TODAY S KEY CHALLENGES FACING HIGHER ED FACILITIES MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS

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1 Higher Ed Facilities Management Survey Key Challenge #6 TODAY S KEY CHALLENGES FACING HIGHER ED FACILITIES MANAGEMENT PROFESSIONALS (...AND HOW TO OVERCOME THEM) KEY CHALLENGE #6: Maintenance Going Mobile

2 2 In June 2012, facilities professionals serving colleges and universities 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 #6: Maintenance Going Mobile Not all that long ago, a tablet was just something you took to relieve a headache. Some facilities directors have been known to keep a big bottle of them in their office. Today, tablet computers, Netbooks, smartphones, and other mobile devices are turning up everywhere. With the increasing availability of Wi-Fi and high-speed cellular data service, mobile devices are enabling facilities and maintenance technicians to work from anywhere while maintaining access to the same technology they use at the shop. The ever-expanding role of mobile devices in higher education means that your Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) has to support mobile access. Survey responses show that most CMMS products do, but the functionality and features they provide vary substantially from one vendor to another. A substantial number of survey respondents are getting positive results from the use of mobile technologies on their campuses. However, nearly 60 percent indicated that their technicians are not currently using mobile devices for work order management. This indicates that a great opportunity exists for facilities departments to improve their efficiency and productivity very quickly... if your CMMS provides superior mobile capabilities. To determine whether a vendor can offer truly useful mobile access, consider the following questions: How much can they increase technician productivity? How much does deploying mobile access benefit users?

3 3 How can they utilize the Software as a Service (SaaS) infrastructure model? How complicated is their system of order entry and tracking of work requests? How easy is the CMMS to use? It s critical that your CMMS vendor provides mobile access for you, your technicians and your end-users, AND that it improves your efficiency and effectiveness. Greater Productivity Colleges and universities which have adopted mobile access to their CMMS are clearly seeing increased productivity as a result. Among survey respondents, 88 percent have seen at least a 25 percent productivity gain by providing technicians with access to mobile technology. Over 65 percent of the survey participants believe they have generated at least a 50 percent productivity improvement from their investment in a CMMS. Additionally, over 35 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 courses of corrective action. Mobile technology allows staff and technicians to check, track, and close out work order requests from the field. This eliminates the need to return to the office between tasks and enables them to spend more time in the field completing requests. Mobile Access and Support A full-featured CMMS gives technicians, 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. According to the survey, 67 percent of SchoolDude users indicated that they were very to extremely satisfied with their ability to communicate with their internal customers, while the next closest vendor received a similar rating from only 50 percent of their users. Although mobile access on individual campuses is largely dependent on institutional policies, survey respondents using SchoolDude were using mobile technologies to a greater degree. PRODUCTIVITY GAINS OF 50% OR HIGHER 50% 65% SCHOOLDUDE CLIENTS REPORT 50% OR > PRODUCTIVITY GAIN 35% SCHOOLDUDE CLIENTS REPORT 75% OR > PRODUCTIVITY GAIN Survey respondents using SchoolDude were using mobile technologies to a greater degree.

4 4 Order Entry/Tracking End-users aren t always near a PC when they encounter a situation where a work order is warranted. A CMMS with mobile access and user-accessible order entry empowers them to take action without pulling a technician away from their work. When faculty, administrators and students have the ability to submit and track their work orders, your departmental workflow is streamlined. Requesters can easily monitor the measures taken to process their requests and supervisors can evaluate corrective actions in real-time from anywhere. 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, faculty, staff and students on their campuses. SchoolDude supports work order management using any web-enabled mobile device. Ease of Use Mobile access provides little value if your CMMS is difficult for technicians and end-users to navigate. Although ease of use is important, having the features and capabilities your users need is even more important. The best CMMS offerings provide a powerful set of tools for users, while being sufficiently intuitive to meet their needs without a steep learning curve. This also eliminates lengthy training for faculty, students and other users of your CMMS. Among all of the CMMS vendors featured in the survey, SchoolDude rated highest among users for its balance of strong functionality and ease of use, with 89 percent of users stating that the system was simple and straightforward, and provided the right level of functionality versus complexity. Mobile CMMS attributes include: Easy to navigate Powerful, intuitive tool set Little to no learning curve Balance of function vs simplicity

5 5 Survey Conclusions Survey responses indicated that the ability of a facilities department to add mobile devices to their tool chest can be dependent on campus finances and/or policies. What the survey made clear is that facilities departments which use mobile technologies are more efficient and more productive. As these devices become more prevalent and the number of commercial and industrial applications for them increases, it s also just as clear that your CMMS has to support mobile devices. Among vendors noted in the survey, SchoolDude users are using mobile technologies at a higher level, and reaping the benefits provided by mobile access to their CMMS. End-users and technicians can submit, track, manage, and close out work orders using mobile devices. SchoolDude puts the power of a full-featured easy-to-use CMMS into a user s hands any time they need it, wherever they may be, without the headaches. About the Survey In June 2012, over 300 facilities and maintenance personnel supporting institutions of Higher Education took part in a survey conducted by STS Research Advisors, an independent research firm. The complete 2012 Higher Education 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 Higher Ed 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