Contract management, quick benefits from underutilized COSWIN functionalities

The standard COSWIN system allows comprehensive recording, management and follow up of all subcontracted activities, from simple warranty contracts (prompting users if equipment is still under warranty) to complex service-level agreements. Obviously of major relevance to service suppliers (Changcheng Property Group, featured in this month’s case study, makes extensive use of contracts), it is however underutilized by facility owners. This article will highlight simple ways to start using contracts.

Contracts can be made for equipment or equipment groups. Jobs can then be created and assigned to equipments and therefore governed by the contract. All the costs of jobs under a contract are monitored and accumulated to totals for pre-defined cost periods. Work orders completed under contract can be invoiced.

As often with information systems, the simplest utilization brings the most benefits. Usability is critical, as a consistent use of the system is necessary to build up reliable data and to produce meaningful analysis. Usability is linked to simplicity and relevance to users’ daily business. Contract management is no exception. Practical ways to use COSWIN in this area include:

Is a piece of equipment still under warranty? Is part of the plant, group of equipment or specific machine currently covered by a contract? What are the contracts validity dates, suppliers, contact persons and other details?

A library of contracts containing such basic information can easily be built up in COSWIN: a database of service suppliers, contracts (open purchase order or annual contracts), linked to assets. The actual contract can be handled in electronic format or by reference to a paper contract number. If such data already exist, Siveco can help upload it directly into COSWIN using the Clic-Clac data migration engine.

Optionally, list of contract items (parts and services, i.e. jobs) can be created, contracts can be linked to work orders and costs can be managed… In fact, all aspects of the contracts can be managed in COSWIN, which however adds complexity to the process.

The benefits of having such a simple up-to-date library of contracts linked to assets are immediate: by simple configuration of the email plugin, COSWIN sends automatic reminders before contracts expire (to avoid realizing a machine is out of warranty only after a breakdown happens) and users are automatically prompted when raising a work orders on an asset with a valid contract. Experience shows that existing contracts are often overlooked, resulting in additional costs. Furthermore, users can very quickly find out the details of the agreement, contact details, etc. considerably reducing the time spent talking to people in charge of purchasing and documentation. Finally, simple analysis of suppliers’ performance can be performed, running standard reports against all equipments under contract with a chosen supplier.

All the standard resource management features of COSWIN can be used for outside resources. This includes the allocation of resources (employees, facilities) to work orders and the entire planning and scheduling process. Such resources are simply identified as external, to avoid double accounting (all their costs are already covered by contracts). As most customers do not actually managed resources cost in COSWIN (apart from purchased items), this anyway doesn’t have much impact on the system.

The benefits are obvious, for example when planning for a project, such as a major renovation job where most of the actual manpower will be subcontracted: the first resource estimates can be done in COSWIN and then used as a basis for supplier’s selection. The execution, by the contractor, can afterwards be managed in COSWIN.

Most companies cannot expect their subcontractors to use COSWIN or even any advanced CMMS. Instead, COSWIN provides simple yet powerful solutions to enhance communication with external parties and ensure smooth interaction. Although not directly related to the contract management functionality, these are significant tools to manage contractors in COSWIN.

Maintenance plans can always be output in Ms Project format (or Primavera). Keep in mind that, unlike other CMMS where Ms Project is used as a planning tool, COSWIN includes its own planning engine, designed for maintenance planning (as opposed to project planning): the Ms Project interface is meant to be primarily a communication tool, as most contractors are able to read .mpp files. The process is as follows: a planned outage (for example) is prepared by the facility owner in COSWIN. This is typically a high-level plan based on the owner’s requirements (scope of work, duration, in-house resources and facilities available). The plan is then exported to Ms Project and emailed to the various contractors involved. Each of them can study, complete and modify their part of the project. They later email the updated files to the owner, who imports them back into COSWIN. This ensures than plans remain always up-to-date between the various players involved.

When managing subcontractors it is also common to make use of COSWIN automated email generation and other alerts to ensure efficient communication of tasks and information to external organisations that are not COSWIN users. For example, HVAC job requests are automatically re-routed by email to the HVAC contractor. Performance reports can also be emailed at the end of the month without human intervention (using COSWIN Report). The Email Plug-in can be used to create such notifications (content and conditions). Some customers use automatic faxing instead of email, when dealing with less advanced suppliers.

COSWIN provides more advanced functionality that goes beyond the scope of this article, focused on what customers can easily setup by themselves. Large facility owners may choose to have contractors accessing the central COSWIN platform directly via a specially designed web portal (in fact the normal COSWIN with a dedicated user group, diagrams, simplified screens, etc.). Each contractor’s access is restricted to data related to their scope of work, e.g. their list of work orders, contracts and equipment managed.

For example, contractors may receive new work orders (with warning by email if required), acknowledge receipt, open and update them, confirm date and resources, provide quotation if necessary, attach documents such as drawings and later report work done and start the invoicing process. For large owners, the benefits in terms of administration and communication are enormous. Many large multinational Siveco clients use COSWIN in this way.

Although users familiar with COSWIN may be able to setup such portals themselves, it is recommended to involve more experienced Siveco engineers to avoid common pitfalls.

We hope this article may have opened your eyes on a possible utilization of COSWIN. You can easily start to create a database of contracts today, starting with warranty periods or perhaps the most important service agreements. The email plug-in can be configured to automatically let users know when contracts should be renewed and to inform contractors when events occur within their scope of supply. With an eye on implementing more complex functionality later, you can already obtain impressive results with such simple additions.

Tags： CMMS、contract management