How Organization Improves Efficiency
Maintenance is as much about managing documents and information as fixing things. That’s why improving efficiency in a business can make a big difference in your bottom line. The right tools make organization as easy as possible. Above all, that includes keeping the resources you and your team need right where you need them. Of course, your CMMS software can help. Media Management for Improving Efficiency in a Business Maintenance professionals need quick and easy access to a variety of sources: documents, videos, photos, supplier websites, intranets, and more. With MPulse Media Management, your team can quickly and easily access these resources from all over your organization and all over the globe, right from your CMMS software. Your team can add links to maintenance manuals, internal documents, vendor websites, and much more. As a result, all the information is stored with the work order or asset record, so it’s easily accessible the next time around. Additionally, Media Management also lets you link videos, photos, documents, and websites to your Dashboards, so it’s right there waiting for you every time you sign in. How to Improve Efficiency in a Business with CMMS Maintenance operations that improve organization can also improve safety, response time, inventory availability, labor resources, and communication. These strategies to improve efficiency in a business solves maintenance challenges for all types of industries—from manufacturing to education to government agencies, and more. Managing documents and information stored in MPulse eliminates lost information between shifts, reducing confusion and errors. Media integration can work with a dashboard to provide rich media as part of each user’s main “console.” The media attachment capability ties any relevant documentation to the work order. This is a great way to keep your objective evidence handy and connected to the relevant scheduled audit trigger events. Media tools also can help with training new maintenance workers by making it easier to find and access resources. Documents and other information become more accessible and safe, even available via remote access. During emergencies, details for insurance purposes, emergency inspection checklists, vendor and contact information, and other critical information is easy to access. Organizations can improve regulatory compliance for critical assets, while also ensuring safety and satisfaction. [related-content] Want more information on how efficiency can be improved in a business? Contact us. We’re happy to share the secrets we’ve learned over the years!
Getting Started With A New CMMS
Getting started with a new CMMS can feel overwhelming. New software requires a lot more work after the decision is made. But, you can make it as painless as possible. These five steps outline how to implement a cmms system. How Is a CMMS System Implemented? Use this checklist to make your CMMS system implementation a success. Step 1: Determine How to Export Current Data Older software was not designed to get data out as easily as it was to get in. More current programs can export data in various file types, typically a CSV file. Often you can do this task yourself or enlist the help of a power user or an internal IT specialist. Or, if it makes more sense, you can hire some help. Step 2: Decide What Data You Want to Keep If you’ve decided to migrate to new software, there’s usually a reason. And often it’s because key needs aren’t being met by your current system and your legacy data. Now is the time to review your data and make decisions about what you really need to keep. Another option is to simply start fresh. We’ve had customers do this—their legacy data remained where it was. They simply added assets, parts, and preventive maintenance schedules to the new CMMS system. Old work orders are left behind. Step 3: Map Out the Fields Data fields aren’t necessarily the same from one system to another. So you need to map field names, sizes, types from one system to the other. We recommend using your vendor’s services to help with this process. They know their software best. Use them. Step 4: Clean Up Your Old Data Don’t underestimate the time it takes to clean up the data. You may do this step before mapping fields, but sometimes customers need to understand what the data looks like in the new system before they find issues. Take a close look at your data. Things will pop up—outdated information, incorrectly formatted data, missing data. Now is the time to get your data in good shape. Clean data pays off in accurate reporting later. Step 5: Import and Test Once your data is complete and clean, your CMMS software vendor will import it into your software. After that process is finished, it’s time to run some tests to make sure the right data is in the right place before “go live” day. We recommend testing to ensure… All field names are correct The correct data is in the correct fields Assets lists are complete Parts and inventory lists are complete Scheduled tasks have transferred correctly Key historical data is available [related-content] MPulse can help. Start by downloading our free cmms implementation guide. Make the most of our experience and knowledgeable staff. We’re not just a software vendor. We’re your partner in CMMS success. Have questions? Contact us. We’re here for you.
Is Your Calendar Working For You?
