A facilities manager should be aware of what needs to be done to keep their building maintenance on track. They need to optimize energy usage, maintain a standard of safety, and control costs. To accomplish all of these feats, a forward-thinking facilities manager needs the tools to optimize their operations processes, improve productivity and create a strategy around their work response time. But above all, these tools must be easy to use and support – as the aim is to reduce business processes and streamline operations. Additionally, these tools must be affordable.
To be of maximum benefit, any web-based maintenance program should be easily accessed over the Internet via a standard web browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome). The primary idea behind a web-based application is that the end-user does not need to install any application or download any software. Web-based applications can be as simple and familiar as Gmail or your online banking and bill-paying account – but also perform amazingly-complex productivity tasks like you would expect from a commercial suite of inter-related desktop applications.
How is web-based facilities maintenance better for your operation?
Top Ten Benefits of Web-based Facilities Maintenance:
• Fully-integrated online solution for facilities maintenance
• Hardware independence means less equipment in the field, asset protection
• Online forms for tenants means a reduction in business processes
• Centralized data means data accessibility, integrity, safety
• Maintenance and work orders can be scheduled on a recurring (daily, weekly or monthly) basis.
• Work from the office, the home, the coffee shop down the street
• Updates happen regularly, automatically, and without need for costly IT staff
• Ability to create plans for specific events and emergency preparedness
• Improves on-time completion rate of scheduled work and customer satisfaction
Web-based applications are changing the way facilities managers look at their productivity software. In any environment where work orders may arrive by the multiples and numerous properties require attention, agility is crucial. A web-based facilities maintenance application allows the manager or staff the flexibility to leverage the power of technology wherever there’s an internet connection (wireless or otherwise) to a laptop, smartphone or tablet device.
For a common service request, the process may look something like this: The user fills out and submits an online form. At the server level (sometimes referred to “the cloud”), the system quickly routes the service request ticket to the facilities manager. After resources have been dispatched and the service request completed, the facilities manager can update the system with notes or details concerning the job and close the service request ticket.
As all of this happens with the simplicity of a web-based system, there is a significant reduction in redundant communication and no drain on support or IT staff.
Additionally, a comprehensive web-based facilities maintenance program is much more than a job ticket facilitator. As mentioned before, they are more like an integrated suite of desktop applications. For a facilities management and maintenance program, these built-in applications (or tools) may include property management, equipment maintenance history, project bid management, and emergency preparedness.
Another valuable capability is the reporting of work product, trends, performance and quality feedback surveys. These property-specific reports and dashboards convey a powerful sense of systematic collaboration and can detect out-of-bounds metrics that help keep the facility well maintained, within budget allocations, and the occupants healthy.
Lastly, a web-based facilities maintenance program should show a low cost of ownership and implementation. Without having to install anything on field equipment, this type of facilities management software keeps down the cost of improving operational processes, increasing productivity and allowing managers to focus on what they do best.
A web-based facilities maintenance program, such as PropertyTrak by AirMass, is designed to address all of these needs.
To read more about facilities management and related technology topics, read the monthly blog articles here at PropertyTrak by AirMass