| CMMS or
EAM?
Which is it?
CMMS refers
to a Computerized Maintenance Management Systems - and is
usually a stand alone computer program to manage maintenance
work, maintenance labor and sometime maintenance inventory.
EAM is an
Enterprise Asset Management System that does all the functions
above but also integrates (seamlessly) with the company
financial, human resource, material management and other ERP
(Enterprise Resource Planning) applications.
In day's
gone by, stand alone CMMS had a great advantage over EAM in
terms of features, ease of use and functionality. In the
past few year, major companies like SAP and Oracle have narrowed
the functionality gap and can argue the many virtues of
operating an integrated system with similar feature sets and
functions of a "best of breed" system.
Yet the
stand alone systems have not yielded the market just yet with
major players like IBM acquiring MRO software - and many other
"best of breed" software companies touting middleware
integration solutions when required by the client.
Meanwhile
our friends at AssetPoint, Lawson, Infor, and IBM as well as
those mentioned above continue to support Reliabilityweb.com's
unique education approach to improving the information available
to maintenance and reliability professionals as they expand and
improve their software offerings.
Add
powerful reliability information management tools from companies
like Ivara, Oniqua and Meridium and you have a great deal to
consider in terms of managing the information around
maintenance, reliability and ultimately - physical asset
management.
These
choices are not for the lighthearted and the journey just begins
with selection as implementation, data accuracy, failure coding,
asset hierarchy, work order history, user adoption, training,
enforcement, reporting, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs),
dashboards, budgeting, planning, scheduling, mobile options,
material management and many more factors will determine the
result you will get with CMMS or EAM. Plan and prepare and
prepare and plan!
Remember -
these software systems are simply automating the underlying
maintenance process - so if you have a poor maintenance process
- adding software will not make it better and may make it worse
(faster and more efficiently).
Be a
process fanatic. Focus on improving the underlying
processes that are delivering the results you are currently
getting then focus on adding technology solutions like CMMS or
EAM.
Worry less about what you call it and learn as much as you can
in order make a comprehensive roadmap for successful and
productive CMMS/EAM.
1)
Read articles here
2)
Sign up
for our weekly email newsletter
3)
Watch an iPresentation tutorial
4)
Subscribe to Uptime
Magazine
5) Attend
EAM-2009
in Daytona Beach Florida and learn from your peers
6)
Join the CMMS/EAM discussion at
the Association for Maintenance Professionals
Thanks for
visiting CMMSCity.com and the rest of the Reliabilityweb.com
network.
Please let
us know what we can do to make your journey more successful.
Best
regards
Terrence O'Hanlon, CMRP
Publisher
|
™
