Lesson 4 of 10 · 9 min
Writing your requirements and trialing a CMMS on real work
Written by Melek Mehrez, founder of FreeMaint · Last reviewed October 11, 2026
Lesson objective
By the end of this lesson, you can write a one-page CMMS requirements list with weighted criteria, and run a two-week trial on ten real assets before committing to any software.
Feature lists all look alike. Every CMMS vendor will say yes to work orders, preventive plans and a mobile app; the difference shows when your own technicians use the software on your own machines.
This lesson turns the audit from lesson 3 into a short requirements list, then into a trial on real work. The goal is not to find a perfect tool, but to avoid a tool your team will not use.
Write a one-page requirements list
Start from the problems found in the audit, not from a vendor's feature list. Each requirement answers a real situation: the request lost at night, the part missing at the start of a job, the preventive task nobody checked off.
Sort requirements into two groups. Must-haves are pass/fail: a tool that lacks one is out, whatever its other qualities. Nice-to-haves earn points but never decide alone. A list with more than ten must-haves is usually a wish list in disguise.
| Criterion | What to check |
|---|---|
| Field use | Can a technician create, update and close a work order on a phone, in a few taps, without a desk? |
| Offline work | Does the mobile app keep working offline in basements, tanks or remote sites, and sync afterward? |
| Simplicity | Can a requester report a problem without training? Can a new technician find their jobs on day one? |
| Total cost | Licenses, per-user fees, setup, training, add-ons and the price after the first year, for the team size you expect in three years |
| Data portability | Can you export all your data in an open format, at any time and without fees, if you leave? |
| Languages and support | Is the interface available in your teams' languages? How do you get help, and how fast? |
Compare options with a weighted grid
Give each nice-to-have criterion a weight from 1 to 5, then score each tool from 0 to 5 on each criterion. Multiply and add up: the total gives a ranking you can explain to the sponsor. Any tool that fails a must-have is excluded before scoring.
| Criterion | Weight | Tool A | Tool B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field use on a phone | 5 | 4 (20) | 3 (15) |
| Simplicity for requesters | 4 | 3 (12) | 5 (20) |
| Reports and indicators | 3 | 5 (15) | 3 (9) |
| Total cost over 3 years | 4 | 2 (8) | 4 (16) |
| Total | — | 55 | 60 |
Scores remain judgments. Ask two or three people to score separately, then discuss the gaps: they reveal what each person really expects. The trial will then confirm or correct the scores.
Run a two-week trial on real work
A demo shows the software at its best, run by someone who knows it. A trial shows it in your hands. Many CMMS vendors offer a free trial or a free plan: use it on a small real scope rather than on invented data.
- 1
Choose the scope
About ten real assets, including two or three critical ones, and the technicians and requesters who work around them.
- 2
Load real data
Create these assets, a few locations and one or two preventive plans. Only real data shows how the tool copes with your naming and your daily work.
- 3
Run daily work through it
For two weeks, every request and every job on the scope goes through the software, on phones in the field as well as at the desk.
- 4
Collect feedback
At the end, ask each participant what was quick, what was slow and what they would refuse to do every day. Update the scores in the grid.
Example
The packaging plant makes its choice
During the last week of the audit, the packaging plant writes its requirements: six must-haves, including offline use on phones (the cold room has no network) and a full data export, plus eight weighted nice-to-haves. Of the five tools considered, three fail a must-have and are set aside before any demo.
The two remaining tools are trialed one after the other, two weeks each, on the same ten assets of the first filling line, with two technicians and the line's production supervisor. One tool scores well in the grid, but technicians need six taps to close a job: its field-use score drops from 4 to 2.
The decision goes to the sponsor with the grid, the trial notes and the three-year cost of each option. The project lead writes down why the other tool was rejected, in case the question comes back in a year.
Four common mistakes
- Copying a vendor's feature list into the requirements.
- Comparing prices for the first year only, or for today's team size.
- Letting the office choose without a trial in the field.
- Forgetting to ask how the data leaves the software.
In FreeMaint
Included in Core (free)Trial on the free plan, with no time limit
FreeMaint's free Core plan has no time limit and includes unlimited users, assets and work orders, calendar-based preventive plans, requests and the mobile app, so a trial can run on real work for as long as you need. A full backup of your data can be downloaded from Company Settings › Data on every plan.
Read the documentationTemplate for this lesson
Requirements list and weighted comparison grid
Excel (.xlsx), blank, with formulas
Key takeaways
- Start from the problems found in the audit, not from feature lists.
- Separate pass/fail must-haves from weighted nice-to-haves.
- Make data portability a must-have.
- Trial on ten real assets, with real users, for two weeks.
Check your understanding
A few quick questions. Nothing is recorded.