At a glance:
- In this fourth article in our series on upgrading to IBM Maximo Application Suite, and following on from our article about 'how to upgrade' we look at the importance of undertaking a MAS Readiness Assessment as the essential first step to success of this Enterprise Asset Management system upgrade.
- A MAS Readiness Assessment reviews your existing IBM Maximo configuration and licensing to identify what is required for your organisation to upgrade to IBM MAS and with little disruption to operations.
- COSOL’s holistic approach to your EAM transformation program ensures seamless integration of IBM MAS with your ERP and other critical information systems.
- A recent Readiness Assessment completed for a major utility revealed opportunities for the organisation to take full advantage of the current functionality offered by IBM Maximo, actionable steps and recommendations to prepare them for an effective transition to IBM MAS and how to optimise licensing to reduce AppPoint requirements by 10%.
Preparing your organisation for change is one of the most important investments you can make in your organisation’s future. Implementing or upgrading an Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system certainly counts as major organisational change. It brings significant opportunities, but also has inherent risks.
What’s certain is that organisations that achieve their transformation goals do so by laying a strong foundation. Without it, their chances of success are reduced from the outset – and their ability to evolve in the future significantly limited.
It’s why undergoing a Readiness Assessment is a critical first step in ensuring your organisation is prepared for any major system change. A Readiness Assessment won’t just assess your current preparedness for a system transition or upgrade, it will review where pain points and opportunities lie, and identify critical initiatives to be actioned to help you achieve your transformation goals.
COSOL’s holistic approach to EAM implementation
Whether your organisation already uses IBM Maximo or the asset management functionality in your ERP to manage critical business assets, COSOL will assess the functional and operational requirements of your organisation and facilitate the transition to a right-sized EAM solution that meets your organisation’s needs and asset management goals:
For current users of IBM Maximo:
The transition to IBM’s next-generation Maximo Application Suite (IBM MAS) can present opportunities to unlock greater data insights and functionality that lays the foundations for advanced asset management and future scalability.
For organisations using ERPs for asset management:
Implementing a purpose-built EAM solution such as IBM MAS, and integrating it with your existing ERP provides a true competitive advantage through operational efficiencies. With data free-flowing between the two systems, organisations gain a true holistic view of operations, improved asset performance, optimised resource planning and supply chain management.
COSOL’s experience as an implementation partner and integration expert means we are ideally positioned to guide you through your EAM/ERP transformation journey.
Preparing for your transition to IBM Maximo Application Suite
Before advising on an approach for transitioning to IBM Maximo Application Suite, COSOL undertakes a MAS Readiness Assessment to identify how effectively your organisation currently uses its IBM Maximo Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution. The resulting report provides a summary of what IBM MAS tools your organisation requires to achieve its asset management goals.
David Lestani, COSOL's Principal Solution Architect, says maintaining a holistic view of the transformation process is critical to its success.
“Our team takes a wide view of IBM Maximo capability compared with what could be a customer’s isolated view,” he says. “We understand that implementing or upgrading an EAM system is never done in a silo – you always have to have a solution integrated to finance, procurement, human resources, GIS, BIM and other asset information technologies.”
COSOL’s holistic approach is apparent in our three-phase Readiness Assessment approach.
To prepare your organisation for the successful move to IBM MAS, we evaluate your existing enterprise asset management performance by undertaking the following:
- Licence Analysis – we review your current IBM Maximo licensing and determine opportunities for licence optimisation and cost savings when transitioning to IBM’s new AppPoint licensing. We also examine your current IBM Maximo implementation for any missing critical patches.
- Functional Assessment – we run volumetric and usage assessment measures, inspect base configurations, check all applications and prepare observations.
- Technical Assessment – we perform a technical review of your IBM Maximo configurations, identify opportunities to migrate customisations to configurations, and assess application usability and performance.
“Migrating to IBM MAS presents COSOL with a fantastic opportunity to look at your organisation’s current implementation of IBM Maximo because COSOL knows the product and its capabilities so well,” Lestani says.
“An IBM MAS Readiness Assessment is all about identifying a customer’s underutilised or suboptimal implementation of IBM Maximo, optimising processes and licensing, and looking for areas to improve efficiencies and automation.”
The outcome of a Readiness Assessment is a comprehensive report that provides detailed observations, licensing analysis, and recommendations in the form of actionable initiative cards.
“While customers can go for a straightforward Maximo-to-MAS implementation (the A-to-B approach), any inefficiencies and under-utilised functions of Maximo will carry over and limit future scalability,” Lestani says.
“However, when customers engage an EAM systems and asset management expert consultant such as COSOL they can be armed with insights from a comprehensive systems review that identifies why the organisation isn’t getting the full value from their existing system and gain recommendations and actionable initiatives to ensure a successful migration.”
Above: A MAS Readiness Assessment Report is a comprehensive document of observations, analysis and actionable initiatives.
Simplified licensing with AppPoints
One of the main changes organisations using IBM Maximo will encounter when making the move to IBM MAS is the need to adopt IBM’s AppPoints licensing.
AppPoints (Application Points) are a unit of measure that allows for flexible, consumption-based licensing of IBM MAS applications. Organisations purchase a pool of AppPoints that permit their users to move seamlessly from one IBM MAS application to another as needed rather than having a license for each module and each user.
As well as offering organisations a simplified licensing and usage model (organisations can access the entire IBM MAS Suite with one entitlement), AppPoints licensing provides flexible licence-sharing across concurrent users, and reduces compliance risk and overheads.
When considering their upgrade to IBM MAS, organisations can opt solely for an AppPoint Assessment to understand their organisation’s current usage and licencing model and can gain a clear plan for transitioning to AppPoints Licensing. Or they can undergo the AppPoint Assessment as part of a full MAS Readiness Assessment (which includes the Functional and Technical Assessments).
See our ‘Savvy System Owners Guide to Moving to IBM MAS’ article for more information about AppPoints and how they work.
Cost saving results consistently achieved from an AppPoints Assessment:
COSOL has found that AppPoints Assessments have consistently resulted in reducing our customers’ AppPoints requirements by at least 10% through an optimised approach that also ensures heavy users maintain the access they need.
Comparatively, an unoptimised conversion from current Proof of Entitlements (PoE) licensing to AppPoints has shown that customers could be over allocating AppPoints by as much as 3 x compared to an optimised approach.
Embrace asset management change with COSOL
IBM Maximo Application Suite is the leading EAM solution for asset-intensive organisations looking to embrace proactive management of their critical asset infrastructure.
Upgrading to IBM MAS offers an opportunity for organisations to evaluate the health and performance of their Asset Management Information System (AMIS) environment and implement any functional and operational improvements required. The aim is to ensure they continue to invest in the tools they need to meet their objectives now and in the future.
COSOL understands the challenges and opportunities that IBM Maximo users face once they’ve made the decision to upgrade to IBM MAS. As the case of the major utility demonstrates, upgrading your EAM solution can yield substantive operational improvements, cost-savings and position your asset-intensive organisation for technical and process maturity. It all begins with an IBM MAS Readiness Assessment.
Get started with an IBM MAS Readiness Assessment
Request a free initial consultation with our specialist IBM Systems team to discuss the benefits and opportunities of an IBM MAS Readiness and AppPoints Assessment.
COSOL are IBM Gold Partners and IBM Maximo specialists with over 15 years experience helping asset intensive organisations implement and upgrade their EAM systems as part of their asset information ecosystem.