In every maintenance office in every building, you’ll find a calendar on the wall or desk. Not long ago, you had to write on a paper calendar or manually transfer dates to a different program. But now you can easily visualize maintenance work with calendar scheduling software. How Can Maintenance Calendar Software Help Me? MPulse’s Calendar Management makes sure your whole maintenance team is on the same page. For example, streamlining simple, yet time-consuming, tasks is a huge benefit of preventive maintenance calendar software. You’ll be able to see what needs to happen when, quickly and easily. MPulse lets you create CMMS calendars for anything—work order due dates, scheduled maintenance, warranty expiration, employees or vendors, task type, completion dates, and much more. Plus, MPulse Calendars work seamlessly with maintenance work order creation. MPulse Calendars can be customized and filtered. Drag-and-drop capability lets you reschedule in a flash. View calendars by month, week, or day. Plus, there’s no limit to the number or type of calendar views. What Are the Benefits of Preventive Maintenance Calendar Software? Your MPulse calendars can show exactly what your team needs to do—it can include inspections, deadlines, tasks, meetings, travel information, and more. Some things populate automatically, like weekly staff meetings. You can quickly add others on the fly. You’ll always see what’s coming up in your maintenance inspection software calendar, so your team is ready to go when the time is right. Visualizing your team’s week or month with a maintenance calendar gives you a really good idea about how to get high priority work done quickly, while making sure lower priority work doesn’t slip through the cracks. [related-resource] Calendars are a huge part of the maintenance operations management field—from preventive maintenance planning 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. How could a calendar view in your CMMS software help your maintenance operations? Leave a comment or contact us.
Understanding Your MPulse Inventory Shopping Cart
Do items seem to appear on your storeroom shelves without getting properly received? Or, do spare parts disappear or miss getting linked to work orders? On busy days, tracking what’s coming and going from your inventory room can seem impossible. But, here’s a secret to success with CMMS—you can get your fastest return on investment (ROI) by implementing inventory control management. Yep. You read that right. If you ignore inventory control management, you’re also denying yourself the fastest way to find real savings for your organization. But, the key is finding the type of inventory system that works for your organization. What is the Easiest Inventory Management System for Teams? MPulse Inventory Shopping Cart allows you to check parts and supplies into and out of inventory using an online shopping cart. As a result, your team can quickly link items and their unit costs to work orders and assets, helping you track and report on consumption of those items. Scan the part. Scan the asset. That’s how long it takes to link inventory to a new or existing work order record. This system also lets you enter inventory items as they arrive and automatically track who is performing work. MPulse Inventory Shopping Cart also lets you… Scan any item with a barcode label Scan repair parts as they’re used Quickly link inventory to new and existing work orders Print barcode labels on a laser printer Instantly enter received purchases as they arrive Automatically track who’s performing work What are the Benefits of MPulse Inventory Shopping Cart? Faster inventory check in/out with the MPulse Inventory Shopping Cart can make your operation more efficient, saving money and time for both your employees and your organization. Benefits also include… Dramatic time savings—no more data entry With data entry gone, eliminates errors Makes it easier to identify parts Saves money by reducing inventory shrinkage and bloat Additionally, many organizations are unintentionally storing surplus parts—parts the company has not used in a given period of time. Those parts just sit on the shelves, forgotten, but still costing the organization money. That’s a missed opportunity to save some cold, hard cash. Because overstocked or outdated inventory takes up extra room in the storage area and manpower to count it. It also frees up capital to use for parts you actually need. Make inventory management easy. MPulse Inventory Shopping Cart puts professional grade inventory control at your fingertips. Have questions? Contact us. We’re here for you.
Define Your Maintenance Management Goals
Maintenance professionals are busy people, which often makes it hard to find time to look at the bigger picture. But if you don’t know where you want to go, you can’t move forward. MPulse can help you define your maintenance management goals and build processes in the database to support them. Maintenance management goals can be big or small. Either way, you need to pick goals that are achievable. MPulse customers offered some great suggestions for maintenance management goals. Some you may have already done. Some you might do later. Pick one or two, and start there. Document Maintenance Activities Recording maintenance tasks, activities, repairs, and information in CMMS software is the first step when you are just starting out. You can’t measure anything until you have something to measure. You also want to document maintenance tasks for regulatory compliance. Plan Preventive maintenance tasks are usually the first thing maintenance professionals think about. But planning applies to everything from scheduling to staffing to purchasing to asset disposal. A goal without a plan is just wishful thinking. Make Resources Easily Accessible Don’t waste time looking for stuff. Keep the things your team needs (historical records, part information, vendor contact details, manuals, etc.) in easy-to-find places, like your CMMS database. Automate Put your available tools to work for you. Use your CMMS software to automate the tedious stuff (data entry, email, request approval), so you and your team can focus on more important things. Link Parts Inventory is hard, but the first step is simple. Link parts with your work orders (and your assets), and you are on your way to bigger goals like controlling the cost of maintenance. Train Your Staff Training is the fastest way to improve your maintenance team’s efficiency and get the best return on investment (ROI). And don’t forget about training yourself as well. The payoff is far greater than the cost. Control Costs Perhaps the biggest—and most universal—goal of all is controlling costs. CMMS helps you capture key data and turns it into reliable information to help make cost-effective choices about asset management. As you move forward, you’ll likely ask different questions and get to bigger goals. As your goals change, your team changes, and your organization changes, adjust your maintenance goals to fit. Have questions? We have answers. Leave a comment or contact us.
