CMMS Demo Checklist: What to Look & Ask For

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) acts as the digital brain of your maintenance operation. It’s where your asset data lives, and maintenance work is assigned and recorded. With a growing number of CMMS software solutions available, though, how do you know which one to choose?

Maintenance managers often learn the hard way that there’s more to evaluating a platform than features. If technicians are reluctant to use it, managers write it off as resistance to change. But it’s almost always the result of friction. Too many clicks and not enough relevance to how work actually happens on the shop floor.

That’s exactly why demos matter. Whether you’re meeting with a salesperson to walk you through the system or test-driving a free trial yourself, this is your chance to better understand the platform’s usability and fit before making a commitment. Find the right solution the first time, and ROI follows.

If you’re currently on a demo spree, take a pause. In this guide, we’ll walk you through what exactly you should look for during the demo and the right questions to ask.

CMMS Demo Preparation Checklist at a Glance

We know you’re busy, so here’s a quick demo prep checklist if you want to skip the details:

• Identify “must-have” and “nice-to-have” features: If you own a large, complex asset portfolio, you need a CMMS that offers complex asset hierarchies. But if you’re just looking to streamline maintenance workflows, that CMMS feature is just nice to have. Get clarity on features that matter to you before scheduling your demo.
• Gather your actual asset inventory data: This gives you a chance to see how the platform will deal with real-world, messy data instead of clean sample data. If the platform fails to map and display assets correctly, you’ll find yourself dealing with problems from day one.
• Bring a technician to the meeting: They have hands-on experience with problems that occur on site. Let them ask questions during the demo to make sure the platform accommodates all needs well. Their participation also improves their willingness to adopt the system instead of it being prescribed to them without any active involvement.

Now, let’s break down the core pillars of what maintenance teams expect from a CMMS and how to compare them for your specific needs.

Core Pillar 1: Work Order Management

Ask the demo rep to walk you through the entire work order process from start to finish. If the platform can automate work order creation, request more information on how you can configure an automated workflow.

Here’s what you should look for during the demo:

• Mobile-friendliness: Does the platform allow technicians to update or close work orders from a device? Most of the top platforms do, and it’s important because it saves technicians a trip back to an office each time they finish a task or need to request an extension.
• Attachments: Ask if the platform lets you attach photos, videos, SOP documents and other files to work orders. This lets you provide detailed instructions for each work order and allows your technicians to upload photos or videos for context when recording a repair.
• Real-time messaging: The best CMMS platforms offer in-app messaging that lets your technicians communicate with teams in real time. Spare parts missing? Message the inventory manager. Need help from a senior technician? Let your supervisor know with a quick message.
• External requests: If you work with external contractors, you need a platform that allows adding them as users and relevant access controls.
• Reporting capabilities: At the end of each month or quarter, you might want to look at how your technicians performed and how well your maintenance strategy worked. For this, you need concrete data, presented visually in an easy-to-comprehend report. So ask about the platform’s reporting capabilities and dashboards during the demo.

All of these features also need to be easy to use. If the CMMS offers everything in your list but the interface is too complex, those features will just end up underutilized.

Core Pillar 2: Asset Management & Tracking

A CMMS should help you maintain complete visibility of your asset inventory and make it easier to manage and maintain those assets. So here’s what you should be watching out for during the demo:

• Inventory tracking: During the demo, ask how the system tracks asset and spare parts inventory. Can you instantly track each asset’s location, maintenance records, current condition and warranty information? Can the platform offer real-time visibility into spare parts inventory and alert your team when inventory dips below a specific threshold?
• Audit trail: You need up-to-date records of who handled a specific asset and how. This could be for internal assessments or a third party or a regulatory audit. In all cases, having an audit trail handy goes a long way, so ask if the CMMS automatically creates an audit trail as your team performs maintenance work.
• QR codes: Can the platform generate and print QR codes directly so you can paste them on your assets? This is a simple feature that saves you plenty of time.
• Support for parent-child relationships: Many assets (the parent asset) have smaller assets within them (child assets), and your system should help you map those relationships clearly so you can plan maintenance work accordingly. If you have an air-handling unit (parent) with a fan motor, belt assembly, filters and control panel, your CMMS should allow you to group those assets or work with them individually as needed.
• Tracking depreciation and total cost of ownership (TCO): A CMMS that tracks depreciation and TCO helps you make informed replacement versus repair decisions. It also shows which assets have a lower price tag but cost more over their life and vice versa, allowing you to optimize your asset portfolio down the line.

