All Member Open Forum

Good Morning Members, I'm Brian La Dieu, CMRP and currently the Regional Maintenance Manager for a manufacturing company in NE Mississippi.  I'm looking for input on what is the best, MOST USER FRIENDLY CMMS system available?  What we are currently using is archaic and practically useless.  All comments will be considered.  I need a program that will allow me to layout my maintenance schedule in a calendar format.  I need it to be visually easy to assess information as well as attach appropriate documents to Work Orders.

Thanks

------------------------------
Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Regional Maintenance Manager
Mississippi
------------------------------

Hello Brian,

I am interested in the replies. At a former company we (O&M) used SAP PM for CMMS and other teams used it for other needs. SAP was designed for accounting and has been modified to meet other needs. The company purchased components of SAP a la carte so many functions we wanted were not available. Like buying a truck but not the cargo bed because it is for personnel transportation. When cargo is moved, a trailer is rented. It was clumsy at best and the various modules used by different teams could not communicate so emails and spreadsheets filled the gaps. Whatever you do, do not do that. 

I have used other CMMS however I was with that company for 15 years so any opinion about them is obsolete. 

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV
------------------------------

Thanks Larry, I too, am familiar with SAP; at least by name, I've never had to use it personally.

------------------------------
Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Regional Maintenance Manager
Mississippi
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023 11:28 AM
From: Larry James
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Hello Brian,

I am interested in the replies. At a former company we (O&M) used SAP PM for CMMS and other teams used it for other needs. SAP was designed for accounting and has been modified to meet other needs. The company purchased components of SAP a la carte so many functions we wanted were not available. Like buying a truck but not the cargo bed because it is for personnel transportation. When cargo is moved, a trailer is rented. It was clumsy at best and the various modules used by different teams could not communicate so emails and spreadsheets filled the gaps. Whatever you do, do not do that. 

I have used other CMMS however I was with that company for 15 years so any opinion about them is obsolete. 

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV
------------------------------

I was an SAP key user, or power user. I led and trained a 50 person department switching from an old version of Maximo to SAP. I would not recommend it. It was a step backwards. The SAP experts sort of expected you to take a maintenance tech or two and make them SAP data entry clerks. SAP is not maintenance software. It’s stock software that has been kludged to act like maintenance software. Ask them about mobile connections and how to make a level-loaded weekly schedule. Ask about how a PM due date get calculated if a work order gets rescheduled. You have to get external plug-ins for basic features! And the company has to hire a developer for “your specific problem” which is really best practice. Not recommended except for Fortune 50.

The only maintenance manager that I know that was allowed to trial multiple packages and pick his own solution picked EMaint. I’ve never used it but I’m jealous of what I’ve heard about it.

---------------------------------
Karl Burnett

General Electric
Anderson SC
---------------------------------



Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023
From: Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Subject: RE: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Thanks Larry, I too, am familiar with SAP; at least by name, I've never had to use it personally.

------------------------------
Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Regional Maintenance Manager
Mississippi
------------------------------

Karl,

I agree 100%. SAP is the hammer in their hand when someone said CMMS so they started hammering.

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023 08:53 PM
From: Karl Burnett
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

I was an SAP key user, or power user. I led and trained a 50 person department switching from an old version of Maximo to SAP. I would not recommend it. It was a step backwards. The SAP experts sort of expected you to take a maintenance tech or two and make them SAP data entry clerks. SAP is not maintenance software. It's stock software that has been kludged to act like maintenance software. Ask them about mobile connections and how to make a level-loaded weekly schedule. Ask about how a PM due date get calculated if a work order gets rescheduled. You have to get external plug-ins for basic features! And the company has to hire a developer for "your specific problem" which is really best practice. Not recommended except for Fortune 50.

The only maintenance manager that I know that was allowed to trial multiple packages and pick his own solution picked EMaint. I've never used it but I'm jealous of what I've heard about it.

---------------------------------
Karl Burnett

General Electric
Anderson SC
---------------------------------




Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023
From: Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Subject: RE: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Thanks Larry, I too, am familiar with SAP; at least by name, I've never had to use it personally.

