CMMS switching costs are consistently underestimated. The hard costs: data migration ($10,000 to $60,000 depending on volume and quality), contract termination fees (typically 50 to 100% of remaining contract value), new system implementation ($15,000 to $60,000), and user training ($5,000 to $15,000). The soft costs are often larger: productivity decline of 10 to 20% for 8 to 12 weeks during the transition, maintenance manager time diverted from operations to migration project management, and the institutional knowledge embedded in your existing system configuration that must be rebuilt. Total switching costs for a mid-market manufacturer typically run $60,000 to $180,000 when all costs are captured. This is not a reason to stay with a failing CMMS — the annual cost of a poor CMMS (lost productivity, poor adoption, bad data) frequently exceeds switching costs within 18 months. But switching costs must be factored into the ROI model for the new system honestly, and they must be minimized through careful migration planning.
Not everything in your old CMMS deserves to move to the new one. Asset records: migrate all currently active assets with their critical attributes (asset ID, name, location, criticality, manufacturer, model, serial number). Do not migrate decommissioned assets unless regulatory retention requirements apply. PM schedules: migrate all active PM schedules, but use the migration as an opportunity to rationalize — PMs that have never been completed in 24 months should be reviewed for continued relevance before migrating. Work order history: this is the most contentious migration decision. Historical work orders older than 36 months rarely provide operational value but add significant migration cost. Migrate the last 24 to 36 months of work order history and archive older data in a read-only format rather than migrating it to the active system. Spare parts inventory: migrate current inventory levels, reorder points, and part numbers. The migration is an excellent opportunity to audit slow-moving inventory — parts with no usage in 12 months should be investigated before being migrated as active stock. Vendor records: migrate all active vendors. Archive inactive vendors rather than migrating them to keep the new system clean from day one.
Day 1 to 30 — preparation: conduct data audit identifying what to migrate, what to archive, and what to discard. Prepare clean data files in vendor-specified import format. Configure new system with asset hierarchy, user roles, and PM schedules. Train the implementation team. Negotiate parallel running period in new vendor contract. Day 31 to 60 — parallel running: both systems active simultaneously. New work orders created in the new system while old system receives updates for in-progress work. Technicians use the new mobile app for new work orders, validating the workflow. PM schedules running in new system with compliance tracking. Day 61 to 90 — cutover and validation: historical data migration completed and validated by comparing key metrics between systems. Old system deactivated except for read-only archive access. New system becomes sole system of record. Adoption monitoring weekly for the first 90 days post-cutover with direct feedback loop from maintenance technicians. The parallel running phase is the most frequently skipped step and the most common cause of switch failures. Three weeks of parallel running surfaces workflow gaps and data quality issues while the safety net of the old system is still available — skipping it to save time typically costs three to six months of recovery.
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