Maintenance Software for Tight Budgets

There’s a vibrant interest in computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) in water-related industries, I’ve learned. Record-keeping requirements, new regulations, a growing customer base and limited budgets affect their needs, however.

In March, I had the opportunity to attend the Mississippi Rural Water Annual Conference & Trade Show in Jackson. This annual trade show and conference runs for three days and is attended by 1,200 water, wastewater and gas utility personnel from all over the state. The participants attended training seminars to earn continuing education credits to maintain their certifications. A trade show gave participants a chance to see products and services that related to their utilities.

Vendors from several states and from Canada had booths at the trade show. Anything from valves and pumps to earth movers and computer software was on display. This show has been in existence for 15 years, so the organization of the classes and trade show was superb; it seemed like nothing was overlooked.

I had been asked to present a training session to familiarize and educate participants about the role a CMMS can play in their maintenance activities.

I explained that back here in Canada, water and wastewater utilities are under pressure to incorporate maintenance software to track their maintenance. Talking with attendees later, I found the same escalated interest in purchasing CMMS software existed in the U.S.

So what is driving this new interest in maintenance software?

Water utilities have come to realize that a paper file system for equipment records is too big to manage. New regulations and environmental agencies require more detailed records of equipment maintenance that could affect public safety. Retrieving these records and creating reports for these public watchdog agencies has become mandatory for operations.

Undocumented maintenance and repairs to equipment that may affect public safety is a practice that is no longer acceptable. Documentation for preventive maintenance and all maintenance repairs must be detailed and available on demand.

Municipalities, villages and small towns have also expanded their services to customers as urban sprawl continues to grow throughout Canada and the U.S. Instead of a few sewage lift stations and fire hydrants, new housing developments now demand more and more utilities. Towns and municipalities that once had 500 customers to service now have 2,000-3,000 customers. So the paper system of records has become unmanageable and impractical.

Unless the municipality or town has a large customer base, they likely will not use a CMMS. These smaller utilities are looking to see what’s on the market to help them, however cost is a primary concern for them. Limited budgets are the main reason why CMMS suppliers have had a hard time breaking into this market.

Even though the budgets are small, the needs are great. The cost of the installation and repair of water, sewer and streets is expensive and there’s little money left over for computers and software that may not add value for customers. Budget planning comes once a year and unless there’s an emergency, no major purchases are made throughout the year. CMMS software vendors find this frustrating because their sales calls have to coincide with budget preparation.

Since the cost of a CMMS is a major deciding factor for these utilities, the selection of appropriate software for this segment is somewhat small.

But thanks to a few CMMS providers, there are some reasonably priced maintenance software packages on the market that will provide all the functionality these towns and municipalities will ever need. (If you contact me, I’ll be glad to pass along the information.)

Talking with utilities both in Canada and the U.S., I’ve found they want the same functionality in maintenance software. Regulatory agencies ask for the same reports and upper management wants to know what it costs to maintain equipment, and how manpower and resources are being utilized.

Here are other reasons why they want a CMMS: Track maintenance repairs and PM records, calculate asset life and depression, maintain asset and equipment history, incorporate GPS locations of valves and other devices, track project costs, track budget expenditures, and track service contracts.

They also want to: Track equipment and asset warrantees, track vehicle maintenance and costs, have the cost of maintaining an asset at their fingertips, track preventive maintenance and inventory, document part costs and supplier information, schedule and utilize labour, store and print documents, create lots of reports, track employee training, and track keys and tools.

Another question raised by this group was about what key things they needed to ask a CMMS supplier regarding software.

I recommended that everyone ask the vendor for names of other utilities that are using its software. Here are other questions I suggested:

* Is the program easy to use? If it’s not, no one will use it.

* What is the software support like? Are answers to your questions provided quickly or must you wait for a call back from technical support?

* Is there any hidden cost? Do slight modifications to the program cost extra?

* Is the cost of the program affordable? Are there other software or hardware items to purchase that are not explained during the sales pitch?

There may be a trade-off between what you want the software to do and how much you have to spend. Be sure to make a list of the major functions you want to have in the software and judge each software on its merits. Don’t be sweet-talked into extra features that you don’t need or want.

My trip was a great chance to learn about commonalities with our neighbours to the south and to review the needs of software for smaller, budget-conscious CMMS users.

Machinery & Equipment MRO software editor Peter Phillips of Trailwalk Holdings, a CMMS consulting and training company based in Nova Scotia, can be reached at 902-798-3601 or by e-mail at peter@trailwalk.ca.