A properly specified CMMS gives managers a powerful tool in maximizing roofing-system performance

— By Terry E. Walton

To do a job right, workers need the right tools. The same is true when managers select a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) to manage a facility’s roofing assets.

Engineering and maintenance managers have started to realize in the past few years that they must consider many factors when implementing a CMMS to manage facility assets. In response, CMMS developers have ushered in a generation of powerful, PC-based applications that feature an abundance of functions to deliver compliance, service and productivity.

Most roofing-system manufacturers do not offer their own software to help manage roofing assets, so managers usually have to manage roofing maintenance using traditional CMMS applications. The benefit of this arrangement is that each manager can customize the process for a particular facility’s needs.

The specification challenge is to fully understand a facility’s roofing management needs — and organizational needs, as well — and select an application that satisfies both.

Management benefits
The work-order module — the heart of any CMMS — provides the basis for work management, equipment history, performance reporting and cost tracking. Most importantly, in this case, it enables a CMMS to provide systems and procedures to establish a more effective, day-to-day maintenance planning and scheduling function for managing roofing systems.

For example, departments can document preventive maintenance (PM) tasks and inspection frequencies using a PM module and print them as part of the PM work order. This process can help in tracking unscheduled repairs, monitoring failure trends and highlighting major causes of roofing system breakdowns.

Another major benefit of a CMMS is its ability to develop a historical database of critical maintenance information that enables users to manage the roofing maintenance process as a business.

A successful CMMS also provides for greater accountability in the annual roofing budget and can establish internal benchmarks to measure improvements in such areas as productivity, repair or replacement time, control, backlog, service level, and reliability.

Determining needs
Managers should consider these questions during the CMMS selection process:

• Does the software provide all the required — and most of the desired — functionality?
• Can the software program be economically modified to provide the required but missing features?
• What is the source of technical support — the developer, vendor, user groups, consultants?
• How often is the CMMS updated?
• What is the one-, three- or five-year software development plan?
• Is the developer financially stable?
• How many installations does the developer have?
• How many years has the product been available?
• Can the CMMS be cost-justified?
  

Functions in focus
Managers evaluating CMMS must take into account three major factors — work management, physical assets management and resource management.

Work management. This component optimizes day-to-day operations, manages PM programs and corrective work orders for roofing management. Some applications offer features for higher-level management of short-duration, on-demand work.

Physical asset management. This component acts as a CMMS filing cabinet, providing quick and easy retrieval of important information such as assets accounting information, planned and unplanned history work, nameplate data, scanned drawings, warranty and service contracts, and libraries of CAD drawings and complete descriptive information. These components can be extremely useful in the management of facilities’ roofing systems.

Resource management. This component usually supports a full inventory and purchasing data system and can track in-house costs for labor and contracted services. Today’s CMMS should be capable of working together effectively and transparently with multiple systems. Premier CMMS suppliers have field-proven experience in data transfer of purchasing, inventory control and asset management to external financial systems.

Versions and modules
Many CMMS applications are available in two versions — “foundation” and “professional” — along with additional modules designed to further enhance roofing maintenance management.

The foundation package typically includes these modules: work orders, PM, material management, inventory, inventory requisitions, receiving, non-inventory charges, time cards and reports.

The professional package typically includes the foundation modules, plus these: planning and scheduling, purchasing, work request and service management, component management, a quick PM list, and usage-based PM.

Additional modules and functions to be aware of are CAD/document interface, invoicing, automated dispatching, and easy interface with other systems.

Managers should pay particular attention to CMMS features, functions and modules that address their facility’s roofing management needs. Among the central functions and modules are these:

Work orders. Here, data should be entered only once, with charges and resources used automatically tracked to a roofing project. Data on parts, inventory, safety procedures, work permits, shutdown requirements, and CAD drawings should be available instantly. Convenient pop-up tables should eliminate the need to memorize codes.

Maintenance record. This module should provide everything a manager needs to know about an organization’s roofing assets, data for life-cycle analysis, and repair-or-replace decisions. The module should provide the following information about roofing assets: location, safety data, warranty and service contract information, source and purchase data, downtime information, and access to CAD Drawings and related files.

PM. This module should allow managers to select criteria needed to maintain each roofing item in a facility. PM scheduling rules allow them to schedule PM tasks, and PM work orders then can be generated to satisfy the scheduled tasks specified for each roof maintenance record. This module helps managers automatically generate PM work orders according to schedules set up for the maintenance roofing records. Key features of the module should include:

• comprehensive PM scheduling, including calendar, routine and event-driven scheduling
• support of floating schedules
• convenient sub-grouping of maintenance records for scheduling and reporting purposes
• the ability to predict future labor, material and tool requirements for roof management
• capacity to store detailed data on roofing assets and retrieve the data easily.
  

Post-installation issues
Finally, managers should consider these insights to ensure the specified CMMS provides the greatest benefits possible for roofing asset management:

Most CMMS allow expansion in the form of additional modules. Although some CMMS include every module currently available as one complete package, managers should be sure the selected CMMS can integrate other modules.

Once a CMMS has been implemented, it is important to keep track of modules that are not used, how the rest of the modules are being used, and what can be done to ensure the system is used properly.

To go online with a CMMS as quickly as possible, it is necessary to have two databases, or one database with two integrated sections, prepared and ready to load into the CMMS when it is installed. This pre-installation data includes a complete and accurate equipment inventory of assets and maintenance systems, and an approved maintenance plan that identifies maintenance actions required for each item in the equipment inventory. These two database elements allow a department to begin using the CMMS software as soon as it is installed. Managers can begin scheduling PM activities immediately, and the application can start producing next month’s work orders at the same time.

Many CMMS products and services on the market can help facilities meet roofing management needs. But as managers evaluate various CMMS packages for meeting roofing needs, they must ask themselves how each one meets specific departmental and organizational needs. By taking the time on the front end of the process to thoroughly research and evaluate options, managers can avoid hasty — and possibly costly — decisions.

So whether specifying a new CMMS or rethinking the ways to use an existing application, a blueprint of roofing management objectives is essential for unlocking the potential of any CMMS.

— Terry E. Walton is president of Facility Management Consulting Services in Canby, Ore.