How do you plan and budget for asset inventory management with CMMS?

1 Define your asset inventory goals

Before you start using CMMS for asset inventory management, it is important to define your goals and objectives. What are you hoping to achieve with your asset inventory? How will it support your overall business strategy and operations? How will you measure and evaluate your asset inventory performance? Common goals for asset inventory management include reducing asset downtime and failures, improving asset reliability and availability, optimizing asset utilization and capacity, enhancing asset quality and safety, complying with regulatory and industry standards, and minimizing asset lifecycle costs and risks.

2 Choose a suitable CMMS software

When selecting a CMMS software to help you achieve your asset inventory goals, there are many options available in the market. To ensure you select the best one for your needs, preferences, and budget, it is important to evaluate the features, functions, and benefits of each option. Consider factors such as ease of use and customization, compatibility and integration with other systems and devices, scalability and flexibility to accommodate your asset inventory size and complexity, security and data protection, customer support and training, as well as pricing and return on investment.

3 Create and update your asset inventory database

Once you have chosen a CMMS software, it's time to create and update your asset inventory database. This is the foundation of your asset inventory management, as it contains all the information and data about your assets. It is important to store your asset inventory data in a consistent and structured way, making use of the CMMS software features and tools. Data that needs to be included in your asset inventory database include the asset name, description, location, and category; the asset identification number, barcode, or QR code; specifications, characteristics, and attributes; purchase date, cost, and depreciation; warranty, service, and maintenance history; and condition, status, and performance indicators.

4 Plan and schedule your asset inventory activities

Once you have created and updated your asset inventory database, it is necessary to plan and schedule your asset inventory activities. This includes tasks and actions that can help maintain and improve your asset inventory performance. To do this, you need to use a CMMS software to plan and schedule your asset inventory activities based on your goals, priorities, and resources. These activities include asset inventory audits and inspections, preventive and corrective maintenance, repairs and replacements, upgrades and modifications, as well as disposals and transfers.

5 Monitor and analyze your asset inventory performance

To ensure your asset inventory activities are meeting your goals and expectations, you need to monitor and analyze your asset inventory performance. Utilize the CMMS software to measure and evaluate the performance of your asset inventory, by analyzing the data and reports generated by the system. You should also monitor and analyze asset availability and uptime, asset reliability and mean time between failures, asset utilization and efficiency, asset quality and safety, as well as asset lifecycle costs and return on assets.

6 Adjust and optimize your asset inventory plan and budget

After monitoring and analyzing your asset inventory performance, you need to adjust and optimize your asset inventory plan and budget. This process involves making changes and improvements based on the feedback and insights you have gained. To do this, you should use the CMMS software to modify, update, and refine your asset inventory database, activities, and performance. Examples of how you can adjust and optimize your asset inventory plan and budget include adding or removing assets from the inventory, changing or updating asset data and information, rescheduling or canceling asset inventory activities, implementing or revising asset inventory best practices and standards, and allocating or reallocating resources and funds.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?