Cloud Based Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and Small to Medium Sized Businesses

I started my professional life as a maintenance engineer in a power company. That was a little over 10 years ago and at the time the company I was working for relied heavily on maximo, a very comprehensive asset management solution from IBM. It was a complex system that required hours of user training and literally millions of dollars in customization and equipment. In the end, the company had a versatile and extremely powerful tool that linked assets to documentation, spares and purchasing and automated the maintenance management of all the equipment from work request creation to work order flow. The reporting was excellent and anything that you wanted to know about the history of an asset - to the very components that make that asset up - was readily available.

After that experience, I was lucky enough to go through yet another amazing software in another company: SAP/ PM. PM for plant maintenance. In my opinion a superior solution to maximo. In this second case, all company procedures were managed by SAP from maintenance to HR to purchasing. Everything was inter-connected. The full SAP implementation took around one year and a half, and each module of SAP was deployed in sequence. There was a team of five full time people working on everything from installation to training to development and customization. Needless to say this was an extremely expensive operation.

In both situations described above, the companies benefitted immensely through the use of the software solutions to a point that would see them grinding to a halt should the systems fail. As a power user of the maintenance systems before and after the installation of SAP, I can confirm the increase in efficiency in company procedures once everything was automated. Needless to say, I'm a huge fan of good maintenance management software or, to use the industry jargon, CMMS, for Computerized Maintenance Management System.

After the two experiences described above, I accepted a job in the maintenance department of an entertainment venue. It was a little different from my previous job on conventional industry and utilities but it had to do with equipment maintenance nonetheless, so essentially it fit my background just fine. What I was not ready for though was how maintenance was managed, or perhaps I can say that I was not ready for how maintenance was NOT managed. When I started, record keeping was minimal and there was simply no spare parts control other than people's memory! Granted that the organization was not that complex, especially when compared with my previous jobs: I went from a 250 strong maintenance team to a 15 person team. Yet, no matter your organization's size, if you deal with machinery and equipment that is used in commercial applications, you must have a way to schedule and organize jobs and technicians, control spares and also easily retrieve that information to assist on future maintenance tasks or to prove that actions were taken in order to ensure the equipment is operational and safe at all times.

The schedule of tasks is not hard to implement with conventional tools such as outlook or Google calendar. I have read articles and forum posts that say outlook is all a small company needs to control maintenance tasks. From a simple scheduling point of view, I couldn't agree more but overall there is a fundamental flaw: extremely difficult information retrieval. What that implies is that maintenance task are not optimized since most job procedures will be reinvented over and over again. Note that even if records are kept, the effort that needs to go into organizing them all is enormous especially as years go by, technicians leave and information starts to pile up. It will only be a question of time before technicians bypass the retrieval of information completely and immediately start a job even if it means learning procedures from scratch. This is not an efficient system at all!

The same goes for spare part control. If your organization manages more than fifty spares, you would do much better with some sort of inventory control tool. These tools provide not only quantity, storage location information and vendor contacts but they also link spares to work orders and from there to the actual system or asset where the spare was used. Imagine the potential for cost control calculations if that information is available.

So what are the solutions for maintenance management for small to medium size businesses? Obviously, SAP or maximo are out of the question not only due to the high implementation cost but also because these are overly complex tools that frankly a small or medium sized organization does not require. Besides, they have high recurring costs related to IT systems maintenance that probably require several dedicated full-time staff.

More and more industry key players are of the opinion that cloud-based solutions are the way to go for small and medium sized companies. This is what my company went for and it was a very good idea! In fact we developed a system in house due to the lack of proper options in the market at the time - there were a few online CMMS solutions but virtually all of them aimed to do every single thing for every single company in the world and were therefore totally over engineered for 90% of the applications with a price that matched.

Our custom CMMS has been in service for one year now and the benefits are obvious:

1. Extremely low operational costs

2. Efficient work order/ work request flow

3. Inventory control

4. Reporting tools

5. User management

6. Documentation control

7. Maintenance plans

All things that we could only imagine a couple of years back. The best thing was that apart from the time it took to actually write the code, the usage by technicians was very smooth to the point where it would now be hard to go back to a pre-CMMS era.

