Setting up your CMMS Figuring out the numbers

When setting up your new MEX system (or any new program for that matter) the whole process can seem a bit overwhelming. 

When we are faced with a new task, it is natural to feel a little shocked or stunned.  This generally occurs as a result of taking too much information on-board at once.

I remember the first CMMS I ever set up.  It was back in 1993, and a CMMS was a very basic piece of programing with strict limits regarding the amount of information you could assign to an Asset.

For example, we only had nine character spaces to describe the Asset, give its location, plus any other information.  Also, once the Asset was entered in the system, it could never be removed.  Let’s just say, you had to be pretty damn careful when entering data.

After we finished entering the data for one factory, we realised the pump stations had two pumps, an ‘A’ and a ‘B’ pump.  It was too late, we couldn’t alter the entries, so those pumps had to be treated as one pump (according to the CMMS).

This was a good learning opportunity for me, and one that I made sure to incorporate into MEX as soon as technologically possible.

So what I want you to take away from this article is that; you are allowed to make mistakes!

To quote the slogan of a well-known apparel company, “Just do it.”

• You can re-number your Assets
• You can move the Asset Tree around
• You can delete things
• If you make a mistake, you can correct it
• Don’t be afraid to try new things

So, if youre about to start numbering your Assets in Mex or FleetMEX, the first thing to remember is that you don’t have to worry.  Anything you do can be reversed later.

It’s the classic Catch 22.  You have to set your MEX system up, but you’ve never used the program before.  So how do you do it?

We’ve made the whole situation a little bit less daunting.  If you just dive in, you will learn by doing, and you can change details down the track, when you know what you’re doing!

Good luck and go for it!