------------------------------
Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Regional Maintenance Manager
Mississippi
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023 11:28 AM
From: Larry James
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Hello Brian,

I am interested in the replies. At a former company we (O&M) used SAP PM for CMMS and other teams used it for other needs. SAP was designed for accounting and has been modified to meet other needs. The company purchased components of SAP a la carte so many functions we wanted were not available. Like buying a truck but not the cargo bed because it is for personnel transportation. When cargo is moved, a trailer is rented. It was clumsy at best and the various modules used by different teams could not communicate so emails and spreadsheets filled the gaps. Whatever you do, do not do that. 

I have used other CMMS however I was with that company for 15 years so any opinion about them is obsolete. 

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV

Brian,
Keep that true and your life will be better.

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023 02:04 PM
From: Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Thanks Larry, I too, am familiar with SAP; at least by name, I've never had to use it personally.

------------------------------
Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Regional Maintenance Manager
Mississippi
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023 11:28 AM
From: Larry James
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Hello Brian,

I am interested in the replies. At a former company we (O&M) used SAP PM for CMMS and other teams used it for other needs. SAP was designed for accounting and has been modified to meet other needs. The company purchased components of SAP a la carte so many functions we wanted were not available. Like buying a truck but not the cargo bed because it is for personnel transportation. When cargo is moved, a trailer is rented. It was clumsy at best and the various modules used by different teams could not communicate so emails and spreadsheets filled the gaps. Whatever you do, do not do that. 

I have used other CMMS however I was with that company for 15 years so any opinion about them is obsolete. 

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV

Hi Larry

Take a look of Guide Ti, www.guideti.com

We replace many time SAP-PM, we have customer in 20 countries and customers as Bridgestone tires operation (19 plants), ABB, Bombardier, General Dynamics.

Software is Powerfull, user friendly and will support easily all of your needs.
Guide Ti was designed by and for Maintenance people.

We offer also links with many ERP/Financial system as SAP, JDEdward, Microsoft D365 and more.

Hope to have chance to show you our product.

Have a good day


Michel Fournier
Président Directeur Général, CEO
Cogep inc.


Original Message:
Sent: 9/21/2023 9:32:00 PM
From: Larry James
Subject: RE: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Keep that true and your life will be better.

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023 02:04 PM
From: Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Thanks Larry, I too, am familiar with SAP; at least by name, I've never had to use it personally.

------------------------------
Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Regional Maintenance Manager
Mississippi
------------------------------

Hi Michel,

Not in the market presently, unemployed. That will change and then my needs might.

Thanks

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2023 07:04 AM
From: Michel Fournier
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Hi Larry

Take a look of Guide Ti, www.guideti.com

We replace many time SAP-PM, we have customer in 20 countries and customers as Bridgestone tires operation (19 plants), ABB, Bombardier, General Dynamics.

Software is Powerfull, user friendly and will support easily all of your needs.
Guide Ti was designed by and for Maintenance people.

We offer also links with many ERP/Financial system as SAP, JDEdward, Microsoft D365 and more.

Hope to have chance to show you our product.

Have a good day


Michel Fournier
Président Directeur Général, CEO
Cogep inc.



Original Message:
Sent: 9/21/2023 9:32:00 PM
From: Larry James
Subject: RE: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Keep that true and your life will be better.

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023 02:04 PM
From: Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Thanks Larry, I too, am familiar with SAP; at least by name, I've never had to use it personally.

------------------------------
Brian La Dieu, CMRP
Regional Maintenance Manager
Mississippi


Original Message:
Sent: 09-21-2023 11:28 AM
From: Larry James
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Hello Brian,

I am interested in the replies. At a former company we (O&M) used SAP PM for CMMS and other teams used it for other needs. SAP was designed for accounting and has been modified to meet other needs. The company purchased components of SAP a la carte so many functions we wanted were not available. Like buying a truck but not the cargo bed because it is for personnel transportation. When cargo is moved, a trailer is rented. It was clumsy at best and the various modules used by different teams could not communicate so emails and spreadsheets filled the gaps. Whatever you do, do not do that. 