With this system we codify assets down to their components and everything else is related to that codification. This way we receive a work request and assign it to the asset that shows the fault down to the very component that failed. Documents can also pertain to all levels of that codification structure, so, for example, we can have as-built drawings connected to the whole asset (the higher level of codification) but also component datasheets assigned to a brake contactor (the lower level of codification).

On top of that we have a scheduler that issues automatic work requests for preventive maintenance tasks and an efficient spare part control system that is also linked to the asset codification.

The system works very well and we can see that on the uptime of the systems that on average went from 88% to 99%. Basically the equipment is always operational for when we need it. The best thing was that this improvement came with no significant increase in costs (only development time and minor system maintenance costs).

Based on my experience, any small to medium business that deals with equipment maintenance will have a lot to gain by investing on a cloud based CMMS. It comes cheap with lots of benefits. This is also the trend the world is going for. Have you heard of Google docs or dropbox? These are current examples of cloud-based services most people wouldn't think twice about using. Why not a cloud-based CMMS?

Check the options available online and confirm with the vendors if their product is easily customizable to fit your organization. Make sure you are the owner of the data and that the database can be downloaded by you at any time to ensure you have a backup even if the supplier goes out of business. With some precautions, really nothing much can go wrong.

How to Make Use of Professional Computer Aided Design

A professional computer aided design can bring good tidings to your business. A professional can use his mechanical engineering expertise and 3D software to produce a concept for you out of sketches in freehand to a fabulous digital prototype. This is especially in the areas of consumer-durable items, heavy engineering equipment and automotive parts. The designer can create perspective views in any angle that you want. With such CAD design, the professional can model projects, create component drawings and assembles for product manufacture. However, computer aided design involves much more detailed CAD services and processes that only professionally trained designers and engineers can use it to perfection.

For example, they can help you carry out computer aided design in areas of business, such as architecture, aerospace, automotive, chemical, construction, electronics, electrical engineering, food and drink, and general engineering. Additionally, you will benefit from computer aided design if you are involved in glass plants, local authorities, mining, nuclear, oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, power, process, public sector, rail, telecommunications, transport and highways, utilities, and water CAD services.

Using the latest computer aided design software, a professional can create amazing 2D or 3D drawings. The process begins with the professional drafters who will produce drawings according to your project brief. Then, your drawings will be subjected to mechanical CAD design and engineering. If you are into manufacturing, the engineers can use the designs to help you in the Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM).

It is highly exciting that the CAD services professionals will occasionally ask for your input in the design and implementation of the project. You will, therefore, feel as though you are part of the entire process. A professional computer aided design company will ensure that you receive a timely response on any query and you will be able to access additional services, such as 3D modeling and visualization.

To put your mind at ease, you can request to receive detailed project reports that provide activity and time records. This will help you to maintain control of your budget. The professionals cannot deny you access to the project when it matters. For that reason, you will be given time to inspect your computer aided design work occasionally and when necessary. The experts can use various 2D and 3D instruments including AutoCAD Inventor and Creo Parametric to ensure you achieve greater efficiency in your CAD design and flexibility in the delivery of the project.

With the use of different tools applied in computer aided design software, a professional engineer can produce 2D and 3D drawings. For example, you can create drawings for airplane and automobile parts using software such as AutoCAD Inventor, AutoCAD 2012, Pro Engineer Creo, Solid Edge ST5, Medusa4, and Solid Works 2012. Your designs have a greater level of precision if they are made by a professional using such sophisticated software than if you draw them by freehand. You will therefore, eliminate the possibility of malfunction resulting from faulty engineering, when you let a professional to utilize CAD services. This will enable you create designs that are compatible with the industry needs.

