How to Choose the Right CMMS? 


Benefits of using CMMS system

Any company regardless of its size uses some kind of maintenance software. Small organizations use some basic solutions such as work order software, large corporations need more complex solutions and use computerized maintenance management systems that assist them in performing the management of their maintenance activities. CMMS is more complex than a system that enables receiving the work requests or managing repairs only. If your business is concerned with the equipment service, your company needs software that will make it easy for you to manage equipment maintenance, in other words, your company needs the comprehensive CMMS package enabling your company to organize the scheduling and recording processes of the preventive and planned maintenance of the equipment in an effective way. Using the right computerized maintenance management system that meets business needs and requirements can help the company to:

  • reduce business costs via carrying out regular maintenance; 
  • improve the staff performance via prioritizing the maintenance tasks;
  • increase the company efficiency via focusing on the main job duties.

Naturally, appears a question, “How to choose the CMMS that will be right for my company and will conduct value to my facility?”

Usually, the CMMS includes a desktop package that enables solving different tasks, including inventory management, scheduling periodic maintenance, generating work orders, and more, and a mobile application that allows equipment technicians to fulfill the maintenance work orders anytime and anywhere at the equipment and asset locations.

CMMS has to cover practical stages of maintenance management



  • Planning the systematic equipment inspection and monitoring 
  • Scheduling the planned equipment services and repair work 
  • Generating the technicians’ work orders 
  • Tracking the work orders status 
  • Keeping records of the fulfilled and unfulfilled works 
  • Managing the employees and their workplaces
  • Controlling the inventory levels
  • Stock managing
  • Developing technical cost estimates
  • Budget forecasting

Maintenance management involves a wide range of organizing and coordinating activities that ensure the successful management of different types of equipment and assets. Any computerized maintenance management system is designed to make maintenance management easier, facilitate maintenance requirements and reduce maintenance costs.

CMMS software capabilities

CMMS has to improve the maintenance management activities

CMMS software

  • Collecting reliable information about equipment and assets.
  • Managing the available spare parts inventory.
  • Determining the needed equipment and parts.
  • Allocating sufficient funds for acquiring the needed equipment and parts.
  • Purchasing suitable parts and equipment types and models.
  • Mounting and installing the purchased equipment for effective use.
  • Supplying sufficient resources for efficient equipment and asset use.
  • Operating the equipment, machines, and assets safely and effectively.
  • Maintaining and repairing the equipment, machines, and assets; 
  • Providing the staff with the right skills needed for the best use of the equipment.
  • Decommissioning and disposing of unsafe and obsolete items and parts.
  • Reporting of any change in the equipment and assets status.

The computerized maintenance management system must help

  • Prevent assets and equipment (mechanical, powered, vehicles) from breaking down via scheduled systematic inspection, monitoring, and expertise.
  • Undertake all activities needed to repair the destructed equipment and asset and return them to working condition. 
  • Organize and control all processes of efficient maintenance management.

When choosing the CMMS, you should answer the next questions:

  • Does the current CMMS system have features that enable creating, editing, tracking, and automatically communicating the work orders? 
  • Does this computerized maintenance management solution collect the work order feedback and maintenance statistics? 
  • Does the computerized maintenance management system generate the charts and reports you need to see the information you are interested in? 
  • Does the concerned system give the ability to generate web forms for your engineers, technicians, and vendors for submitting created work orders? 
  • Do the computer programs allow to create the checklists for equipment control and maintenance? 
  • Does software solution enable easy managing of planned and preventing maintenance? 
  • Does the package provide scheduling maintenance in different ways such as by time, as needed, an alarm condition, and others? 
  • Does this solution provide task templates for frequent maintenance jobs? 
  • Does the system alert when used materials and parts of equipment run out? 
  • Does the CMMS enable the easy reordering of the needed material? 
  • Does the offered system include a mobile solution? 
  • Can the maintenance management software be integrated with other computerized systems? 
  • Does the CMMS system alert in the case of vendor warranty and insurance expiration? 
  • Can the offered package be easily customized? 
  • Is the current CMMS flexible and adaptable enough to be changed with the times? 
  • Does the software company provide the training and support during and after implementation?
CMMS software system.

If your answer to each of these questions is “Yes”, you found the CMMS software that meets your business needs. Finally, you need to consider the last important factor, namely the CMMS package price. The calculating price and ROI include not only the initial cost of the software package but also the monthly/annual subscription as well as the costs of upgrades, training, and support.

Back to CMMS-Computerized Maintenance Management System