Knowing Your Stakeholder: Your Users
At this point, you’ve identified most of your stakeholders in the CMMS purchasing process. However, we saved the most important one for last—your users Users are any staff who will operate the software in their day-to-day jobs. The most frequently stated concern among users is ease of use. Because a system that’s difficult to learn and navigate won’t be adopted quickly by the people who’ll be logging in the most. And software that’s not used will never produce the desired results. Prevent Poor User Adoption Your users need to understand why they need to learn a new system. Consider who on your team might have emotional reasons to oppose CMMS. What could they be? You can prepare by thinking about how maintenance management software will impact each role. Firstly, ask yourself… How is this program likely to affect each person’s daily workload positively or negatively? How might this program threaten each person’s job, work performance, or domain of responsibility? Secondly, to avoid becoming a victim of poor user adoption, you need to… Listen—and develop an understanding of the users’ concerns. Ask some probing questions to understand what users like and don’t like about the programs they currently use. Do your homework. Be sure to vet all potential solutions for usability based on what you learned from your discussions with users. Evangelize the merits of the chosen solution—prior to implementation. Explain to those who’ll be using the software what it does and how it does it. Sometimes establishing the right expectations is half the battle. Train. Be sure to purchase good training and let users know they’ll be getting it. Before go-live day, ensure all key users have been trained. Understand Their Perspective When you’re reviewing CMMS software, consider how the features will impact your users. Study after study shows that software that’s easier to use is used more often—and more effectively. For example, removing the “clutter” will significantly streamline data access for your teams. One such CMMS feature is called role-based access control, where your maintenance personnel will only see the records relevant to their unique workloads. 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. 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. Create “Super Users” Like many organizations, your maintenance team probably includes technicians of all ages. While younger generations typically view new technology positively, the same might not be true for everyone. However, peer-to-peer mentoring can help. Start by finding the right employees to help their coworkers learn a new system by helping them become what we call “super users.” You probably already know who they are—they are approachable, open to learning, responsible, and knowledgeable about the organization and how to contribute to its success. Their enthusiasm for the software and its capabilities is catching. It’s important to support people who are likely to become super users with time, continuous training, and hands-on experience. In general, maintenance managers should encourage employees who have… A strong understanding (or potentially strong understanding) of workflows A belief in the value of technology and data-driven management An enthusiastic attitude and strong communication skills Good problem-solving capabilities Flexibility and adaptability to change Desire for continued learning and skill development Super users can help you get your whole team on board with the initial implementation. Additionally, it can help the whole organization discover the value of CMMS data—and the decisions it helps make. When it’s time to pitch CMMS software to your team, a little proactive work can go a long way. Follow these steps, and you’ll dampen the fears of even the most skeptical users. Contact us for more tips. [related-content]
When to Use a CMMS App, Part 2
Last time we talked about why many users don’t need a CMMS app. However, sometimes a CMMS app is the best solution. If your job involves working off site or in areas with low connectivity, a CMMS app can make your job a lot easier. With smartphones and tablets, you can capture information on the spot—instead of jotting it down on paper to be input later. Maintenance happens in the field or on the plant floor. If you want to streamline workflows away from the office, a CMMS app works great if your team needs to… Open, access, and complete work orders Send or upload photographs of failed components View available parts inventory Access historical data on assets Get up-to-the minute alerts and reports Update inventory using barcode scanning and online ordering systems Access maintenance and repair manuals Record locations automatically with a GPS-enabled device. What to Look for in a CMMS App A CMMS app should give you everything you need to get the job done, even if you can’t connect to the Internet. That last bit is important, as most maintenance professionals work in environments where connectivity can be an issue. When looking at a CMMS app, consider these key features… Automatic syncing between the app and your CMMS software when online Reporting problems in the field Capturing data when and where it happens Documenting work with pictures and videos Receiving and updating work assigned to you Completing work orders with all required data Tracking hours worked with activity timer Finding and linking inventory using barcodes Working offline with seamless background synchronization Controlling access With any app, security is always a paramount concern. You’ll want to understand the app’s security features to ensure you can confidently control access even when you can’t physically control the location of your devices. Work with your CMMS vendor and IT team to identify the right security tools to keep your data safe. CMMS App Training Mobile device designers have focused heavily on improving ease of use, so it’s likely your employees will need minimal training on a CMMS app. Many will have already used smartphones and tablets in their personal lives, and increasingly standardized application interfaces mean that lessons learned navigating one app are easily transferable to new ones. CMMS apps can offer big benefits for maintenance professionals. Contact us to learn more about how MPulse can help your team get the job done. [related-content]