Using Role-Based Access Control
With role-based access control, you can easily adjust settings in your MPulse implementation so the right people have the right access to the right records. So, you can give your employees access to what they need—and only what they need. What is Role-Based Access Control? Role-based access control puts record-level control in your hands. So, your maintenance personnel will only see the records relevant to their unique workloads. For example, one MPulse customer employs a variety of maintenance professionals with very specific job duties. With role-based access control, their plumbers only see plumbing work orders. Their electricians only see electrical work orders. Another customer with multiple facilities set up their role-based access control based on location. So the maintenance team at their Phoenix facility only sees work orders for that location, while the Denver facility team only sees the work orders for their location. Role-Based Access Control Best Practices Study after study shows that software that’s easier to use is used more often—and more effectively. Removing the “clutter” will significantly streamline data access for your teams. Using role-based best practices also can help your organization comply with legal or ethical requirements. Here’s how to implement role-based access control… Limit which records your employees see depending on their role in the organization Restrict sensitive information Filter according to departments, work order types, locations, or other fields Assign roles so people see the only their operating unit’s information Choose which data are global, and which are unique to a group Define an unlimited number of custom filters Automatically link data to a user’s area of expertise Advantages and Disadvantages of Role Based Access Control The biggest advantage of role-based access control is centralized control and enhanced security. As a result, with role-based access control in CMMS software, you’ll… Reduce errors in data entry Prevent unauthorized users from viewing or editing data Gain tighter control over data access Eliminate the “data clutter” of unnecessary information Keep your teams running smoothly While some maintenance teams may feel uncertain about setting up role-based access control in CMMS software, MPulse makes it easy with our easy-to-use interface. Or, our affordable training and implementation services can get you up and running with role-based access control quickly. Available in MPulse Advanced and Enterprise editions, role-based access control delivers the right level of access to your company’s valuable information. Contact us for more information.
MPulse Software Supports McKenzie River Trust’s Shire for the River Campaign 2020
We know investing in our local rivers keeps our employees, their families, and our community healthy and resilient. MPulse Software, Inc (www.mpulsesoftware.com) is proud to pledge support for McKenzie River Trust’s Shire for the River campaign 2020! From now until October 23rd, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar until we reach our goal of $34,000! Go to mckenzieriver.org/shire2020 now! We believe strongly in supporting our local community by giving back. As part of that tradition, MPulse and other Silicon Shire companies are launching a two-week campaign to raise money for the McKenzie River Trust (MRT). The money will support MRT’s efforts to conserve and restore critical habitat and scenic lands in the McKenzie basin of western Oregon. “We’re proud to be a part of the Silicon Shire and its efforts to continue to make Eugene a great place to live, work, and play,” explained Randy Brous, MPulse President. “We enjoy the outdoor activities and scenery of this special area, and we’re dedicated to preserving that experience for our current and future employees, their families, our customers, and the community we live in.” Located in the southern Willamette Valley, the Silicon Shire encompasses the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area. Shire companies are technology businesses of all kinds that work together to expand the local infrastructure necessary to build and grow hi-tech business in the area, and to promote Eugene-Springfield as a hi-tech hot spot. “Projects like the Silicon Shire for the River campaign help us to maintain and improve the terrific quality of life we enjoy in this special region. That’s one of our biggest assets, and it truly helps attract great talent and great companies to the area,” Brous said. “Shire companies are dedicated to ensuring that what makes this place so extraordinary will always be here.” MPulse would like to invite everyone to participate in the Silicon Shire for the River campaign by… Spreading the word on social media with the hashtag #SiliconShireForTheRiver Learning more on social media at… Twitter: @McKenzRivrTrust Facebook: McKenzie River Trust Instagram: instagram.com/mckenzierivertrust/ Donating online via the Silicon Shire on the River fundraising page. Donating by mail: McKenzie River Trust at 1245 Pearl St, Eugene, OR 97401 Thanks to all the pledging companies: SheerID – $5,000 Concentric Sky – $3,500 MPulse Software – $2,500 McKeon Venture – $2,500 Emberex – $2,000 IDX – $1,000 Twenty Ideas – $500
What is Corrective Maintenance and When Should You Use It?