Core Pillar 3: Preventive Maintenance Scheduling

Preventive maintenance programs run best when automated, and that’s why you need to assess the platform’s scheduling capabilities during the demo. Look for these capabilities to make sure it can effectively automate preventive maintenance:

• Types of triggers: Does the platform only support calendar dates as triggers, or does it also support usage-based triggers like meter readings? Top platforms also offer condition-based triggers, in which the platform can monitor real-time sensor data that triggers a work order based on predefined criteria.
• Floating PM schedules: If you want to schedule PMs for a specific number of days past a work order completion date instead of on a fixed calendar date, you need this feature. This means you should check if the platform can automatically schedule a task 20 days post completion, for example, instead of the first of each month.
• Schedule management: Things get messy when your schedule has hundreds of work orders running simultaneously. So, ask the rep to walk you through the calendar drag-and-drop interface, assuming the platform has one. If it doesn’t, you may want something a bit more user-friendly.
• Automated notifications: Once PMs are scheduled, you need to track them to completion. Occasionally, a work order may be delayed, so you need the platform to trigger an automated notification to the technician’s mobile device as a reminder. Does the platform offer this feature?

Core Pillar 4: Reporting & Analytics

At the end of each maintenance cycle, you need performance data that can help optimize your preventive maintenance program. Dashboards are a great starting point for performance analysis, but you should investigate whether the platform you’re evaluating allows you to dig deeper into metrics and streamline the reporting process.

To gauge a CMMS platform’s reporting and analytics feature set, consider the following during your demo:

• Granularity of metrics: While most platforms allow you to track key metrics like mean time to repair (MTTR) and mean time between failure (MTBF), you need to dig deeper in some situations. Ask for them to walk you through specific reporting options that are relevant to your business.
• Customization: Can you customize reporting dashboards based on your specific needs, or are you limited to pre-existing templates? The platform should let you build your own dashboards for different teams or specific goals.
• Automated emails: Stakeholders need to receive periodic updates, and sending them manually is plain tedious. If you want to steer clear of this manual effort, ask if the platform can send periodic reports to stakeholders via email.
• Labor variance tracking: Can the system track labor hours spent versus estimated on work orders? This data helps you see how efficiently your team is operating or whether you need to budget for more hours next period.

The “Gotcha” Questions: Pricing, Support & Implementation

Hidden costs usually come from not asking questions beyond the product itself. Before the demo ends, ask these questions:

• Is there a “success fee” or implementation cost? If there is, ask what it covers. Typical inclusions are data migration, initial asset hierarchy setup, workflow configuration and training, but some vendors may only offer access to a project manager, so it’s best to be upfront here.
• What is the typical time to value for a team of our size? Don’t accept a generic answer here. A credible vendor can always provide a reliable, realistic estimate. If they heavily emphasize consultants or extended onboarding, make sure you factor in their costs in your estimates.
• What’s support like? Ask what’s included and what’s gated behind higher-tier plans. Seek clarity on how quickly support can resolve issues once the system is live. Delayed support can be costly in the long run.

Why Coast Wins the Demo: Flexibility & Ease of Use

By the time you choose a platform, you’ll have spent hours sitting through demos, but we’re going to help you save that time. Before you even book a demo, Coast’s results assure you that you’re investing time in a worthy platform. Here’s why Coast is highly likely to appeal to you:

• Mobile-first design: It’s built with your technicians in mind. Coast’s mobile app makes it easy for technicians to view and update work orders on the go. The mobile app also notifies technicians about overdue orders, preventing extended delays in critical maintenance tasks unless there’s a valid reason.
• Customizability: This is where Coast excels. It offers extensive customization options, including the ability to modify work order forms and create new workflows from scratch based on your existing processes.
• Proven track record: It’s highly rated for ease of use and fast implementation, according to G2’s latest reports. This means you can spend more time validating suitability for your use cases instead of investigating surface-level aspects of Coast during the demo.

If that sounds like a good deal, book a demo for Coast today or sign up for a free account to try Coast yourself.