Most CAFM products list the same features: work orders, preventive maintenance, assets and reporting. The differences usually surface about a year after go-live, in the areas these questions cover.
1. Where does a completed job go?
If the answer is 'into the work-order list', ask how the asset's history is built. If a job is not written to the asset, you will not find it again.
2. Can technicians work without a connection?
Plant rooms, basements and remote sites rarely have good coverage, so technicians need to work offline every day and sync later.
3. How is a new site onboarded?
FM companies win contracts with mobilisation deadlines. If every new site needs its own implementation, growth turns into an IT project, so ask whether a site can be set up through configuration.
4. How are SLA clocks handled?
Ask whether escalation happens before the deadline or after. A report of breaches is less useful than a warning you can act on.
5. What evidence exists when a client disputes a job?
Photos, timestamps, technician notes and the asset history should settle the question without a meeting.
6. Is the asset register connected to the lease and the tenant?
In a property portfolio, a request from a tenant should be visible on the tenant's record and on the asset's record at the same time.
7. Can reporting be filtered by site and contract?
Operations directors want the same service quality on every site. Finance wants to know which contracts are profitable. Both need reporting by site and contract from the same records.
8. Who owns the data, and how do you leave?
A system of record should be able to export the record. Ask for the format before you sign.
This guide is general advice for evaluating CAFM or CMMS software. It does not describe any specific product's commercial terms.
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