With the increasing complexity of modern business landscapes, effectively managing assets and maximizing their lifespan is crucial in maintaining operational efficiency and reducing costs. But, too often, companies in asset-intensive industries lack the right resources and personnel to keep up with changes in physical assets and monitor maintenance activities for better business performance.
The Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) solution provides a comprehensive suite of tools and functionalities that enable businesses to streamline asset maintenance operations, improve asset performance, and make more informed decisions based on real-time data.
This article will discuss the core components and capabilities of SAP EAM software and where our team of SAP consultants can come in to help maximize your SAP investment.
Read on to learn more!
What is EAM in SAP?
SAP Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software incorporates the management and maintenance of physical assets across the entire lifecycle of an asset and integrates business processes across your assets and networks for better asset tracking and performance.
With Enterprise Asset Management solutions in SAP, users can leverage AI-based predictive maintenance tools, Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, and other functional software integrations to improve their data storage capacities and centralize all their asset information in the same place.
Understanding How SAP EAM Software Works
Enterprise Asset Management technology has evolved to meet the growing needs of cloud-based infrastructure, and SAP EAM software is no exception.
A functional cloud platform and integrations with other applications and systems, like supply chain management systems, IoT sensor systems, and geographic information systems (GIS), give SAP EAM the functionality needed to facilitate asset management and drive better business outcomes across the board.
Here are a few key capabilities offered across SAP Intelligent Asset Management:
Collect and store asset data
With SAP EAM capabilities, users can leverage the flexibility and agility of cloud-based solutions to collect valuable asset data and store it in a centralized data repository to improve accessibility and visibility across EAM processes.
SAP EAM software also provides comprehensive data analytics and performance management tools to assess the performance of physical assets and identify areas of improvement to facilitate better outcomes in the long run.
Assess risk and guide asset strategy
SAP EAM offers functional integrations with machine learning tools, advanced and predictive analytics, and other digital technologies to assess risk and conduct preventive maintenance to drive more efficient asset management processes and minimize unplanned maintenance of assets.
This way, companies can leverage reliability-centered maintenance features to manage asset availability and maintain regulatory compliance with asset maintenance requirements over time.
Schedule maintenance operations
Pre-built integrations with other technologies make it easier for users to schedule, manage, and execute maintenance procedures and control their SAP asset strategy more efficiently.
With this functionality, SAP EAM users are enabled to prioritize inspections and maintenance for their most important assets and resolve issues quickly to minimize the system’s downtime.
Extend SAP EAM solutions in the field
SAP EAM provides both online and offline functionality, simplifying the process of managing asset activities and work orders and facilitating better data visualization across teams.
The solution also allows companies to integrate their EAM operations with GIS data to provide a map-based user experience for remote assets and track work orders from multiple devices, including desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
Main Components of SAP Enterprise Asset Management
Here are a few of the main components of the SAP Enterprise Asset Management solution…
1) SAP Asset Performance Management
The Asset Performance Management solution in SAP allows companies to estimate and evaluate asset risk, improving the productivity of their teams and enhancing the ability to determine equipment failure curves based on pre-calculated probabilities.
2) SAP Field Service Management
The SAP Field Service Management application provides integrations with artificial intelligence features and other workforce scheduling processes to efficiently plan and dispatch workforces. This way, companies can manage their existing work and asset data and leverage standardized and customized reports to facilitate better decision-making.
3) SAP Crowd Service
With a collaborative service ecosystem that allows users to build a strong network of service professionals, SAP Crowd Service provides professional services for customers whenever and wherever they’re needed. AI-enabled scheduling functions also empower dispatch technicians to complete service requests more efficiently across the entire asset lifecycle.
4) SAP Business Network Asset Collaboration
SAP’s Business Network Asset Collaboration functions provide a single platform for stakeholders to identify and manage assets and create a strong foundation for OEMs, suppliers, service providers, and operators. This way, companies can facilitate better network collaboration and drive better business outcomes in the long run.
5) SAP Service and Asset Manager
The SAP Asset Manager tool makes it easier for companies to manage work orders more efficiently and leverage mobile device integrations to access data and manage tasks. With Service and Asset Manager functions, SAP users can leverage existing data and assets, whether online, offline, or dealing with intermittent connection, without skipping a beat.
6) SAP S/4HANA Asset Management
With S/4HANA Asset Management integrations, companies can track work statuses, build efficient schedules, and monitor time-sensitive work across asset maintenance processes for peak performance across the entire SAP landscape.
7) SAP S/4HANA for Spatial Asset Management
This solution connects SAP EAM functions and GIS information, making it easier for companies to create spatially-enabled business objects and leverage linear referencing methods to locate asset positions more effectively and optimize their enterprise asset management functions across the board.
Key Advantages of the SAP EAM Solution
Let’s take a closer look at a few of the main advantages of the SAP EAM solution…
Asset Lifecycle Management
SAP EAM provides end-to-end support for asset lifecycle management, from acquisition and installation to operation, maintenance, and more. It enables organizations to track and optimize all aspects of their assets, including maintenance schedules and work orders, to ensure optimal asset utilization over time.
Better Security
With SAP EAM, companies can proactively identify outcomes and areas for improvement before minor issues become major problems and risk their employees’ health and safety. The EAM solution also helps reduce carbon footprints by facilitating better asset utilization and equipment use and maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements to minimize liability.
Centralized Data
The SAP EAM infrastructure provides a single source of truth that incorporates all asset data in the same place, improving visibility and accessibility for users. With these integrated data stores, SAP EAM users can manage asset data, monitor performance, and schedule maintenance activities quickly without disrupting other areas of the SAP system or affecting time-to-value.
Data-Driven Decisions
Manual, paper-based reporting is replaced with real-time data and analytics in SAP EAM, making it easier for companies to support proactive maintenance processes and make data-driven decisions for better business outcomes.
Performance Monitoring
SAP EAM provides advanced analytics and reporting capabilities to drive real-time performance monitoring and identify and address issues more efficiently for better business productivity. It allows users to collect data from various sources, including sensors, IoT devices, and equipment interfaces and provides more actionable insights on asset health, performance trends, and potential failures.
Functional Integrations
The SAP EAM solution offers seamless integrations with other SAP modules, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM), to create a unified ecosystem for all business operations. With these integrations, users can leverage better data flows to eliminate data silos and facilitate cross-functional collaboration for improved process efficiency and data accuracy.
Maintenance Planning and Execution
With preventative maintenance scheduling features and resource allocation features in SAP Enterprise Asset Management, organizations can optimize their maintenance planning and execution processes and proactively address asset issues. This way, companies have the tools to minimize downtime, extend asset lifespan, and improve team decision-making.
How Can We Help?
Whether you need help implementing a new asset management solution across your SAP landscape, additional support integrating your Enterprise Asset Management software with SAP S/4HANA solutions, or just an extra hand running better maintenance schedules for maximized business value, Surety Systems is here to help.
Our team of senior-level SAP consultants has the knowledge, skills, and experience needed to lead you to success, regardless of the complexity of your organizational structure or the nature of your project needs. Your technology. Your priorities. Our expertise. That’s the name of the game at Surety.
And, in the past three years, our team of SAP consultants has been engaged on more than 100 consulting projects, making us the perfect fit for all your unique SAP project needs!
Partnering with the Best
Interested in learning where our team of expert SAP consultants can fit in your organization?
Ready to optimize asset tracking, maintenance management, and data analytics functions across your entire SAP system but don’t know where to begin?
Contact us today for more information about our SAP consulting services!
