CMMS & Compliance: Merging Software & Practice
Using CMMS doesn’t automatically make you compliant with regulatory guidelines. Your maintenance software provides vital tools to help your organization maintain compliance, but you need to set it up correctly to follow the standards outlined by regulatory agencies. To support all compliance-related documentation, align your CMMS software with your team’s workflows to streamline the documentation process. Your goal should be to automate the completion of compliance tasks as much as possible and record each and every one. Track Asset History With every work order in CMMS software, you’ll build a traceable history for your assets. When it comes to compliance, that documentation serves as the foundation for proving to regulatory agencies that your organization is doing what it needs to for compliance. Ensure you are gathering all key data that an auditor would want, including the task, status, due date, completion date, and asset condition. This data serves as the foundation for reports that outline exactly what your team has done and when. Manage Parts & Inventory Inventory management tools in CMMS software can help quickly identify what you need for which piece of equipment. When an emergency arises, this information provides critical data for making cost-efficient decisions. It also helps your organization save time and money by improving tracking, stocking, ordering, and inventory processes. Using CMMS to manage and control inventory and parts not only helps streamline operations, but also will prove to regulatory auditors that you’ve taken steps to enable the timely completion of work orders and related worker safety. You’ll have the documentation you need to answer any questions during an audit or inspection. Automate Preventive Maintenance Tasks When a maintenance team establishes and regularly performs preventive maintenance tasks that contribute to the upkeep of assets, an organization may be able to sidestep serious problems that arise as a result of neglect, as well as delay more expensive maintenance. CMMS software will generate a schedule of PM tasks, making it simpler to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. These schedules and inspections help spot issues before they occur. As each PM task is completed, you’re documenting your efforts to ensure your assets are properly calibrated and lubricated when they need to be. Create Inspection Checklists You can use CMMS to build inspections and checklists into your workflows. That includes tracking employee health and safety information, documenting efforts to keep equipment safe and reliable, and ensuring all safety inspections and tests are done correctly and on schedule. CMMS encourages safety when you integrate all compliance codes and maintenance manuals to on-site equipment records. As a result, you can use maintenance software to resolve potential risks before outside auditors do. However, these safety measures aren’t just about protecting your organization in an audit or inspection. It’s in everyone’s best interest to be proactive about your employees’ health and safety. Customize CMMS Dashboard A configurable dashboard reduces the need to search for frequently used features or data by placing them all in a single location. End-users with the appropriate permission are able to create their personal dashboards. These “command center consoles” will allow you to customize the content that you can view. That means you can put your most important data related to compliance front and center, where you don’t have to dig for it. CMMS software makes regulatory compliance so much easier for maintenance operations. The savings in time and effort alone pay off quickly, not to mention the reduced stress associated with inspections or audits. Contact us to learn more about how MPulse can help.
3 Things You Don’t Need in CMMS Software
When you’re researching CMMS software, you typically focus on what you and your organization need. But it’s also helpful to understand what you don’t need. Here are three things most maintenance departments don’t need in CMMS. #1: You Don’t Need Features Your Team Won’t Use When you research CMMS software, consider how the features will impact your users. If the software has specific features that are difficult to learn and navigate, the software won’t be adopted quickly by your users. Study after study shows that software that’s easier to use is used more often—and more effectively. But, You Do Need Scalability Instead, ask if advanced features like condition-based maintenance, cost center budgeting and advanced inventory tracking can be added later as your organization matures. You may not use these functions initially—and shouldn’t have to pay for them right out of the gate—but make sure there’s a reasonable upgrade path. #2: You (Probably) Don’t Need Predictive Maintenance Predictive maintenance requires a combination of gauges, meters, or other measurement techniques like infrared thermography, vibration analysis, or lubrication analysis. But if you’re not a Fortune 500 company, the payoff of such precise monitoring doesn’t pencil out when you consider how much infrastructure you need for predictive maintenance. But, You Do Need Preventive Maintenance A lot of customers say “predictive maintenance,” when they really mean preventive or condition-based maintenance. Preventive maintenance software is usually the right choice for small and medium-sized companies. It will generate a schedule of PM tasks, making it simpler to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. #3: You Don’t Want to Spend Too Much on Licenses Not so long ago, most organizations sold “per-seat” licenses. Each person—or seat—needed one license. Five people needed five licenses… ten people needed ten licenses… and so on. And you needed to add even more licenses for casual users who only needed access on a sporadic basis. But, Concurrent Licensing Can Save You Money Concurrent user licensing is a newer approach where you buy licenses based on the number of users accessing the software at the same time. Say seven of your techs work the night shift, while ten are on the day shift. You’d only need ten licenses because the night shift won’t be using the system at the same time. If someone leaves and you hire someone new, you don’t need to buy new licenses because the number of users accessing the software at the same time hasn’t changed. Have questions? Contact us. We’re here to help.
