What is a CMMS?
Technical definition
Computerized Maintenance Management System – the maintenance system managing work orders, preventive maintenance, spare parts and maintenance history for the facility’s equipment.
In brief
The CMMS is maintenance’s memory and planning tool. But the system is never better than its asset register – and that is where most implementations fail.
The Challenge
The maintenance system inherits the facility’s information chaos. Equipment is registered under different names than in the control system and the drawings, the hierarchy mirrors the organisation instead of the facility and the spare-part links are missing. The result: work orders on the wrong objects, history that cannot be analysed and a preventive plan built on guesses. When predictive maintenance is later introduced, you discover that process data and maintenance data cannot be joined – because the identities were never mapped.
HubMind’s Methodology
The asset register is the core – and it must be built on the Map: structure according to IEC 81346, the same identities as in automation and documentation, and clear master data ownership. Then the CMMS becomes a consumer of the facility’s shared structure instead of yet another island.
With a documented data mapping between CMMS, control systems and historian, operational events can be linked to maintenance actions – the foundation for condition-based and predictive maintenance that actually works.
Warnings & Pitfalls
Importing the chaos: Loading an old asset register without cleaning and structuring cements the errors for the next ten years.
Hierarchy by organisation: If the tree mirrors departments instead of the facility’s physical and functional structure, it breaks at every reorganisation.
Maintenance as an island: A CMMS without connection to operational and process data can never deliver more than reactive administration.
💡Our Recommendation
Structure the register first: IEC 81346 structure and cleaned identities before migration.
Same identities everywhere: CMMS, control systems and documentation must point to the same objects.
Assign a register owner: New objects, changes and retirements go through an owned process.
Connect to operational data: Specify the historian/SCADA integration from the start – not as a phase 2 that never comes.
FAQ
What is the difference between CMMS and EAM? EAM is broader: the asset’s whole lifecycle including investment, finance and retirement. CMMS focuses on operational maintenance. The line is blurring – modern systems grow in both directions.
CMMS or the maintenance module in ERP? Depends on the depth of need: simple work order handling can live in ERP; condition-based maintenance with process data links usually requires a dedicated system.
How do we onboard existing equipment? Through a structured inventory against your information model – not by importing old lists as-is.
HubMind’s related pages:
EAM, Predictive Maintenance and IEC 81346
Master data ownership and Life cycle management
Standards & frameworks:
ISO 55000 – Asset management – Management system for physical assets
Do you trust your asset register?
HubMind helps you structure the asset register and connect maintenance to operational data – the foundation for maintenance that creates value.