Spreadsheets and PDF drawings, or a CMMS with GIS: what you gain and what it costs to switch.
It is the most common starting point: not another CMMS, but a master spreadsheet, a set of drawings and the judgement of whoever keeps them up to date. It works while volumes are small and that person is around. Here we compare the two ways of working point by point, explain what migration costs and when it is not worth it.
The file analysis step: the spreadsheet columns recognised and matched to the asset fields, before the load is confirmed.
Seven differences between the spreadsheet and the system.
| Aspect | Spreadsheet and drawings | CMMS with native GIS |
|---|---|---|
| Where the asset is | On a PDF drawing, separate from its record. | Real geometry on the map, with its history attached to it. |
| Querying by area | Cross-checking drawing and spreadsheet by hand, every time. | You draw the area on the map and the system returns the assets that fall inside it. |
| History | The spreadsheet holds the current state, not how it got there. | Every work order with its history of states and transitions. |
| Evidence for the customer | Pieced together afterwards from emails and stray photographs. | Geolocated evidence, before and after photographs and sign-off signature, collected while the work is done. |
| Cost of the job | Estimated at month end, if it is estimated at all. | Materials, hours and kilometres charged to the work order. |
| Know-how | In the head of whoever keeps the spreadsheet. | Asset types, tasks and forms configured in the system. |
| Cost of entry | None: you already have it. | A subscription, and a migration that forces you to decide what an asset type is. |
Loading the data is the easy part. The hard part comes first.
Data is loaded from GeoPackage, zipped Shapefile, GeoJSON, DXF and CSV, in the background with progress shown.
What takes time is deciding what an asset type is and which properties describe it. That is a matter of judgement, not software, and it is where rollouts get stuck.
Preconfigured verticals turn that work into reviewing and adjusting instead of starting from scratch: they come with families, types, properties, symbology, maintenance types, tasks and forms, which are cloned into your workspace and become yours.
There is still a way.
Assets can be created on the map, one by one, and also from the field with the app: the technician creates the asset with its geometry where it stands, and it comes in as a change request for whoever governs the inventory to approve.
It is slower than an import, but it makes the survey part of the daily work instead of a separate project.
When the switch is not worth it.
- All your maintenance happens inside one building If the only problem is getting off the spreadsheet, a plant CMMS is enough for you and costs less.
- Nobody can spare the time to decide what an asset type is Without that judgement work, migration gets stuck all the same, with this product or any other. Better to wait until you have it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a rollout take?
Can I start with part of the asset base?
Last updated:
Tell us what format your inventory is in.
Spreadsheets, Shapefile, PDF drawings or nothing digital at all. With that, we can tell you where we would start.