Adding technology to your maintenance department can be a valuable investment. It can also be a challenge.
After all, breaking routines is not easy. Change presents obstacles, even if it ultimately helps the maintenance team and agency work smarter and more efficiently.
Computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) software is an excellent example. If a park maintenance team has been handling work requests and task assignments one way for years, using software may feel like foreign terrain. Your management team may not be sure how to maximize the software setup. Field maintenance staff may wonder why they need to start using software they don’t understand.
Resistance, uncertainty, and poor communication can make even the best maintenance management software implementation fall flat. Ineffective software implementation can cause animosity among the team while draining tight budgets.
Luckily, with some planning, collaboration, and communication, a CMMS can become a great asset for a parks maintenance team.
In this article, we explore the common struggles park maintenance teams face when implementing a CMMS and how to address them.
Here are some of the most common obstacles teams face when implementing CMMS solutions. In many cases, park maintenance teams may struggle with a combination of these obstacles.
Processes Not in Place
Park maintenance teams that are constantly chasing reactive maintenance and lack systems for inspections and preventive maintenance can make implementing a CMMS even more overwhelming.
Initially, a CMMS may provide some benefits. For example, you can have a place where all your work requests are created and assigned. But if your park maintenance team doesn’t have clear preventive maintenance procedures, you won’t get the most out of a CMMS.
In contrast, teams that have established scheduled maintenance plans can use the software's automations to save time and operate more efficiently.
For example, you can set up weekly vehicle inspections so deficiencies are reported to your mechanic immediately. Then your mechanic can schedule out the work and determine which vehicles may need to be replaced.
The Solution: Before purchasing a CMMS, start organizing your processes and maintenance plan. Have a clear understanding of your assets and their current conditions. Establish standard operating procedures and preventive maintenance schedules to be used in conjunction with the CMMS.
Failing to Plan How the CMMS Will Be Used
You want to ensure your CMMS is set up to complement your workflows and capture the desired data. If you set up your system without a clear idea of what you want out of it, the software may create more work and fail to collect the information you need.
For example, when setting up asset hierarchies, one staff may have a clear picture of what they want. The rest of the maintenance team, however, may not fully understand the structure. The manager may want the assets attached to work requests to go to specific assets for reporting purposes–like playgrounds, bathrooms, or specific rooms in a recreation center. The individuals creating the requests only attach the work requests to a broad asset, like the park location.
Then, when it comes time to report on work completed to specific assets, like a playground, the manager does not easily get the data needed.
Each agency operates differently. The setup needs to be planned so your agency gets the most out of the software.
Here are some things to plan before implementing a CMMS:
- Who will be using it, and what is their role in the system? (For example, admins, supervisors, maintenance staff, work requesters).
- How will assets be organized?
- What is the main objective of using the software?
- What is the timeline for training and software deployment?
- What is the most important data you want to capture?
- How will you test the software initially before rolling it out to the whole maintenance team?
- Who will be responsible for fielding work orders and creating tasks for your assets?
- How will user feedback be incorporated into the software setup and implementation?
Read more questions to ask before choosing a CMMS.
The Solution: Have discussions with your team and CMMS implementation staff. Leverage the experience of the CMMS team to find solutions that will help capture necessary data and still be clear and easy to use for your staff.
Misjudging the Timing of the Implementation Process
Management purchases a CMMS at the beginning of the year. They plan to start implementation at the end of February. The system is getting set up, and some of your staff are learning how to use it.
And then…
The growing season jumps out at you.
Your park maintenance team is struggling to keep up with all the work. The CMMS gets put on the back burner until there is more time to figure things out–if such a thing actually exists.
Meanwhile, you’re paying for software your team isn't using, and staff keep finding reasons not to start using it.
The Solution: Consult with the CMMS implementation specialist about realistic timelines and goals for deploying the software. If you must start implementing in the spring, for example, set clear, realistic goals about what you want to do. In most cases, you don’t have to start using every feature at once. Start with small wins and build on the momentum.
For example, you may not have all your preventive maintenance set up and scheduled before mowing tasks start. But you can have some staff start doing routine playground inspections or have other departments create work requests in the CMMS.
Lack of End-User Buy-in
Change isn’t easy–especially when you have staff doing things their way for years. They are used to paper inspections and work orders. They don’t see why they have to abandon the whiteboard in the shop and start reporting their work on a tablet or phone.
Change is often met with apprehension, uncertainty, and resistance. Staff may develop misconceptions about the CMMS due to fear and limited information.
Some staff may not be comfortable using technology. Others may think “Big Brother” is watching over everything they do. They may see the software as a distraction from the long list of tasks they need to do every day.
You can set up a CMMS perfectly, schedule your preventative maintenance, and have the whole agency start filling out work requests in the software. But…If your frontline maintenance staff aren’t using it, all the benefits of using maintenance management software quickly vanish.
Getting staff buy-in is a common problem. Rather than issuing an ultimatum to start using the software or else, you can take steps during implementation and deployment.
The Solution: Let your maintenance staff understand the why of maintenance management software. Give them real-life examples of how it will help them. For example, data collected from the software can provide additional evidence for their common complaints, like equipment that needs to be replaced, tasks that require more staff, or to finally get rid of that lousy pickup truck that always breaks down.
Allow your end users to test the software during the implementation process. Maintenance staff like to be hands-on. If they have the opportunity to start testing the software and providing feedback on how the setup can be more understandable and user-friendly to them, the buy-in comes much easier.
Try to address resistance and concerns before they bring them up. For example, the software isn’t here to track every minute of your day, but to get a snapshot of the manpower required to complete daily operations.
Poor Communication Throughout the Agency
Poor communication is a roadblock to any type of agency progress–including adopting technology for daily operations. Lack of communication can also be the main contributor to the other obstacles mentioned earlier in this article.
Let’s look at a common example. An administrator decides to purchase software for the team. There are initial meetings with the implementation team to establish the system setup. When the administrator is satisfied with the setup, they transfer responsibility for implementing the software to the maintenance manager.
The maintenance manager feels stuck between a rock and a hard place. The manager has to figure out how to use the software while juggling all the other operations. Then the manager has to get the team on board and using it.
Since there wasn’t clear communication and collaboration among all levels of the agency during the initial setup, there is no understanding of the “how and why” of the software.
The administrator is frustrated because the reports aren’t providing the correct information. The maintenance manager is juggling the demands of upper management while trying to get his team to consistently use it. And the maintenance staff have no idea why they have to report work into their phones or tablets.
You can see how this situation can make software implementation a disaster.
The Solution: Effective communication throughout an agency is a process that needs constant evaluation and refinement. Being sympathetic to the challenges and concerns of other departments allows for better discussions and collaboration.
Implementation specialists often have experience helping teams improve communication and collaboration for a successful software deployment. While they may not be able to solve all an agency’s communication issues, they may be able to provide some tips and tricks to help the team feel more aligned with the goals of the software.
The Takeaway
It takes considerable work and collaboration to successfully implement and deploy maintenance management software. An agency can experience one (or several) roadblocks before and during implementation.
Planning, collaboration, and leveraging the experience of a software implementation specialist can help make the process go smoother. Good communication can also help your maintenance team and agency start benefiting from the software sooner.