A 600 MW combined-cycle unit and a hotel HVAC system both generate "work orders." That is roughly where the similarity ends. Power plants run under NERC and Ofgem compliance obligations, fired-hour counters, forced outage windows measured in days, and technicians who need a checklist to survive on a mobile screen in a turbine hall with no signal. Buy the wrong CMMS and you don't just waste a software budget — you lose 12 to 18 months of implementation effort and watch your crews quietly go back to paper. Sign up to see how a plant-built CMMS handles turbine, boiler, and generator workflows out of the box.
Why It Matters
Most CMMS shortlists get built off a generic feature spreadsheet — and every vendor's spreadsheet says yes to everything. The platforms that actually survive a power plant score differently across 18 concrete criteria: how the software models a turbine's fired hours, whether it can prove compliance to an Ofgem auditor, whether a technician under a boiler can complete a checklist offline, and whether a €50,000 rotor order flows straight into SAP without a shadow spreadsheet. Score against these, not a marketing deck.
The 18 Criteria, Grouped Into 6 Categories
Eighteen line items are hard to score in isolation, so group them the way a maintenance manager actually evaluates a demo — by what breaks first when the software meets the plant floor.
1. Asset & Workflow Fit
Multi-level asset hierarchy (plant to sub-component), fired-hour and runtime counters, condition-based PM triggers from sensor thresholds
2. Compliance & Audit
Timestamped, technician-attributed work order records, regulator-ready export formats, safety classification tagging on every asset
3. Outage & Turnaround
Outage Gantt with critical-path tasks, parts pre-staging against the outage date, contractor and crew coordination in one schedule
4. Mobile & Field Usability
Offline-capable mobile parity, photo-based inspection checklists, lockout-tagout verification before a work order unlocks
5. ERP & Systems Integration
Two-way sync with SAP PM or an equivalent ERP, purchase orders that flow to finance automatically, SCADA and historian data ingestion
6. Governance & Rollout
Pilot-first deployment on one unit, role-based permissions by station and shift, a steering committee that owns the platform past go-live
Turbine, Boiler, And Generator Need Different Workflows
A generic CMMS treats every asset the same. A power plant CMMS has to flex per equipment class, because the failure modes and inspection logic are nothing alike.
Turbine
Fired-hour counters and hot-section inspection intervals, vibration and exhaust gas temperature spread feeding condition-based triggers, trip history tied to root-cause work orders
Boiler
Tube leak and thickness inspection cycles, refractory and pressure-part scheduling, forced-outage work orders generated straight from a boiler tube leak alarm
Generator
Winding insulation and bearing temperature trending, excitation system inspection templates, outage-linked overhaul checklists tied to fired-hour thresholds
If a vendor cannot demo condition-based triggers on your own turbine, boiler, and generator data during the sales cycle, it will not build that logic after the contract is signed.
Test It On Your Own Equipment, Not A Demo Dataset
Bring a turbine inspection, a boiler tube leak, and a generator overhaul checklist into the evaluation and watch the platform build the work order live. Sign up for a free trial to run your own scenarios, or book a demo to walk through the 18 criteria with your fleet's data.
The UK Layer: NIS Regulations Change What "Compliant" Means
A UK plant classed as an Operator of Essential Service under the Network and Information Systems Regulations 2018 answers to Ofgem, not just an internal audit team — and the CMMS sits inside that scope the moment it touches operational technology.
1
Confirm OES Scope First
Whether a station falls under NIS as an Operator of Essential Service depends on its activities against the electricity subsector thresholds in Schedule 2 — settle this before scoring the CMMS on compliance.
2
Ask For Ofgem-Ready Reporting
Ofgem scores OES operators against RAG attainment levels and expects evidence of both policy and operational longevity — a CMMS that cannot export dated, technician-attributed maintenance records makes that evidence gap wider.
3
Plan For The Scope To Widen
Proposed changes would extend NIS-style obligations to a broader set of energy operators, so a CMMS that treats compliance as a bolt-on feature rather than a core data model will fall behind as reporting requirements evolve.
Where ERP Integration And Mobile Parity Decide Adoption
The maintenance manager loves the dashboard. The technician under the boiler at 3am decides whether the platform survives — and that decision usually comes down to two things.
SAP PM Integration
A part ordered on the floor should flow into finance and procurement without a second entry. Without real ERP sync, technicians route around the CMMS and log work in spreadsheets that finance never sees — the classic "shadow maintenance" gap.
Mobile Parity
A mobile app that is a stripped-down preview of the desktop tool gets abandoned by week three. Full parity means completing checklists, attaching photos, and closing a work order offline in a turbine hall with no signal.
Score both during the demo, not after the contract: send the vendor a real work order, watch them build it live on mobile, then check whether it posts cleanly into your ERP.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q
Which of the 18 criteria should carry the most weight?
Asset and workflow fit first — if the platform cannot model fired-hour counters and condition-based triggers for your turbine, boiler, and generator classes, no amount of ERP integration or mobile polish will make it usable. Compliance and mobile usability follow close behind.
Q
Does SAP PM alone cover compliance and mobile needs?
No. SAP PM gives strong financial and procurement integration, but its interface is often avoided by technicians on the floor, which is why many plants pair it with a mobile-first CMMS layer that syncs back into SAP rather than replacing it.
Q
Do all UK power plants fall under NIS Regulations?
Only those classed as Operators of Essential Services against the electricity subsector thresholds set out in the NIS Regulations. Scope should be confirmed against your specific activities before treating NIS compliance as a fixed CMMS requirement.
Score Your Next CMMS Against All 18 Criteria
Oxmaint models turbine, boiler, and generator workflows natively, syncs cleanly with SAP PM and equivalent ERPs, and gives field technicians full offline mobile parity — no shadow spreadsheets, no compliance gaps. Sign up for a free trial to run your own asset data through it, or book a demo to walk the 18 criteria against your fleet.
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