Offshore Software Development Trends in 2012

The Drivers of Offshore Software Development

The offshore Software development trend has been around for a while now and many IT as well as non-IT companies all over the world are engaged in outsourcing their software development needs to offshore software development centers due to the various benefits provided by the outsourcing process. One of the leading drivers of this trend has been the reduced cost factor associated with the outsourcing process in general. During the credit crunch caused by the global financial crisis, companies were focused on reducing costs and the offshoring process helped reduce overheads and improve the outsourcing company's bottom line. In other cases, non-IT firms with no or minimalist IT departments also outsource their software development requirements as developing such software in-house often tends to be cost prohibitive. The lack of expertise of a company with regard to use of a specific set of software tools/platforms necessary for developing one or more applications is another driver commonly associated with such outsourcing. Such non-IT firms include industries from a wide range of sectors including but not limited to transport and logistics; education; healthcare as well as banking and financial services. Each of these sectors and even companies within the same sector, however, require unique solutions suited to their own needs. Many organizations also follow a blended approach by mixing outsourcing with in-house expertise to develop the necessary solutions.

Leading Offshore Software Development Priorities

Many companies across the world are currently engaged in developing new software products/applications according to the requirements of clients. New software development is expected to account for a major portion of the software revenue in 2012 and beyond. A close second is the requirement for companies to upgrade their existing software application by integrating new technologies/modules into their already deployed solutions. In 2012, the integration aspect is expected to gain more ground as new technologies/applications increase the benefits provided to organizations by the current solutions. The main benefit of such integration is the reduced deployment time for the company as well as the decreased cost of development as compared to in-house development. The consumerism of IT (CoIT) trend is also beginning to affect the market as users demand a superior user experience delivered by these solutions. As the market for solutions which go beyond delivering basic functionality expands in 2012 and beyond, the focus of many an offshore software development company is expected to shift towards using new technology to develop better User Interface (UI) and graphics for solutions, which were deployed earlier in the enterprise. Such development is often classified as custom software development, is also expected to witness robust grow among offshore development companies in the year 2012 as well as the recent future driven by increases demand across multiple industries.

Other key functional areas for offshore software development operations include performance improvement-based software development as well as the continued maintenance and support for existing solutions. As more and more companies deploy software solutions in order to gain a competitive advantage in the intensely competitive market, the number of performance enhancement contracts between organizations and offshore software development firms is expected to increase. Another software development area expected to witness rapid growth in 2012 is the development of dedicated mobile apps. The focus on developing apps for mobile is expected to continue in the recent future driven by increased enterprise mobility requirements and the growing adoption of BYOD (bring your own device) philosophy by enterprises. A related area which is forecast to grow in 2012 is the development of cloud apps for use by the enterprise as well as the development of improved security solutions to ensure superior data security and compliance with all existing regulations of data protection.

Leading Deployment Areas for Software developed at Offshore Locations

The requirement of software developed by offshore centers is not limited to any specific industry therefore the list of probable deployment areas is quite large and expected to grow further in 2012 as technological advancements open up new application areas. However, the development of data storage/management/Business Intelligence software is expected to be the leading business area for offshore software developers in 2012. Such solutions are deployed by a wide range of industries to cope with the explosion of digital data and facilitate an informed decision-making procedure, which is expected to propel continued growth of the Business Intelligence solutions market. Other leading deployment areas for software developed at leading offshore locations include applications required by the financial and healthcare sectors as well as solutions deployed for managing processes/projects and applications which are necessary to facilitate enterprise-wide networking and communications. Other areas of interest for these companies in 2012 include applications for facilitating the deployment of e-commerce, CRM, content (document) management platforms, online analytics etc. Overall, in 2012 and beyond, the industry is expected to witness robust growth as companies increase their IT expenditure with the intention of gaining a competitive advantage in the market.

Development Platforms Preferred by Outsourcing Enterprises

Among the available software/application development platforms currently in use today, internet/web-based development platforms are expected to dominate the offshore development market in 2012. However, enterprise application development platforms and SaaS/Cloud-based platforms are also expected to witness growth as more organizations issue contracts for new solutions based on these emerging platforms. The emergence of BYOD is also expected to result in the development of various mobile platform-based applications in the recent future, while desktop application and embedded platforms are expected to witness only marginal growth in 2012 due to the perceived restrictions inherent to these platforms.

