Preventive maintenance refers to actions taken to keep property in operating condition and forestall the need for major repairs. It includes actions such as inspection, cleaning, and replacing parts. Software consists of programs written for computers, including both operating systems and software applications that perform a variety of tasks. Preventive maintenance software is another name for a Computerized Maintenance Management Solution (CMMS), a way of managing maintenance for whatever equipment a business has in its facilities.
Preventive maintenance software is used for different kinds of maintenance. It is effective for the maintenance of equipment, fleets, plants and other facilities, and software. It is used by a wide variety of organizations, including manufacturers, healthcare providers, biomedical facilities, educational institutions, zoos and aquariums, hotels and resorts, municipalities, funeral homes, farms, religious orders, utilities, food preparation facilities, baseball teams, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and computer software companies.
There are some components and features that would be expected to be found in preventive maintenance software, although they may have slightly different names. These include an asset register, a location view, work order templates, and a scheduler for regularly done maintenance. Also typical are a maintenance inventory, a database for the maintenance team and their schedules, a record of suppliers and vendors, and a report function.
There are a few key differences between different types of preventive maintenance software. One factor is whether it is web-based or computer-based. Another is whether it is generic or customized for each customer. A third factor, related to the second, is whether modifications can be made by the customer or must be made by the software developer. Also important is the training and support available, which varies by company: some packages are just software; others are SaaS (Software as a Service).
There are some features that not every preventive maintenance software package includes. Being bar code enabled, which allows the printing of barcodes for parts and equipment, is one of these, as is the ability to send work orders to mobile devices. The ability to track multiple locations can be useful to a large operation, as can the ability to link to QuickBooks®.