How to choose a CMMS?

Step 1: describe your need before looking at the software

The most common mistake is choosing based on a demo, won over by features you will never use. Take an hour to write down your situation on one page. This is the document you will send to vendors.

This description will also help you check, during demos, that the vendor is showing your case rather than their standard demo.

• How many machines, of what types (mini excavators, MEWPs, forklifts, road-rail vehicles...), and how many more in three years?
• How they are serviced: by engine hours, by calendar, or both?
• Which regulatory inspections you must track (VGP, safety checks, others)?
• Who needs to use the tool: fleet manager, mechanics, operators, management?
• Where they work: workshop, depot, sites, areas without network coverage?
• What you use today: Excel, paper, another piece of software, and what is missing.

Step 2: the criteria grid

Here are the criteria that genuinely matter for an equipment fleet, with how to check them. Score each CMMS from 0 to 2 on each line: you will get an objective comparison.

Step 3: questions to ask the vendor

Ask these questions in writing and keep the answers. A vague answer on an important point is already an answer.

1. Can you run the demo with two or three of our actual machines?
2. What exactly works without a network on the mobile app?
3. How do you migrate our machine list and inspection dates? Is this included in the price?
4. How much does the tool cost over three years for our fleet, all included? What is optional?
5. Does the price increase with the number of machines, users, or both?
6. What training is planned for mechanics and operators?
7. How is support contacted, and within what response time?
8. What does your software not do?
9. How do we get our data back if we stop using it?
10. Is there a minimum commitment period?

Step 4: test it in the field before signing

A CMMS succeeds or fails in the field. If the vendor allows it, have a mechanic and an operator try the tool, not just the office. Give them a concrete task: report a fault, check a machine's record, close a job.

Watch whether they manage on their own. If the tool seems complicated to them, they will go back to paper and text messages, and the CMMS will stay empty.

Step 5: pitfalls to avoid

• Choosing the most complete tool "just in case": every unused feature complicates the screen for the people who actually use it.
• Forgetting the field: a tool designed for the office will not be filled in by mechanics.
• Comparing monthly prices without the setup fees.
• Launching the tool without migrating existing data: the team will see empty software and will not trust it.
• Believing the software will do the inspections: a CMMS reminds you of deadlines, it does not carry out VGP inspections and does not transfer the employer's responsibility.

What Trackary does, and what it does not do

Trackary is a CMMS for construction equipment fleets, MEWPs, forklifts and road-rail vehicles. It tracks each machine's record with its hour meter, inspection deadlines (VGP, safety equipment, and for road-rail vehicles the equipotential bonding test and RFN approval), faults reported from the field with photos and severity, the job schedule with technician assignment, and the maintenance logbook exportable as a PDF. The mobile app keeps already loaded data viewable without a network and syncs entries once the connection returns.

Trackary does not do invoicing, parts stock management, GPS or QR codes. It does not carry out the inspections. Trackary is quote-based, after a 30-minute video demo, with no commitment. Apply it the same grid as the others.