5 Steps to Optimize an EAM Solution

You find yourself asking if the organization is getting the most out of the costly Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution. Great! Here are 5 steps that have been born out of the mistakes others have made by not doing them. Checklists come from failures, and this one is no different. You will notice that it takes a few steps before you get to doing anything with the actual EAM solution! 

Step 1 – Find a Good EAM Partner

Please do not stop reading. This is not a sales pitch for our services. We are serious about you needing to find a good partner who knows the EAM solution and your specific business to help you get the most out of any EAM solution. 

Begin with a high-level plan for Organizational Change Management (OCM). Any optimization will change the organization! The partner needs a People – Process – Platform approach to any optimization, not just a technical focus. 

Together with your staff, take a hard look at the big picture of EAM usage in your organization. Where does the EAM fit into the business overall? What and how is it used across departments? 

Here is an observation from over the years and across industries: Many EAM solution features and functions go unused. This is certainly a shame because many business processes can be streamlined by using the EAM solution “out of the box” with just minor adaptations. Be sure to consider your licensing situation and implications of optimization. Licensing approaches have changed and there may be benefits that were not available only a few years ago. 

Have the partner demo what the current EAM can do for the business – seek the value of those features and functions that may already be there! Just because something is new does not mean that it will benefit your business context. Be sure to have honest discussions about the use of mobile and artificial intelligence features/functions 

Consider on-prem or in the cloud hosting. At times it makes sense to continue hosting your own server for the solution, yet there are many options available for hosting in the cloud. What might not have made sense 5 years ago could be a no-brainer today. 

Step 2 – Assess EAM Usage (People) 

Start this step by estimating the maturity level of the organization. If the People are adept at using the tool and have it in the correct perspective, then you are in a good place to start making some small yet effective changes. If not, then getting everyone on a plan to increase their skills is a good place to start. You will have to ask! 

While you are doing the above, investigate how the workforce uses the EAM solution day to day. Where does the EAM solution fit in their daily business processes? 

• Is it a central hub or an “edge” tool? 

• Are there interfaces to/from external systems? 

• What does the “user” experience look like? 

• Are they hopping from one system to another? 

• Are they avoiding the use of the tools and just sending an email? 

Interview the workforce for pain points and opportunities 

• “Too many clicks.” 

• “End up copy/paste into a spreadsheet, so why bother?” 

• “We could capture warranty claims.” 

• “If I had the info in that other system at my fingertips in this system, I could do XYZ in 5 minutes vs. waiting for Dept. X to reply to my email.” 

Identify how the EAM solution supports current and future decision making. If the data in the EAM is not being used for this purpose, you might be wasting significant resources. Do a dive into what data is being collected and how it is used. Be prepared to be shocked. Further, identify necessary metrics and data sources that are in place and uncover their documentation… you will need that in later steps. 

Step 3 – Question Every Process 

Seriously: Question the purpose and value for every process that can be discovered as it relates to the EAM solution. Part of optimizing is removing no-longer-valuable configurations and business rules. What was a requirement 6 years ago might not be relevant now. 

Don’t spend too much time on this, but if not already, document your current processes, 

• Include all manual steps, EAM related or not 

• Swim lanes are best as they show “who” is doing the steps 

• High level is ok, but detailed step information is very useful 

Question the need for each process or at least the premise of the steps in the process, 

• Example: Does a supervisor really need to “approve” of work? 

• Example: Does an email really need to be sent to notify of work status? 

Begin to outline “new ways of work” around the EAM solution. Ultimately the EAM solution will be modified to suit the new and/or refined processes, but it is also possible that the EAM has built-in processes that can replace the current approach to doing business. While it remains true that most EAM systems have out-of-box processes that are built upon a “best practice” approach, there will always be the need for at a minimum small accommodation made to support the people executing the processes. 

Step 4 – Refine or Eliminate Processes 

With process documents in hand, walk through each seeking opportunities for: 

• Automation (including AI) 

• Step elimination 

• Out of box usage of EAM solution 

• Manual step (like scanning a document) to EAM feature usage (mobile app taking a picture) 

• What steps could be performed in the field via mobile apps vs. post-work data entry? 

End with a clear picture of refined processes resulting in suggested EAM adaptations (or not!) and effectiveness! Don’t forget to capture how process changes impact data collection and decision-making! Speaking of data collection, maybe too this process is an opportunity to perform data cleanup? 

In the case where you can eliminate entire or large portions of processes, be very sure the people who have been executing these processes are very clear about the change. It is very common for not everyone to get the message, especially those who might not interact with the process on a regular basis. 6 months down the road after the change, you could see requests coming in using the “old way,” that can cause disruption. This goes all the way back to the importance of OCM, one of the first elements of this checklist. 

Rabbit trail: Integrations to/from the EAM platform 

It is a common and beneficial configuration to have business and equipment telemetry data being pushed into and from the EAM platform. There is great value in having telemetry data from equipment ingested by the EAM system for condition monitoring, analysis, work triggers, etc. Inventory, purchasing, training, etc. can also be performed in external systems. End results can be sent into the EAM for staff awareness and work/activity execution. 

Most EAM systems have built-in interfacing frameworks that make this interconnection possible and with increasing ease by your administrative and development staff. However, establishing, maintaining, and troubleshooting these interconnections do bring complexity. As part of the process review, the interactions between systems needs to be evaluated as well, either reducing or even increasing their presence in the platform. 

Please do your staff and business a favor and stop the need to copy/paste from system to system! Seek opportunities to gain more benefit from the interconnected nature of the systems your staff use to operate the business. 

A helpful link: https://trmgroup.com/resource/system-of-record-its-not-that-simple/ 

Step 5 – Refine/Deploy the EAM solution 

Notice it took this long to “get” to optimizing the EAM solution! Our point here is that while the system(s) that are used to conduct business are important, it is how they are used and why that is more important. Yes, EAM systems can “do,” many things for a business, but it is how the business uses tools like these that has the most value and impact. 

Before making any changes to the platform, be sure to capture the “current state” of the EAM. Many times, a new change can turn out to not be the best idea and a degree of reversion back to some of the “old way,” might be necessary. Don’t delete the current set of scripts or unsubscribe from the service quite yet. Wait for the new ways to settle. 

Design the necessary adaptations/new and gain user agreement that the new approach, as reflected in the test systems, remains beneficial. There are times when a new process, as reflected in a system, does not bear out the value that was initially thought. It may take a few iterations to get it just right. 

Implement and have users test the adaptations in as real-world situations as possible. Much like the thought needed during design, having actual users do actual work to exercise the processes is very valuable. 

Agree upon a deploy-to-production schedule (big bang vs. agile), perhaps process by process. Execute OCM elements such as training on the new processes and any new capabilities. All the while, outline and establish a process and technology roadmap to continue looking into the future. 

Review the final product and celebrate! 

Wrap up 

The trm group has been working with clients across industries for many years to refine how EAM platforms are used. What begins as an initial deployment becomes a journey for any client to continually pull more value out of these systems. The People and the Processes are the foundation, making the Platform perform to their benefit. Contact us and let’s talk about how we might be able to help your organization get the most out of your EAM platform.