TODAY S KEY CHALLENGES FACING K-12 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

Transcription

1 K-12 Facilities Management Survey Key Challenge #4 TODAY S KEY CHALLENGES FACING K-12 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS (...AND HOW TO OVERCOME THEM) KEY CHALLENGE #4: Evidence-Based Maintenance

2 2 In June 2012, facilities professionals serving K-12 schools and school districts across North America were invited to take part in an extensive facilities management survey. From the results, six key challenges that facilities and maintenance personnel are facing today have been identified. In this series of reports, SchoolDude focuses on these six challenges and how to overcome them. SIX KEY CHALLENGES: #1: Do More with Less #2: Embracing Energy Management #3: Expanding Cloud-Based Tools #4: Evidence-Based Maintenance #5: Increased Classroom Technology #6: Maintenance Going Mobile KEY CHALLENGE #4: Evidenced-Based Maintenance When an administrator asks, Why did this happen, are you confident that you have the answer? The expectations of K-12 district leaders and board members are greater now than ever before. It s no longer enough to know that repairs are being made and maintenance is being performed. Today s facilities director needs tools which provide the data needed to proactively manage building maintenance. Analyzing points and causes of failure, determining the effectiveness of corrective actions, and improving reliability to minimize repairs and replacements are essential parts of the job. Attributes to look for in a computerized maintenance solution: Increases productivity Generates relevant reports Online work order tracking Anywhere access (including mobile) Integrates with your Building Automation System (BAS) A web-based Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) can provide the data you need to meet these challenges and answer the tough questions you face each day. Survey respondents indicated that most CMMS products provide such data. However, they also indicated that some vendors do it better than others, in terms of both the quantity and quality of data provided. To determine whether a vendor can provide you with the data you need to meet heightened expectations, consider their ability to: Increase overall productivity Generate useful and relevant reports Offer convenient entry and tracking of work requests online Provide widely available system access (including mobile support) Integrate with your Building Automation System (BAS)

3 3 By providing these capabilities, your CMMS will give you evidence, based on verifiable data, that the resources and strengths of your department are being properly channeled and are effectively serving the district s needs and requirements. Improved Productivity Three-quarters of the survey participants believe they have generated at least a 50 percent productivity improvement from their investment in a CMMS. Additionally, over 44 percent believe they have generated at least a 75 percent productivity improvement. These gains allow facilities departments to devote more time to performing preventive maintenance, analyzing successes and areas where improvement is needed, and determining the most effective course of corrective action. When evaluating the results by CMMS vendor, the survey found that over 95 percent of SchoolDude clients report a 25 percent or greater productivity gain, with nearly 80 percent reporting a 50 percent or greater gain. Reporting Capabilities To show that your department is satisfying the needs of the schools in your district, your CMMS has to provide strong reporting and tracking capabilities. Those capabilities should also be intuitive, making it easy to generate useful, relevant and accurate reports. The ability to closely monitor workflow and quickly generate reports means that high-priority assignments receive the appropriate level of attention and questions from administrators can be answered quickly. Reviews of past requests and orders can be used to anticipate future needs and highlight areas requiring additional attention. This allows you to be more proactive in serving end-users while providing the hard data that district leaders expect. Among all vendors noted in the survey, only SchoolDude exceeded 90 percent satisfaction with their CMMS reporting capabilities. In addition, 52 percent of SchoolDude users rated their reporting features as easy to learn and implement, which was over three times greater than the next closest CMMS vendor. Order Entry/Tracking A CMMS greatly improves the process of entering and tracking the progress of work requests and the resources required to complete them. When administrators, teachers and principals have the ability to submit and track their work orders, your departmental workflow is streamlined. By making this process transparent, uncertainty is eliminated and users can analyze the work cycle from beginning to end.

4 4 Both administrators and end-users can easily monitor the measures taken to process their requests, enabling them to evaluate corrective actions in real-time. End-users experience improved service and higher overall satisfaction, while your staff can focus on completing their work rather than responding to user questions. Survey respondents using SchoolDude find administrative and end-user access to the order entry and tracking process so helpful that they provide it to 96 percent of administrators, teachers and staff in their districts. System Access/Mobile Support A full-featured CMMS gives administrators and end-users the ability to submit work requests online, review the status of their requests, and engage in two-way feedback through and other online channels. The proliferation of mobile devices over the past few years has also created the expectation that data will be available whenever and wherever it is desired. This makes it essential for your CMMS to support access from any web-enabled device, including mobile access via notebook computers, smartphones, tablets, and Netbooks. Over 70 percent of SchoolDude users indicated that they were very to extremely satisfied with their ability to communicate with administrators and end-users, while the next closest vendor received a similar rating from only 30 percent of their users. Although mobile access in individual districts is largely dependent on district policies, survey respondents using SchoolDude were successfully using mobile technologies to a greater degree. SATISFIED WITH IMPROVED COMMUNICATIONS WITH CMMS Integration with Building Automation Systems Many school districts use Building Automation Systems (BAS) to monitor and measure energy, lighting and HVAC usage in their schools. Combining the control features of a BAS with the management capabilities of a CMMS multiplies the benefits of both, providing significant amounts of useful data. This data allows you to be more proactive in your efforts to perform needed maintenance, preemptively identify potential points of failure, and determine the effectiveness of corrective measures. 70% ONLY 30% SATISFACTION FROM OTHER VENDOR S USERS 70% OF SCHOOLDUDE USERS ARE VERY TO EXTREMELY SATISFIED The overall level of BAS integration offered by SchoolDude was ranked highest of all vendors named in the survey. Survey Conclusions When a facilities or maintenance breakdown takes place, today s school district administrators expect more than guesses as to why it happened. They expect detailed analysis of why the failure occurred, implementation of proactive

5 5 measures to prevent a recurrence, as well as, evidence that those measures will be successful. To meet these expectations, you need the data that a CMMS can provide. Using this data, you and your staff can engage in proactive, evidencebased maintenance. Armed with this data, failures can be minimized, and when they do occur, you ll have the answers to those tough questions. The survey responses show that facilities and maintenance departments using SchoolDude are better equipped to anticipate and reduce breakdowns, and have more data at their disposal to support their decisions and actions. About the Survey In June 2012, over 1,100 facilities and maintenance personnel supporting K-12 schools took part in a survey conducted by STS Research Advisors, an independent research firm. The complete 2012 K-12 Schools Facilities Management Survey Results Report is available as a download from SchoolDude. All percentages and statistics cited in this report are from the survey findings unless otherwise indicated. Download: 2012 K-12 Schools Facilities Management Survey Results Report ABOUT SCHOOLDUDE Founded in 1999, SchoolDude has served as the market leader in education enterprise asset management for the past 13 years with over 1 million education professionals using our solutions. We deliver cloud-based solutions to help both small and large institutions better manage their facilities, IT and business operations. We help clients save time and money by managing support services effectively and efficiently, allowing institutions to provide a safe teaching and learning environment. Today, we re the #1 platform of cloud solutions for public and private schools, colleges and universities. Visit us at schooldude.com or give us a call at to learn more. Rev Copyright sales@schooldude.com