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During the selection process of a Condition based monitoring (CBM) system or computerised maintenance management system (CMMS), how much influence does the quality and ease of use of the user interface (information presented to users via your computer screen/display) have over your selection?

Do you look for or expect to see any specific type of information or functionality available on a CBM or CMMS user interface, before deciding whether to purchase it?

Regards

Philip Higgs

The system was approved (imposed) from up above, no time to consider various factors in the selection process.

If given my choice, easy of use / quality of user interfase would be in my first three.
Functionality must comes first, does the CMMS can perform the functions my business process has? Reporting generation options also join top characteristics to evaluate.

I would say that ease of use is most important. In my experience it seems like the typical company using a CMMS want in depth customization and tons of options within the system, but when it comes to the day to day user experience and training, ease of use seems to be the greater priority. A system that does both is obviously the best choice. That is what we went for.

By good customizing and/or use of mobile devices (e.g. barcode readers, PDA, RFID terminals) you can achieve a very high user acceptance.
For reporting purpose you need a system which gives you a simple access to the gather data.
This can be done by most of the CMMS which you can find on the market.
If possible I go the other way: First of all define the requirements, then select (with respect to usability and reporting) the "right" CMMS and try to adapt it.
Involve especially those who have to work with (data input) it in a very early phase.