Get More Out of Your CMMS Software
When your organization’s equipment hasn’t been maintained properly, you’re going to experience more breakdowns. That translates into lost dollars and intense pressure on the maintenance team to get production running again. Prevent these issues and get more out of your CMMS software. Scheduled preventive maintenance reduces the possibility of equipment or asset failure. CMMS will generate a schedule of PM tasks, making it simpler to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. These schedules and inspections help spot issues before they occur. Maintenance intervals can be scheduled based on time, operating hours, or part condition—triggering a work order just before the point when system inefficiencies or failures begin to occur. But that’s just the beginning. Here’s how you can take your preventive maintenance to the next level. Calendar Management in Preventive Maintenance Software Calendars are a huge part of the maintenance operations management field—from safety inspections to planned maintenance tasks to staff schedules. The ability to visualize what needs to happen and when helps maintenance teams stay on the same page, no matter how busy they get. Customized and filtered schedules make sure your whole maintenance team knows what needs to be done, and by when. These CMMS calendars can show work order due dates, preventive maintenance, warranty expiration, employees or vendors, task type, completion dates, and much more. MPulse Calendar Management In MPulse, calendars can be customized and filtered, and they work seamlessly with our maintenance work order creation tool. View calendars by month, week, or day. Plus, there’s no limit to the number or type of calendar views. You’ll be able to see what needs to happen when, quickly and easily. MPulse Calendar Management features include… Customization and filters for work order due dates, scheduled maintenance, warranty expiration, employees or vendors, task type, completion dates, and much more Drag-and-drop capability to reschedule in a flash Unlimited number or type of calendar views Automated scheduling for tasks or meetings Ability to quickly add tasks and other deadlines on the fly Capacity to add inspections, deadlines, tasks, meetings, travel information, and much more Media Management in Preventive Maintenance Software Media management in CMMS stores all digital assets related to equipment, facilities, or work orders—including videos, photos, PDFs, manuals, vendor websites, intranet sites, documents, and more. As a result, all maintenance team members have access to these materials directly from records in the software. Media management in CMMS offers the following benefits… Quick access to digital information resources right from your software Information stored with record, so it’s easy to find it the next time Commonly used resources available to all team members Reduced time looking for important documents or information Accessible storage of important training materials MPulse Media Management MPulse’s Media Management feature also lets you link media assets to your Dashboards, so it’s right there waiting for you every time you sign in. It also enables you to… Store or link to a wide variety of digital assets, including videos, photos, PDFs, manuals, vendor websites, intranet sites, documents, and more Link to media from asset records or work orders Provide quick access to media materials for team members Easily update or add media assets as necessary Condition-Based Maintenance in Preventive Maintenance Software Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) keeps tabs on the actual state of your critical assets by recording the output of any meters and gauges on that asset. Sensors attached to equipment will use methods like vibration, viscosity, ultrasound, thermography, and other technologies to determine any changes to the condition of that asset. In combination with CMMS software, maintenance teams can use that data to identify patterns that could lead to machine failure. When your maintenance team uses a condition-based maintenance system, tasks occur when the specified parameters reach a level that indicates a lower performance level. Once a parameter reaches an unacceptable level, maintenance workers are dispatched. As a result, your maintenance tasks are performed at the moment they are needed. MPulse CBM When an asset’s condition changes outside of specified ranges, MPulse lets you know immediately with CBM assessments, so you can react to prevent breakdowns before they happen. The benefits include…. Improved asset reliability and equipment uptime Reduced costs associated with asset failures and production downtime Fewer disruptions to normal operations Noninvasive measuring technology More streamlined parts and inventory management Optimized maintenance intervals Improved safety Reduced maintenance and labor overtime costs Fewer chances for collateral damage to other systems Data Integration These days, every company relies on an assortment of systems to capture, store, and report on activities and transactions across the enterprise. Until recently, getting all your applications to share data required teams of highly skilled consultants in data integration solutions and services and weeks or months of work—sometimes with questionable results. Integrated data services help you instantly share data across your enterprise. A tight data integration system between preventive maintenance software and your other business-critical applications and data stores offer benefits like the ability to… Minimize errors due to manual data entry Reduce data input redundancy Respond faster to maintenance problems Provide near real-time monitoring of critical data Adapt to your company’s changing technologies Share maintenance expense data with your accounting software Send readings from meters, gauges, and PLCs to your CMMS Exchange ERP data with your maintenance software Collect data from Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices MPulse DataLink Integration Adapter MPulse DataLink Integration Adapter includes four powerful features… Import data to MPulse from files, databases, or other applications Export data from MPulse to other applications, files, or databases Schedule imports and exports based on times or file changes Save unlimited “mapping profiles” to your data sources and targets Mobile Preventive Maintenance Software Maintenance doesn’t happen in the office. Mobile preventive maintenance software is a natural fit for maintainers. Combining mobile devices with preventive maintenance makes for a powerful tool to get the job done. Mobile preventive maintenance software allows you to access critical information easily without calling back to the office or getting “plugged in.” Improved security features also mean you can safely control access
