Conceptually, once the foundational elements of Space and Assets are laid out in IWMS, then we’ve established the places where and the things that Facilities Management personnel take care of everyday through various maintenance activities and tasks. Maintenance is categorized as either Reactive (i.e., responding to requests) or as Planned (i.e., preventative maintenance to prolong the life of an asset). We’ll address the first type here.
The Reactive Maintenance module is the most visible aspect of Planon for most campus stakeholders. It will be the one user interface where staff, faculty (and eventually on-campus residential students) will enter their requests for maintenance services—what we now refer to as Self Service Requests and Work Orders. In our current system, campus stakeholders request building repair and maintenance services by entering a Service Request directly into FAMIS, and then each request is converted to a Work Order and routed to the appropriate facilities personnel who in turn “react to” (i.e., do the job) to repair the situation or perform the service for the customer.
The new Planon system will provide this same basic functionality …and a whole lot more. For starters, the look and feel of the user interface will be more intuitive and easier to navigate. “Front-end” users will be presented with simple icons to click to indicate the type of service they’re requesting. We’ll have the ability to customize on-line forms based on the type of service requested, where users can enter details about the request, select from drop-down menus, and easily upload photos or attachments to their request. “Back-office” users (i.e., facilities personnel) will be able to create new Requests with just a few simple clicks.
But wait, there’s more! Other new system features include automated notifications pushed to users, an easier to view dashboard for users to check the status of their requests, and a streamlined numbering system which assigns just one number to each request. (Hurray, no more separate SR#’s and WO#’s to lookup.) New features for the maintenance crews include a Resource Planner tab for scheduling work. The entire IWMS is mobile-friendly and technicians in the field can view the work assigned to them, details of the request, and related Asset information and track and enter the labor and materials associated with the job with a few simple clicks.
Cost Recovery is also handled through the Reactive Maintenance module. This is very important for ensuring that labor and material costs are “billed” against the proper budgets. The Core Team has been working very closely with Subject Matter Experts and representatives from University Financial Services, Payroll and Enterprise Application Services to hammer out the details related to Chart of Accounts, billing “rules”, and business processes to ensure that Planon integrates with PeopleSoft and Kronos Time & Attendance systems in the most optimized way.
Stay tuned.
~The IWMS Core Implementation Team