What’s the Difference Between a CMMS and EAM
When searching for a solution to your maintenance management requirements, there are two viable options; a CMMS and EAM.
- EAM (Enterprise Asset Management) focuses on optimising the overall performance of assets.
- A CMMS (Computerised Maintenance Management System) encourages the automation of maintenance strategies to prolong asset performance and increase asset health.
Depending on variables such as asset type, business size, and the scale of operations, each solution provides different functionalities and benefits to match an organisation’s maintenance requirements.
Looking for CMMS Software? Easily identify the best maintenance management system for your needs
What Type of Maintenance Do You Perform?
A Side-By-Side Difference Between CMMS and EAM
CMMS and EAM are the two solutions that offer maintenance-oriented solutions. Often, they are perceived to be the same thing, which they are not. As a general rule of thumb, CMMS can be viewed as only a portion of what EAM can offer (like the image above).
However, the differences, in terms of parameters and functionality, can also be granular.
Parameter | EAM | CMMS |
Fundamental Concept | Designed to address total asset lifecycle management | Designed to drive asset uptime |
Key Capabilities | Capital Planning, Asset Procurement, Asset Installation, Workflow Layouts, Production Load Management, Asset Maintenance, Compliance Management, Asset Risk Management & Asset Disposal | Reactive, Proactive, Preventive and Preventative Maintenance Management Workflows |
Usage | Users from Finance, Maintenance, Operations, Productions and Compliance teams | Users from Maintenance and Operations teams |
Implementation | Since they are enterprise-wide systems they tend to have Phased Implementation Cycles | Single Implementation Cycles |
Decision Making | C-Level Suite, Maintenance and Operations Teams | Typically Maintenance and Operations Teams |
Ideal Application | Asset-intensive industries focused on managing the asset lifecycle | Asset-intensive industries focused on driving asset-uptime. |
Which System Best Suits Your Requirements
Certain operational scenarios that make it clear which solution you require; EAM or CMMS. When deciding, it’s important for an organisation to understand what they require and what they want to achieve based on a system’s capabilities and features.
Category | Feature | CMMS | EAM |
Work Order Management | |||
Work order creation | Create, assign, track and close maintenance work orders | Yes | Yes |
Priority & scheduling | Prioritise work by urgency, criticality or resource availability | Yes | Yes |
Multi-site work orders | Manage work orders across geographically distributed sites | Partial | Yes |
Work order templates | Reusable templates for recurring task types | Yes | Yes |
Labour cost tracking | Track time and cost per worker on each job | Yes | Yes |
Preventive & Predictive Maintenance | |||
PM scheduling | Calendar- or meter-based preventive maintenance triggers | Yes | Yes |
Condition-based monitoring | Trigger work based on sensor readings or asset condition | Partial | Yes |
Predictive analytics / AI | ML-driven failure prediction and maintenance forecasting | Rarely | Yes |
IoT / sensor integration | Real-time data ingestion from connected equipment | Rarely | Yes |
Reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) | Formal RCM frameworks and failure mode analysis | No | Yes |
Asset Management | |||
Asset register / inventory | Centralised list of all physical assets and attributes | Yes | Yes |
Asset hierarchy | Parent–child relationships (site → system → equipment → component) | Partial | Yes |
Asset lifecycle management | Track assets from acquisition through disposal with full history | Partial | Yes |
Asset performance management | KPIs like OEE, availability, MTBF, MTTR per asset | Partial | Yes |
Asset criticality scoring | Risk-based ranking of assets by business impact | Rarely | Yes |
GIS / spatial mapping | Geographic or plant-floor mapping of asset locations | No | Yes |
Inventory & Spare Parts | |||
Spare parts catalogue | Track parts, stock levels and storage locations | Yes | Yes |
Auto reorder / min–max | Trigger purchase orders when stock falls below threshold | Yes | Yes |
Multi-warehouse management | Stock visibility and transfers across multiple storerooms | Partial | Yes |
Vendor & supplier management | Supplier records, contracts, performance scoring | Partial | Yes |
Parts linked to assets | Associate spare parts directly with specific assets | Yes | Yes |
Procurement & Financials | |||
Purchase order management | Create, approve and track POs within the system | Partial | Yes |
Maintenance budgeting | Define and track budgets at department or asset level | Partial | Yes |
Capital expenditure planning | Long-range capex forecasting and approval workflows | No | Yes |
Depreciation tracking | Calculate and record asset depreciation over time | No | Yes |
Total cost of ownership | Aggregate acquisition, maintenance, energy and disposal costs | No | Yes |
ERP / finance integration | Native or API sync with SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics etc. | Partial | Yes |
Compliance & Safety | |||
Inspection management | Schedule and record regulatory or internal inspections | Yes | Yes |
Safety permits (PTW) | Permit-to-work digital workflows for hazardous tasks | Partial | Yes |
Regulatory compliance tracking | Map work to regulatory standards (ISO 55000, OSHA, etc.) | Partial | Yes |
Audit trails | Immutable change logs for compliance and traceability | Yes | Yes |
Environmental / sustainability data | Track energy usage, emissions and ESG-related metrics | No | Yes |
Incident & near-miss reporting | Log safety incidents and link them to affected assets | Partial | Yes |
Workforce & Contractor Management | |||
Technician scheduling | Assign and dispatch technicians with skills matching | Yes | Yes |
Skills & certification tracking | Record staff qualifications and flag when certifications expire | Partial | Yes |
Contractor / third-party portal | External access for contractors to receive and update jobs | Partial | Yes |
Time & attendance tracking | Clock-in/out and hours worked per job or shift | Partial | Yes |
Reporting & Analytics | |||
Standard dashboards | Pre-built KPI dashboards for maintenance performance | Yes | Yes |
Custom report builder | Drag-and-drop or SQL-based ad hoc reporting | Partial | Yes |
Backlog & workload analysis | Visibility of outstanding work and capacity planning | Yes | Yes |
Failure analysis (FMEA/RCFA) | Root cause and failure mode analytics linked to asset history | Rarely | Yes |
BI tool integration | Export to Power BI, Tableau, Qlik etc. | Partial | Yes |
Mobility & Usability | |||
Mobile app (iOS / Android) | Native or PWA app for field technicians | Yes | Yes |
Offline mode | Work without connectivity; sync when back online | Yes | Yes |
QR / barcode scanning | Scan asset tags to pull up records or log work | Yes | Yes |
Ease of configuration | Low-code setup; accessible for smaller teams without IT | Better | Complex |
Integration & Scalability | |||
REST API / webhooks | Open API for connecting third-party systems | Yes | Yes |
SCADA / DCS integration | Connect to industrial control systems for real-time data | Rarely | Yes |
HR system integration | Sync workforce data with HRIS platforms | No | Yes |
Multi-site / global scale | Designed for enterprise deployments across many locations | Partial | Yes |
Cloud SaaS deployment | Hosted, subscription-based deployment model | Yes | Yes |
When Do You Require a CMMS
- Drive maintenance KPIs
- Reduce unplanned downtime of critical machinery and equipment
- Reduce repair and emergency breakdown costs
- Limit reactive maintenance tasks
- Increase workplace and worker health and safety
- Prolong asset operation and reduce high asset disposal rates
When Do You Require EAM
- Track and manage the entire asset life cycle of physical assets and infrastructure
- Increase asset performance and uptime
- Manage operational and purchasing costs
- Determine asset valuation and plan purchasing decisions
- Access informational and technical data regarding each asset