Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS)

CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) is computer software that is being designed to ensure consistent performance and increase efficiency by just simplifying maintenance management. It is a user-friendly management system that helps one in planning maintenance strategies and inventory control. CMMS helps one to organize, track, measure, plan, schedule, and anything related to maintenance tasks digitally. As the name suggests, it is a computerized way of managing maintenance work. There are various components of CMMS and some of them are given below as follows.

1. Work Order Management : Work order management simply means to manage work order requests. It is one of main components of CMMS. It includes the following information as follows.
   • Number of work orders.
   • Description regarding work order and priority according to its severity.
   • Type of work order i.e. replace, repair, scheduled, planned.
   • Causes and effects.
   • Tools, products, or parts assigned and required.
2. Preventive and Predictive Maintenance : CMMS generally provides many important features to organizations simply to help them to manage their maintenance operations. One of the best features is providing preventive and predictive maintenance. It helps one to avoid unexpected failures or breakdowns or any damage to assets by simply providing both types of maintenance.
   • Preventive Maintenance : It generally helps one to prevent assets from unexpected failure by regular checking and maintenance.
   • Predictive Maintenance : It generally helps one to prevent assets from unexpected failure by providing maintenance only when it is needed as it predicts if there are any chances of failure occurrence. If chances of failure occurrence are identified then only it performs maintenance.
3. Scheduling and planning : Schedule and planning are two tasks that help one to become proactive rather than reactive. Performing maintenance before any failure occurrence prevents the organization from loss of production, prevent asset from damages, reduce loss of time, and saves money. Therefore, CMMS helps to schedule and plan maintenance tasks before any failure occurrence rather than performing unplanned maintenance.
4. Data Management : Data management of equipment i.e. managing information regarding equipment. CMMS also helps to manage information and data regarding assets that help one to know about the life-cycle of an asset. By checking information, one can decide when to perform future preventive or predictive maintenance. Maintenance history also helps one to solve issues more fastly and accurately to bring back assets into normal working conditions.
5. Inventory control : CMMS also manages Inventory control. Inventory control simply means keeping correct number of parts and products in stock to avoid any problem. If correct parts and products are not available in stock, then it makes it difficult for team members to perform maintenance tasks more effectively. CMMS makes sure that parts that are required are available in stock. CMMS helps one to avoid spending unnecessary money on products or parts that are not required. It also reduces occurrence chances of problems regarding storage issues.
6. Features of CMMS : CMMS helps one to manage maintenance work orders by simply allowing one to –
   • Submit, review, check, filter, assign, and analyze work orders.
   • Plan, schedule, and initiate maintenance
   • Get notified when any work orders are developed.
   • Add checklists, manuals, data and notes to work orders.

Advantages of CMMS :

• Improved maintenance planning and scheduling: CMMS provides a central platform for managing maintenance activities, enabling software engineering teams to plan and schedule maintenance tasks more effectively.
• Better inventory management: CMMS can help teams manage inventory by providing real-time data on the availability of spare parts and equipment. This can help reduce downtime caused by equipment or parts shortages.
• Enhanced data analysis: CMMS allows teams to analyze maintenance data and identify trends or patterns that can be used to optimize maintenance activities and improve software reliability.
• Reduced costs: CMMS can help reduce maintenance costs by optimizing maintenance activities, improving equipment uptime, and reducing the need for emergency maintenance.
• Improved regulatory compliance: CMMS can help teams comply with regulatory requirements by providing documentation and tracking of maintenance activities.
• Increased equipment lifespan: CMMS can help extend the lifespan of software and hardware equipment by facilitating regular maintenance and repair activities.

Disadvantages of CMMS :

• Implementation Costs: Implementing a CMMS can be a costly investment for software engineering teams, requiring significant upfront investment in software, hardware, and implementation services.
• Training and Learning Curve: CMMS can be complex software, and it requires proper training to be used effectively. This training can be time-consuming and may require additional resources.
• Maintenance and Upkeep: CMMS requires maintenance and upkeep, which can add to the ongoing costs of using the system. Regular upgrades, patches, and maintenance may require additional resources and time.
• Data Quality and Accuracy: CMMS relies heavily on accurate data, and if data is not entered correctly, it can affect the quality and accuracy of the output. This can lead to inaccurate maintenance schedules, inventory levels, and other issues.
• Dependence on Technology: CMMS is dependent on technology, and if there is a failure in the system or hardware, it can lead to significant downtime and loss of productivity.
• Resistance to Change: Implementing a CMMS can be a significant change for software engineering teams, and some team members may be resistant to the new system or the changes it requires.