Why Most Users Don’t Need a CMMS App, Part 1
CMMS and mobile technology offer big benefits for maintainers. The ability to access information and record data on the spot—where maintenance happens, instead of in a plant or campus office—fits nicely into maintenance workflows. However, mobile app fatigue sets in when users feel overwhelmed by the number of apps on a device. But, you don’t need a mobile CMMS app to benefit from mobile technology. An adaptive interface will likely serve users well, no app required. CMMS with Adaptive Interface Software with tablet and smartphone compatibility will work on desktops, laptops, as well as Apple, Android, and other popular smartphones and tablets. Also called adaptive interface, this software works on any size display or device, whether it’s a desktop computer, tablet, or mobile phone. At MPulse, we call this concept Adaptive “Any Device” Interface. That term means what it says—our CMMS software will work the same way across multiple devices. MPulse’s tablet and smartphone compatibility means your maintenance team will experience the same easy access no matter what device they use, making things easier to find and creating less confusion. Benefits of Adaptive Interface for Maintenance Teams For such an important component, the user interface gets very little thought from the actual users. That’s by design. A good user interface is instinctive, so you don’t need to think about it. When your CMMS software has an intuitive, adaptive interface with tablet and smartphone compatibility, your maintenance team experiences some big benefits… Faster training because your maintenance techs will already know the basics Smoother software implementation with less help from expensive, outside consultants Quicker response and completion times because it’s easy to use Better user compliance the software is seamless and makes their work less complicated Easy access to work orders and the ability to make updates without stopping by the office or needing to find a computer. The strongest user interfaces make using the software more intuitive and seamless, no matter what device you use. So, you don’t always need a mobile app to make CMMS easy to use on the go. Access to real-time data is the best way to save time and help your maintenance staff boost productivity. And an adaptive interface means better acceptance from your workforce and a better way for maintainers to quickly enter data on the job. That helps your team spend less time on the computer and more time doing what you hired them for—maintenance. Have questions? Want to see how MPulse works on your mobile device? Contact us. We can help.
Simplify Maintenance Communication with Graphical CMMS Reporting
Graphical CMMS reporting makes it easy to quickly produce status reports and documents giving details or summaries of your team’s maintenance work. As a result, you can communicate with different departments in your organization and show your team’s impact on operations. Simple CMMS Reporting You can create simple, easy-to-read graphic reports with just a few clicks in MPulse Software. Our reporting features enable you to… Select from over 300 pre-configured text and graphical reports Easily build your own reports in the MPulse Report Builder Customize your reports or create graphical views Produce status reports and documents giving details or summaries of your team’s maintenance work Create benchmarks for your organization Get quick access to the numbers you need to make important decisions. Start by checking out the Report Widgets in MPulse. Note that you can narrow down the widgets by choosing the type of report you want to create. For example, we’re looking only at the Financial Widgets in the image below. Edit all the parameters on the right side of the screen. For example, you might want a pie chart instead of a bar chart. You also can choose the data you want to build the report on. To save your report, simply click the Save button at the top right corner of the screen. Also check the Add to Dashboard box if you want the report to display on your personal dashboard. That’s it! Couldn’t be easier. Those reports give you a quick visualization of the numbers you need to make important decisions. These reports also help explain the value of maintenance to other departments and managers in your organization. What Questions Can CMMS Reports Answer At a glance, graphical CMMS reports can show how much money each work order type is costing your business in maintenance for a specified timeframe. This data can be applied directly to purchasing or other important organizational decisions. You’ll be able to purchase, operate, maintain, upgrade, or dispose of assets in the most cost-effective manner. Common questions can be quickly answered. What type of maintenance do I spend the most on? How does the cost of preventive maintenance compare to repair costs? If I run this report for a different time period, like last year, are there significant changes by category? Beyond those general questions, you can ask precise questions that’ll lead to a more informed decision-making process. Why are my machining maintenance costs so high? What new equipment needs to be purchased, if any? How much will the new equipment cost compared to the current maintenance expense? Will I save money over time by purchasing new equipment? How much? How to Create Graphical Reports with