Can we use a mobile CMMS in offline mode?

One of the obstacles to the adoption of a mobile CMMS is, for many businesses, the fear that this type of solution cannot be used in offline mode. Indeed, factories are not always fully covered by the network, wifi or 4G, that teams use to connect to their maintenance management tool.

While some mobile CMMS solutions are indeed limited by the absence of an offline mode, others allow you to use their main functions even without any connection. Maintenance managers who wish to have an application of this type must therefore be vigilant about the possibility of accessing the CMMS offline.

Mobile CMMS, benefits under certain conditions?

Industrial maintenance management has undergone several evolutions, the latest of which is the appearance and success of applications that can be used on a smartphone or tablet. These have a very large number of advantages, but are sometimes subject to technical network conditions.

How does a mobile CMMS work?

As the name suggests, a mobile CMMS application can be used from anywhere on a portable digital terminal connected to the Internet by wifi or by a mobile network. All maintenance data is therefore accessible remotely, and operators can enter information or intervention reports from any area of the plant.

In addition, this type of application allows maintenance technicians to use barcodes, NFC chips or QR codes for immediate access to all the information concerning a machine.

Optimized maintenance

For teams in the field, a CMMS solution of this type facilitates both the maintenance itself and its corollary tasks. Being able to access machine data in real time saves them precious time. As for intervention reports, they can be entered and consulted as soon as the operation is complete, which favors their precision and comprehensiveness.

Maintenance thus becomes more accurate and faster. Teams are both more efficient in their work and more likely to use CMMS, while the old solutions tended to discourage them because of their complexity of use.

For the company in general, this represents a significant productivity gain, and therefore promotes their competitiveness. In addition, in periods where remote work is encouraged, this allows maintenance managers to do some of their work remotely.

Solutions that are too dependent on the quality of the network?

The fear, sometimes justified, of some companies, is that mobile CMMS may become a burden when their WiFi network (or the mobile network) is faulty in certain parts of the factories. In the absence of an offline mode, access to the application, and especially the entry of information, are in fact disrupted or prevented, thus complicating the task of maintenance teams. The expected benefits of a mobile CMMS are then greatly reduced.

Use your CMMS offline thanks to Mobility Work

It is to respond to this fear that Mobility Work has integrated into its CMMS application an offline mode specifically designed for offline use.

How does Mobility Work's offline CMMS work?

To avoid data loss, The app's offline mode allows information to be entered even without any wifi or 4G coverage. These are recorded in the application on the smartphone or tablet, which then automatically updates them on the servers as soon as the device regains a powerful connection.

This specific mode allows factories with limited WiFi coverage to benefit from the advantages of CMMS in terms of traceability, speed of intervention and ease of use, without suffering the disadvantages in terms of network and connection.

In concrete terms, the offline mode of the Mobility Work application allows, without any connection:

• to access the equipment via a QR code scan;
• to create a task for this equipment;
• to create an activity for this task;
• to modify the task created or to declare it as completed;
• to add a counter or a spare part in an activity.

Create tasks in offline mode in your CMMS

What is the practical purpose of the offline mode of a CMMS?

In practice, few factories have completely effective network coverage, whether it's WiFi or 4G, throughout their premises. Basements, cellars, boiler rooms or other restricted or remote spaces often pose a problem from this point of view.

In the absence of an offline mode, the maintenance operator either takes the risk that the data he enters will be lost, or he uses other ways to keep it (for example by writing it down by hand on paper) but must then enter it again when he regains a connection.

With Mobility Work's offline CMMS, On the contrary, maintenance teams can use the application in all circumstances, without worrying about whether or not they have a powerful network connection..

The issue of using a mobile CMMS in a limited network context is an important and legitimate concern for many maintenance managers. This is the answer to the offline mode of the Mobility Work CMMS application, designed to make it possible to use it in all circumstances and eliminate any risk of data loss.