7 Ways CMMS Can Save You Money
CMMS software is an investment for your organization, and like any investment, you want to see a return on your money. You know CMMS software can help streamline your company’s maintenance operations, but how much can you really save? Successful CMMS implementations typically return 3 to 5 times the initial investment in less than three years. The average gross savings on maintenance expenditures range from 10% to 40%. Those numbers are impressive, but where do they come from? In most cases, these categories constitute the bulk of the savings. Decrease Labor Costs Labor is a big part of any organization’s budget. Personnel management starts with appropriate staffing levels. CMMS software helps you accurately estimate labor hours for preventive maintenance (PM) tasks, making sure your staffing levels match the workload, and decreasing overtime costs. This type of labor cost analysis can determine when it’s more efficient to add more staff members instead of paying your current employees more overtime. Computerized maintenance management software also helps you get the highest-priority work done while making sure lower-priority work doesn’t slip through the cracks. Work order management features in CMMS software can automate schedules for both employees and contract workers. This information also eliminates lost information between shifts, reducing confusion and errors. Employee performance tracking helps you determine which employees are most efficient at which tasks, enabling managers to balance the workload. By tracking repair times, you can create benchmarks for your organization as well. Streamline Inventory Management The number one reason for delayed repairs is unavailable parts. CMMS software’s ability to manage your parts inventory prevents under-stocking and overstocking and streamlines reordering. It can also help automate cyclical inventory counts. CMMS software can determine your current inventory levels and automatically generate purchase orders based on need, reducing purchasing overhead. You also can track parts to stock based on availability. For example, if a part has a three-week lead time, you can adjust stocking levels to make sure it is available when your staff needs it. Reduce Equipment Downtime When your organization’s equipment hasn’t been maintained properly, you’re going to experience more breakdowns. That translates into lost dollars and intense pressure on the maintenance team to get production running again. When you use computerized maintenance management software to schedule and track PMs, you’ll reduce emergency maintenance issues and unexpected production stoppages. This, in turn, cuts overtime costs for emergency repairs and reduces production losses. You can also schedule maintenance for off hours by tracking equipment use time. Optimize Equipment Life Cycle CMMS software generates a schedule of preventive maintenance tasks, making it simpler to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. Properly maintained assets perform more efficiently, use less energy, and fail less often—extending their usable life. CMMS data also helps organizations make effective replace-or-repair decisions. Maintenance software can track not only the age of the equipment, but the miles, hours, life-to-date repair dollars, and many other metrics—helping you decide when it becomes cheaper to replace an asset instead of repairing it. Prevent Manufacturing Scrap and Rework In manufacturing industries, CMMS software helps reduce scrap and rework by keeping equipment operating efficiently, reducing emergency production breakdowns, and avoiding catastrophic material losses. Maintenance and inspection schedules generated from CMMS reports help spot issues before they occur. Regular servicing also ensures equipment is properly calibrated and lubricated. Strengthen Workplace Safety CMMS software documents work procedures to establish accountability. That includes tracking employee health and safety information, recording completed tasks to keep equipment safe and reliable, and ensuring all safety inspections and tests are done properly and on schedule. CMMS encourages safety by integrating all compliance codes and maintenance manuals to on-site equipment records. By using CMMS software to track health and safety data, you can also identify and resolve potential risks before outside auditors do. Easier Compliance Compliance in the maintenance department requires documentation, specifically for creating procedures and recording maintenance activities. Your CMMS data provides both the big picture and the little details, so your maintenance tasks are both visible and verifiable. The data recorded for assets, employees, inventory, schedules, and work orders provides the basis for your compliance documentation. And best of all, you can access the information in minutes, instead of spending hours or even days sorting through a paper filing system. With solid data and easy-to-read reports, your organization can support compliance requirements based on hard evidence, which will improve your ability to respond to inspections and audits. You’ll also be able to identify issues long before your organization receives a visit. Like most successful investments, CMMS benefits compound over time. As your data becomes more comprehensive, your organization becomes more efficient and the return on investment climbs. Computerized maintenance management software helps you capture key data and turn it into reliable information to help make cost-effective choices about asset management.
