CMMS implementation guide

Organizations are increasingly adopting and relying upon new technologies to streamline maintenance operations and improve efficiency. A modern CMMS uses artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and the Internet of Things (IoT) to streamline workflows, reduce asset downtime and improve data-driven decision-making. 

CMMS implantation isn’t just about installing software. It’s a highly structured process that integrates the CMMS into existing maintenance systems, streamlining workflows and improving outcomes. Strong CMMS implementation relies on advanced data collection and analysis to give stakeholders a real-time picture of how their most valuable assets are performing and how they should be maintained.

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is a comprehensive software solution that uses new technologies to help organizations automate aspects of their maintenance program. Modern CMMS solutions help organizations reduce asset downtime, improve data collection and analysis, and make more strategic decisions. 

A CMMS is closely related to an enterprise asset management (EAM) system—another enterprise software platform that helps maintenance teams improve aspects of asset performance and reliability. But where a CMMS is focused on asset maintenance, EAM platforms are broader and help measure and improve asset performance in ways that aren’t related to maintenance.

Here’s a look at seven critical steps enterprises can take to choose and implement their CMMS in a way that will benefit their organization.

During the consideration phase, organizations assess their maintenance practices and try to build an accurate picture of what they’ll need from a CMMS vendor.

Areas of maintenance management that a CMMS is likely to improve includes asset downtime, automation of work order management and length of asset lifecycles.

After the consideration phase, organizations should shift their focus from which CMMS platform will be a good fit to how they’ll measure success.

Key performance indicators (KPIs) and other metrics (for example, mean time to repair (MTTR), mean time between failure (MTBF)) play an important role in this stage. Setting goals and measuring progress helps stakeholders assess the value of their investment in a CMMS solution.

Data migration is a critical part of the implementation process. Before a CMMS can be started and tested, an organization must successfully integrate data like asset and maintenance history.

Examples of accurate data integrated during this phase include asset lists, inventories of spare parts and Excel spreadsheets containing naming conventions.

Maintenance data migration is essential to CMMS functionality and underpins important features like work order automation, insight delivery and real-time asset performance measurement.

The configuration stage involves tuning a CMMS to meet the needs of a specific organization.

Organizations in different industries have different processes and methods for maintaining their assets. When the maintenance management software has processed an organization’s data, it can generate templates and checklists and even automate notifications to optimize asset maintenance schedules.

User adoption—how well employees learn to use a CMMS and integrate its functionality into their maintenance tasks—is critical to the success of a CMMS.

Advanced CMMS tools are considered highly scalable, meaning they are as effective with many users as with a smaller number. However, without successful user adoption through rigorous practice and training, organizations might never realize the full value of their investment in a CMMS.

The rollout phase, also known as the launch phase, allows an organization to finally see their CMMS in action.

Often, rollout phases are staggered: A CMMS is tested in one part of an organization before expanding into another. The rollout phase helps maintenance teams adjust to new processes and workflows and identify areas for optimization based on user feedback.

The optimization phase of CMMS implementation is ongoing. Modern CMMS tools enable maintenance operations to be constantly assessed through the analysis of IoT data gathered from critical assets.

As a CMMS is often deployed alongside other systems like enterprise resource planning (ERP) and enterprise asset management (EAM), the optimization phase enables these systems to be integrated without redundancies.

Having a strategic, well-ran plan for CMMS implementation is crucial to realizing the full value of your investment.

Organizations that follow each step carefully and continue to monitor the KPIs they’ve set can expect many benefits, including:  

The right CMMS can be a key enabler of the digital transformation efforts of many organizations. However, as comprehensive as modern CMMS platforms are, their performance depends on how well they’re integrated with existing processes.

With enterprise-wide buy-in, CMMS implementation can help organizations achieve many of their digital transformation goals, such as streamlined workflows, improved asset performance and elimination of manual tasks.

Strong CMMS implementation enhances the decision-making capabilities of stakeholders by providing real-time, accurate data about their most valuable assets.

A strong approach to CMMS implementation helps train teams and managers on powerful dashboards and analytics tools that can help them lower maintenance costs and improve maintenance strategies.

Reduced downtime, also measured as increased uptime, is a key metric for most organizations as it directly measures the amount of time an asset is available to perform core business operations.

Choosing the right CMMS and having a strong approach to implementation ensures that organizations have a strategic, data-driven approach to maintaining their most valuable assets. Also, it is done in a way that optimizes functionality and extends asset lifecycles.

