How to Pass an Audit with a CMMS

A huge perk when you implement a CMMS is having the ability to store all of your maintenance information digitally. This is incredibly useful when you’re checking the preventative maintenance history of an asset but it’s even more useful when that dreaded 5-letter word is being whispered throughout your facility’s corridors. Audit.

Some of the common auditors our clients at Ashcom Technologies see include the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), International Standards Organization (ISO), and the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA).

Of course, there’s even more auditors with different guidelines and rules and regulations to comply to, but there’s one thing that all auditors have in common: their need for documented proof.

Proof, for example, that a certain preventative maintenance task was performed every 120 days. A CMMS can provide a report for that. It can also provide reports on tracking incidents, ensuring inspections are done when needed, work history, and just about anything else maintenance related that may be audited.

Generating reports instead of hastily compiling paper records is a baseline of competence that maintenance teams should strive for. Beyond surviving audits, recording the daily records of maintenance can help enable a cultural shift.

Someone once said, “Excellence is a habit.” To get the most out of a CMMS, it needs to be part of your maintenance team’s daily habits. A CMMS acts as a hub and reminder for tasks that otherwise may get lost in the shuffle. It keeps your team accountable and ensures the little things, like preventative maintenance, that prevent the big things – like asset failure, get done.

So, in a way, a CMMS can act as an internal audit for maintenance team’s practices so they can pass a real audit when the time comes. It’s ultimately up to the maintenance team to perform the protocols and best practices that will ensure compliance, but a CMMS is a fantastic tool for companies that want to get ahead of the game.

Written by Steven Garcia