CMMS and asset management glossary

The parent-child structure that organizes assets, for example organization, site, system, asset and component. A good hierarchy lets cost, condition and history roll up to the level where decisions are made.

The stages an asset passes through: plan, acquire, commission, operate, maintain, renew and dispose. Lifecycle management balances cost, risk and performance across all of them.

The authoritative list of an organization’s physical assets and their attributes: identification, location, classification, status, condition, financials and documents.

A chronological record of who changed what and when. It supports compliance, investigations and trust in the data.

Computerized maintenance management system: software that holds an asset register and supports inspections, preventive maintenance, work orders and maintenance reporting.

A part of an asset that is inspected, rated or replaced on its own, such as a girder, bearing, pump or motor. Recording condition per component shows where wear actually happens.

A standardized score for the state of an asset or component, for example a 1–9 scale or condition states C1–C4. Consistent ratings make assets comparable over time.

Maintenance triggered by the measured condition of an asset, from inspections or sensor readings, instead of by a fixed calendar alone.

How important an asset is to operations, safety or service, usually based on the consequence of its failure. It is used to prioritize inspection and maintenance.

A recorded deficiency on an asset or component, typically with a type, severity, measurement, location and photos, tracked until it is resolved.

Enterprise asset management: managing physical assets across their whole lifecycle and across the whole organization, including structure, condition, maintenance, cost, risk and compliance.

Geographic information system: software that stores and displays assets by location on a map, which is essential for networks such as roads, utilities and city infrastructure.

Automatically updating the status of assets that depend on a failed asset or component, and restoring them when the source is repaired.

A planned examination of an asset to record its condition and defects. Standards such as AASHTO SNBI (bridges) and FHWA SNTI (tunnels) define what is inspected and how.

Sensors and devices that send readings, such as temperature, vibration, strain or tilt, over a network. In asset management they give continuous condition data between inspections.

A lightweight publish-subscribe messaging protocol widely used by IoT devices, both to send readings and to receive commands.

Mean time between failures: the average operating time between failures of a repairable asset. A common reliability measure.

Mean time to repair: the average time needed to restore an asset after a failure. A common maintainability measure.

Overall equipment effectiveness: availability × performance × quality. The standard measure of production-line productivity in manufacturing.

Using condition data and models to forecast failures and act before they happen. Mintema’s component condition history and sensor readings are the data this depends on, and the platform is designed to support predictive models.

Maintenance done on a schedule, by time or usage, to reduce the likelihood of failure, regardless of the asset’s current condition.

Role-based access control: granting permissions to roles rather than individuals, so that people see and do only what their role allows.

Specifications for the National Bridge Inventory: the US standard (FHWA, with AASHTO element definitions) for recording bridge inventory and inspection data.

Specifications for the National Tunnel Inventory: the FHWA standard for recording tunnel inventory and inspection data.

A record that authorizes and tracks a piece of maintenance work: what is to be done, on which asset, by whom and by when.