MPulse MPulse makes answering questions easy with Report Widgets. You can customize these widgets to meet your needs. Start by selecting the closest report under Report Widgets. That gives you a good starting point to build your report. Edit the report to include the data you need and the time period you want. You also can add custom information to the Description field. Next, you have several choices for customizing a facility maintenance report, equipment maintenance report, financial report, etc. in the Data Area section. Select the Graphic Report Type you want. Choose the Record Area and Field you want for the x-axis of your chart. Pick the Display Range and Display Sort. Enter the Calculated Area and Calculated Field you want for the y-axis of your chart. Choose the Summary of Calculated Field #1 for the type of summary data you want. If you want a second calculated field, click on Add Calculated Field (#2) and follow the same steps to set the parameters. Finally, under Options, you can… Click Show data labels, if you want to display labels. Set the Access Type to control who can access or edit the report. What CMMS Reports Do I Need? Having hard numbers not only helps you run your business, it allows you to measure and use a whole host of key performance indicators. KPIs evaluate your success in the areas you care about, giving you a new level of insight on what’s going on in your department. Knowing KPIs for application support and maintenance is crucial to reaching your team’s goals. Related: How to Find the Maintenance Reports You Need Maintenance managers should concentrate on the KPIs that measure their goals. For example, maintenance KPIs that most MPulse customers find handy include… Planned Maintenance Percentage: the percentage of the total hours spent on PM maintenance activities over a specific period Preventative Maintenance Compliance (PMC): the percentage of scheduled PM tasks that get done in a specific time interval Mean Time to Repair (MTTR): the average time to evaluate and repair failed equipment Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF): the predicted time between failures of an asset during normal operation Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE): the percentage of manufacturing time that is truly productive Maintenance Backlog: the percentage of uncompleted tasks A CMMS report enables you to transform your CMMS data into meaningful insights and make data-driven decisions by analyzing historical costs and trends. That includes the ability to accurately assess how your department is functioning and where you might make changes to improve. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a CMMS report can be worth thousands of dollars. To learn more, contact us.
Knowing Your Stakeholder: Legal & Compliance
Your legal and compliance departments probably won’t use your CMMS. However, they may feel invested in what the software can do. Making a courtesy call to these departments can prevent unexpected hiccups down the road. Both departments want to make sure your organization follows all related laws, policies, and regulations. As a result, their concerns are: Are we abiding by legal/governmental regulations? Are we abiding by internal company policies and guidelines? Often, simply involving these stakeholders in the buying process at the appropriate time can prevent many issues. Will It Help Us Follow the Rules? When explaining your CMMS purchase to legal and compliance departments, focus on the software’s ability to help your team follow the rules. It could be documentation about safety protocols for OHSA, compliance regulations, or simply paperwork to support any liability issues. These departments want to know how CMMS software can help your organization stay on the right side of the law. Documentation lies near and dear to your legal and compliance departments. For example, CMMS software can document and report on… Inspection schedules Warranty documentation Purchasing and vendor information Compliance procedures Quality assurance tasks Regulatory audit support Those all play a role in following legal and compliance guidelines. As a result, understanding what these departments need and how they use that information goes a long way. Legal The law requires any organization to take reasonable actions under the appropriate circumstances. Failing to do so can result in potential liability. Additionally, all organizations want to avoid lawsuits or legal headaches. CMMS software can support your organization with documentation in the case of a complaint or a potential lawsuit. For example, records of safety inspections and completed maintenance tasks can provide evidence for an onsite injury. This also applies when your organization might hold a manufacturer responsible for a failure. For example, if an asset fails, the legal department can use CMMS data to prove the service requirements were completed as required and on the recommended timescale. That also can help if a manufacturer wants to void a warranty. Regulatory Compliance Regulatory agencies have the right to fine, or even shut down, companies that do not comply with their standards. However, maintaining compliance with regulatory guidelines requires increasingly complex recordkeeping. CMMS helps organizations stay compliant with… User-defined permissions, access, and login control that can integrate with your active directory Electronic signature support with limited access to a specific signature field to enter approval Preventive maintenance scheduling and documentation Corrective maintenance tracking and documentation Robust compliance reporting capabilities Automated data collection and archived work history Documentation of processes and procedures Hosting capability for third-party software that creates audit trails Audits One common maintenance challenge preparing for audits. However, CMMS