Guides
Practical guidance for planning an IBM Maximo programme, evaluating a delivery partner and operating MAS. Explore by topic or start with the selected guides below.
Three formats
We publish in three places. Pick the format that matches the decision in front of you.
Start here
Selected starting points for upgrade planning, partner evaluation and application assurance.
A practical pre-flight checklist for moving from legacy Maximo (5.x, 6.x, 7.x) to IBM Maximo Application Suite, including what to assess, what to retire, and what to test.
Why this one: A structured starting point for assessing migration scope and programme readiness.
A buyer-side guide to evaluating IBM Maximo partners in the UK and Ireland: what good looks like, the questions that filter pretenders, and how to read between the lines of a partner pitch.
Why this one: Delivery criteria and questions to support a considered partner evaluation.
A practitioner-grade audit framework for IBM Maximo and MAS environments. The seven areas we check on every health-check engagement, what 'good' looks like, and what we do with the findings.
Why this one: The seven areas we audit on a live estate. Useful as a self-assessment even if you never call us.
Decision
Written for: Procurement, commercial and the evaluation lead
Delivery criteria, evidence and questions to support an IBM Maximo partner evaluation and a clear scope of responsibility.
A buyer-side guide to evaluating IBM Maximo partners in the UK and Ireland: what good looks like, the questions that filter pretenders, and how to read between the lines of a partner pitch.
The questions that filter serious IBM Maximo partners from the rest, written for the procurement, IT and asset-management leads running the evaluation.
Decision
Written for: IT leads, programme leads and software asset management
The MAS decision in its three parts: what the upgrade actually involves, what AppPoints and predecessor licence terms commit you to, and how long a realistic programme takes. Read alongside our pages on the MAS upgrade and AppPoints licensing.
How IBM MAS AppPoints relate to perpetual and subscription licensing, what classic Maximo 7.6 estates should plan for, and what to verify before you sign.
What IBM end-of-support means in practice for Maximo 7.6 estates, your real options (upgrade, extended support, do nothing), and how MaxIron Extended Support bridges you to MAS.
Realistic timelines for IBM Maximo Application Suite implementations, the phases that actually take the time, and where most programmes lose weeks they did not need to.
A practical pre-flight checklist for moving from legacy Maximo (5.x, 6.x, 7.x) to IBM Maximo Application Suite, including what to assess, what to retire, and what to test.
Decision
Written for: IT, architecture and platform owners
IBM-managed SaaS, MaxIron Cloud, or MAS on OpenShift in your Azure, AWS or OCI subscription. MaxIron designs and can operate the last two. The trade-offs that decide it are integration complexity, upgrade timing and who carries out-of-hours operations, not the headline subscription figure.
How to decide between IBM-managed MAS SaaS, MaxIron Cloud, and MAS on OpenShift in your Azure, AWS or OCI subscription, with the trade-offs that actually matter.
When partner-managed Maximo hosting is the right call, when keeping operations in-house is the right call, and how to decide for your specific estate.
Decision
Written for: Heads of asset management in a specific operating context
Where the asset class changes the answer: renewables portfolios, airport ground support equipment, and the emissions data an ESG report needs from the estate.
A practitioner-grade reference for using IBM Maximo (MAS Manage Transportation) on airport Ground Support Equipment estates, asset model, mixed-energy maintenance, rotables and tyres, telematics integration, and the path to condition-based maintenance.
Where IBM Maximo and the MAS suite genuinely contribute to ESG and sustainability reporting: emissions per asset, energy data through Monitor and IoT, Scope 1 to 3 mapping, and the handoff to the ESG platform.
A practical guide to IBM Maximo Renewables for utility-scale wind, solar and BESS portfolios, what it does, when it pays off, what readiness looks like, and what to ask a supplier.
Decision
Written for: Operations sponsors and field supervisors
Mobile and field service rollouts succeed or fail on operating model, not on the app. Device choice, offline behaviour, role-based screens and supervisor sign-off, with the operating considerations for adoption and support.
What separates a successful IBM Maximo Mobile rollout from a project that ships a great app and quietly gets bypassed. Device choice, offline, role-based UI, supervisor sign-off and the failure modes we see most.
A practical guide to IBM Maximo Field Service Management for asset-intensive operators with distributed crews: what it is, when it pays off, what readiness looks like, and what to ask a supplier.
Decision
Written for: Asset management and reliability leadership
Monitor, Predict, Health, Visual Inspection, Real Estate and Facilities, and the IoT layer underneath them. Each guide states the readiness conditions that have to be true before the module earns its licence.
Practical IoT architecture patterns for IBM Maximo Application Suite (SCADA, historians, edge gateways, OT/IT boundary) and how to design the connectivity layer underneath Monitor and Predict without breaking the OT team.
How IBM Maximo Health turns a populated Manage estate into a defensible capital and maintenance plan, how it relates to ISO 55001, and how to scope a first programme that pays back on day one.
A practical buyer's guide to IBM Maximo Monitor for asset-intensive operators: when it earns its licence, what readiness looks like, what the OT cybersecurity boundary really means, and what to ask a supplier.
An honest decision guide on IBM Maximo Predict: which asset classes deserve a predictive model, what data and operating model conditions have to be true, and how to scope a credible first programme.
How to implement IBM Maximo Visual Inspection inside real inspection workflows: when image and video models earn inspector trust, how to build training data, and how to make the result audit-ready.
A practical guide to IBM Maximo Real Estate and Facilities (the IWMS capability formerly known as TRIRIGA) for operators consolidating real estate, facilities and asset management onto MAS.
Decision
Written for: IT leads, architects and internal audit
The evidence work: a health check that names findings and owners, the performance levers in the order we pull them, what auditors actually ask for, and whether the data underneath is ready to carry an AI programme.
A practitioner-grade framework for assessing whether an IBM Maximo or MAS estate is ready for AI: data quality, criticality, integration, governance and operating-model readiness, with the questions and the evidence each one needs.
A practitioner-grade audit framework for IBM Maximo and MAS environments. The seven areas we check on every health-check engagement, what 'good' looks like, and what we do with the findings.
Advanced performance tuning for IBM Maximo and MAS administrators: the actual levers that move response time, in the order we pull them on production estates.
What auditors actually ask for on a Maximo or MAS estate: identity, RBAC, audit trail, data residency, GDPR DSAR handling, ISO 55000 / 55001 alignment. The practitioner's checklist.
How to use the shelf
Open the guide that matches this month’s decision, not the one that matches the roadmap. Circulating an open PDF beats waiting for a deck.
Where a guide does not match your estate, bring the paragraph you disagree with to a review call.
An initial conversation helps relate the guidance to your operating requirements, programme scope and dependencies. The related service pages sit at the bottom of every guide: the MAS upgrade, MaxIron Cloud, implementation, including your cloud, AppPoints and licensing, Maximo Mobile.
Bring this to the call