CMMS & Compliance: Getting Started
Compliance in the maintenance department requires documentation, specifically for creating procedures and recording maintenance activities. Luckily, CMMS software excels at compliance documentation. Your CMMS data provides both the big picture and the little details, so your maintenance tasks are both visible and verifiable. How to Support Compliance in Your CMMS How can you prepare for inspections and audits from regulatory agencies? Start with proactive compliance procedures supported by consistent documentation. CMMS software provides the right tools to document important compliance information, as well as features to make reporting on that data quick and easy when inspections or audits occur. #1: Work Orders You can use CMMS to link all the elements of repair and maintenance work in one place. Work orders are the backbone of your operations, and CMMS makes scheduling, tracking, and documenting maintenance tasks easy. You’re essentially recording work history with every work order. This information improves response times and completion rates with better access to historical data and other important details, like documenting preventive maintenance tasks on key assets. The data recorded for assets, employees, inventory, schedules, and work orders provides the basis for your compliance documentation. #2: Preventive Maintenance Preventive maintenance (PM) is routine, scheduled maintenance performed to lessen the possibility of equipment or asset failure. CMMS will generate a schedule of PM tasks, making it simpler to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. These schedules and inspections help spot issues before they occur. Maintenance intervals can be scheduled based on time, operating hours, or part condition—triggering a work order just before the point when system inefficiencies or failures begin to occur. The use of preventive maintenance software also ensures equipment is properly calibrated and lubricated when it needs to be, and it’s documented for compliance too. Properly maintained assets also perform more efficiently, use less energy, and fail less often—extending their usable life. #3: Safety Inspections and Checklists CMMS software also documents work procedures to establish accountability. You can use CMMS to build inspections and checklists into your workflows. That includes tracking employee health and safety information, documenting efforts to keep equipment safe and reliable, and ensuring all safety inspections and tests are done properly and on schedule. CMMS encourages safety by integrating all compliance codes and maintenance manuals to on-site equipment records. You can use CMMS software to track health and safety data and resolve potential risks before outside auditors do. However, these safety measures aren’t just about protecting your organization in an audit or inspection. It’s in everyone’s best interest to be proactive about your employees’ health and safety. #4: Monitoring and Alerts One of the most powerful CMMS features is the ability to monitor assets and set up alerts that improve response times. That starts with a configurable dashboard that reduces the need to search for frequently used data by placing it in a single location. You can put your most important data front and center, where you don’t have to dig for it. CMMS helps you see the most important information at a glance, so you understand where you need to take action. More advanced features like MPulse Asset Status Board provides a single-screen view of the health of your entire production line, facilities footprint, or fleet of vehicles. You’ll quickly see the status of your entire asset inventory, on one screen. Square boxes (“cells”) can be color-coded according to criteria you’ve defined. You can choose whatever colors you’d like to indicate current status—healthy, underperforming, or critical failure. #5: Reporting To make sense of all that great CMMS data, reports help you see how your department is functioning and where you might make changes to improve. And best of all, you can access the information in minutes, instead of spending hours or even days sorting through a paper filing system. Having hard numbers also allows you to measure and use a whole host of key performance indicators, and decide when it’s time to repair or replace malfunctioning equipment. You can quickly produce status reports and documents giving details or summaries of your team’s maintenance work. With solid data and easy-to-read reports, your organization can support compliance requirements based on hard evidence, which will improve your ability to respond to inspections and audits. You’ll also be able to identify issues long before your organization receives a visit. Documenting compliance information in a CMMS can save you money and reduce the time it takes to record crucial data. As a result, you know you can respond to inspections and audits with the information required. Contact us today to learn more about how MPulse Software can assist with compliance.
