You’ve made the capital investment and selected a CMMS with all the right capabilities. You’ve also done the heavy lifting of getting stakeholders on board. But here’s the catch:

If you aren’t investing in master data enrichment, your shiny new system risks getting bogged down and delivering far less than promised.

After all, loading bad data in a new system is a little like putting old motor oil in a new engine.

Many organizations allocate budget for software licensing, infrastructure and roll-out. However, they often neglect the tedious yet crucial task of enriching and cleansing the master data that enables maintenance workflows.

Why Master Data Enrichment Deserves a Seat at the Table

The following are some of the key reasons you should plan on investing in master data enrichment:

Your CMMS Is Only as Good as Its Data

Even the most advanced maintenance platforms will underperform if they’re filled with outdated, incomplete or inaccurate data.

Missing serial numbers, incomplete and inconsistent descriptions, redundant parts and duplicate tags degrade the value of your new investment. As a consequence, maintenance personnel will be hesitant to trust the new system.

Enrichment Enables Efficiency

Once your data is cleaned and enriched, your planners can build precise maintenance plans and stock levels in your storeroom can be optimized. The operational cost savings from these two improvements alone will more than offset the cost of data enrichment!

Walkdowns Reveal the Hidden Truth

Physically verifying assets will likely uncover missing or misclassified equipment. Entire assets may be missing from the CMMS. Low fill rates for manufacturer and model fields can be especially detrimental to work plan development.

As such, you may need to make walkdowns part of your data-enrichment strategy to fill in the gaps.

How to Budget for Master Data Enrichment in Your CMMS Plan

Here’s how to make master data enrichment part of your CMMS implementation plan:

• Audit your legacy asset data to identify gaps in your data, which may be missing data fields across your equipment records or entirely missing equipment records
• Audit your storeroom data to ensure each record includes the manufacturer, model number, part number and material of construction and sizing fields
• Use a staged approach to tackle critical equipment and high-risk areas first
• Allocate a fixed percentage of your budget to enrichment
• Engage with all levels of your maintenance organization
• Budget for periodic audits, updates and ongoing stewardship to prevent data erosion

When implementing a new CMMS solution, it only makes sense to set yourself up for success with high-quality data.

If that sounds overwhelming, consider outsourcing master data enrichment and CMMS optimization to a trusted partner like PCA. Doing so can soften the learning curve associated with CMMS data development and condense your time to value.

Data Excellence Must Be Part of the Plan

If you’re going to allocate millions for hardware, software and training, don’t let the most important piece go overlooked. Master data is the foundation that enables your CMMS to deliver real value. Give it the budget and priority it deserves.