Corrective maintenance doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. It’s closely related to proactive strategies like preventive maintenance (PM) and predictive maintenance (PdM). But it offers additional benefits that can improve the productivity and efficiency of your maintenance team. What is Corrective Maintenance? Maintenance professionals perform corrective maintenance in order to rectify and repair faulty systems and equipment. The goal is to restore something that’s broken to full operation. Corrective maintenance occurs when a technician finds a problem during a scheduled PM or PdM task. If the issue is quick and easy to fix, the technician may repair it at the same time as part of the preventive maintenance task. However, if it’s more complicated, your tech will create a separate work order, and it becomes a corrective maintenance task. Some MPulse customers also call it “repair from PM.” What’s the Difference Between Preventive and Corrective Maintenance? PM is triggered by time, meter, or event. Preventive maintenance prevents breakdowns by performing maintenance based on average or expected life statistics (usually determined by the equipment manufacturer or vendor). The most common example is changing the oil in a car every X,000 miles or every X months. Maintenance shops use CMMS software to set up scheduled preventive maintenance tasks, preventing failure and prolonging asset life cycles. However, if you need to schedule a future repair, it becomes corrective maintenance. During this corrective maintenance task, the team will repair, restore, or replace the asset. When Do I Use Corrective Maintenance? Safety inspections are common PMs that can result in corrective maintenance. During the inspection, the technician will spot an issue that could cause a breakdown or fault in the equipment. The issue hasn’t caused any downtime yet — but it will if it’s not fixed. If not repaired and a breakdown occurs, your team will need to perform emergency maintenance. One MPulse customer experienced this recently when a scheduled inspection on the company’s HVAC system revealed the need for a new filter. Normally, replacing a filter occurred on a PM schedule. However, bad air quality from nearby wildfires significantly reduced the lifespan of the air filter, requiring an early replacement. The technician created a work order to fix it after a new air filter arrived. Benefits of Corrective Maintenance When a maintenance team establishes and regularly performs PM and corrective 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. Preventive maintenance schedules and inspections generated from preventive maintenance software help spot issues before they occur. Taking the next step by scheduling corrective maintenance tasks improves employee safety and reduces emergency maintenance issues. CMMS software can help. Contact us to learn more about corrective maintenance strategies. We’re here to help.
Is Your CMMS Joint Commission-Compliant?
Healthcare maintenance teams need to ensure their facilities maintain compliance with all regulations related to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). It’s a challenging task, as these regulations are numerous. If that wasn’t enough, they also change relatively frequently. What is JCAHO and Why Is it Important? The Joint Commission developed JCAHO standards to help healthcare organizations measure, assess, and improve performance. The standards focus on important patient, individual, or resident care, as well as organizational functions that are essential to providing safe, high quality care. All healthcare personnel play a role in patient safety. JCAHO compliance affects each role. For the maintenance team, that includes requirements for joint commission equipment maintenance, as well as other policy and procedure requirements. How Can CMMS Software Help Meet JCAHO Medical Equipment Standards? CMMS provides a reliable central repository for your healthcare equipment maintenance and safety data. With a properly implemented CMMS solution optimized for the healthcare industry, your organization can more easily adhere to the changing JCAHO requirements. And you won’t have to scramble at the last minute to set things in order. For the Joint Commission, if it’s not documented, it didn’t happen. With CMMS, you have a traceable history of completed maintenance tasks and documented policies. As a result, you can prove that you’re acting in accordance with JCHCO regulations. Best of all, the documentation takes care of itself with CMMS. Here’s how. Inventory Management If your organization is using the Joint Commission accreditation process for deemed status purposes, then all medical equipment is required to be included in the written inventory. For organizations that do not use the Joint Commission accreditation process for deemed status purposes, then you may maintain a written inventory of either all medical equipment, or an inventory of selected equipment categorized by physical risk that includes all life-support equipment. In this case, new equipment is evaluated prior to initial use to determine if it will be included in the inventory. While hospitals may have equipment that is maintained or owned by a vendor or the manufacturer, JCAHO compliance requirements state the hospital is still responsible for listing this medical equipment on the written inventory. CMMS software offers asset management tools to purchase, operate, maintain, upgrade, or dispose of medical equipment in the most cost-effective manner. It also includes the ability to document storage locations and supplier information. High-Risk Medical Equipment Maintenance The written inventory also identifies high-risk devices. High-risk medical