30+ Questions To Ask a CMMS Vendor
When you’re ready to talk to CMMS vendors, you typically start with a “discovery” call. During this conversation, a vendor’s sales rep should spend the bulk of the time listening and asking questions to learn about your specific needs. Expect it to take 20-30 minutes, or more if your requirements are complex. To make the most of your conversations with CMMS vendors, consider the questions you want to be answered. How to Prepare for CMMS Vendors Always start by building a checklist to make sure you know your stakeholders and what they require from a CMMS solution. Use the starter checklist below as a guide. What are your company’s stakeholders’ questions, concerns, and needs? What do users say is most important to them? What are they worried about when faced with learning a new system? How can you help your IT Manager commit to supporting a new application? What does senior management want to achieve with your purchase? Do you know the processes and lead times required by procurement? Does finance agree there’s money to fund your purchase? How do you get them to release funds and approve payment? Have your legal and compliance departments given the ok? Do you know how to satisfy the regulations and internal procedures they are accountable for? Questions about Your Company’s Requirements Next, make a list of questions based on your preparation above. We recommend using these same questions with each CMMS vendor (as much as possible) to ensure you’re making an accurate comparison between companies. How will your software’s features meet my organization’s needs? How will our CMMS data be stored? How often do you update your software? What happens when we add more assets, employees, or advanced features? What’s your pricing structure? How long has your company been in business? Who are your other customers in our industry? Can you provide references? What does a typical implementation process look like? What training and support services do you provide? Questions about Features and Functionality Your stakeholders will probably have questions about the software functionality. Include any specific questions about features that they want to learn more about. The following list is a good place to start. Asset Records Employee Records Work Order Management Preventive Maintenance Scheduling Service Requesting Service Request Management Inventory Management Mobile Usage Media Integration Dashboards Reporting Key & Lock Management Vendor Management Cost Center & Budget Tracking Detailed Financial/TCO Tracking Customization Condition-based Maintenance Barcode Scanning Purchase Requisitions Questions about Pricing, Implementation, Support, and Training Last, but not least, ask questions about pricing, implementation, support, and training options. This information is just as important, if not more, when making your final decision. Will you purchase the application outright or subscribe to it as Software-as-aService (SaaS)? If purchased, will you host your application in-house or do you need to outsource this? Can you describe the implementation assistance you’ll require? How many people from your company need to be trained? Are different levels of training for in-house application support needed? Can the vendor provide the after-purchase support your stakeholders require? After you’ve spoken to the vendors, schedule a demo to get more detailed information on their company and product, along with a live software demonstration for key stakeholders. Have questions? Contact us. We’re here to help.
