The Road to Interact 2012: Keep (C)ALM and Carry On
If you’ve read our previous posts in this series, you’re up to speed (if not, here’s part 1, part 2 and part 3). You understand the risks associated with not having a strategic, coordinated and effective maintenance management program supported by an integrated software solution. You recognize the value of Asset Lifecycle Management (ALM), and you might be interested in what MIPRO and PeopleSoft ALM can do for your organization. You know that systems architected to work together will be more efficient than ones have had to integrate yourself.
Now what?
What’s the first step? For that matter, what’s the second step? What’s the plan you need to undertake to begin to implement your own ALM solution and upgrade your maintenance management systems?
Design
Before you do anything, it is important to partner with ALM experts to identify operational priorities. The best ALM systems are extremely flexible, and can be adapted to suit the individual practices and professional goals of your organization. A good consulting partner with specific expertise in this area can help you determine the design details of a system that will meet your needs. As a general rule, you want to start with the big picture and work your way down to the smaller operational details.
You’ve heard this before, yes. For a reason. It all starts with the proper planning and design.
Get specific
It isn’t always easy to zero in on the specific maintenance standards and metrics that will serve as the backbone of your new maintenance management program, but the true power of an integrated ALM program like PeopleSoft ALM is in its ability to not only track those details (and pinpoint them on a map!), but to make smart, coordinated decisions and perform predictive analysis based on myriad smaller pieces of the maintenance puzzle. To fully unlock that power, those standards and those details should be clarified ahead of time. This is also the time to plan ahead to try to anticipate and mitigate any post-implementation risks or structural liabilities. Centralizing all replacement parts in a single location makes logistical sense, for example, but it can actually create an entirely new set of inventory demands that must be integrated into the system.
Implement & Train
The technical implementation is up to the professionals, of course – but the tech side is the easy stuff. Even the most innovative program with next-generation software is only as good as its users: training and educating your team and helping users achieve technical and operational fluency should be your top priority.
Software without the proper training is unused or under-utilized software. Don’t make this mistake. We’ve seen what happens when corners are cut in this area, and it’s a mess you don’t want.
Monitor
Deployment is just the beginning. And training is a priority that doesn’t stop after a few days: it’s an ongoing process. Which is why the final post-implementation step is long-term training, tracking, monitoring and analysis to ensure optimal system functionality over the long term. The up-front investment may be where you spend the most energy and resources, but it is critically important to conduct regular follow-ups and periodic formal evaluations to ensure that all aspects of the new maintenance management program are working as intended and delivering the anticipated results. After all, a tool is only as good as the craftsperson wielding it.
When deployed correctly, PeopleSoft ALM enables hospitals and healthcare organizations to practice preventive, corrective and even predictive maintenance to minimize or avoid costly downtime and associated liabilities/exposures. We’ve seen it firsthand. Not only does the system track, monitor and record critical information, it also plans and schedules technicians and replacement parts, creating new maintenance and management efficiencies that can dramatically lower overhead. This unified approach to capital infrastructure management facilitates smarter and more efficient scheduling, enabling healthcare facilities and maintenance professionals to manage and deploy assets across various departments and facilities.
Ultimately, healthcare organizations can leverage these powerful new tools to improve performance, reduce capital and operating costs, extend asset life and realize maximum value from capital investments. The result is improved compliance, efficiency and profitability; all while minimizing waste and avoidable expense and limiting costly downtime. And in a competitive and rapidly evolving field like healthcare, that is a prescription for sustained efficiency and long-term success.
If you’ve been following this ‘Road to Interact 2012’ series, thank you for reading. If you have questions, please feel free to email us or stop by and see us on the Interact floor.
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More links:
Learn more about Interact 2012, where MIPRO will be exhibiting.
MIPRO Consulting main website.
