Journey To CMMS Excellence Manuscript Todd McGovern 1*, Beth Sullivan 2 1 Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Virginia Beach, Virginia 2 GHD, Cazenovia, New York * Email: tmcgovern@hrsd.com ABSTRACT Implementing, sustaining, and improving a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) or Enterprise Asset Management System (EAMS) is a continual process that requires a focus on many success factors to achieve excellent results and benefits. This continuous process can be similar to a long journey which involves significant advanced planning and the ability to make adjustments along the way. Many organizations focus on the technology associated with CMMS/EAMS improvements, but to achieve long-term results, the improvement process should also include an evaluation of the business processes, organizational structure, and management goals. Specific steps will be highlighted that were taken by Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) during this journey to keep their CMMS evolving to meet their changing needs. The results HRSD has achieved along the way in the journey towards CMMS excellence will also be reviewed. KEYWORDS: CMMS, EAMS, standard operating procedures, data standards, key performance indicators (KPIs), standardized reporting, business process improvements. INTRODUCTION Organizations, regulatory requirements, technology, management goals, and system requirements change over time. The CMMS/EAMS must also change or evolve to meet the everchanging needs of the organization and to continue on the journey towards excellence. Problems with CMMS reporting or lack of confidence in system results begin to surface when the CMMS is not evolving quickly enough to meet the changing needs of the organization. The most effective solutions to these problems are often related to business process improvements and the development of standardized approaches to interacting with the system rather than technology improvements. A continuous improvement process is necessary to ensure that the CMMS/EAMS is periodically evaluated and the necessary steps are taken to move the system in the same direction as the organization. This presentation will draw on lessons learned from the CMMS improvement process at Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD). We will show how optimizing business processes directly impacts the value of the CMMS and resulting data, reports, and metrics used for decision-making. We will highlight specific steps in the process or journey that HRSD has taken to keep their CMMS evolving to meet the changing needs of the organization. These steps should be considered as opportunities for improving any organization s CMMS implementation.
SUMMARY OF HRSD S JOURNEY In 2001, HRSD performed a benchmarking study against similar organizations and determined that a CMMS was necessary to improve their existing maintenance management processes. The results of the benchmarking study laid the groundwork for moving forward with the implementation of a CMMS. A Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued in 2003 to procure assistance with a feasibility study on the expected benefits and costs of implementing a CMMS for the organization. GHD was selected to assist HRSD with the feasibility study and the process of selecting and implementing a CMMS. HRSD recognized the importance of partnering with CMMS practitioners as a critical success factor. The CMMS was implemented several years ago, and HRSD has found that their initial system requirements have evolved to a point where more complex requirements are necessary. Early in the journey, HRSD s emphasis was on computerizing their existing paper-based maintenance management system into the CMMS/EAMS. Improved work management and efficiency gains over the paper-based system were the early requirements of the CMMS/EAMS. Over time, the CMMS has grown to include the ability to perform more advanced maintenance management analyses, workforce planning, more predictive-based maintenance technologies, and features of advanced asset management. Senior management and executive-level users now find it necessary for the CMMS/EAMS to provide answers to more complex and advanced questions. Decisions made early in the CMMS lifecycle and initial system requirements have been re-evaluated based on the current and projected needs of the organization. ORGANIZATIONAL FRAMEWORK A key component in the journey towards CMMS/EAMS excellence is having the appropriate organizational framework to support evolving systems and processes. Initially, HRSD appointed a Core Team of consistent participants with representation from the various work centers to evaluate system and procedure-related decisions during the CMMS implementation. More recently, teams have been assembled in a problem-solving workshop format to address specific issues, with the team membership based on knowledge of the issue(s) to be resolved and/or impact of the decision on a particular work center, trade, or group of employees. The benefits of using a more flexible approach to workshop team membership is that it allows HRSD to obtain input from a larger cross-section of system users throughout the problem-solving process and improves the overall acceptance of the decisions. Executive-level management has also taken a more active role in the CMMS planning process, workshop participation, and requirements definition. Involvement of upper-level management underscores the importance of the CMMS as an organizational asset and ensures that the benefits of the CMMS extend beyond basic work management to support executive-level decision-making. CMMS KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs) AND METRICS
