The new CMMS includes features that address many of the department's top priorities. First, it is web-based, Gumeringer says. The system also supports mobile access, which increases the productivity of field technicians.
"There was a lot of buy-in from plant-operations staff because they were ready to move ahead," he says. "They see it as a advantage to getting the job done." The department has 12 hand-held units and is adding more to meet the demands of three shifts performing both demand work and preventive tasks. The goal is to have 50 hand-held units.
The new system also enables web-based service requests from building occupants, which reduces the need for telephone calls and service operators, and it supports customized KPIs to streamline the process of generating reports to top management. Being able to gather, analyze and report data more quickly and succinctly has been an important benefit.
"We took a process that used to take days and cut it down to 60 seconds," Gumeringer says.
And, because maintenance and engineering departments no longer can afford to operate in a vacuum, the new CMMS supports bio-medical engineering, facilities planning, and security services, which reduces the additional cost of multiple systems.
The team also supported the new system's implementation and operation with training tools to ensure it delivers as designed.
"Every hospital employee that would use the system was trained by factory trainers on operating computers in real-time sessions," Gumeringer says. "Leadership was allowed to self-train using the system's tutorial and training capabilities. All users of mobile, hand-held devices were trained separately on active devices in real time. We also purchased an advanced self-training system for the package." The process was not without a few bumps.
"You cannot expect to implement a system of this complexity without challenges," he says. One of the first involved the legacy system's existing database.
"The system is only as good as the information you put into it," he says. "We elected to maintain maintenance history from the legacy system in the legacy system," he says. "The legacy system is still fully operational. All new history started with the go-live of the new system."
The team made careful arrangements to set up processes to address any problems that arose during implementation.
"We trained two department employees to be system administrators," he says. "We also retained two system factory support experts on site for the first two weeks of the implementation. The vendor has a 24/7/365 service hot line to address any problems. The implementation went smoothly, with almost all problems being solved in a matter of a few hours."
CMMS Installation: Hospital to Monitor KPIs
CMMS: Web-Based System, Mobile Access Boost Productivity