Tips For Setting Up Your CMMS Dashboard
The MPulse Maintenance Advisor Dashboard displays all your critical information or key performance indicators (KPIs). As a result, you can see what’s going on in your maintenance department at a glance. Each MPulse user can customize their own dashboard. For example, technicians may set up a dashboard with a list of all work orders assigned to them. Administrators may want to track specific assets or monitor workflows. Managers may want to include financial charts and graphs that provide an updated look at what’s going on in the department. Whatever your job role, MPulse Maintenance Advisor Dashboard displays the widgets you want—including charts, graphics, lists, media, and more. How to set up Your CMMS Dashboard To set up your MPulse dashboard, click on the Gear icon in the top right. You can choose between two options: Charts/Gauges or Configure Dashboard. Select Configure Dashboard first. Choose the Record Area you want, such as Work Order Records below. Then, choose the Saved Layouts you want to include on your dashboard. The layouts you choose will move to the Maintenance Advisor – Layout section, and they will appear on your dashboard. Next, you can choose media widgets, which can include vendor websites, photos, PDFs, and other media. Start by clicking the arrow on the right side of the Maintenance Advisor Media box. Then click the Link icon. Once you link the media, select the thumbnail, then click the Add Media to Maintenance Advisor icon. This will populate the icon picture at the bottom, indicating it’s been added to the dashboard. Next, select the graphic reports you want to include on your dashboard. Go back to your Maintenance Advisor, and click the Gear icon again. This time, select Charts/Gauges. You’ll see your Report Widgets area. You can also navigate to this area by using the main menu and selecting Report Widgets. Select the charts or gauges you want by clicking the Edit icon, and then check the box next to Place on Dashboard. Or, you can also do the same thing from the List View layout by selecting the Edit icon and putting a check in the box under the Place on Dashboard column. You can return to your dashboard any time by clicking Maintenance Advisor on the breadcrumb trail. Note you can resize and or rearrange the widgets on your dashboard to fit your needs. Additionally, these widgets are constantly updated on an adjustable interval that defaults to five minutes. Have questions? Contact us. We’re here to help.
5 Mistakes to Avoid When Implementing a New CMMS
Managing your maintenance operations with a CMMS establishes visibility. You can learn what’s going right, when you need to make improvements, and where you’re spending your dollars. However, CMMS success requires careful planning. Here are five common mistakes that we’ve seen organizations make, and how to avoid them. #1: Fail to lead One of the biggest issues we’ve seen with CMMS implementation is a lack of leadership. Technical difficulties, management turnover, employee resistance, and adjustments in company direction are predictable. Managers need to stay on their toes and quickly address changes to maintain momentum. It’s your responsibility to maintain an open dialogue, set and manage expectations, and clearly communicate what you need from stakeholders. We recommend Including members of the production, planning, purchasing, operations, and IT departments on your CMMS implementation team, because these departments are most affected by a new solution. Let them tell you which business processes need improvement. Then hammer out agreeable objectives mapped to new business processes. #2: Choose the wrong vendor Whether you’re considering a large vendor or a small one, there are many ways to assess whether a company will be a good long-term partner. We recommend choosing a company you’re certain you’ll be happy with over the long haul. Shop for a financially secure vendor with proven ability to expand the solution as your company grows. Beware of providers that rely heavily on partners for key functionality. When considering industry-specific software, make sure to find out if it really delivers on its promise. Talk to other corporate users in your field. Try out the software. Choose enough functionality to meet your business needs without sending your IT department on endless quests for the Holy Grail. #3: Budget unrealistically To create a realistic budget for CMMS software, you need to consider more than just the price of the software itself. Typically, you’ll pay for the base software and then the number of user licenses you need. However, to ensure CMMS success, also consider the costs of start-up training, integration services, data migration from legacy systems, hosting, and maintenance/support agreements. CMMS customization and integration with existing software are two big expenses that you should consider carefully. We also recommend calculating exactly how CMMS will benefit your business. Strive to answer this question in terms of measurable ROI (return on investment). What will really improve your bottom line is how your CMMS helps your employees use maintenance data more effectively. That can help with the budget approval process. #4: Implement too quickly Change is never easy. In the case of CMMS, employees especially may fear the accountability involved in posting data that exposes true performance. Start your CMMS initiative in a single department that stands to benefit the most in the short term; then follow with a zealous, company-wide CMMS proponent. When others witness the initial success of the first department, bringing everyone on board will be much easier. Market CMMS to employees and deliver ongoing training. It may sound obvious, but it’s important to remember that employees have to use the solution in order for it to work. Clearly communicate how it will help them succeed, and start CMMS training early on. This way, you’ll chip away faster at the 18 to 24 months it typically takes employees to adopt new business processes. #5: Import inaccurate or unnecessary data If you’ve decided to migrate to new software, it’s usually because key needs aren’t being met by your current system. Now is the time to make decisions about what you really need to keep. Or, another alternative is to simply start fresh. Your legacy data and old work orders can remain where they are for historical reference, and you simply add assets, parts, and preventive maintenance schedules to the new system. Maintenance data is the backbone of CMMS. Most companies store duplicate and outdated data in multiple locations. Putting this data in a unified database, scrubbing it, and making it available to the entire organization before implementation will make for a smooth rollout. If necessary, get help from vendors who offer data-cleansing services. Follow these guidelines to streamline that process and avoid the typical pitfalls that kill new CMMS initiatives. Start by contacting MPulse or try our ROI Calculator to find out how we can help you implement your new CMMS.
