Bryan,

Thanks for the feedback. Here is my experience in using various web based programs which are Maximo 5i, Infor 7i (formerly Datastream 7i) and Web Work (version 5.4 and 6.0).

Maximo – used in a maintenance and interfaces with various legacy systems. Due to the nature of the company (a national laboratory) this was set up only on the internal network, but is still the web based version. Worked with this program for about 1 year before changing to a new position within my company. Prior to this had used the network version of Maximo for over 10 years.

Infor 7i – used in a 6 city environment for hospital facilities maintenance. Hosted option was chosen due to limited IT staff to maintain the system. Implemented this system for all 6 cities. They had limited maintenance information available. Used this program for about 3 years before moving to a new position within my company. Tracked approximately

Web Work – currently using in a maintenance facility and in a unique equipment/inventory tracking situation for a group that monitors and performs photographic recording of various mechanical tests. Hosted option was chosen due to limited IT staff on site to maintain the system.


In all three of these programs, I have been involved in both the implementation and use of each program. My experience has been quite extensive in all 3 programs and I have received training from the manufacture for all 3, as well as having to learn various aspects of all 3 on my own.

Your actual needs may dictate what type of program you really need. I have been involved in the maintenance field for over 20 years and have found that, in general, a company will not use more than about 25% of any given program, even the web based. For example, if your company already uses a purchasing system, will you use the one that is built into the web CMMS program?

Maximo – I found this program to be slow, even on the internal network, and a lot of time was lost just waiting for something to happen. The Maximo rep said it was the network, and the IT people said it was Maximo. Not sure where it really was. Maximo was very powerful and could provide a lot of information. The learning curve is very steep and you MUST get training from the vendor or a certified training person due to the complexity of the program. To me it seemed that there was a lot of overkill in the amount of information that could be put into the program.

Infor 7i – I found this program also to be slow, and I know it was not due to the internet connection. What I did find out is that both Maximo and Infor programs were running on an Oracle database platform that I was told was always slow via the internet connections. 7i was more user friendly than Maximo, but was not intuitive. A big advantage that 7i had over Maximo or Web Work was being the first to use custom KPI (key performance indicators). The disadvantage to this was you had to know SQL programming to use them. This might have gotten better in later versions.

Web Work – this program was the easiest to learn and was the most intuitive of the three. For basic operations (adding equipment, workorders, etc) the program and the builtin help functions told you everything you needed. The version I am using is SQL and it runs very quickly on a hosted platform. Once in a while you can tell that you are not running a program at your desktop, but it is rare. This is also the only program of the 3 that I was able to run on a DSL connection. My DSL at home was too slow to run the other 2. Only disadvantage that I have found in Web Work is sometime there are quite a few clicks of the mouse to perform some actions. These are usually in more advanced settings and not the day to day operations.

I have also been involved in custom work in all 3 programs and found Web Work to be the easier one to work with. Web Work came with its source code, whereas the other 2 required the use of the vendor to perform the work and it still did not function as well as promised.

If you want some clarification on anything (specifics about equipment info, work orders, etc.) ask and I will answer how I found the experience in all 3 programs.

Hi Bryan & All,

Can I joint here?

I think it's the dreams of all cmms/eam users and management also to use a WEB BASES system.

Yes, I use a web bases CMMS, but not all, only for remote area purpose with a simple module such as Work Request, Daily Acivity, Simple WO etc.

In shorter are, I want to implemented it also, but due to a lot of thinks such as database speed access on client and networking, currently I still pending it, etc.

Nice to sharing with all of you.

Regards,
Alan Libertus