Start with the work that needs to improve
A useful CMMS shortlist starts with a maintenance problem, not a feature count. Choose a few recurring situations that the new system must handle: an operator reporting a fault, a planner scheduling preventive work, a technician recording parts, and a manager reviewing equipment history. Write down where the current process breaks down and who is affected.
Keep the initial scope specific enough to demonstrate. “Improve visibility” becomes more useful when it means “show the planner every overdue work order for one production line, with the assigned technician and reason for delay.” This gives every vendor the same problem to solve.
Separate essential requirements from preferences
Label each requirement essential, preferred or future. Essential means the proposed configuration must demonstrate it before purchase. Preferred features can help distinguish otherwise suitable options. Future requirements should explain the expected change, such as adding another site, rather than becoming an unlimited wish list.
- Work management: request intake, prioritization, assignment, completion notes and a usable history.
- Planned maintenance: the specific calendar or meter triggers your equipment needs, plus overdue handling.
- Assets and parts: clear equipment identifiers, relevant documents, stock records and consumption against jobs.
- People: technician access, requester roles, supervisors, contractors and administration permissions.
- Data: required imports, exports, integrations and an owner for each shared record.
Ask for evidence during the demonstration
Bring a realistic, non-sensitive example and ask the vendor to complete it in the plan being quoted. Distinguish a live demonstration from a presentation, a proposed customization and a feature on a future roadmap. Record limitations instead of relying on a generic checkmark.
| Test | Evidence to keep |
|---|---|
| Report and assign a fault | A request becomes the correct work order without losing its asset or priority. |
| Complete a recurring job | The technician records the work and the next due task behaves as expected. |
| Review the record | A manager can find the history and export the information needed. |
| Recover from a failure | A disconnected device or rejected import has a clear recovery path. |
Add the Canadian purchasing questions
Ask for the invoicing currency, billing term, seat rules, implementation scope and renewal conditions in the quotation. Confirm any French interface, training or support requirement separately. Ask the appropriate internal reviewers to evaluate hosting and data-handling commitments; a Canadian company address alone is not an answer.
Include IT, procurement and a frontline representative early enough to influence the decision. IBM’s CMMS implementation guidance similarly treats selection, planning and adoption as parts of implementation rather than a single software purchase.
Make the decision traceable
Keep one evaluation sheet for all shortlisted products. For each essential requirement, record the observed result, source of evidence, unresolved question and person responsible for closing it. Compare the total proposed cost and rollout effort alongside product fit.
A defensible choice explains why a system suits your current work, what tradeoffs remain and how the team will introduce it. If an essential item is unproven, arrange a focused pilot or further demonstration before treating it as satisfied.