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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Tips To Achieve Greater Acceptance of A CMMS

Though many consider the best practices involved with the actual use of theCMMS software, what is equally important is the culture and long term strategy of the organization. In order to successfully implement a CMMS, user acceptance is vital. Users need to have a clear vision of what the system will do and what is expected from them. If the majority of the organization loves the system you can be sure you are doing one thing right. Tied in to an acceptance plan must also be a long-term plan with specific system objectives and maintenance programs. Often companies will end their plan when the system goes live, however, without a continuous plan it is impossible to ensure you are tracking the right data to reach your goals. In order to collect the right information within the system, a department must know what they want to display in the end. A long-term plan must also include training methods for current users and new hires.

Continuous training within the system is critical to success considering there is always something new to discover and learn. However, there must be a distinction between system training and software training. Focusing solely on basic key stroke training within the system will not encourage use or acceptance. Instead train individuals based on their roles, allowing users to understand why they are doing the things they are. This will lead to greater acceptance and more accurate completion of activities, especially when using web based asset management.

A final consideration when seeking value from your CMMS is to ensure that your key processes are defined in detail. Do not get in the habit of setting up processes based on what you currently do within the organization. Instead, align them with the objectives of your long term plan. Processes should act as workflows that describe what will happen at each step of an event. To begin focus on Work Management, what process do you have set for approval, planning, scheduling, completion, and documentation? What steps does purchasing, payment, ordering, receiving, issuing, and ordering take in Materials and Storeroom Management. If processes follow suit with your long-term objectives you can guarantee a larger return on investment.

Hopefully the above practices will aid you in your CMMS implementation or help improve your current maintenance procedures. Remember processes are the key to success, and CMMS software is just the tool to manage those processes. Major changes are easier to implement when you pair them with your new system.

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