Several developers pointed to the advent of personal digital assistants (PDAs) as an example of more accessible CMMS of the future. PDA are portable handheld computers that allow users to bring computer functionality into areas of facilities that before had not been accessible.PDAs, a well as CMMS that operate on them, will allow the technicians to more easily take work order information into the field, access this information, as well as the departments database and collect information on the project for future downloading back into the database.A soon-to-typical process might start with a telephone call from a building occupant reporting a problem, continue with an automatically generated work order prompted by the telephone call and end with a technician in the field receiving a message via pager alerting him of the reported problem.Accessing the departments CMMS through a PDA, the technician finds the work order request, complete the work and downloads the completed electronic work order back into the system all without the need for paper. The process cuts down on paper handling by creating essential data that is readily available by other software applications.The CMMS application of tomorrow will give facility executives, maintenance and engineering managers and front-line technicians an unprecedented palette of options for collecting, reconfiguring and analyzing information than ever before.Armed with this enhanced ability, as well as additional pieces of complementary technology, developer say workers will be better able to anticipate system and equipment problems, detect trouble spots, spotlight potential saving and, in the end, prepare more effective solutions to these situation. The impact of the Internet on future CMMS is hard to overestimate. This will result in:Expanded data sharing capabilities. Companies with facilities miles or even thousand of miles apart will be able to use the internet to share a wide range of data r...
