Implementing a CMMS: A Guide for Maintenance Teams

The order to roll out a CMMS in: an owner, the structure and data, roles, training by group, paper, and the first weeks after go-live.

Roll out a CMMS by settling its nine decisions in order, starting with the owner.

The order to work in

Settle each step before you start the next.

Step	What it settles
1. Name an owner	Who keeps the system right after go-live, and who champions it in each crew and site
2. Set the structure	The asset hierarchy, naming, equipment classes, and work order statuses, with one owner for each status
3. Clean the data	Which assets stay. Retired assets are removed before anything is loaded
4. Load the data	Locations and categories first, then assets. The asset template offers both as dropdowns
5. Set up roles	Who opens, assigns, closes, and reads reports, and what each role sees
6. Start with corrective work	Corrective work orders first, then preventive maintenance, then requests
7. Train each group	Administrators, power users, end users, and managers, hands-on, before go-live
8. Decide about paper	Whether paper stops at go-live, or stays for jobs where a device is impractical
9. Hold the first weeks	Who answers questions, and where the job aids are kept

Name an owner, and keep the data right

Name one person who owns the system after go-live, and one champion in each crew or site to keep encouraging use. Secure senior management’s commitment before the rollout starts.

Budget the owner’s time for administration after go-live, not only for the initial load. That means cycle counts, equipment changes, and decommissioning. When equipment is replaced, decommission its record rather than reusing it.

Set up the hierarchy before you load anything

Stop the hierarchy where the maintenance strategy stops. Give each motor, gearbox, and pump its own asset number. Do not list PLC I/O cards as assets.
Use equipment classes. They are among the most useful search and sort fields.
Use ISO 14224:2016 as the minimum reference for the hierarchy.
Avoid smart asset numbers. They box you in when the plant expands.

There are two ways this goes wrong. A hierarchy that is too flat puts a SAG mill at the same level as an M20 bolt. The other is spending too long on naming.

Catalog each spare once, not six identical oil filters under six stock numbers.

Clean the data before the import

Remove retired assets before the upload. When equipment is replaced, decommission its record rather than reusing it.
Put the equipment tree in order, and record every inventory part in the system before the load.

Map your columns to the import

Map each spreadsheet column to an import column before you upload. FixAhead’s import takes a CSV or Excel file, with a template for clean imports, and checks each row before anything is imported.

Bulk Import Assets with Download Template, whose locations and categories are dropdowns, over cedar-assets.csv chosen: 9 rows will be imported, 1 skipped, above a preview of the valid rows. — The import lists its expected columns, and marks name, location, and category as required.

Your spreadsheet column	Import column	Must be filled
Equipment name	name	Yes
Area or building	location	Yes. The template offers your locations as a dropdown
Equipment type	category	Yes. The template offers your categories as a dropdown
Make	manufacturer	No
Model	model	No
Description or notes	description	No
Custodian’s email	email	No
Labels	tags	No. Separate several with commas
Serial number	none	Not applicable

The expected columns have no serial number field. Ask a vendor where serial numbers go before you start.

Load locations and categories before the assets

Load locations and categories first, since the asset template offers them as dropdowns. Write the column mapping down, then run the first import of assets.

1. Add a location under Organization

Choose Organization, then Locations. Press Add Location beneath a location to add one inside it, or at the foot of the tree for a top-level location.

Organization’s Locations: Cedar Grand Hotel’s Ground Floor with its rooms and Add Location, then First Floor and Second Floor, each with its rooms and Add Location. — Add Location sits beneath the rooms of each floor, to add a location inside it.

2. Name the location

Enter the location’s name in Add New Location, then press Save Location.

Add New Location, with Linen Store entered, over Cedar Grand Hotel’s Ground Floor and its rooms. — Add New Location, with a name entered and ready to save.

3. Add each asset category

Choose Library, then Asset Categories, and press Add Categories. In Add Asset Category, enter the category’s name and press Add Category.

Add Asset Category, with Fire Safety entered, over the hotel’s categories and their asset counts. — Add Asset Category, with a name entered. The list beside it shows the number of assets in each category.

4. Download the import template

On Assets, press Import Assets, then Download Template in the Bulk Import Assets dialog. The template offers your locations and categories as pre-filled dropdowns.

5. Fill in the template

Enter one row for each asset. Name, location, and category are required, and the location and category are picked from the dropdowns.

The import template in a spreadsheet with the location cell’s dropdown open on Main Kitchen, among Plant Room, Laundry Room, Reception, and Lobby. — The location column, with your locations as a dropdown.

The import template in a spreadsheet with the category cell’s dropdown open on Kitchen Equipment, among Water Heaters, HVAC Units, Passenger Lifts, and Laundry Equipment. — The category column, with your categories as a dropdown.

6. Upload the file

In the dialog, press Select CSV or Excel file and choose your file. The file must be CSV or Excel (.xlsx or .xls), up to 10MB.

cedar-assets.csv chosen: Ready to Import says 9 rows will be imported and 1 skipped, above a preview of the valid rows. — A file chosen: Ready to Import says 9 rows will be imported and 1 skipped.

