On any given day, Facilities Management units need and use dozens of parts, supplies and materials for the operation, maintenance, and renewal of our assets. Keeping accurate records of what is purchased, how much we have in inventory, and where and how it’s used (and by whom) is vital information for determining the total cost of ownership (TCO) of our assets. In other words, determining how much it really costs to own something over its lifetime with the goal of reducing the TCO while maintaining or improving the utility of that something.
The Purchasing and Stock functionality within Planon provides us with an opportunity to catalog and manage all the parts, supplies and materials in enhanced ways. It will help us determine adequate stock levels and inform us on where we spend and how we might do so better. In other words, ensuring we purchase materials at the best price and at the right time. This enables us to know what services we can perform and at what cost, again valuable inputs to know for calculating the Total Cost of Ownership. Additionally, the software will enable us to attach the specific health & safety information associated with a material or product within the catalog, thus eliminating the need for technicians to “look up” this information elsewhere.
Planon will allow us to manage our purchasing and inventories in ways we simply could not do within our legacy software. A totally redesigned and enhanced interface with PeopleSoft will pave the way for an all-digital procurement process as well as end-to-end digital inventory management. The workflow layers and digital approval mechanisms will ideally “break our reliance on paper processes” and allow the University to procure and manage its materials warehouse more holistically and nimbly.
We look forward to these exciting times, recognizing there is much hard work to be done during the IWMS implementation to get us to this more efficient and streamlined future.
-The IWMS Core Team