ERP vs CMMS: Do You Know the Difference?

In your quest to find the best enterprise software for your organization, you’ve likely come across plenty of platforms that sound like they could meet your needs. In fact, you might have found that many of these systems have similar, overlapping functionality. 

One example of this similarity is ERP vs CMMS systems. Both an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system and a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) can provide valuable business benefits, making it difficult to decide which is best for your organization. 

What is ERP?

Let’s start with a brief overview of what a standard ERP platform contains.

In short, this is a type of enterprise software that centralizes and digitizes the core operations and functions of an organization. From payroll processing to sales management, the tools within an ERP system enable your employees to work faster and collaborate more effectively. 

Some of the most common functions you can fully or partially automate through ERP software include:

• Accounting and financial management
• Supply chain management
• Contract management
• Purchasing
• Sales

By moving data and processes from disparate legacy systems into an ERP system, companies can recognize significant cost savings and performance improvements. 

What is CMMS?

A CMMS is a type of software that tracks and manages the assets assigned to a company’s maintenance department.

Before this software existed, companies had to manually monitor and record work orders and keep track of ongoing order status updates. Now, companies can use CMMS software to keep neat historical records of all work that has been done and track critical asset data for current and future reference. 

ERP vs CMMS: 4 Key Differences

1. Core Focus

While an ERP system focuses on all aspects of an organization, a CMMS is primarily focused on the maintenance sector.

While this software has many business benefits, implementing a standalone CMMS without fully integrating it with other business systems can result in:

• Increased operational costs
• Inefficient work performance
• Time-consuming processes
• Data entry errors

Because a CMMS is solely maintenance-focused, it cannot manage and improve other organization-wide processes.

In contrast, an ERP system is wider-reaching and can support process improvement across every department. The variety of functions that it supports can make it a more cost-effective solution, depending on your needs, of course.

2. Data Management

A CMMS will track and record all critical information that relates to your maintenance department. Users can access this data to receive real-time updates on the status of each work order.

While these insights are crucial for effective asset management, they’re limited in nature if not integrated with other functions. 

ERP software includes a much broader data scope. Within a given platform, users can access a range of information that pertains to every department across the enterprise. This includes data that relates to:

• Physical inventories
• Employees
• Services
• Accounts
• Contracts

Employees can reference these insights to ensure accurate data exchanges across and within departments. This improves teamwork and increases collaboration. 

3. Performance Reporting

When business leaders want information on how each department is doing, they can use an ERP solution to access this data. ERP software contains real-time reporting capabilities that clearly illustrate trends and patterns related to departmental growth and performance. This includes a detailed view into the maintenance and service department. 

For example, users can access a three-tier analysis that helps them understand how the maintenance team is performing on different levels, including:

• High level (financial statements and forecasting data)
• Customer level (individual account performance)
• Individual level (single assets or technicians)

On the other hand, a CMMS system doesn’t typically contain any type of advanced reporting functions. Users can’t leverage it to learn more information about their maintenance team’s performance, nor can it share more granular data on assets or technicians. 

Without access to this information, it can be challenging to gauge your service management needs. Unless you know how the department is performing, you won’t know how to optimize the team’s efforts. 

4. Flexibility

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all ERP solution that works for every company right out of the box. Rather, this software is configurable and customizable to meet your unique business needs. Depending on your industry and business needs, you can add, remove, and change features to create the ideal platform.

This is a capability that you won’t find in most CMMS systems. A CMMS platform contains integrated functions that normally are quite rigid.

As a result, you may find that your employees develop complex workarounds to get past the features they can’t use.

Determining Your Business Needs

When it comes to the ERP vs CMMS comparison, we can’t tell you which is right for you. As long as you’re willing to integrate your CMMS with your other systems, it can bring the same ROI as a comprehensive ERP system.

If you’re mainly focused on solving issues within your maintenance department and are satisfied with the rest of your enterprise-wide operations, then a CMMS solution may be the right choice.

Interested in learning more about how to optimize your maintenance and service department? Contact our independent ERP consultants below for a free consultation.