software can keep the necessary audit trail for inspectors. A huge benefit of CMMS is the ability to drastically reduce that prep time. Rather than your team taking extra time to assemble all necessary documents, the software can generate detailed information in seconds. Make sure legal and compliance concerns are heard before you get too far into the buying process. You always want to avoid late-stage show-stoppers that may derail your procurement. The bottom line: Make sure you know your stakeholders in the software buying process and do your best to meet their needs. Do your homework—take the time to know and understand your stakeholders and their motivations. Listen to and understand their needs. Address these needs directly. Like some stakeholders, your legal and/or compliance departments will likely not be affected directly by the daily use of CMMS software. However, they still can benefit from it. Take the time to understand what they need from your department, and then you can answer their questions about how CMMS software can help. Have questions? We can help. Contact us. Get a Free Custom Quote [related-content]
How to Use Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) to Build Efficiencies
Globalization and economic pressures are forcing companies to build efficiencies wherever possible. As a result, the reliability of assets will become even more important than ever. What is Reliability Centered Maintenance? Reliability centered maintenance (RCM) defines maintenance as the means to maintain an asset’s functions in a defined operating context. Therefore, companies can focus resources on equipment that would cause the most disruption if it failed. Learn more: What is Reliability Centered Maintenance? Building efficiency with RCM can result in cost savings and improved reliability of your assets. However, it takes tracking, monitoring, and auditing your maintenance program to reap the benefits of RCM. What Are the Benefits of CMMS Software for RCM? CMMS software offers the best tools to track and monitor your RCM program. Additionally, as CMMS automatically gathers data with every work order, you can see what’s working, and what needs more attention. As a result, you can quickly produce status reports and documents giving details or summaries of your team’s maintenance work, like… Who’s doing what and how long it takes them to do it How much that asset really costs, and when it’s more cost-effective to replace it Which parts are overstocked or understocked, and which parts need longer lead times What’s the inventory turn rate How much the department is spending and on what Which assets are pulling their weight, and which ones aren’t How much a breakdown really costs What to do to prevent those breakdowns before they happen Evaluation Criteria for Reliability Centered Maintenance Maintenance teams can set up their CMMS software to evaluate their RCM program. The technical standard SAE JA1011, Evaluation Criteria for RCM Processes outlines the evaluation criteria… What is the item supposed to do and its associated performance standards? In what ways can it fail to provide the required functions? What are the events that cause each failure? What happens when each failure occurs? In what way does each failure matter? What systematic task can be performed proactively to prevent, or to diminish to a satisfactory degree, the consequences of the failure? What must be done if a suitable preventive task cannot be found? Setting Up Audits for RCM Maintenance managers know their operations will change over time. Employees come and go. New equipment arrives. Vendors and suppliers change. Therefore, the auditing process for RCM enables organizations to determine how those changes impact operations. It’s also a chance to identify new areas to improve. An audit should analyze assets individually to identify potential issues. Next, identify the appropriate maintenance strategy to ensure the asset can function at its maximum capacity. Scheduled audits should also offer a chance review those decisions to make changes and updates as necessary. RCM and Condition-Based Maintenance Condition-based maintenance (CBM) is one tool that can augment an RCM program. CBM keeps tabs on the actual state of your critical assets by recording the output of any meters and gauges on that asset. For example, 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 an asset’s condition changes outside of specified ranges, your software lets you know immediately with CBM assessments. As a result, you can react to prevent breakdowns before they happen. You also can use CMMS software to… Monitor multiple meters (e.g., revolutions, psi, hours) on a single asset Specify multiple conditions, triggers, and responses Automatically generate work orders based on specified triggers Use data analysis tools to identify potential problems Set up automatic notifications Produce status reports and documents That data goes a long way to set up an effective RCM. Therefore, you can continue to monitor and audit your program to build efficiencies. Data-Driven Decision Making Organizations can use RCM to reduce maintenance costs, minimize downtime, streamline and increase production, maintain safety standards, and improve profitability. CMMS and RCM also can help organizations by providing data-driven decision-making. Data-driven management simply means making management decisions backed by reliable data. Technological advances continue to make more and more detailed, relevant data available. Additionally, with that increased capability comes the opportunity to improve organizational performance at all levels, and in all departments. This type of maintenance management also helps organizations compete in increasingly complicated and competitive markets. Have questions about setting up an RCM program or improving your current one? Contact us to get started.
