by Arne Oas

“The crew is on the job, but they need parts to complete the work. I know we have that equipment in the maintenance system. I just can’t find it.”

If the CMMS isn’t easy to use, it can’t and won’t be used effectively.

The proper design of supporting tables and elements in your CMMS is critical to its and your organization’s operational effectiveness. One of those elements is the selection of the correct level of equipment identification. Equally important is the development of structural hierarchies. These hierarchies provide navigation through the system. They are the primary means to quickly access useful information and input data. If designed improperly, frustration and a lack of control ensue.

Structural hierarchies are usually divided into three groups within the CMMS: Location, System and Equipment.

The Location hierarchy usually starts by identifying operating locations. As the name implies, these are the locations in which equipment operates or is physically located. Typically, work orders are written against the equipment itself or against the operating location. Operating locations are the first level used when building such a hierarchy. Design this hierarchy to include all locations in your plant or facility, as it is the primary navigation tool for most companies. The hierarchy can provide a means of tracking the movement of equipment into and out of locations. That said, it allows you to rapidly find out which pump is on the second-floor mezzanine so you can order the right seal.

Proper coding of this hierarchy is essential. Complex organizations and new enterprise asset management (EAM) platforms require much more than a room number. You must identically structure all divisions, sites, buildings, floors, areas, production lines, rooms and operating locations across the organization, while supporting ease of understanding.

System hierarchies are the next major structure. What are these? When your crafts go to work on something, how do they think about their equipment? Usually, they group it by some sort of major category or system, such as electrical, HVAC, plant air, etc. Try not to put equipment in more than two or three of these System layouts, as they can make files hard to maintain.

This System structure can make all the difference in the acceptance and utilization of your EAM application. In most applications, the equipment number and location ID are different because the Systems usually do not pull data from the equipment tables but rather from operating locations. So, when constructing a System, it’s important to recognize that these configurations do not use the equipment number.

A caution here: Don’t build too many of these, for they can be difficult to maintain.

The last of these major structures is the Equipment hierarchy. If you determined what makes up a maintenance unit (MU) or equipment, this becomes much easier. This structure gives you one more way to search and sort data. It usually starts with large major equipment made up of several smaller MUs. These may be movable (from system to system) and usually have parts or components attached. This relationship is usually the way skilled trades search for spare parts in the CMMS.

Paying attention to these three structures when upgrading your system or creating a new one can make all the difference in its benefit to both maintenance and non-maintenance users. Because if the CMMS isn’t easy to use, why bother?

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