CMMS implementation helps maintenance teams shift from reactive maintenance (repairing assets only when they fail) to preventive and even predictive maintenance processes.

Modern CMMS platforms enable teams to track asset performance in real-time through the gathering and analysis of IoT data. This approach makes it possible to repair assets and replace critical parts before costly breakdowns occur and even to perform maintenance at times when an asset isn’t running.

CMMS platforms that are successfully integrated with existing maintenance procedures can dramatically streamline work order management.

Automated workflows (a feature of most modern CMMS platforms) digitize maintenance histories, making them more accurate and searchable and reducing the likelihood of human error. Many CMMS tools have templates that can be used for standardized repairs and easily accessed by technicians in the field.

Teams that have successfully implemented a strong, modern CMMS platform can manage complex and often widely dispersed physical assets from a single location.

For example, facility management teams can automate aspects of their jobs that were traditionally performed manually, such as climate control and room reservations. According to a recent report, 72% of maintenance managers said that they relied on CMMS to organize their maintenance activities and data in one place.¹

Having a strategic plan for CMMS implementation helps organizations achieve cost savings in several areas.

CMMS automation streamlines inventory management and ensures that spare parts are always on hand when they are needed. In addition to inventory management, the shift from reactive to preventive maintenance scheduling helps extend asset lifecycles and avoid costly breakdowns.

CMMS platforms are maintenance management tools that are popular across a wide range of industries. Here’s a look at how a few of the industries that rely most heavily on a CMMS have successfully implemented a solution to serve their purposes:

• Manufacturing: The manufacturing industry relies heavily on CMMS tools to automate manual processes and avoid unplanned downtime that can interrupt production lines. When implementing a CMMS in the manufacturing industry, organizations prioritize integration with existing practices and the real-time monitoring of machines and worker safety. 

• Healthcare: In the healthcare industry, successful CMMS implementation often depends on transforming outdated, ineffective reactive maintenance procedures into cutting-edge, automated, highly digitized ones. Strong CMMS implementation in the healthcare industry can improve a wide range of outcomes from patient comfort and greater diagnostic accuracy to compliance with regulations.

• Transportation: Many large enterprises in the transportation industry rely on CMMS implementation to enhance and streamline their core workflows. A CMMS helps track vehicles with detailed maintenance histories, real-time asset tracking and automated work order management to increase fleet uptime. A CMMS tuned to the requirements of the transportation industry can help reduce the number of breakdowns that cripple fleets and impact productivity.

• Energy: Companies in the energy industry rely on CMMS implementation to support predictive maintenance for a wide range of complex assets, including wind turbines, hydroelectric dams and pipelines. One challenge that energy and utilities companies frequently encounter is how to maintain geographically dispersed assets. In addition to automated insight delivery on asset performance based on real-time data, a CMMS can increase visibility into asset condition by giving technicians mobile access to real-time dashboards in the field.  

• Public sector: Government facilities and public schools are large facilities with complex maintenance needs that often need to be met on a limited budget. CMMS solutions help public sector maintenance managers monitor their resource usage closely with real-time data so they can make more informed, strategic decisions. In the public sector, CMMS helps streamline workflows, improve data-driven decision-making and reduce reliance on paper-based, inefficient processes.

Looking ahead, CMMS software implementation is likely to continue to be heavily influenced by developments in AI, ML and IoT, three technologies that have transformed it in recent years. As automation capabilities increase, the next generation of CMMS platforms is likely to be more intuitive, autonomous, mobile and adaptive. Here are three areas to watch.

According to a recent report by the IBM Institute for Business Value, 71% of executives claim generative AI (gen AI) has already fundamentally changed how they manage assets.

For CMMS implementation, this means more gen AI tools used throughout the installation process for tasks like comprehensive training, data integration and KPI measurement.

Expect fully autonomous gen AI systems (AI agents) to collect and analyze data, make recommendations and automate even more manual processes required to set up CMMS.

Training employees to use a CMMS is a critical part of successful implementation and will likely be further enhanced soon by augmented reality (AR) tools. AR tools integrate digital information seamlessly into a user’s environment.

Relying on AR technology, technicians will be able to try out CMMS capabilities and learn how to use them in a way that increases buy-in and reduces reliance on costly, inefficient manual training programs.

Cloud-based, mobile-first technologies give technicians access to CMMS features and capabilities anywhere.

For implementation purposes, this means rollout and training can be more hands-on and less costly. Rather than assembling onsite for a comprehensive rollout, workers can get ongoing support while they train on a new CMMS in the field.