Excel is one of the most widely used Microsoft programs. Nearly everyone, from students to professionals, relies on this application for creating spreadsheets used for listing down, and tracking expenses, planning budgets, making schedules or itineraries, and other purposes.
The popularity of Excel, though, lies in the fact that it is a program that is installed in almost all computers. Because of this, office workers and business owners use it to create and manage their inventories. They use it for recording all their assets and keeping track of their current users, location, and maintenance and repair schedules and requirements.
Although this program is free and easy to use, it is not the perfect application for managing assets. Making a simple, small error, such as inputting the wrong number, can affect the maintenance schedule of a piece of equipment, which can cause it to malfunction and lead to downtime.
Improperly maintained machines can also cause a number of safety issues, which can become the source of accidents and injuries in the workplace.
A computerized maintenance management system or CMMS is a far better tool to use to stay on top of your assets. With this software, users can streamline their maintenance operations since they will be able to track assets. They can also schedule repairs and upkeep requirements, monitor work orders, and manage costs on one platform.
Cloud-based asset management software also allows all users to access and update data wherever they are.
Why Choose CMMS Over Excel
When you decide to forego Excel and use a CMMS solution for managing your assets and their maintenance requirements, you, your employees, and your business as a whole will experience these benefits:
1. Easy access to real-time data
If you are using Excel to manage your inventory to have a clear idea of the condition of your numerous prized assets, you have to open different sheets or files that contain an assortment of information. This is a time-consuming task that you wouldn’t want to do frequently.
Unfortunately, the limitations of Excel does not stop here. If various workers have different files, there is a chance you won’t read the latest reports about the maintenance or breakdown of your machines.
When your business has a CMMS, you and your key employees can input new details anytime in a single platform. Because of this, everyone can access up-to-date information.
Moreover, you won’t have to waste time opening various files. Your CMMS will contain all the important details you need to stay updated and make smart, data-driven decisions about your equipment.
2. Auto alerts for scheduled maintenance requirements
Preventive maintenance is a crucial element that helps ensure the functionality, longevity, and safety of your equipment.
Timely maintenance, however, is important in keeping your expensive machines, such ascranes, backhoe loaders, and other construction equipment, working and safe for longer. When you have them inspected too late or when they already need to be repaired, you will end up paying more to have them fixed or replaced.
If you are using Excel, you have to regularly open each file and search for the scheduled date of maintenance for each machine. Another option would be to note down these days manually.
Unfortunately, these two methods won’t ensure that you will remember to call the technician at the specified date, especially if you are busy and prone to forgetting things.
One of the best features of a CMMS is its auto alert. This will help you and your team avoid missing any preventive maintenance since you will be notified of any upkeep schedule. You will receive these notifications on your computer, laptop, or mobile device when you have its app version.
3. Automated sending of work requests to technicians
Aside from auto alerts, your CMMS will take things one step further by sending work requests to your technician or repair service provider. This is something that Excel can never do for you.
When you use Excel, you will have to call or send an email to your technician to schedule a maintenance job. You may also need to fill up and submit other documents to formalize your request. Moreover, you have to update the sheet or file, too.
All these steps call for more work on your or your employees’ part.
When you have a CMMS, you can all do these in one program. You and your team can submit work orders using the software. More importantly, the system will notify your service provider or in-house technician about your maintenance requirements.
4. Efficient organization of all work orders
Aside from allowing you to create and send work orders, your CMMS will also help you manage and organize these requests quickly and more efficiently. This is something that can be hard to achieve when you use Excel.
Once you start using a CMMS, you can avoid making copy and paste mistakes, validation errors, and the possibility of deleting entries – blunders that everyone who uses Excel is prone to committing.
With a CMMS, all requests are kept in the system and can be maintained and organized with filter options. Pulling up past, present, and future work orders will be easier as well.
5. Additional communication platform
Lastly, your CMMS can also work as an extra tool for communication and collaboration.
With this system, you and your team won’t have to call or send messages to inform each other of maintenance schedules or submitted work orders. Everyone can use the CMMS to document all details regarding their requests and ask for or share updates.
When the technicians complete the maintenance job, they can respond with updates or questions that alert the requesting user using the CMMS. Once the work order is accomplished, the staff who requested it will be notified that it has been fixed.
All communication will also be archived in the CMMS so that users can refer back to them whenever they need to.
With a CMMS being a more advanced and complete asset maintenance management tool, you should consider investing in one now.