How to Calculate Downtime
Calculating asset downtime offers new insights into your maintenance operations, and how you can make improvements. But how do you calculate downtime? And what can you do with that information? Here’s what you need to know. What Is Equipment Downtime? Downtime refers to any period when a system fails to perform its primary function. For your maintenance operations, you’ll want to measure unexpected downtime that occurs any time production stops due to asset failure. You also might track planned downtime, which means equipment remains offline while preventive maintenance or other planned tasks occur. Why You Need to Track Equipment Downtime While your managers likely want to track equipment downtime, it holds benefits for the maintenance team too. Maintenance is on the frontline when things aren’t working, and it directly affects our workload. Tracking equipment downtime helps with… Determining which workflows are working and which ones aren’t Evaluating the effectiveness of PM schedules Identifying areas for improvement Lowering maintenance costs How Much Downtime is OK? You can’t avoid downtime, but you can minimize it. Most enterprise organizations aim for 10% or less for unscheduled downtime, which they calculate on the basis of number of operating hours. How to Calculate Asset Downtime To calculate asset downtime, you need data. You’ll find some of this data in your CMMS software, and your accounting department can help with the rest. This data should include: Employee costs per hour: The average employee salary divided by number of hours worked, multiplied by the number of employees. Average revenue per hour: An estimate of how much revenue your company generates in a given hour. Employees affected by downtime: An estimate of the percent of employees who would be unable to work due to shut down machinery. Revenue affected by downtime: An estimate of the percent of revenue lost due to machine downtime. Number of units produced per hour: An estimate of the number of units produced in one hour. Average profit per unit: The amount of profit earned for each unit produced. Number of hours of downtime: The number of hours of downtime expected. Maintenance managers plug in these estimates and generate an average cost of machine downtime per hour. Simple Downtime Calculation Not everyone needs to calculate downtime at the same level. If you need something a little simpler, try this equation that only takes a few numbers: (Hours of downtime / Total period measured) * 100 = percentage of downtime How to Reduce Downtime Once you have the basic calculations, you can identify ways to reduce downtime. MPulse customers have successfully reduced downtime by… Optimizing their MPulse CMMS software to collect more data Improving preventive or predictive maintenance schedules and completion rates Using condition-based maintenance tools Improving documentation of unscheduled downtime for better insight into what can be improved Using mobile CMMS tools to improve response time and provide better access to data Utilize Smart Maintenance Scheduling to Reduce Downtime Smart maintenance scheduling can help reduce equipment downtime and increase asset efficiency, as well as extending their usable life. With the help of CMMS software, maintenance managers can automate preventive maintenance schedules that contribute to the upkeep of assets, balance workloads, reduce confusion and errors, create benchmarks, and track repair times. Ultimately, these proactive measures help sidestep serious problems that arise as a result of neglect and delays in more expensive maintenance, and can cut down the time to respond to emergency repairs. CMMS Features: Smart Maintenance Scheduling Reduces Downtime MPulse CMMS software makes maintenance scheduling easy by collecting information and turning it into actionable data. These features include… Dashboards are highly configurable “command center consoles” that your most important data front and center, where you don’t have to dig for it. In addition to charts and graphs, you can link videos, photos, documents, and websites to Dashboards as well. Asset Status Board provides a single-screen view of the health of your entire production line, facilities footprint, or fleet of vehicles. Square boxes (“cells”) are color-coded according to criteria you’ve defined. Work requests can be processed directly from the ASB. 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. When an asset’s condition changes, MPulse lets you know immediately, so you can react before breakdowns happen. DataLink Integration Adapter enables your MPulse administrator or local IT team to quickly and easily move data in and out of MPulse using a familiar, intuitive interface. It also works with Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices—collecting data faster and easier than ever before.