equipment includes all life support equipment and any other device for which there is a risk of serious injury or death to a patient or staff member should it fail. The term high-risk equipment is equivalent in scope and nature to the term critical equipment. Maintenance activities and frequencies should follow manufacturers’ instructions and recommendations for maintaining, inspecting, and testing all medical equipment in the inventory. These maintenance activities and frequencies—including an alternative equipment maintenance (AEM) strategy—are documented in writing. CMMS reporting features also can help you quickly produce reports and documents giving details or summaries of medical equipment, high-risk devices, maintenance work and more to meet Joint Commission equipment maintenance requirements. Alternative Equipment Maintenance Strategy With some exceptions, an AEM program allows a healthcare facility to “adjust its maintenance, inspection, and testing frequency and activities for facility and medical equipment from what is recommended by the manufacturer, based on a risk-based assessment by qualified personnel” (CMS 2013). This may include reduced or altered maintenance tasks, relaxed frequencies of maintenance, and run-to-fail strategies. However, the Joint Commission states that the “strategies of an AEM program must not reduce the safety of equipment and must be based on accepted standards of practice” (Joint Commission 2014). For example, an accepted standard of practice could be the American National Standards Institute/Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation handbook ANSI/AAMI EQ56: 2013, Recommended Practice for a Medical Equipment Management Program. You may not use AEM for… Equipment subject to federal or state law or Medicare Conditions of Participation Imaging and radiologic equipment (diagnostic or therapeutic) Medical LASER devices New medical equipment with insufficient maintenance history to support the use of an AEM strategy Maintenance, Inspection, and Testing Documentation Regulatory bodies like the Joint Commission are requiring increasingly complex recordkeeping. With CMMS, you also have a traceable history of completed maintenance tasks and documented policies. Therefore, you can prove to external agencies that you’re acting in accordance with their regulations. CMMS helps maintenance teams stay organized and in compliance by… Tracking employee health and safety information Documenting work procedures Ensuring all safety inspections and tests are done properly and on schedule Determining when it’s time to repair or replace malfunctioning equipment Documenting preventive maintenance on key assets Creating reports for audits Archiving work history Storing employee trainings and certifications Tracking incidents Additionally, this documentation takes care of itself with CMMS. Have more questions about how CMMS software can help you with Joint Commission policy and procedure requirements? Contact us. We’re here for you. [related-content]
Should You Purchase or Subscribe to CMMS Software?
Typically, there are two ways to purchase CMMS software. You can subscribe annually or own the software outright. CMMS subscription pricing is also known as Software as a Service, or “SaaS.” When you opt for SaaS, you’re renting the software for a monthly or yearly fee. Or, you can choose to purchase a license to use the software (in practical terms, forever) for a one-time fee. Subscription vs. License for CMMS So, what are the advantages of a software subscription vs. a license? Let’s find out. CMMS Software Subscription When you opt for a SaaS subscription, you’re choosing to rent software for a specified period of time instead of buying a license to use it indefinitely. If you fail to renew your subscription, the software stops working. Advantages of SaaS Easier on cash flow up front and over the first 2-3 years May be able to purchase it without a formal procurement process (i.e., you’re just signing up for a service) You can try the product and the vendor without fully committing Disadvantages of SaaS Higher total cost over the long term Vulnerability to price increases You never own the software Stop paying and you lose access CMMS Licensed Purchase You’re probably more familiar with the licensed purchase option as the traditional way to buy software. You buy your CMMS licenses once and can use them indefinitely until it’s time to upgrade or replace the software. Advantages of Licensed Purchase Less expensive over the long run than the never-ending subscription. Usually it’s a 2-3 year break even vs. SaaS CMMS pricing. You own it. If your company’s budget gets tight one year and you don’t get your yearly allotment, you will still be able to use your software because you own the software license. Disadvantage of Licensed Purchase Higher upfront CMMS software costs Other Important Considerations Typically, you can also purchase or renew a yearly maintenance agreement with either option that includes software updates, tech support, hosting services, and access to training. [related-content] If you’re leaning toward an SaaS model, ask vendors if you can switch to a license purchase model if your situation changes. Also, make sure the method you choose works with your plans to host the application either in the cloud or locally. (Learn more about your deployment options and cloud-based CMMS software pricing.) CMMS system pricing can vary widely. Here at MPulse, we believe every customer should have an option that works for their situation. We also can help with financing options. If you’re looking for a way to purchase CMMS software outright, take a look at our new MPulse 0% Finance Program. Still have questions? Contact us. We’re here to help.