In the normal CMMS implementation, the plant engineer or someone in maintenance takes on the project of migrating from an old CMMS that was poorly implemented to a new one that will be poorly implemented. The promised improvements of the new software stand little chance of actually being realized, because the same job titles/skill sets and same constraints are involved each time.
How do you fix a CMMS that has been hamstrung by implementation deficiencies? Ultimately, you will need a champion and mentor in the executive ranks. That's true whether you are upgrading or not. This executive speaks the language of management and understands what buttons to push. This person will help form and articulate the vision of what the CMMS should be and how to get there from here (with funding and other resources).
You can't just dial an executive and pitch your CMMS plan. Start with your plant manager, who has higher-level contacts and may know which executives are most able and willing to help and what to say to them. In Part 3, we'll look at how to get the plant manager onboard.
