Eliminate work orders to improve building operational efficiency
How many people handle each work order in your organization? Work orders were designed to help you control costs, but today the work order process itself has become a major source of inefficiency and cost.
For field technicians, paper work orders, generated by Facilities Management software such as Maximo, have been the tried and true communication medium for service tasks. In many organizations, printed work orders have been multipart forms, ultimately creating workload and costs for multiple departments or service contractors. Following is the approved process at a major university, for projects under $1500.
All Departments requiring Facilities Management support for renovations, repairs, new installation or physical relocations for work deemed to be under $1,500.00 in cost funded from any source should fill out a Project Initiating form and forward to Facilities Management. No estimate will be provided, but work will be done as soon as men and materials are available.
The purpose of this policy is to complete jobs expeditiously by giving them directly to Maintenance and Operations without the need for design, estimating or further approvals.
Procedure
a. The requesting Department will:
initiate a Project Initiating form FAD 13-1 and fill in all details on the right hand side of the form;
obtain signature of the Departmental signing authority that the account code and request are valid;
forward the canary and white copies to Facilities Management. Retain the pink copy for the Department file.
b. Facilities Management will:
register the Work Order number and forward a “Confirmation” copy to the originating Department;
perform the requested work;
as work proceeds, inform the Finance Office of monthly charges.
c. The Financial Services will:
debit the charges so that these expenditures are reflected in the appropriate accounts.
Nowhere does this process update the service history of any asset or equipment modified by the work order. In fact even identifying the assets involved in the work may be a major issue for administrative staff.
Smartphones, QR barcodes, and BuiltSpace are game changing technologies.. BuiltSpace tags the physical building, using QR codes to identify spaces and equipment, providing location specific access to building information systems.
Occupants can scan location specific signage to leave feedback, request service or access building information.
Using BuiltSpace, the work order process can be streamlined. Here is the new process.
Procedure
a. The requesting Department will:
from the area involved, scan a QR code with a smartphone to register a service request for the work to be completed, taking photographs to document the work to be done.
the appropriate department head will receive the service request and authorize the request electronically.
the authorized request will be electronically forwarded to Facilities.
b. Facilities Management will:
review previous service history and asset condition for asset/space;
schedule and perform the requested work;
as work proceeds, the technician will record time and materials by scanning QR code while onsite, with data available to Finance, Facilities, and Department in real time.
assess how work will impact operational schedules or procedures
update operational schedules, and document changes in BuiltSpace building log.
c. The Financial Services will:
monitor progress of work
debit the charges so that these expenditures are reflected in the appropriate accounts.
review Facilities asset recommendations.
Paper is entirely eliminated in this revised process, cutting administrative costs while improving the visibility of building information at all levels.
This approach does not mean you need to through out your existing systems. BuiltSpace is designed to integrate with your existing systems.