9 Essential CMMS Software Features to Improve Your Maintenance Operations

CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) software helps organizations plan, track, and manage maintenance activities on a single, central platform. Having one centralized platform helps keep schedules clear, maintenance tasks on track, and records reliable. These benefits will result in reduced downtime, lower costs, and improved decision-making at your facility.

All of these results will lead to more efficient maintenance operations at your facility. Efficient maintenance management is crucial because it reduces downtime, extends the lifespan of equipment, and improves resource utilization.

However, many facility managers still struggle with clashing schedules, inaccessible data, and other challenges even after purchasing a CMMS software solution. That’s why it’s important to identify key CMMS features before selecting your tool. Here are 9 key features to look for.

1. Work Order Management

Centralized work order management features provide maintenance managers with a clear picture of what needs to be done, who will perform the task, and when it will be completed. Without it, your teams may end up chasing emails and sifting through spreadsheets. These manual tasks increase your risk of missing details and performing repetitive work.

Modern CMMS systems, like ServiceChannel, take work order management one step further with real-time data automation. That means you will continue to have a clear view of current, needed, and completed maintenance activities, rather than relying on outdated reports.

2. Preventive Maintenance Scheduling

Unplanned equipment failures create stress, lost productivity, and increased maintenance costs. Automated preventive maintenance scheduling within a CMMS solution directly addresses these challenges. That’s because facility management can proactively plan maintenance tasks and set automatic reminders for the maintenance staff when scheduled servicing is required.

For example, consider what happened at Tops Market. Thanks to ServiceChannel, they complete 88% of their preventive maintenance tasks on schedule. Their story is a real case of how proactive maintenance scheduling can make a significant difference. 

3. Asset Management & Tracking

A CMMS with full asset tracking features gives you clear insights that you can use for budgeting and planning. It records equipment history, tracks downtime, and calculates ROI.

Furthermore, centralized tracking solves some of the challenges associated with asset management across multiple locations. Such challenges include maintaining record accuracy, tracking asset locations, and navigating separate platforms. 

On the other hand, using CMMS software provides a clear overview of where assets are stored on one platform. This centralization reduces the risk of losing track of any asset.

4. Inventory & Parts Management

Having the right amount of spare parts on hand is always necessary. If you don’t have the necessary parts when you need them, maintenance tasks will be delayed while teams wait for the required equipment. CMMS solutions prevent this challenge through real-time inventory management and by alerting you when inventory levels reach a reorder point.

The amount of money you can save on unneeded reorders may surprise you. For instance, one of ServiceChannel’s clients, Charlotte Russe, ended up saving $1.5M on replacement costs simply because they had better insights into what they already had.

5. Mobile Access

Mobile-friendly CMMS modules give technicians access to work orders, maintenance history, and alerts from any location. As a result, maintenance teams can make quicker decisions, respond faster, and maintain high operational efficiency wherever they work.

Key Best Practices to Encourage Your Team to Adopt Mobile Features

Maintenance technicians may not always be keen to use your CMMS software on their mobile devices, despite the benefits. Some may be concerned about adding yet another app to their device, while others may simply be hesitant to switch to a new workflow system.

However, there are a few things that you can do to encourage adoption. Here are some tips:

• Provide hands-on training to demonstrate how CMMS mobile features save maintenance staff time, reduce paperwork, and simplify their work.
• Configure the mobile CMMS modules in a user-friendly way, with only the features your team actually needs.
• Have supervisors available to answer questions and guide your team as they get comfortable with the mobile CMMS.
• Make mobile use part of standard maintenance procedures so adoption becomes consistent.
• Ask technicians what works and what doesn’t, then adjust settings as needed to better fit their workflows.

6. Reporting & Analytics

CMMS reporting and analytics features consolidate all of your maintenance information into one system, so you no longer need to search through scattered files. The software solution can organize data about costs, downtime, and work orders into easy-to-read reports. These reports make it much easier to spot inefficiencies and make informed, data-driven decisions.

Furthermore, having automated data collection and reporting features is a significant time-saver for your entire team. Instead of spending time manually gathering and formatting data, your CMMS platform can generate scheduled reports that are ready to present when you need them. 

7. Vendor & Contractor Compliance Management

A CMMS streamlines vendor management by consolidating vendor data in a single location. Centralized data enables quicker and easier comparison of performance, confirmation of each vendor’s compliance with regulations, and effective contract management. Plus, you can track compliance information in your CMMS software and use it to assess your own maintenance strategies to verify that you’re still following regulations.

Having this level of visibility can help you manage any potential disputes, improve communication with vendors, and make more informed decisions when choosing future contractors. You can use past performance as a benchmark to compare potential future contracts by using your CMMS to assess what has worked and what hasn’t in the past.

8. Integration & APIs With Enterprise Systems

Many CMMS software tools lack integration features, so it’s essential to seek those that include them. Integrated CMMS platforms allow smooth data exchange with other enterprise tools, such as ERP systems. Without this ability, you’ll increase the administrative burden of re-entering the same information across various platforms.

Integration can also help improve data accuracy. That’s because automatic data updates across platforms will reduce the risk of errors from duplicate entries or typos. This level of consistency gives your team more reliable data to work with.

9. Predictive Maintenance & Alerts

A CMMS with predictive maintenance features helps you identify problems before they cause equipment failure. It utilizes analytics to identify warning signs in cloud-based asset performance data and provides early alerts to your maintenance managers.

This data is pulled into the cloud by IoT sensors attached to physical assets that track signs of emerging issues. You can then use your CMMS software to obtain a clear view of the information. As a result, you can proactively dispatch your maintenance teams as necessary.

Enjoy All 9 of These CMMS Features by Choosing ServiceChannel

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is only as good as the features it can offer. You need to track work orders, manage maintenance processes, and perform efficient asset tracking without having to chase your software’s support team. Only a CMMS software platform with the right mix of user-friendly features, such as the 9 mentioned above, can provide that experience.

ServiceChannel’s CMMS software can be the ideal tool for your needs. Our platform offers maintenance scheduling, work order management, and automated asset management features to help you keep your maintenance teams on track.