CMMS Implementation difficulties

  • 13 July 2021
  • 2 replies

I'm curious about what's been the most challenging aspect of implementing a CMMS on different companies.

I've worked on many implementations, and there are many aspects that need to be well covered in order to achieve the success of the projects.

There are lots of articles talking about CMMS success, but i'd like to hear about exerience of real users.

Some of the ones I can think that might no be so common are:

  • Too much information: very complex work orders that become cumbersome for the tech to complete
  • Poor usage of the CMMS information: if there are no decisions made out of the information we enter into the CMMS, why even bother?
  • Poor knowledge of the CMMS tool: if we don't know the CMMS in detail, me migh be missing many features that might make our life easier.

I'd love to hear some thoughts

2 replies

The initial set up and implementation has been a long rough road.  So much information to gather, sort, input and explain.


With doing the initial set up, I am still in the learning aspect of the new CMMS, so you do not  know all of the tips and tricks out there.  As I have gone through building the system, I am encountering the connections of all areas with the CMMS, which apparently had tips & tricks.

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This is a HUGE subject that I could discuss at extremely great length….. but here are a few of the biggest things that I dealt with during implementation;

-Technician usage and “buy in”:  Making sure that everyone was on the same page, following the same protocols and using it to the fullest extent that we could.  Trying to make sure that everything was being completed in the complete and proper manner, and that all the data we were trying to collect was there.

-Asset/Location Hierarchy:  Making sure that I was setting it all up in a way that made sense for our specific application, that worked in a way that made sense with the Fiix side of things.  I remember going through the headache of converting to Multi-Location Facilities after the fact/initial import.

-Initial data/asset import:  Do yourself a favor, be as complete with this as you can be the first time, because trying to do imports of existing data after the fact can create a lot of hiccups in the system.  That and no one wants to spend endless hours manually entering all of this.  Granted, there will always be changes down the road that will require manual manipulation or entry.

One thing that I found, that worked extremely well in our specific setup during implementation, was to start small.  After your initial data dump, and you have all of your Locations, Facilities and Assets/Tools into the system, let your technicians/employees play with it.  Use it as a reference tool more or less for a period of time.  Once they are acclimated, start using one specific section or one work order type/setup, or use it for tracking just labor with blanket facilities.  Then move on to building your SM/PM lists with recurring work orders as needed.  Then build your parts inventory….. etc etc etc.  Start small and implement slowly, goals are far easier to achieve and far more rewarding when they can be achieved quickly as a team.  My two cents.

