How to choose a CMMS – a guide for maintenance teams

Choosing a CMMS is a decision for years – it affects asset availability, maintenance costs and the daily work of technicians. Below are practical criteria and the most common pitfalls, so you get it right the first time.

Start with the goal, not the features

Before comparing systems, decide what should improve: fewer unplanned stops, a shorter time to repair (MTTR), a complete asset history for audits, or spare-part cost control. The goal defines which features are critical and which are just nice to have. Without it, it is easy to buy a large system and use only a fraction of it.

Key evaluation criteria

Evaluate candidates against real work on the shop floor and reporting. Pay particular attention to built-in maintenance metrics (MTTF, MTTR, MTBF, OEE) with filtering by department, line and machine.

  • Requests and work orders – fast fault reporting and a smooth flow: intake, planning, execution, closure
  • Preventive maintenance (PM) – inspection schedules, meters and triggers based on time and usage
  • Mobile and offline work – handling a work order on the floor without Wi-Fi, with photos and QR codes
  • Spare parts (MRO) – min./max. levels, reservations and cost accounting on the work order
  • Reports and metrics – ready-made MTTR, MTBF and OEE without building reports from scratch
  • Integrations – connection with ERP/MES and IoT sensors
  • Security and deployment – cloud or on-premise, access control, a quick start

Common pitfalls

  • Buying just in case – modules nobody uses raise the cost and complicate the system
  • Skipping mobility – if technicians still write on paper, the data will be incomplete
  • No plan for metrics – without consistent event capture, you will only calculate MTBF and MTTR a year later
  • Ignoring your industry – a chemical plant, a food plant and heavy industry each have different needs
  • Deployment without initial data – importing assets, structure and history speeds up adoption

Industry fit matters – see dedicated solutions for the chemical industry, the food industry and heavy industry.

Mini-checklist before you decide

  • Reporting a fault takes an operator less than a minute
  • The app works offline and syncs data once the connection is back
  • The system calculates MTTR, MTBF and OEE without manual report building
  • It can be deployed in the cloud and/or on-premise, in line with your data policy
  • The vendor understands your industry and shows a demo on your scenario

Summary

A good CMMS is not the one with the most features, but the best fit for your goal and shop-floor reality – with mobility, meaningful metrics and a rollout people will accept. Want to see it in practice? Book a SimplyMobile demo and let us walk through your scenario step by step.