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Scheduling Software
Service scheduling software always tops the list of essential maintenance management tools. Every major asset has a recommended maintenance schedule. CMMS makes it simple to schedule services based on time or usage, so the maintenance team knows what needs to happen and when. Benefits of Scheduling Software The biggest benefit of service scheduling software is automating preventive maintenance scheduling and work order management. However, you can use it for much more, including… Tracking work orders Viewing progress Automating communication Creating reports Handling service requests Managing inventory/supplies Documenting asset repair history Service scheduling is the first step towards improving productivity for your entire maintenance operations. Here’s how to get the most out of your software. Set Up Scheduled Maintenance Maintenance managers have been scheduling maintenance for decades. Technological advances, however, have automated the service scheduling process, making it more efficient and sustainable. Start by setting up scheduled or preventive maintenance tasks. Your software will generate a schedule of PM tasks, making it simpler to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. As a result, these schedules and inspections help spot issues before they occur. CMMS software enables you to schedule maintenance intervals based on time, operating hours, or part condition—triggering a work order just before the point when system inefficiencies or failures begin to occur. (See our previous blog post for more information on how to do that in MPulse.) Convert Scheduled Task to a Work Order When a task is due, you’ll want the software to convert it to a work order. Luckily MPulse makes this easy. Go to Scheduled Maintenance in the main menu. Click on Open Scheduled Maintenance. Choose the date range you want: Overdue, Today, Tomorrow, This Week, This Month, Next Week, Next Month, or Custom Range. Select the records to convert and click on Convert to Work Order Click Yes to confirm Now you have an open work order ready for your technician. Automate This Process While that process is simple, you can make it even easier by automating it. When a scheduled task is due, MPulse will automatically convert it to a work order. From the main menu, choose Workflow / Scheduled Maintenance Options Click Enable Scheduled Maintenance conversion Note that you can choose to convert scheduled tasks automatically on the due date or any number of days before the due date. These changes will impact all scheduled maintenance records. Print Work Orders If your team members still receive printed copies of work orders, you can also make this process more efficient in MPulse. From the main menu, choose Workflow / Scheduled Maintenance Options Click the box for Enable Automatic Print after Conversion Black Out Dates Most companies close on specific days or major holidays. MPulse makes it easy to set blackout dates that will adjust due dates and work order conversion accordingly. From the main menu, choose Workflow / Scheduled Maintenance Options / Blackout Dates Click the Add icon Enter your preferred date ranges The blackout date has been added to the list. MPulse will use blackout dates to push any scheduled maintenance record that comes due on those days to the next available date. Properly maintained assets perform more efficiently, use less energy, and fail less often, which also extends their usable life. When a maintenance team establishes and regularly performs 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. Contact us to learn more.
How Important is Your CMMS Support Team?
MPulse customers have a secret weapon in their journey to CMMS success—our customer support team. These professionals help new users successfully implement their new CMMS software, as well as continue to use it effectively. We’re proud of our MPulse Support Team and their accomplishments. Here’s what we think you should know about them. Three Ways to Contact MPulse Support Team Our MPulse Support Team is there for you when you need them. We want to keep the customers whose business we’ve worked so hard to earn—so expert MPulse employees are available from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time every workday to support you. They love helping you succeed. Just ask them! Additionally, the MPulse Support Portal provides a searchable knowledge base of helpful articles, a how-to video library, access to software downloads, and forms to submit support requests when you don’t have time for a phone call. As one customer said, “Always a pleasure to talk to the folks at MPulse. All of the MPulse team members that I have communicated with over the course of the last 2 years have been outstanding.” You can reach out to MPulse Support by… Emailing [email protected] Calling Support at (800) 944-1796 Creating or updating a case in the MPulse Support Portal at Support.MPulseSoftware.com Support Team Members The MPulse Support Team helps you keep your MPulse Software optimized, and your organization on track to reach its CMMS goals. One MPulse customer shared why they appreciate MPulse’s software support for their facility maintenance management team: “They are very knowledgeable, very friendly and always ready to help and