7. Check Ready to Import and Validation Errors

Ready to Import says how many rows will be imported and how many will be skipped. Each row with an error is listed under Validation Errors with its row number and is skipped; fix those rows in your file and upload it again.

Ready to Import, a Validation Errors list naming row 10’s category with a Download Error Report button, and a Data Preview of the valid rows. — Ready to Import: 9 rows will be imported, 1 row skipped due to validation errors. Validation Errors lists the skipped row.

8. Import the valid rows

Press Import Assets to import the valid rows. Import Results shows how many rows were imported and how many failed; press Done to close.

The Import Results form showing 2 Successfully Imported and 0 Failed, with Cancel and Done buttons. — Import Results: 2 successfully imported, 0 failed.

Set roles before go-live

Set each person’s role before the first work order is raised. Check that technicians see the work assigned to them without an administrator adding them to each order. Where they do not, administration can become a staffing cost.

The Users page on its Technician tab: Matt Reynolds, HVAC technician, Rooftop, $16.00; Neil, plumber, Laundry Room, $23.00; Anthony, electrician, Plant Room, $20.00; each with the role Technician, over the Technician Workload. — The Users page, with each technician's hourly rate.

1. Open Add User on the Users page

Choose Organization, then Users, and press Add User.

2. Give the person a role

Enter the person’s name and email, and choose Manager, Technician or Member as the role. For a technician, also enter an hourly rate and the skills they hold, then press Create User.

Edit User for Neil: Role Technician, Location Laundry Room, Hourly Rate 23.00, Technician Skills, over the Technician Workload. — Edit User, with the role set to Technician. Hourly Rate and Technician Skills appear for a technician.

FixAhead sends no invitation when you create the user, so tell the person to sign in with that email.

Train by group, hands-on, and keep training after go-live

Train each group on the work it does. Crews need training on the work-reporting forms and on data entry.

Train hands-on, in a copy of the system the team can practice in. Online modules work as refreshers after that.

Put the training hours in the plan before go-live.

Give each role a short job aid with screenshots. Keep someone available for questions for the first two to three weeks after go-live. For what gets technicians using the system day to day, read how to get the maintenance team to use a CMMS.

Phase the work

Start with corrective work orders. Staff can capture and complete them on their own. Add preventive maintenance once the team is comfortable with corrective work. Release the service-request module last, beginning with the building occupants who already view facilities positively.

Build each PM as its own task list

Build each PM as its own task list, rather than copying a master schedule. A copied master schedule is faster to set up, and it can backfire when the equipment is upgraded.

Choose the scope on purpose: one work order for six identical fountains by location, or one work order per asset.

Tag each asset so its record is at the machine

Put a code on each asset that opens its record. Choose labels that sanitation cannot wash off.

Decide what happens to paper before go-live

Set the paper rule before go-live.

Plan for paper where a device is impractical: a job done with greasy hands, or a technician with no device. Write that plan down, with an end date if paper is to stop.

Require the fields your reports depend on

Make the fields that reports need mandatory in the system, rather than left to memory. Failure codes and downtime on a breakdown are examples to make mandatory. Record all work as work orders, and check each technician’s completion in a regular report.

What to ask a vendor

Which implementation services are included, and which are priced apart: configuration, data conversion and loading, start-up support, training, documentation, and support after go-live. Ask for each one in labor hours.
What the onboarding and training fees are, and what drives them.
What the training plan holds for each group: objective, length, format, and total hours.
Is there a test environment, separate from production, for training?
Can required fields be enforced for some work orders only, such as a failure code on a corrective one?
Can each work order status be owned by one role?
Can technicians see unassigned work without an administrator? How much admin work does reassigning take when someone is away?
Can we meet the implementation team, not only sales?
How is support given, in which hours? How are upgrades done, and at what cost?
Do you provide import templates for assets, locations, PM schedules, parts, and work-order history? Who fills them in, and who loads them?
Does the import map our columns to your fields, check values before loading, and keep a record of what was loaded?
Can we run the import again after corrections, with the mapping written down?
Can existing PM schedules and past work orders come in, or only assets?
How many levels does the hierarchy allow, and can one asset serve several others, such as a condenser with several heads?
Are equipment classes and failure codes lists you configure, or free text?
Can labels be printed for assets and parts, and opened from a phone?
What happens when a technician has no signal or no device? Can a checklist be printed and closed out later?
Can we export everything later, in a standard format?

What the rollout costs

Price the services as well as the license, in labor hours, so that the prices can be compared. Budget the data hours before the move, not after it.

Count the hours for the owner, the training, and the weekly administration, not only the vendor’s invoice. To set a named product beside FixAhead, read FixAhead vs eMaint, FixAhead vs Fiix, FixAhead vs Limble, FixAhead vs MaintainX, or FixAhead vs UpKeep.