Leading Offshore Destinations around the World

Over the years, India has traditionally been the leading offshore software development destination for firms based in the US and Europe. This situation is not expected to change in 2012 even though emerging players are expected to partially erode India's current lead in the global offshore development market. Emerging markets, where organizations are currently outsourcing their software development requirements include Central and South America mainly Brazil and Mexico; various countries in Eastern Europe; China; countries in the Asia-Pacific region such as Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam; as well as Russia and Ukraine. Over the next few years, these emerging players are expected to provide stiff competition to software development centers based in India. The key criterion for competition among these offshore development centers is forecast to include overall cost, development quality, project/client handling procedures and the total development time required. However, even in the face of such challenges, India is expected to retain a dominant position in the global offshore software development market in the year 2012 as well as in the recent future.

Closed Loop Marketing Apps for Business Promotion

Before selecting the solution for the promotion of your business, it is very important for an individual to know about closed loop marketing. It is a two way interactive strategy used in marketing which involves both the customer and the manufacturer of the goods or services. In normal situations, the products are pushed on the customers depending on the individual preferences. The whole process depends systematically on the amount of data which is collected during the various interactive sessions. With the help closed loop marketing apps, it has become very easy for an individual to make the whole process easy and comfortable for you.

Closed loop marketing apps may confuse many individuals. However one should always remember that this application takes into account your existing customers as well as your new customers who will be introduced to the products that you manufacture. Many commercial organizations use a variety of ways of getting the data. The process elected depends on the receptivity of the customers for the data and the preferences of the various kinds of customers. This strategy has been used as a way for improving and accumulating customer database, this is very helpful in developing a refined and reliable clientage in the future for the company.

The actual process of the application is not so simple and easy. One has to select the functional and the operational platform as there can be multiple levels of sophistication and therefore the apps must be selected keeping this basic fact in the mind of an individual. This will help in understanding the individual needs and preferences effectively.

A customer database can be generated with the help of the closed loop marketing and can be made to work with a strong content management system. This will help in supplying the customers and the prospective customers about valuable content about the company. The increase in knowledge about the customers by the company will be good for the company as they will be able to promote the products in a better way and help the company to increase its sales and profits considerably.

However with the passing of time new strategies have been added over the course of the last five years in this field. This has led to the opening up of a number of new prospects for the customers depending on the overall marketing plan that the company has planned for the product campaign. The closed loop marketing apps have many benefits over other marketing apps. The company can send about twenty thousand emails per month for diverting traffic to their website. This is a huge amount for marketing your product. One can also use pay per click for the advertising of the site. Brand promotion can be done by giving press releases. Keywords are given which help in better content searches.

What Are the Top 5 Things You Should Learn About Adobe InDesign?

Adobe InDesign isn't the kind of program that you can learn overnight. If you have some experience with basic design software, you might be able to do some things in InDesign like adding text or drawing shapes right away. But if you check out the software's Help and Tutorials section in their website, you will find tons of tutorials covering all sorts of areas. While learning all of these things will help you create highly professional publications independently, you should focus on these top 5 areas if you ever decide to undergo Adobe InDesign training.

User Interface

Familiarizing yourself with the user interface of the latest Adobe InDesign version is a must so you know exactly what menu to go to or toolbar to check out when you need to perform a specific task. If you ever have to design a publication which has a very tight deadline, you can carry on with the task smoothly if you know the user interface. Recent versions of the software let you customize your workspace so you can add the sidebar panels and toolbars that matter. Even if you are already used to the interface, you can get even more work done if you design a custom workspace that is optimized for your projects.

Layouting

Adobe InDesign is all about layouting so you can expect any Adobe InDesign training program to provide a lot of tutorials on the layouting subject. Knowing the different kinds of layouts that are good for certain publications like E-books, magazines and brochures can speed up your production. For instance, designing your very first E-book would take some time but once you take on a new E-book project, you can apply the same layouting techniques that you learned from this training so the work is completed sooner. Of course, there are so many creative possibilities thanks to the vast number of layouting tools in the software package so you have to tackle more projects to gain experience and expand your creativity.

File and Resource Management

Keeping your project organized is a great way to keep your work comfortable. By having an organized project, you should be able to easily add, edit or replace certain files or resources that are involved in your project. Resource management can include the management of master pages so you can easily apply layouts to different pages. It also involves indexing and pagination to keep all the pages organized. Packaging also helps with your resource management because it gathers all of the files used in the project in one location.

