etc.) to ensure compatibility and preparing for data exchange. 
• Budget your resources for software licensing fees, hardware infrastructure, training costs, ongoing support, and other anticipated implementation costs.

Ready to explore CMMS implementation for your business? Learn more with a look at our comprehensive CMMS Buyer’s Guide.