Ask the Right Questions to Shift CMMS From a Data Log to a Strategic Tool

Written by Matt Stansberry – Executive Director, Data Center Practitioner Insight and Experience

The Uptime Network is a community of data center owners and operators under mutual NDA, representing the world’s largest IT infrastructure operators. This newsletter provides a highly abbreviated, anonymized readout of member insights and discussions, with the goal of advancing the data center industry and providing feedback for continuous improvement to the supplier community. Uptime Network

In March 2025, a group of 20 Uptime Network members gathered under NDA to discuss the state of Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) in data center operations. The session—led by experienced practitioners and moderated by Uptime Institute staff—surfaced a shared recognition: while CMMS is often underutilized, it is becoming a higher priority for investment.

A CMMS serves as a centralized system for managing critical infrastructure like generators, chillers, and UPS systems—tracking equipment from procurement to end-of-life. It supports preventive maintenance, work order management, spare parts inventory, and compliance documentation.

Uptime Network members expect CMMS to increase in importance as organizations enable more advanced functionality, turning this software from a maintenance log to a strategic planning tool.

But many organizations are underutilizing their current CMMS systems and Network members said that data quality issues are the biggest problem many of them are facing.

Dealing with the data is key to unlocking any advanced use cases, and members came up with recommendations for how organizations can take steps to improve data quality. But in many cases, organizations are going to be upgrading these systems in the near future, with AI-enhanced operational capabilities becoming available.

While there is potential for CMMS to turn into a tool that helps operators with advanced functions like financial planning, optimizing for efficiency or improving maintenance outcomes – the real success of these functions will depend on selecting the right tool for the job from the beginning, as changing systems after the fact is difficult and costly.

Network members suggested buyers ask potential providers the right questions up front.

• Which external systems does the CMMS natively integrate with (e.g., building management systems, energy metering, ERP, procurement, or asset performance management tools), and how do those integrations enable advanced capabilities like predictive maintenance, lifecycle costing, or automated inventory planning?

• Does the platform offer a well-documented, open API? Can it support custom integrations with in-house systems or third-party platforms? Ask the suppliers to confirm any middleware, licensing, or professional services required to build or maintain those integrations.

• In some CMMS platforms, data may be transformed or overwritten during ingestion or processing without a clear record of what changed or why. How does the platform ensure data integrity, and that changes to system data are deliberate, auditable and controlled?   Who owns the data once it’s uploaded to the system?

What questions do you think data center operators should ask their CMMS providers? We’d love to hear your experience with modern CMMS tools. Feel free to drop a comment to join the conversation and let us know where you think CMMS capabilities are heading.