Streamline Your Labor Resource Management
MPulse’s labor resource management features provide a direct link between the people you depend on and the work orders you manage. Let’s learn how MPulse Resource Leveling and Resource Planning can help you. Resource Leveling in CMMS The MPulse Resource Leveling tool is available from your Maintenance Advisor dashboard as soon as you log in. On the left, you can choose Employees or Vendors from the Resource Type field. For this example, we selected Employees. When you select a resource or an employee, MPulse displays a calendar of the work orders currently assigned to them. You can view this calendar by Month, Week, or Day. On the calendar, you can drag and drop work orders around to change the due date or adjust the estimated hours. You’ll see a list of all work order records on the right side. There are two subsets: the top shows work orders assigned to this resource, and the bottom shows the work orders not assigned to this resource. You can assign a work order to this resource simply by dragging the work order and dropping it onto the calendar. You also add an employee to a work order that’s been assigned to someone else. MPulse will give you the option to replace the existing employee or add the resource as an additional employee assigned to the work order. Resource Planning in CMMS MPulse’s Resource Planning tool calculates the number of records or estimated hours for scheduled maintenance records. As a result, you can plan and staff accordingly. This example shows all scheduled maintenance records grouped by region and broken down by week for one year. Each of these rows shows the scheduled maintenance records for that region and week, which are color coded. These colors are based on the average number of scheduled maintenance tasks for this time period. Red is too high. Blue is too low. Green is just right. Click on any cell to see the scheduled maintenance records relevant to the count. You can build your own Resource Planning layouts by clicking the Configure icon in the top right corner. In this configuration, we chose Equipment Records and Scheduled Maintenance Count. Next, we picked the date range and how these dates will be grouped. Then, we picked the fields from the asset records that will group the data that displays in the layout. Note: you can move these groups around to determine the order. Lastly, we used filters to narrow down exactly what we want to see, and defined the color codes. Then, we clicked the Save icon. Now this layout is available on the left side of the screen. Remember, if you use MPulse Role-Based Access Control, each user will only see the records that pertain to their role. Have questions? MPulse has answers! Contact us.
Why You Need a CMMS with Digital Media Management
The Media Management feature of MPulse CMMS software offers quick access to digital information resources right from your device. As a result, commonly used documents and information are available to all maintenance team members. That reduces your team’s time spent searching for important resources. It includes the ability to… Store or link to a wide variety of digital assets, including videos, photos, PDFs, manuals, vendor websites, intranet sites, documents, and more Link to media from asset records or work orders Provide quick access to media materials for team members Easily update or add media assets as necessary The Media Management feature also lets you link media assets to your Dashboards, so it’s right there waiting for you every time you sign in. Let’s learn how to use it. Set Up Your Media Storage Before you can use Media Management, you need to enable your storage location in your MPulse settings. (Note, if you have an internal IT team or you’ve used MPulse Implementation Services, this step was probably already done.) Start by going to Management Tools / General / Media Storage You have three options to choose from: FTP Server Cloud Storage with Amazon S3 Cloud Storage with Azure Blob Storage Choose the right one for you, and add the pertinent details. (Have questions? MPulse is here to help!) Link Media Once your storage is set up, you can begin to link media files to the appropriate record. Start by clicking the chain link icon (fifth from left). Select Choose files. Then, select the media you want to link and click Upload Now you’ll see a thumbnail in the media section. To view this media, click the thumbnail. Then the view detail icon (second from left). Add Media As Record Image To add this media as a Record Image, click the thumbnail and then the record image icon (first from left). Media can be linked to most record areas within MPulse, including maintenance task records and maintenance request records. The media linked in these record areas will also become part of work orders. Media Management Benefits The Media Management feature of MPulse CMMS offers the following benefits… Quick access to digital information resources right from your software Information stored with record, so it’s easy to find it the next time Commonly used resources available to all team members Reduced time looking for important documents or information Accessible storage of important training materials Have questions about MPulse Media Management? Contact us. We’re here for you.