General
The earliest versions of CMMS appeared in the 1960s and were typically used by large enterprises. Technicians used punch cards and IBM mainframes to inform computerized records and track maintenance tasks. In the 1970s, punch cards gave way to checklists fed into CMMS systems by technicians at the end of their shifts.
A computerized maintenance management system or CMMS is software that centralizes maintenance information and facilitates the processes of maintenance operations. It helps optimize the utilization and availability of physical equipment like vehicles, machinery, communications, plant infrastructures and other assets. Also referred to as CMMIS or computerized maintenance management information system, CMMS systems are found in manufacturing, oil and gas production, power generation, construction, transportation and other industries where physical infrastructure is critical. The core of a CMMS is its database. It has a data model that organizes information about the assets a maintenance organization is charged with maintaining, as well as the equipment, materials and other resources to do so.
The creator of Maximo was a company called Project Software and Development, Inc (PSDI). The PSDI founded in 1968 by Bob Daniels, and was changed the name into MRO and headed by Norman “Chip” Drapeau. After sucessfullt launched an outage management system called PROJECT/2 systems to the market in early 1980s, PSDI developed a system that has more maintenance approach, and named with Maximo. Maximo 2.0 ran on IBM PC/AT with 2 main modules : work orders and inventory. It had two of the distinguishing features of Maximo today: the screen and the database were editable using Maximo tools. After progressed into client-server architecture in late 80s, in early 2000s, Maximo version 5 continue its journey with web based system. By 2005 Maximo 6 was fully web based system. The latest version of Maximo is version 8.4 powered by OpenShift
The typical implementation steps would be : (1) Planning (2) Requirement Definition (3) Design (4) Development & Configuration (5) Testing (6) Go Live (7) Support
Deeper
There are 6 (six) EAM functional modules : asset management, work management, inventory management, purchasing management, contract management and service management.