most important is that they answer all my questions and teach me how to use some of the features.” Here’s more detail about the people on the other end of the phone or the support portal. Evan Newsome, MPulse and TeamWORKS Technical Support Engineer Evan came over to MPulse with TeamWORKs and has been with MPulse since 2020. Our customers say: “Evan has been extremely helpful to me as I navigate using this new program. I am new at my position with the school district. Evan is a great resource!” Matt Miller, MPulse and EPAC Support Service Engineer Matt has been with MPulse since 2021. Our customers say: “Very knowledgeable and fixed our issue quickly. Matt was a great help.” Isac Pederson, MPulse and TeamWORKS Support Service Engineer Isac has been with MPulse since 2021. Our customers say: “Isac was very knowledgeable and was able to walk me right through my issue within about a minute. Highly recommended for a great job.” Wayne Cifelli, MPulse and EPAC Support Service Engineer Wayne came over to MPulse with EPAC and has been with MPulse since 2019. He also provides services with MPulse and EPAC. Our customers say: “Wayne Cifelli is wonderful to work with. Professional and responds quickly.” Elijah Thornton, MPulse Support Service Engineer Elijah has been with MPulse since 2024. Our customers say: “Elijah was super helpful and got me the answer I was looking for!.” Christina Thomas, Director of Support Services Christina joined MPulse in 2017. Our customers say: “Christina was so knowledgeable and courteous in helping me with my MPulse issue. She’s great! Kudos to her for her positive attitude and excellent support!” We’re proud that 9 out of 10 MPulse customers renew their support or SaaS subscription every year. Our employees love working here so much, they almost never leave. Our 5-year employee retention rate is above 95%. That’s why our customers say: “You guys are my BEST VENDOR!!!!!!” Contact us to learn more. Get a Free Custom Quote
Knowing Your Stakeholder: Finance Department
Maintenance professionals usually have the Finance department on speed dial. These two departments work together on everything from purchase orders to capital investments. Similarly, a good relationship with Finance is helpful when it’s time to purchase CMMS software. Finance is the department responsible for the budget, typically headed by a Controller or CFO. As a result, their goal is to ensure the financial integrity of your organization. Including Finance early in your process can prevent show-stopping holdups down the line. What Finance Needs from You We recommend connecting with your Finance department early on in the process. You also want to make sure you have a thorough understanding of what they’ll need from you. That can include… Management approval Budget details Vendor information Internal financial codes or accounts Purchase order information Other paperwork as requested However, there’s another area where Finance can help. They can provide details that will help you justify the CMMS software in the first place. How Finance Can Help You Your finance department has a lot of experience and data that can help maintenance managers. Additionally, they’re very familiar with return on investment (ROI). That will also come up in your conversations with senior management. ROI measures the gain or loss generated on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. ROI is expressed as a percentage to compare the efficiency of the investment. The formula is: ROI = (Net Profit / Cost of Investment) x 100 Now, let’s see how Finance would calculate the ROI of a CMMS software purchase. Based on research by Gartner, 98% of organizations say a single hour of downtime costs over $100,000. Let’s very conservatively estimate that your organization experiences 20 hours/year of preventable downtime due to unexpected asset breakdowns. If you invest $35,000 in CMMS software, implementation services, and training, and you reduce that downtime by just 5%—one single hour—then, you’ve already paid for your CMMS software. Even better, when you calculate the ROI: ($100,000 / 35,000) x 100 = 285.7% That looks pretty impressive to your decision makers, particularly when you point out the savings compounds year after year after year. Calculating ROI While the numbers will vary, you can see how saving that kind of money is going to look good. Therefore, you should get your finance department’s help with financial data on… Labor costs Parts and inventory management Equipment downtime and emergency repairs Equipment life cycle and replacement forecasting Manufacturing scrap and rework Additionally, ROI is part of the bigger picture—data-driven management. That simply means making management decisions backed by reliable data. Technological advances continue to make more and more detailed, relevant data available to maintenance managers. And, with that increased capability comes increased opportunity to improve organizational performance. It’s also a great way to justify your expenditures on new technology and tools. As a result, data-driven management makes it easy for upper management to see the value and efficiency of your CMMS software project when they can see the data—and the dollars—right in front of their eyes. Have questions? Answers are just a phone call away. Contact us. Get a Free Demo!