Pressures from the real world are driving computerized maintenance management/enterprise asset management (CMMS/EAM) software vendors to rethink and revise not only their products, but how they can help users actually achieve a larger portion of the potential they shrink-wrap in every package.

More than ever, CMMS/EAM vendors need you, their clients, to succeed. Many have identified room for improvement and are focusing their efforts on four key areas: industry specialization, implementation, integration and functionality. The changes they wrought have prompted us to revise and expand the Plant Services CMMS/EAM Software Review, our detailed hands-on comparison of current offerings.

This new version of the review allows you to decide just how in-depth you want to be in controlling product comparisons, from simple browsing of vendor survey data to creating customized scores for each product based on the aspects most important to you.

The Plant Services CMMS/EAM Software Review is designed to allow you to compare packages across a comprehensive range of capabilities. It offers the option of weighting capabilities to reflect their importance in your application and receiving a calculated ranking of the software offerings according to your specifications.

As the “Introduction” screen explains, you can use the Review to simply browse the results of our verified vendor survey data, compare products and find further information on particular packages and vendors. Or, you can have the system rank packages according your customized and advanced criteria. Clicking on “Software Aspects” lets you weight them individually so the comparison engine can calculate scores and present packages according to how well their strengths match your weightings.

Clicking on an individual software aspect in the “Introduction” screen brings you to a “Priorities” screen, which shows the exact survey questions used to establish the package score for that aspect. Exercising your option to rank a question less than “very important” factors its score so it has less weight in the calculated comparison.

You can hand-pick packages and compare them for various aspects, or enter weightings and priorities and click “calculate” to bring you to the comparison screen. Here, you’ll see a side-by-side comparison detailing the level of functionality for each capability.

Download the CMMS/EAM Special Report

David Berger, a Certified Management Consultant (C.M.C.) registered in Ontario, Canada, is a Principal of Western Management Consultants, based in the Toronto office. Mr. Berger has written more than 200 articles on a variety of topics such as maintenance management, operations management, information technology, e-commerce, organizational design, and strategy.  In Plant Services magazine, he has written a monthly column for the past 14 years on maintenance management in the United States, as well as three very extensive reviews of maintenance management systems available in North America.

Mr. Berger has done extensive work in the areas of strategy, information technology and business process re-engineering. He has developed a unique methodology of developing performance measures and targets with senior management, then simultaneously re-engineering processes and developing a systems specification for operations, maintenance management, shop-floor data collection, materials management, engineering, human resources, sales/marketing, and accounting systems. This grassroots, participatory process has been used successfully across many industries including manufacturing & distribution, financial services and government. Mr. Berger has also been involved with subsequent implementation of the resultant process improvements and new information systems including CMMS/EAM, ERP, plant automation and e-commerce based solutions. As well, he has conducted numerous strategic, operations and information systems reviews.

View David Berger's complete profile

Read David Berger's monthly Asset Manager column

Optimize industrial plant maintenance time
David Berger says maximize wrench time, minimize employee downtime and ensure CMMS data integrity.

Answers to your CMMS questions are just a click away
David Berger says make sure your CMMS advice is accurate and relevant.

Understanding asset failure
David Berger says implement maintenance practices to predict, prevent or react to a failure.

Asset management interface
David Berger explains hardware options for running CMMS software.

CMMS for the asset lifecycle
David Berger discusses mobility, contract maintenance, risk assessment and other CMMS functionalities.

Optimize your CMMS with value-added features
David Berger reveals potential for decision-support functionality in your CMMS.

The pros and cons of enterprise-wide asset management and the silo approach
David Berger, P.Eng., contributing editor, explores the differences between integrated asset management and asset classes.

The CMMS evolution: New features and functions spearhead CMMS software advancements
David Berger, P.Eng., contributing editor, says R&D innovations lead to success in the CMMS software market.

Implementing or upgrading your CMMS project
David Berger, P.Eng., contributing editor, compiles a list of preparations designed to ease the CMMS implementation.

Convergence of U.S. GAAP and IFRS will require standardization of accounting procedures globally for ERP and CMMS systems
David Berger, P.Eng., contributing editor, says IFRS could change how asset life cycle costs are tracked globally.

CMMS implementation isn't done until benefits are realized
David Berger, P.Eng., contributing editor, says plan how to measure implementation success down the road.

Read David Berger's monthly Asset Manager column

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