The CMMS improvement process at HRSD identified the need for more specific direction from executive-level management. Employees at all levels of the organization wanted to know what reports and metrics executive-level management were using to measure their performance and success. To make sure HRSD personnel were focused on the most important organizational factors, executive-level management identified the core CMMS KPIs and metrics that must be met by individuals, managers, work centers, and the organization as a whole. The list of core KPIs and metrics was distributed to all departments along with the calculations and goals for each KPI or metric selected by executive-level management. A separate menu option was implemented in the CMMS for the core management reports to make it easier to locate these key reports. The CMMS Start Centers were also redesigned to contain the selected KPIs and metrics. Two examples of the core KPIs and metrics are shown below. # KPI / Metric Calculation Objective 1 Personnel Utilization by Work Center 2 Planned vs. Unplanned Work For a selected time frame: (Total Booked Hours / ((Total Number of Days /6.7 hrs per day) * 40)) * 100 For a selected time frame: ((Total Booked Hours for PM + Total Booked Hours for Condition-Based + Total Booked Hours for Projects) / Total Booked Hours) * 100 All maintenance activities are captured and documented in the CMMS. CMMS can be used to document staffing needs. Proactive or planned work is effectively reducing the amount of unplanned (corrective/breakdown) work. Recommended Target / Goal Trend Eventually establish target utilization rate per trade. Planned work is 80% (or higher) of total work performed. For practical reasons, most organizations limit the number of core CMMS KPIs to approximately eight separate KPIs. Additional CMMS KPIs can and should be tracked and monitored, but these additional KPIs won t receive the same level of attention as the core set of KPIs. The selection of the core CMMS KPIs should be based on answering key high-level questions, such as how much planned maintenance is being performed with specific goals associated with the performance measure. CMMS KPIs can also be selected to improve identified problem areas within the maintenance organization. The initial selection of the core CMMS KPIs is often based on tracking standard maintenance metrics as lagging indicators or results already achieved. Eventually, the core set of CMMS KPIs should evolve to include more leading indicators, which allows management to be more proactive in achieving the desired results.
The most effective KPIs go beyond the presentation of colorful graphics on the CMMS dashboard and include the ability to drill down into the details of the KPI. For example, some CMMS KPIs can be designed to show calculations, such as utilization rate, as a KPI hierarchy, where the top level of the hierarchy will show the utilization rate for the organization, the next level of the hierarchy can show the utilization rate at a specific plant, and the final level of the KPI hierarchy can show the utilization rate of a specific trade at the selected plant. STANDARDIZED CMMS PROCEDURES AND DATA STANDARDS One of the challenges associated with enterprise use of a CMMS in a large organization is that, over time, each department tends to interpret CMMS procedures and requirements to meet its specific needs. The process of documenting work in the CMMS becomes non-standardized, making it difficult to compare departments and to accurately roll up data to the organization level. Using a workshop approach with representatives from all work centers, comprehensive and detailed CMMS Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were developed. Executive-level management reviewed, revised, and eventually approved the CMMS SOPs. Executive-level management also made sure that the SOPs agreed with the core KPIs and metrics and the overall goals of the organization. For each CMMS SOP, the standard procedure was described, the responsibilities for performing the procedure were defined, exceptions to the procedure (if any) were defined, and examples were included to help clarify the procedure. Because CMMS SOPs evolve, each SOP is identified with the date of the last revision. The CMMS SOPs are available electronically through a menu option in the CMMS. A sample SOP is shown below. Standard Procedure: Work orders will be written to the asset number whenever possible. Responsibilities: The person creating the work order is responsible for writing the work order to the asset. The supervisor is responsible for ensuring the work order is written to the appropriate asset when reviewing and closing the work order. Exceptions: Comments: There are some cases where it may be appropriate to write the work order to the Position or System level, but these exceptions are rare. If you use the hierarchy drill-down on the Structure tab of the Equipment lookup, make sure you drill all the way down to the asset, which is identified by an A in the hierarchy and is a 6-digit number. In addition to the CMMS SOPs, specific data standards were also developed to ensure consistency in how the data was being entered into the CMMS. The CMMS Data Standards document defines the standard abbreviations for the organization, the format of the part and asset descriptions, storeroom naming conventions, bin codes, manufacturer codes, etc. Exceptions to the data standards are also specifically outlined in the CMMS Data Standards document. Where possible, the data standards are enforced by CMMS configuration options, such as field masks,
range values, data types, value lists, etc. A sample data standard for storeroom codes is shown below. Storeroom codes typically contain the work center code and a designation of PL for a plant storage location, EL for a plant electrical group storage location, and INST for an instrumentation group storage location. For example, the storeroom code for the Atlantic Plant storeroom is AT-PL. The benefits of implementing the detailed CMMS SOPs and Data Standards include lower training costs associated with the transfer of personnel to a different department; less system support required to address non-standardized procedures; more accurate CMMS search results; and more accurate organization-wide reports and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The CMMS SOPs and Data Standards also help to minimize the amount of corrections that are required during the Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) process performed on CMMS information. CMMS REPORT EVALUATION AND STANDARDIZATION Mature CMMS systems that have been in use for a long period of time tend to have an overwhelming number of both standard out-of-the-box reports and custom reports available to the CMMS users. It is not uncommon to have hundreds of custom reports that have been developed over the years to meet the specific needs of the system users. The report titles are not always specific enough for the user to know which report they are selecting. All of these report choices are in addition to the normal ad hoc reporting capabilities of the CMMS. During the CMMS improvement process at HRSD, a high level of confusion was observed with regard to many of the complex CMMS reports and report results. It was noted that there was a need for CMMS reports to contain specific information on the data that was included/excluded in the report, along with the details of the calculation(s) being performed. As a result, this information is now included as notes in the footer of the reports. Reports were also evaluated for the adherence to the core KPIs and metrics selected by executive-level management. A sample report footer that outlines the information contained within the report is shown below. The benefits HRSD achieved as a result of the CMMS report standardization process include:
Less confusion regarding which report to select based on the CMMS information requirement. Fewer calls to the CMMS Help Desk regarding the meaning of report results. All work centers are using the same reports and same calculations to measure progress towards established goals. Higher user confidence in the report results. Fewer reports to modify and maintain when CMMS report requirements or calculations change. CMMS CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT PROCESS The CMMS should be considered a dynamic system that evolves to meet the changing needs of the system users and the organization s management. As CMMS users gain more advanced asset management and maintenance management knowledge, they will require more information from the CMMS to make better informed decisions. Users should be encouraged to submit enhancement requests or ideas for improving the CMMS. HRSD has implemented a standardized procedure for the system users to submit improvement requests, along with a tracking system for evaluating and managing these requests. Providing feedback to the user submitting the request is an important part of the continual improvement process. Users have the ability to check the status of their requests in the CMMS Improvement/Enhancement Requests tracking system. Once an improvement request has been received, it is evaluated based on several criteria, such as the expected benefits of the potential system change, the impact the change will have on system users, and the estimated cost and resources required to implement the system change. Some improvement requests cannot be performed with the current capabilities of the software and must be sent to the CMMS software publisher as product improvement requests (PIRs). Another method of encouraging continual improvement of the CMMS at HRSD is the establishment of an annual CMMS Users Group where ideas can be shared, new system features can be demonstrated, and problems can be resolved. The annual Users Group meeting is also a great opportunity to look at CMMS/EAMS future trends, such as integrations with predictive technologies and increased use of mobile devices. TRAINING A CMMS that is continually improving and evolving requires a concentrated effort to ensure that users are kept informed of the latest system enhancements and that they have the proper training to make use of new features. The CMMS team at HRSD is responsible for communicating with the user community on changes to the CMMS and for providing CMMS-related training. Prior to any system change or upgrade, an email is sent to all personnel with a summary of the system changes and step-by-step instructions for using any new features. The CMMS team schedules instructor-led training sessions or one-on-one training sessions based on the complexity of the system enhancements being implemented. The involvement of Core Team personnel in the
continual improvement process also means that there are on-site champions at each work center to assist users during the implementation of system changes. Training materials were developed based on the specific CMMS configuration and procedures in place at HRSD rather than generic system training materials. CMMS training manuals and other training documents, such as cheat sheets or quick procedure guides, are made available electronically from the CMMS to make sure users have the latest instructions. If possible, built-in CMMS help systems should be customized to agree with the organization s use and configuration of the CMMS. Some CMMS systems have advanced training capabilities built in, such as animated instructions or show me how videos, to assist users in learning new features or to refresh their memories on infrequently used system features. It is important to have a variety of formats and types of training available to meet the different learning styles and work schedules of the CMMS users. CONCLUSION For those who are considering embarking on the same journey or have started the journey and have gotten lost, the following are some tips for the journey: 1. Make sure there is executive-level sponsorship, along with the organizational structure (core teams, problem solving groups, etc.) to support evolving systems and processes. 2. Identify and communicate a core set of KPIs and metrics that will be used to measure progress towards established goals for the organization. 3. Develop detailed CMMS SOPs and CMMS Data Standards to ensure that all personnel follow the same procedures and to improve the quality of the data. 4. Evaluate and standardize the CMMS reports. Include detailed notes in the footer of key reports or complex reports. CMMS reports should also agree with the established KPIs and metrics for the organization. 5. Implement a continual CMMS improvement process where personnel are encouraged to submit requests for improvements and new system features are evaluated. 6. Design a training program to support an evolving CMMS. Provide multiple formats of training specific to the configured environment and procedures. This presentation has described some of the key components necessary to ensure that the CMMS/EAMS evolves to meet the changing needs of an organization. There are always additional opportunities to improve procedures and system functionality so the journey towards CMMS excellence should be considered ongoing and never completely finished.