EAM / CMMS with MPulse
 Achieving CMMS using MPulse Maintenance Software
MPulse Maintenance Software
Introduction:
It seems our life is rife with acronyms, such as CMMS. Acronyms fit our fast paced, pre-packaged world. What with text messaging and other electronic communication systems, acronyms will become the standard, not the exception.
However, the meaning of an acronym changes over time. The original meaning or intent of an acronym that is ten years old probably is not the same as it was when it first was introduced. New acronyms are being created daily by marketing professionals, professional associations and teenagers for text messaging! Not only are new acronyms being developed as you read this, older acronyms are being repositioned with “–“ or “/ “. This is especially true for CMMS.
Acronyms are either affixed to a product (PSP – Play Station Portable) or a concept (PSP – Personal Software Process). This can be very confusing. If an acronym represents a product, you don’t know if you want a unit, a can, a pound, a bundle, or 1/5 of the product. If it is a concept, you can’t buy it, you can only read about it and learn the benefits of implementing this new concept. When you first hear of an acronym you are not sure what it represents. Many marketing people bury a concept acronym in their product name to further cloud the picture (such as MPulse Gold EAM/CMMS)
When the personal computer (PC) industry was young it introduced the “C” word. Of course the “C” word is an acronym for Computer or Computerized. From the “C” word thousands of acronyms have evolved that describe Computer …… or Computerized ….. this or that. Most of the acronyms are three or four letters.
Acronyms tend to evolve over time. In some cases their original meaning or intent changes completely. Some acronyms morph into their own word. An example of this is the military vehicle in WWII (another acronym) called the G-P. Of course the G-P was pronounced “jeep” which then evolved into an SUV (another acronym) with a product name of Jeep.
This happens because of our instinct to pronounce an acronym like a word, but the word does not necessarily fit the traditional definition. As an example, most people know that a CAT Scan is not a veterinary procedure. We know it as a medical procedure by its acronym, without the knowledge of the literal definition of the name. (Computerized Axial Tomography)
Acronyms, over time, loose their specificity. This is caused primarily because marketing people take liberties hooking onto an established acronym with world wide market acceptance like CMMS. Hence when you type ‘CMMS’ into a search engine like Google you get over 5 million responses. When marketing people want to differentiate their products, but not leave the masses they sometimes combine a new ‘exciting’ acronym with an established acronym using a dash (“-“) or a slash (“/”). Hence we now have the EAM/CMMS or CMMS/EAM. EAM is new and stands for Enterprise Asset Management. Sometimes instead of a TLA (Three Letter Acronym) it will be EAMS (FLA) for Enterprise Asset Management System(s). There are many other acronyms in our world such as PM, PdM, RCM, TPM, KPI, and many others.
No one in this industry really changed their product, service, or philosophy, they were just trying to get a little separation from the crowd. Soon it will become out dated and a new one will crop up.
What is CMMS?
CMMS stands for Computerized Maintenance Management System. The ‘S’ in CMMS does not stand for software. If the ‘S’ were to be for software, then CMMS would be a product. CMMS is an acronym that represents a concept . CMMS is not something you purchase. Frequently we have people contact us and ask to purchase some CMMS.
There are many CMMS software packages on the market today. There are also many CMMS consultants, text books, seminars, trade shows, articles and et al available. Our product, MPulse Gold is a CMMS software package.
If you purchase a word processing software package are you an author? If you buy a new set of hand tools are you a mechanic? If you buy an airplane, are you a pilot? Of course the answer to all of these is ‘no.’ Therefore, the purchase of a CMMS software package should not be expected to provide you with a maintenance management system either. If you have a poor maintenance management system in place before you implement a CMMS software package the software package will merely document how poor your system is!
A CMMS software package is a tool you can purchase to help you systematize processes, document activities and results, report on, monitor, and evaluate your existing maintenance management system. A CMMS software package is really a maintenance management information system (you can make up the acronym!!).
A good CMMS software program should be used to improve, augment, and enhance an already functional maintenance management system.
What are the components of a CMMS software package
The components of a good CMMS software package have to mirror the components of a good maintenance management system. There are many definitions or goal statements for a maintenance management system. One most of us could agree on is; “a maintenance management system insures the maximum amount of uptime for the organizations assets at a minimal cost to the organization.”
This definition drives the components of a maintenance system, and therefore the CMMS software package. All activities and processes are centered on the assets, as is the definition. Assets are the tools the organization uses to deliver on its mission, be it the delivery of services (facility maintenance) or the delivery of parts, pieces or other goods (machine maintenance).
MPulse Maintenance Software’s (MPulse) CMMS software package delineates assets as Equipment, Buildings, Rooms, Grounds or Vehicles. With MPulse we center all processes and activities on the organization’s assets. The commitment of labor, materials, and other costs are linked to an asset. This is fundamental to MPulse.
Going back to our definition we notice the first deliverable is ‘maximum amount of uptime.’ Downtime is the antonym for uptime. Downtime is a reality that production maintenance people are aware of. Facility maintenance people mostly do not have the luxury of downtime. They often say ‘we don’t track downtime.’
The reason they don’t track it is that it is not allowed. What are you going to do, send the patients home if a piece of equipment is not working? You can’t delay the start of a school year like you can the release of product. In facility maintenance 100% uptime is assumed!
A CMMS software package must provide tools to measure compliance with your maintenance system and its performance goals. The CMMS software package must be able to report on uptime/downtime and the costs associated with same. Because MPulse CMMS software is a relational database you can measure uptime/downtime and cost. You can also apply filters to your queries by asset, department, location, system, cost center, task, employee(s), contractor, work order type and/or by many other data fields.
A well managed maintenance management system sets performance standards and goals (aka: KPI). A CMMS software package then allows you to measure your results against those goals. There is an axiom that states, ‘you can’t manage what you don’t measure.’ This axiom can be turned around (‘you can’t measure what you don’t manage’) and be just as valid. Another axiom that applies is “if you don’t know where you are going you are never going to get there!” A CMMS software package allows you to measure where you are going and identify if you got there.
Conclusion
There are many CMMS software packages on the market. Some are industry specific and some are general market. The industry specific packages are typically pre-loaded with data choices and terminology. They often force maintenance processes to change to match up with the software. The industry specific packages actually try to dictate the maintenance management system and are good for those organizations who have no system and can adapt.
The general market packages tend to be more flexible and open. They are more adaptable to existing processes and practices. At MPulse we pride our selves on being able to fit MPulse CMMS to your maintenance management system.
The selection of a CMMS software package is only part of implementing CMMS into your organization. Too many people put too much focus, energy and money into the software and don’t budget time and money for implementation services. Your software vendor is a major resource in helping you get implemented. It is in their best interest that you get the software installed, configured, populated with your data, trained, and launched with a minimum amount of disruption and time. At MPulse we have a full product line of tools to help our customers get started. We find there is a direct correlation between success and training.
You can achieve success with your MPulse CMMS software package and MPulse CMMS implementation services. Our experience says we are ready way before you are. Give us a call and we’ll get you going.
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