Integration with Other Adobe Software

Your Adobe InDesign training sessions will focus on the software and the many features it offers. But remember that InDesign is just one component of the entire Adobe Creative Suite. While you are not required to master other Adobe applications like Photoshop and Illustrator, familiarizing yourself with those applications can improve your ability to tackle bigger projects more efficiently. For instance, InDesign is a great program for designing posters but Adobe Photoshop offers more image editing features. You can do some of the necessary edits in Photoshop and then import the image into InDesign to finalize the graphic design.

Different Types of Online Task Lists

Gone are the days of the simple to do list, as technology is beginning to replace it with very creative and interesting ideas. Know you can have to do lists on your compute, your phone and even your car. Online task lists are all the rage and can help you to make your life more organised.

There are also thousands of online tasks lists to choose from, which means that there is sure to be one for you. A lot of them are also free and can be downloaded from the internet or via an app on your phone. Thus you have no excuse not to get organised with these lists. Here is a look at some of the different lists available today.

Free Online Task Lists

The most popular of them all is the free online task lists that you can download. This is also very helpful for when you want to see if this software will really help you, as you can just simply download it and see if you need a better version or not.

Thus any type of company can make use of this software as it is freely available and also free. Thus there is no excuse not to get your business organised and up to date with the latest technology. This is the best way to see if you will actually use the software. Thus you will get to try it out for free before you decide to purchase a more expensive version.

Online Task List Apps

There are also thousands of online task list apps out there for you to choose form. Just like the free versions they will also let you get a taste of what the software can do before you decide to invest thousands in it.

But not all apps are free and thus you might have to pay for some of them, but it will still be very cheap compared to buying new software for your office. Thus you can then use it to find out if it will indeed help your office to perform better and smarter or if it is just another fad. A lot of the free apps are also more fun and interactive than the more serious business like ones that you have to pay for.

Thus it is wise to first test out a few of the free online tasks lists before you decide to spend any money on it.

Expensive Online Task Lists

The real deal online task list can cost thousands and will have a few other extras that the free versions will not have. But in the Ned you will have to ask yourself if it really is worth it to spend so much money on software for your office when you can get it for free.

Skill Sets You Need to Become a Video Editor?

Video editing is a multidisciplinary job that requires multiple abilities. It is not for the faint-hearted, to say the least. Video editors must be creative people with a strong technical side. All video editors must keep tabs on changing technology first and foremost, given how fast video-editing software develops in the film industry. Adobe Premiere training classes have made it possible for aspiring video editors to learn Adobe Premiere software quickly, so they can be on their way to new work. Being able to pick up such new skills at a rapid pace is a must for anyone who wants to work in video editing long term, and no one can get comfortable with any one particular type of software. Professional video editors remove unwanted parts of a film, and then they fashion together the rest of it to form the continuity that any finished product would need. Editors will scan through literally hours of footage in some cases, only to put a film together second by second. It is a difficult job that requires the sort of personal skills that no type of software can foster on its own.

Video professionals will work long hours, often alone, and often under rapid and rushed deadlines. They need excellent attention to detail, good stress management skills, sharp problem solving skills, and a good eye for camera angles and special effects. Professional video editors will need to be flexible with their schedules, with excellent interpersonal skills, especially in the areas of conflict management. They will work with sound editors, cinematographers, and directors in addition to all the lower level workers. Even working on a smaller, independent film will require an enormous amount of patience and a strong work ethic. There is much more to video editing than learning the necessary software, although learning the software is indeed crucial.

Amateur or hobbyist video editors will need different skills, or will not need as much potential skill in interpersonal compromises as the professionals. People who make videos for YouTube and similar websites will encounter different obstacles than professional video editors, and will be judged by different standards. YouTube videos are often made on a practically zero budget, are given freely, and often consumed in rapid succession. People hold professional grade films to exacting standards. Industry and even independent films are very expensive, and they want what they pay for: satisfied consumers. We live in an age of Internet celebrities, and learning video editing software can be an exciting ticket to a very newfangled sort of fame. Even making smaller videos requires great attention to detail, knowledge of camera angles, and a sense of timing, among other things. Amateur video editors making short films will be less likely to sift through hours of footage, however. They will be able to produce videos at a faster rate. Amateur video editors often work independently, and must rely on their own software skills and creativity.