By Lindsey Walker 

If you are looking to implement a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) at your facility, you must understand how it actually works and how it will specifically benefit your organization. It will eventually come down to how many maintenance professionals are under the management, the number of assets that are being maintained, and the quantity of work orders every year.

For instance, some healthcare facilities may not be large in size, but they maintain a large inventory of assets. So, if you have to manage a huge number of assets and it’s difficult to achieve this manually, implementing CMMS is a good idea.

Fortunately, CMMS software can adapt to a wide range of facilities—allowing hospitals of varying sizes to schedule maintenance visits by vendors and even reduce overall maintenance costs. In short, a CMMS ensures that every piece of equipment is maintained on schedule—thus extending the life of an asset and avoiding damaging failures.

Implementing CMMS: A Step-by-Step Guide

CMMS technologies are not one-model-fits-all kind of structures. Before you implement one, check which CMMS model would be the best fit for your facility by following these eight steps:

  1. Prioritize your facility’s exact needs.
  2. Take all the assets you have in the facility into account and prepare a comprehensive history of their maintenance schedules to determine whether they need replacement or repair parts.
  3. Monitor every request coming from every hospital department regarding asset maintenance.
  4. Get input from those who are already using CMMS technologies to manage their maintenance programs.
  5. Make a list of what you want to achieve with a CMMS—such as things you want to fix and how you want to track the history of assets. Also, ask yourself: Can you have better auditing abilities for regulatory agencies?
  6. Decide how much of your budget you can afford to spend on a CMMS.
  7. Communicate with vendors and discuss the models that are suitable for you.
  8. Ask for a test run before you decide to implement the CMMS.

Setting It Up Smoothly

Now that you have decided which CMMS to implement, you must ensure that the set-up is smooth. Make sure the vendors provide the necessary training to your staff. It would be ideal to model one department or floor at a time.

Also, enter all the assets of the department and start scheduling preventive maintenance. The results will give you an idea on how to proceed with the implementation for the rest of the facility.

Another approach would be to put together as much information as you can and implement CMMS throughout the facility. Remember: Set-up will never be completed. This is because the system has to change along with the facility’s future requirements and goals. Still, stick to a schedule when you set-up the CMMS, as it will help you achieve the implementation within the timelines that work for you.

Maintenance and Beyond

Finally, CMMS maintenance software can offer you much more than just maintenance functions. Apart from tracking orders, you can even add value to multiple aspects of your facility. For example, you can analyze how cost-effective switching to LED lighting would be if you are sending a lot of lamps to the landfill.

After all, if you use the best CMMS software properly, you can lower your organizational costs, significantly improve the facility’s efficiency, increase equipment uptime, create a one-stop database of important building information, and directly impact the bottom line through continued productivity.

Lindsey Walker is the marketing manager of NEXGEN Asset Management.