I have used other CMMS however I was with that company for 15 years so any opinion about them is obsolete. 

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV

A previous employer used maximo which was user friendly, my current employer uses Oracle which presents as being outdated for the maintenance needs. It gives basic tracking of work orders, completion comments and there is the ability to add attachments upon work order completion.

------------------------------
KAMARIA DUNCAN
Mechanical Technician III
P.P.G.P.L
Point Fortin
------------------------------

I have over 20 years of experience using Maximo and have had many discussions with users of other work management systems.  Maximo is a solid CMMS, but I wouldn't consider it user friendly without customizations which are undesirable for a number of reasons.  I worked for a major utility company with well over 1000 users.  We implemented a third-party solution, Engage (provided by Endevor LLC), that served as the user interface.  It tracked employee availability, work planning, scheduling (in a calendar as used described), work assignment, and timecards.  It is an extremely intuitive product and relatively inexpensive.  I highly recommend you inquire about this solution.  Depending on your requirements and number of users, you might be able to use it as a standalone CMMS.  It is the most user-friendly product I have seen.  

------------------------------
Matthew Walther
Cruinneas Consulting LLC
Rye NY
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2023 06:56 AM
From: KAMARIA DUNCAN
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

A previous employer used maximo which was user friendly, my current employer uses Oracle which presents as being outdated for the maintenance needs. It gives basic tracking of work orders, completion comments and there is the ability to add attachments upon work order completion.

------------------------------
KAMARIA DUNCAN
Mechanical Technician III
P.P.G.P.L
Point Fortin
------------------------------

We are opening up a chemical manufacturing facility south of Atlanta.  I was given the opportunity to research and chose our CMMS.  I have used about 4-5 different CMMS programs in the past.  For this task, I reviewed 6.  I looked at Zoidi, Maximo, MaintainX, NodaFi, eMaint and Oracle Maintenance Cloud.  I have used SAP in the past and didn't even want to consider them.  After about 6 months of research and testing different software, I chose to go with eMaint.  eMaint has a good user-friendly system that lets you easily schedule tasks.  We have not started up the facility yet.  So, we are just using it to get familiar using a trial version.  So far, it looks like a great system.  It's very powerful, it's affordable and it's easy to use.

If you would like, I can forward you the contact information on our eMaint rep.

------------------------------
Patrick Robert
Facility Maintenance Manager
NYCO America
Newnan GA
------------------------------

Hi Brian, 

I would highly recommend you take a look at MVP One. I'm a little biased because I work with the company, but my team is focused mainly on Reliability Engineering and Maintenance Excellence best practices.  MVP One supports those processes and is very user friendly with a good mobile solution.  I used this software as a customer for 8 yrs across 50 sites and it served us well.  I work with clients that use a wide variety of CMMS software's so have seen or evaluated many of the more popular ones.  I would highly recommend you go through a detailed selection process with a scripted demo because in my experience if you just ask the sales guys if their software can do this, this, and this.... the answers are always "YES".  Once you actually walk through the details and find out that to create and close 1 work order takes over 12 minutes, you become very disappointed.  I'm speaking from experience. 

Best wishes on your selection process!

------------------------------
Bill Mountjoy
MVP One
Lake Geneva WI
------------------------------

Brian - 

It would help to know a little more such as how many techs you have? will you have a dedicated analyst? ratio of outsourced/inhouse and if that hard/soft services? number of assets? typical work order volume annually? There are some really great SaaS solutions and there are some great purchases too. Depends on budget and if you want to highly customize or COTS. 

------------------------------
Steven Haffron CFM, PMP, SSGB
Sr. Facilities Program Manager
Scottsdale AZ
------------------------------

Thaks everyone.
Although not my post, I appreciate the input and hope to have a reason to research CMMS soon.

