9 CMMS Features That Solve Your Maintenance Problems

A computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) is a software solution that brings all your maintenance tasks together into one place. It replaces old, paper-based methods, Excel spreadsheets or outdated technologies, making everything more digital and easily accessible from a mobile device. Choosing from an abundance of CMMS features, your maintenance team can easily access work orders, track assets and employee schedules — essentially staying ahead of every aspect of the maintenance process. This, in turn, helps solve two key maintenance issues: unplanned equipment downtime and a lack of operational efficiency.

The best CMMS software solutions provide a wide range of features that will streamline your maintenance operations and extend the lifespan of your most important physical assets. Here are just a few CMMS features to look for when trying to address your most crucial maintenance needs.

Asset Management 

When your team’s juggling tools and equipment, things can slip through the cracks — manuals get lost, maintenance gets missed and downtime gets expensive. A quality asset management system helps you keep asset information all together in one place, so your crew can always access asset data from a mobile app.

One helpful feature of a cloud-based CMMS is the ability to scan a barcode on any asset to pull up equipment manuals, warranties or maintenance history records.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: With a more organized asset inventory management system in place, your maintenance team will experience fewer unreported damages, missed inspections and poorly tracked maintenance costs. 

Work Order Management 

A CMMS helps ensure proper work order management by simplifying how you create, assign and track maintenance activities. With everything in one place, including photos, checklists and documents, your team can stay on top of work orders better without the hassle of scattered systems.

Using a mobile CMMS, maintenance technicians can access and update work orders from wherever they are. It also helps track the status of work orders, giving detailed insights into task completion and delays that can help with decision-making in regard to asset health. The software also typically features a work request portal, where a team member can easily submit maintenance requests by scanning a QR code on an asset that needs to be fixed.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: A more efficient work order management system results in better communication between team members and more work orders being completed quicker, which can lead to cost savings on maintenance work and prolong your equipment lifecycle.

Preventive Maintenance Scheduling 

Preventive maintenance is another core CMMS feature that helps your team stay ahead of equipment issues by automating recurring tasks based on time or usage. You can schedule work orders with detailed checklists, photos and documents, ensuring team members have everything they need when the time comes to inspect or perform routine maintenance on an asset. 

Automated alerts notify your team when tasks are approaching, so parts and labor are ready, and nothing gets overlooked. Finally, preventive maintenance reporting provides you with insights into task duration and asset performance, helping you optimize efficiency and make data-driven decisions.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: Teams that implement preventive maintenance strategies see fewer unexpected breakdowns, more equipment uptime and better operational workflows overall.

Parts Inventory Management 

When you’re testing different maintenance software, make sure they include a parts inventory management feature that helps track spare part levels in real time. In fact, you should be able to automate how you track inventory levels by setting a minimum number of key parts you always want in stock. Whenever you reach that set minimum, a notification will let you know when you’re running low.

A CMMS should also feature parts transfers by location, allowing you to quickly move stock between sites to prevent shortages. As some stock has long lead times, it also makes it easy for you to see where parts are at any time.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: By automating your parts inventory system, you’ll avoid supply issues like stockouts, overstocking and inefficient parts tracking that comes with more manual processes.

Maintenance Reporting & Analytics 

The maintenance reporting and analytics feature lets you track and analyze key maintenance data and metrics, helping you identify any equipment issues before they impact your bottom line. For instance, you can track downtime for assets by comparing maintenance KPIs like mean time to repair (MTTR) and mean time between failure (MTBF) to discover which asset costs the most and what parts are in use more than others. Then, with enhanced accountability, you can monitor a technician’s performance, giving you insights into how many work orders are completed, in progress or yet to be finished, and who might need more training.

You can also make data-driven adjustments to your process by using reporting tools like maintenance spending forecasts to allow you to identify areas where equipment maintenance might be overdone so you can adjust work orders and schedules to save time and reduce costs. Work order reporting is another feature that allows you to track how much time is spent on each work order, helping you refine your preventive maintenance plan.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: User-friendly reporting dashboards help you get a clear overview of maintenance tasks and equipment performance to help make decisions like when to replace a piece of equipment or how many maintenance technicians to hire.

Checklists & Inspections 

A checklists and inspections feature in your CMMS allows you to streamline your maintenance process by providing customizable checklists and inspection forms so that tasks are completed accurately and consistently.

For example, you can create checklists or standard operating procedures (SOPs) and attach them to specific assets or work orders, schedule recurring inspections so that nothing slips through the cracks and even access maintenance inspection information to show auditors how a required task was completed. You should also be able to track real-time data from inspections that show how your operations are performing.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: By creating standardized checklists and inspections for your maintenance processes, you’ll find maintenance tasks are being performed more consistently and up to standard, which makes audit management a breeze. 

Vendor Management 

A CMMS’s vendor management feature centralizes contractor and vendor management, allowing you to track vendor work and costs in one place. With vendor management features, you will not only be able to store vendor contact information but also create contact lists of your most critical vendors when you require professional expertise.

Some CMMS systems even allow you to assign vendors to work orders and communicate with them in real time as well as track their work and costs to gain insight into which vendors are the most cost-effective.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: A proper vendor management system allows maintenance teams to improve vendor communication and performance tracking to help create better partnerships and workflows.

Mobile Accessibility 

Having mobile maintenance accessibility empowers your team to easily manage maintenance tasks out in the field. Asset tracking becomes better as technicians set an asset’s status, record parts usage and close out work orders, no matter their location. Push notifications are sent via mobile devices to alert users of work order assignments or when an emergency repair might be required. Communication within the app and even within a work order is also as easy as sending a text.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: Inefficient communication, limited access to information, slow or inaccurate work order reporting, restricted mobility and flexibility, and lack of real-time data become none issues the second your mobile maintenance management software becomes a part of your team’s workflow.

Integration With Predictive Maintenance Tools 

IoT sensors and other predictive maintenance tools like vibration analysis, infrared thermography, oil analysis, ultrasound, motor testing and visual inspections help detect equipment issues before they cause failures. For instance, vibration analysis checks for irregular movement, infrared thermography spots heat imbalances, and oil analysis monitors lubricant quality. 

By integrating these tools with your CMMS, your team can move from a preventive maintenance strategy to a predictive maintenance one in that these tools help predict when an issue might happen, as opposed to requiring scheduled repairs. These data-driven insights help teams make smarter maintenance decisions and improve overall efficiency.

Maintenance problems this feature solves: Predictive maintenance tools help maintenance teams take their strategy to the next level by tracking equipment in real time to help predict future issues. This helps reduce downtime and makes it easier to avoid emergency breakdowns.