On average, most organizations struggle to capture actionable data inside the CMMS that can be used for analysis. But then again, maybe management never intended to. This all comes back to “how leadership plans to use the CMMS.” Without leadership involvement, the asset management design will suffer.

When questioned about advanced processes, some organizations quickly state that they don’t have the staff to perform advanced processes. The question then becomes, “What do you really expect from the CMMS?” Advanced processes have complexity, but they also offer the greatest return on investment.

• You can have excellent procedures in place, but lack enforcement.
• You can have excellent procedures in place, but lack staff or clear roles.
• You can have staff in place, but lack vision. This includes understanding the endgame, with a roadmap to get there, coupled with an ongoing search for excellence. This also includes the understanding of advanced processes, which offer the greatest return on value.

Key roles are identified in the graphic above, which match up to processes. Some are basic and some are more advanced. If your goal is to create and close work orders, then maybe you don’t need planners and schedulers. If your goal is to perform (chronic) failure analysis using the CMMS, then you will need supporting roles and processes.

Many organizations fail to create a utilization plan. This document takes the ISO-55000 SAMP one step further and documents how the CMMS can/should be used. Below are questions that may give insight into where you are versus where you want to be:

• Is there an oversight Core Team? Do they perform benchmarking?
• Is there missing foundation data?
• Are you experiencing recurring failures? Are there high levels of reactive maintenance?
• Is the maintenance backlog out-of-control?
• Is work being performed without work orders? Are all actuals being captured?
• Are you in charge of the assets, or, are they in charge of you?
• Is tribal knowledge the only source for failure history? Can you run a report to identify bad actors and failure modes?
• Do stakeholders have a strong understanding of asset management fundamentals?