6 Major Issues and How Local Governments Can Use Facilities Management Software to Address Them
From police and fire departments to municipal courts and public works, local governments offer a broad variety of critical services. There would be difficulties with these services very rapidly if there was no dependable facilities personnel to keep things working properly.
Because facilities management is such an essential aspect of municipal administration, there is a lot of demand on it to perform effectively. However, many facilities departments are struggling because personnel are retiring, equipment is becoming obsolete, and funds are shrinking.
Here are six issues that local government facilities employees face, as well as solutions provided by comprehensive facilities management software.
The issue is that all of the information on my floor plans and amenities is out of current.
Many municipal governments are attempting to handle challenges from the twenty-first century using techniques and concepts from the twentieth. Do you know anything about this?
There are paper floor plans, siloed data scattered around the building, and no one location where all facility information is housed. To monitor measurements and key performance indicators, paper papers are put into file folders and binders, and basic Word documents and Excel spreadsheets are employed (KPIs).
It is simpler to administer government facilities in a safe, cost-efficient, and effective manner when comprehensive, accurate data is available.
Solution: Online data storage
Imagine if everyone on your team could view all of the building’s information in one spot. Do you need information about boiler warranties? Done. Do you need to know how often the water heater was serviced? There is no problem. Do you need to offer another department access to the most recent floor plans? This was written just for you.
Isn’t it amazing? That’s how excellent building management software is. It stores all of your facility’s information in a digital format that your personnel can easily access.
One of the nicest aspects of FM software is the most current digital floor layouts. While implementing FM software, certain software partners, such as CloudApper, can digitize and update your existing floor plans. Some software partners will also gather all of your facility information and enter it into the program for you.
Problem: I need to know what is in each of my buildings.
Local governments are in charge of a variety of infrastructure, including courthouses, park shelters, wastewater treatment plants, and more. All of these structures are unique and have distinct functions.
It’s difficult to maintain track of rooms and equipment in multiple buildings if all you have is your memory or outdated lists. How can you manage millions of square feet across several buildings if you don’t even know what’s inside each one?
Solution: Mapping assets depending on their location.
Some FM software allows you to map assets to digital floor layouts. Any property, such as electrical panels, light fixtures, power generators, water fountains, garbage cans, and so on, can be located.
Colored pegs on your digital floor plan indicate the location of your assets. It is simple to locate your assets and know where they are in each location. You may now:
Routine maintenance, cleaning, and inspection routes should be well-planned. Show a new team member or an outside contractor where an asset may be found.
Test it out using the CloudApper Facilities app. (Full disclosure: not all FM software can accomplish this, so bear that in mind while you shop about.)
Problem: I’m trapped in a cycle of reactive maintenance.
There are many facility managers that sympathize with your situation. Especially if their buildings were old and they didn’t have the money to keep up with costly and time-consuming renovations.
They want to be more proactive, but they can’t since they need to manage asset life cycles, their maintenance histories are incorrect, and their work order procedures are paper-based.
Demands for reactive maintenance might bury your team beneath a pile of costly issues that are difficult to solve.
Solution: Improved work management
Starting a preventative maintenance (PM) program will be difficult if you do not control your everyday maintenance. FM software provides team members with rapid access to work orders, saving paper, increasing productivity, and keeping a record of all activities completed.
With CloudApper Facilities, you can perform reactive work more effectively while freeing up time and resources for preventative maintenance.
The FM software’s reporting function allows you to keep track of maintenance operations across all of your sites. Ensure that work orders are completed and that any issues are resolved before they become a problem.
It is feasible to automate the scheduling of preventative maintenance chores using FM software. It also provides your personnel with on-the-go access to any asset data and PM techniques they need. Furthermore, FM software guarantees that your employees complete all of the tasks assigned to them.
I have too much work to accomplish by hand.
According to the 2022 State of Local Government Survey, most local governments in the United States lack resources and must do excessive physical labor.
Inadequate resources (44%); excessive physical labor (34%).
These issues, whether tedious procedures needing a lot of back and forth or obsolete paper-based systems, slow you down and make your job less productive.
By using an FM platform, you may save waste and require fewer total resources to maintain your facilities.
Making things more accessible and automating them is the solution.
39% of local governments have declared technology investment a key priority for 2021 in order to automate regular chores and procedures. This is a significant function of FM software.
FM software allows your team to accomplish more work quicker with less resources by automating operations that used to require a lot of time and effort, such as arranging work orders, inputting asset information, and performing regular inspections.
For example, FM software has a function that allows you to request service.
Residents may utilize the interactive online application to request assistance instead of contacting or emailing the maintenance staff.
The program immediately updates the tenant on the status of their request and allows you a few seconds to assess the work order and schedule it.
Your maintenance professional receives an automated notification that they have a repair order, and they may access whatever information they need to complete the task.
No one has to spend the whole day dealing with service orders, ensuring personnel complete them, and addressing tenants’ inquiries regarding the progress of their requests.
Problem: If one of my techs goes on a short vacation, I’m in big danger.
According to the 2022 State of Local Government Survey, one of the most crucial challenges is having adequate workers.
54% feel they need assistance in locating the skills required to replace departing employees.
Sixty-two percent of those polled felt it would be difficult for someone else to handle their tasks if they took a two-week vacation.
What happens to the rest of your team when the person who knows the most about the facility on your facilities team goes on vacation, takes a new job, or retires? Probably in deep water without a paddle.
Your more experienced technicians have a wealth of knowledge that the rest of your team should have access to.
FM software is a location to store all of your facility’s information, such as how to repair that AC unit that won’t operate properly and where to get that one hard-to-find item. Everyone on the team can obtain all the information they need from their mobile devices since everything is digital.
When someone is away of the workplace, FM software makes it simple for individuals to cover unfamiliar facilities or processes. In fact, they visited the same location less often to inspect the amenities. Because they have access to all of the critical information in the software, the facilities management team can better forecast what they will need before departing. It is the most effective approach to convey what you know.
All information about your facilities should be stored in your FM software so that work may be completed when someone is away. The surviving team members may rapidly fill the job of a departing employee. Using technology such as FM software also makes it more tempting for possible new employees to join your maintenance staff.
My local government wants greater collaboration and information sharing.
According to the State of Local Government Survey for 2022, an increasing number of individuals want departments to collaborate more effectively. More than half of respondents believe that using technology that integrates data from several sources is the best method for departments to collaborate.
There is also a demand for more open and transparent capital planning. Almost 70% of municipal governments, for example, desire to make capital planning more strategic, flexible, or collaborative.
Your building data holds the key to improved departmental cooperation and more transparency in capital planning. It has the potential to be a powerful tool if used correctly.
Openness via information is the solution.
FM software allows you to monitor, collect, manage, and exchange accurate, up-to-date facility information. It integrates many data streams to provide you with a comprehensive view of your entire status (maintenance activities, asset conditions, etc.). Now that you’ve learned this, you can:
Create more accurate capital budgeting (and show the data you used to come up with your budget)
Show the costs and hazards of deferring purchases and capital-intensive initiatives.
Provide data-backed input to other departments.
Be a trustworthy source for all amenities.
Using your facility’s data with FM software may help your organization collaborate more effectively and be more transparent.
The cloud app for local government facility management fails.
CloudApper Facilities is a state and local government all-in-one facilities management solution that:
Asset management, building management, and maintenance supervision Management of work orders.
Learn how we can assist you in dealing with some of the most difficult FM issues. Request a demonstration right now!