------------------------------
Larry James
Lockout Larry
1. Personnel 2. Environment 3. Equipment 4. Revenue
Reno NV
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2023 12:59 PM
From: Steven Haffron
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Brian - 

It would help to know a little more such as how many techs you have? will you have a dedicated analyst? ratio of outsourced/inhouse and if that hard/soft services? number of assets? typical work order volume annually? There are some really great SaaS solutions and there are some great purchases too. Depends on budget and if you want to highly customize or COTS. 

------------------------------
Steven Haffron CFM, PMP, SSGB
Sr. Facilities Program Manager
Scottsdale AZ
------------------------------

Brian,

Good question. I've started looking myself. I'll look into the recommendations made here. If anyone familiar with MP2?

------------------------------
Robert Wargo
Fidem Energy
Cleveland TN
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 9/25/2023 1:30:00 PM
From: Robert Wargo
Subject: RE: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Brian,

Good question. I've started looking myself. I'll look into the recommendations made here. If anyone familiar with MP2?

------------------------------
Robert Wargo
Fidem Energy
Cleveland TN
------------------------------

I've been to a number of facilities over the years and the two systems that seem to be the most user friendly and the teams like to use have been JD Edwards and Maintenance Connection. I have used SAP where it was done incredibly well, but there was a huge investment put into it to get it to that state.

------------------------------
Jeremie Edwards MLA III , MLT II
Technical Consultant
Noria Corp
Tulsa OK
------------------------------

Brian,

I just went through this process for my company and evaluated 10 CMMS's of what I felt were the top in the industry.  We have 16 full manufacturing facilities and 4 warehouses, some with small manufacturing lines.  I have used multiple CMMS systems in the past including some that I included in this review.  The key is to build a decision matrix with all of the things that you need your CMMS to do.  I included things like: annual cost and implementation cost, mobile and offline capable, multi-asset work orders, inventory module and some subjective things like ease of reactive work order entry, and how well the system added parts used on an asset to the asset BOM and how easy is it to look at another site's MRO inventory.  What is important to me might not be important to you. This matrix took the emotion out of the equation and gave me a reason to push back on the hard sellers who tried to get quick, emotion based commitments.  I gave everyone 1 chance to sharpen their pencils and update their quotes, but maintained a set number of technician users across the board.

I then took the top 4 and had all my Maintenance Managers sit through a presentation by the software sales team and vote on their choice.  We had discussion about why each chose what they did and I even changed my mind based on what the team said.  I will tell you that we eventually chose UpKeep, but that is what works best for us.  

I have used SAP and it can be powerful but it is not a user friendly system, I have used multiple interfaces and don't like any of them.  I would never recommend it to anyone, but would use one of the other systems to interface with it (many do that).  You need a system that is simple and easy or your technicians will never use it 100%.  Garbage in = Garbage out.  I have found that mobile platforms are the key and the easier it is for a technician to write a reactive work order the better data you will get to analyze.

------------------------------
Brian Hutchings
Maintenance and Reliability Manager
ICP Group
Woodland Hills UT
------------------------------

Hello Brian,

I am wondering which SAP version that you have used? Is it SAP ECC or SAP S/4 Hana? I think SAP S/4 HANA has mobile solution with more user friendly interfaces which I've found quite ok.

------------------------------
Maurina Andriana

Maintenance engineer
Norway
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 09-26-2023 07:39 PM
From: Brian Hutchings
Subject: BEST CMMS SOFTWARE

Brian,

I just went through this process for my company and evaluated 10 CMMS's of what I felt were the top in the industry.  We have 16 full manufacturing facilities and 4 warehouses, some with small manufacturing lines.  I have used multiple CMMS systems in the past including some that I included in this review.  The key is to build a decision matrix with all of the things that you need your CMMS to do.  I included things like: annual cost and implementation cost, mobile and offline capable, multi-asset work orders, inventory module and some subjective things like ease of reactive work order entry, and how well the system added parts used on an asset to the asset BOM and how easy is it to look at another site's MRO inventory.  What is important to me might not be important to you. This matrix took the emotion out of the equation and gave me a reason to push back on the hard sellers who tried to get quick, emotion based commitments.  I gave everyone 1 chance to sharpen their pencils and update their quotes, but maintained a set number of technician users across the board.

I then took the top 4 and had all my Maintenance Managers sit through a presentation by the software sales team and vote on their choice.  We had discussion about why each chose what they did and I even changed my mind based on what the team said.  I will tell you that we eventually chose UpKeep, but that is what works best for us.  

I have used SAP and it can be powerful but it is not a user friendly system, I have used multiple interfaces and don't like any of them.  I would never recommend it to anyone, but would use one of the other systems to interface with it (many do that).  You need a system that is simple and easy or your technicians will never use it 100%.  Garbage in = Garbage out.  I have found that mobile platforms are the key and the easier it is for a technician to write a reactive work order the better data you will get to analyze.

------------------------------
Brian Hutchings
Maintenance and Reliability Manager
ICP Group
Woodland Hills UT
------------------------------

Hi Brian,

I've been in your shoes before. After devoting 20+ years of my career in maintenance in various industries (petrochemical, specialty chemical, oil refinery, paper mill, plastics, etc), I was evaluating a CMMS that is most functional for the site, user friendly at a reasonable cost, reliable with excellent service support and company policy compliant. This manufacturing site did not have a CMMS but already use SAP for other modules which is the standard for this large global company. However, implementing SAP PM is very costly and I was left to find another one.

Not counting the non-Windows softwares, I have used GPMaTe, SAP PM and Maintenance Connection. Each of these have their strengths and weaknesses but I wanted something simple and user friendly for 70 employees with 6 maintenance techs. I listed the basic functionality needed at that time, such as, maintenance work management including planning and scheduling, resource management, maintenance cost tracking, equipment history, and must be cloud hosted. I had demonstration done by Maximo, AssetPoint, FT Maintenance and eMaint. My pick at this time was eMaint but IT senior management shut it down. So, I ended up with SAP.

eMaint is the most user friendly with more functionality than I need. SAP PM is a very powerful CMMS that integrates seamlessly with procurement, materials, project management modules. Custom reports can also enhance reporting.

Good luck our your selection process.

------------------------------
Ben Moreno
Bayer Crop Science
Houston TX
------------------------------

This is an incredibly complex question as there are many offerings, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Several solid competitors have been mentioned. There are also add-ins for many other legacy offerings like SAP that accomplish exactly what you're asking for with the proper configuration.

1. Do you have a prioritized list of the critical features, must haves, nice to haves, listed and weighted for scoring? This needs to be specific. Your calendar visualization of the output is a good example but don't be limited to what's inside the box on this one. There are good tools in powerBI and other software that can give you output like that while allowing other power inside the box. You're looking for a suite of tools, not a single magical one. Just like you don't fix every problem with a hammer, you need a CMMS tool suite. We haven't invented the sonic screwdriver, yet...
2. Are you required to integrate into a larger company ERP as part of the work? If so, that can impact your degrees of freedom substantially.
3. What is your budget and what are the skills of the team you have to work with? Do you have a solid IT partner you trust to work with you because it's not just a tool, it's the whole company IT infrastructure you have to connect to (printers, visual boards, email, security, wifi, etc..)
4. How strong are your work management processes and the organization discipline around adherence?
5. Do you have someone on your team that understands change management? Implementing a CMMS is 30% tool and 70% behavior management. We maintenance people are not typically strong here so you will likely need a partner internal and at the vendor that can help with that.

I would suggest you ask all of the companies for references and then actually call them. Today, I field questions from perspective customers about our mobile platform, two years ago, I was the one calling others. One thing I love about most maintenance and reliability people, they don't pull punches. If a tool stinks, they'll tell you exactly why.

I have personally used Maximo, SAP, eMaint 4 & 5, and MP2. They each have pros and cons, it really goes back to your priority list.

My current organization uses SAP with customized entry screens, and we've spent the last year deploying a mobile platform on top of a redesigned back-end and a whole new PowerBI metric suite. It's not perfect but we've moved miles in the last 2 years.

Good Luck.

Glenn Simmonds

------------------------------
Glenn Simmonds
Senior Manager - Machine Reliability

Sabert Corporation