Guide · Choosing
Choosing maintenance software: the seven questions
Seven questions that sort the systems your team will use from the ones it will quietly stop using.
Start from the people who do the work
Software that the office likes and the engineers avoid ends up as a second record nobody trusts. Ask the questions below with the person who will use it most on a wet Tuesday, not only with the person who signs the order.
The seven questions
Put the same seven to every system you look at, and write the answers down side by side:
- Will the people who do the work use it on their phone, in a plant room with no signal?
- Can you get your lists in without retyping them, and all of your records out, any time, without a fee?
- What does it cost for your whole team, counting the people who only report a fault or look at a record?
- Does it already know your kind of equipment and the checks it needs, or do you build that from nothing?
- Does it keep the evidence your inspector, insurer or client asks for, against the duty it proves?
- Who sets it up, how long does that take, and what does it cost?
- What happens to your records and your price if you leave, or if the company is sold or closes?
Read the answers, not the brochure
A good answer names a thing you can test: “export everything as a spreadsheet from the settings page”. A weak one promises help later: “our team will assist with your migration”. Ask to see the strong answers working, on your own data, before you sign.
Then try it properly
The seven questions narrow the list. A fair trial with three real jobs picks the winner: see the guide on a fair evaluation.
Checklist
- The person who will use it most is in the room
- Works on the phone without signal
- Your lists go in without retyping
- All your records come out, free, any time
- The cost is worked out for the whole team, including people who only report
- Your kind of equipment and checks are already there
- Evidence is kept against the duty it proves
- Set-up time and cost are written down
- You know what happens if you leave or they close
Sources
Our own advice, from running maintenance. This guide quotes no studies and no figures.
Related guides
Choosing · 2 min read
The five costs that are not on the price list
The monthly price is the easy part. Five other costs decide what a system really costs you over a few years.
Choosing · 2 min read
A fair trial: three real jobs, your worst user, your worst site
A demo shows a system at its best. A fair trial shows it on your hardest day, with the person least keen to use it.
See it on your own sites.
Free for one site, up to 3 people and 2,000 assets. No card.