I have not had any involvement in SAP PM for some time and I remember that it used to get a really bad name. Maintenance personnel seemed not to like it and it was very difficult to use, etc.

What has happened to it during the last five years? Has it improved?

I don't know if there are enough users in here to get valid data but I would be interested to hear the opinions of users (from a maintenance background) past and present.

Mark it from 1 to 10 for

* Features
* Ease of training
* Ease of use

Bryan

The latest release of SAP PM is pretty good. Functionality is approaching top tier EAM players.

Of course - not everyone is running the latest releases and it will be a while before most maintenance departments can enjoy the new versions features.

I am going to go have a closer look at Oracle eAM next week.

One thing seems sure to me - if your comapny is running SAP for financials - your maintenance department will be running SAP PM for maintenance some day soon. Ditto for Oracle.

The argument for intergration and the recent push toward features have made a pretty compelling case.

My 2 cents.

Terry O

Terry O

We got SAP R/3 4.6 about three years ago. The mayority of our Maintenance Department hated it the first year, call it resistance to change, or "I would had prefered to change to Maximo instead". Only a Planner, the electricians' supervisor and me backed it up 100%.

Now I see the satisfaction with the system much better.

I think it is a good system, success depends on good data, explore and use of the available fucntions it provide and be able to get the customizations required done by IS.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Eugene,

I mark 8 out of 10 based on SAP PM R/3 in all three areas provided it is properly configured and set up prior to implementation and I keep the last 2 points in my pocket in case there is a better one and room for improvement respectively.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Josh,

For the initial bad name (if this is true), I speculate two reasons:

1) A good IT product will be a bad one if only 10 to 20% of its functionalities are being used ie the user compentency in maintenance management system itself and in computer navigation are poor or below standards.

2) It could be the early versions were programmed by largely IT persons who did not understand maintenance management system without much inputs from maintenance system experts but have to come out with something to report to the accounting module.

What has changed?

We have migrated from SAP R2 to R3.

R2 was based on transaction codes which users have to memorize or else difficult to navigate.

R3 is structured based on functionalities so easy to navigate and no need to remember transaction codes.

quote:

It could be the early versions were programmed by largely IT persons

Instructed by finance people.

Since SAP is not one of the cheapest programs, they had money enough to improve the product.

I have no working experience with SAP, but our Finance Dept is on Oracle Financials and the rest on DataStream

That would be a though battle to push Oracle EAM to displace DataStream

Can be as bad as you allow it to be!

On the other hand, can be as good as IS or the beanies allows you!