Automating Facilities Maintenance with Software
Whether you run an apartment building, multiple properties, a school,
a hospital, manufacturing facility, or public space, your facilities
demand regular maintenance. In addition, you’re likely accountable to
senior managers who need to know that your response time is adequate,
all contractual obligations are being met, and that disruptions are
being kept to a minimum. Other areas of concern include costs associated
with facilities maintenance as well as the satisfaction of tenants, employees, and other building occupants.
The more complex the assignment, the more important it becomes to have a system maintenance
plan in place. Maintenance software can measure performance and
automate common tasks – and much more. Moving from a paper-based system
to maintenance software could be advantageous. Not only can a good
program provide you with the tools you need to schedule work and
forecast repairs, it can also provide you with detailed reports
documenting work completed, labor and materials consumed on a
month-to-date or year-to-date basis, turnaround times, and other key
performance metrics.
While maintenance software comes with a myriad of features, you may
find the following features extremely useful in terms of facilities
maintenance:
- Service Requests – Service requests come in from the people who use the facilities such as tenants, students, and office workers. Once a service comes in, use your maintenance software to schedule the work, track its status, and more.
- Work Orders – Create work orders based on service requests and provide maintenance workers with a detailed plan describing exactly what must be done. Parts, materials, and labor can be tracked by the maintenance software as well.
- Maintenance Dashboards – Dashboards provide an at-a-glance view of facilities maintenance tasks and metrics, allowing you to measure performance, respond to trends, and view real-time information such as costs or labor hours.
While maintenance software won’t automate the actual work to be
performed, it can provide you with the tools needed to respond to
service requests, track performance, and improve satisfaction. (Source: eMaint EAM)
