e by mainframe or mini-systems.Todays CMMS releases are invariably 32-bits Window programs able to scale from a single-user standalone system to a 100-user client/server system.Handheld data collection units and pen-based computer transferring data to and from a central database via the Internet are readily available, and historical data is analyzed for maintenance reliability information and for management and budgetary support. Beyond inventoryMost CMMS started out as either work order management system or inventory control systems designed to be used by the maintenance the department to tract equipment/facility maintenance and to manage their spare parts inventories. In most cases manager made limited use of the historical information available. The role of CMMS system in many organizations, however, has started to transcend simply supporting the maintenance department. In many of todays CMMS implementations, significantly greater requirements are placed upon the CMMS to provide tangible benefits and information to the company.What will the next generation of CMMS bring to maintenance? Developer point to advances in ease of use, ease of integration with other applications, flexibility and speed.They also acknowledge that the rapid rise of the World Wide Web as an information resource and conduit will continue to have tremendous effects, though in concrete terms, many questions remain about precisely what shapes those development will take.Perhaps most provocatively for maintenance departments, developers say, a future generation of CMMS will go well beyond data collection, storage, retrieval and analysis.Future CMMS applications, developers say, will have the ability to learn within parameters preset by users and will be able to offer maintenance technicians a series of options in a particular situation.There is a major push a among CMMS developers to eliminate paper from the maintenance process with the next generation of software....
