Schools, homes, and shops stock up on costumes, candies, and party essentials as the pleasant autumn weather greet everyone with rusty leaves and golden sun. Halloween is here, one of the most anticipated festivals of the year. The time for spooky tales, jump scares, and celebrating rituals to keep the evil spirits at bay. