If you are on the market for a CMMS solution, you may want to spend some time going through the points on the list below; hopefully these points will help you focus on what we have found to be some of the key points behind the success of a CMMS implementation.
This article has no intention to be a recipe for success; it's simply an exercise designed to promote thoughts and discussions on aspects that really matter and without which the investment on a CMMS will only be a waste of time and money.
To measure how “CMMS-Ready” your organization is give an equal 10% maximum weight to each of the questions on the table below. Score each question from 0% (a definite “no”) to 10% (a clear "yes!"). When you finish, take the total and see where you rank using the table at the bottom.
Questions
|
Question |
Weight |
| 1 |
Does management really know what a CMMS is and what it can do? |
0-10% |
| 2 |
Is top-management 100% behind the decision? |
0-10% |
| 3 |
Can it be predicted that management will actually use the information the CMMS provides to assist on their decisions? |
0-10% |
| 4 |
Is there a reasonable amount of technological know-how for the personnel involved in inputing and extracting information from the CMMS? |
0-10% |
| 5 |
Are the main current needs for a CMMS clearly defined? |
0-10% |
| 6 |
Will there be one or more responsible people to ensure the continuous correct use of the CMMS? |
0-10% |
| 7 |
Is the company (at least on the maintenance management side of things) already fairly organized? |
0-10% |
| 8 |
Is the company or maintenance department ready for an increase on administrative workload? |
0-10% |
| 9 |
Are there customer, regulatory or insurance requirements that demand easy access to maintenance logs? |
0-10% |
| 10 |
Is there a fair chance that the natural resistance to change of all people involved might be overcome (specially if the current procedures have been in place for some time)? |
0-10% |
|
TOTAL
|
|
Where you Rank
| 0%-50% |
Your organization is probably not ready for a CMMS and the
investment will probably be not worthwhile at least for now. |
| 50%-60% |
Your new CMMS has a fair chance to succeed, but there's a few
items that need to be worked on. To decrease your risk, it is
better to work on your rank before you go ahead with any purchase. |
| 60%-80% |
You have a fair chance for success and continuous correct CMMS
use. Most companies will probably score on this range. |
| 80%-100% |
Your company stands to benefit greatly from a CMMS. |
Last Recommendation
Use the questions and ranking system above as a thought-provoking discussion tool to be discussed with all people involved in the CMMS study. Again, there are no formulas or step by step procedures everyone can follow to ensure a high return on investment from a CMMS purchase but it's possible to stay focused to at least substantially minimize the risk of failure.
About the author: Rui Alves is the TD of Parafernalia Ltd, developers of
comma CMMS, an online CMMS targeted at small- to medium-sized companies.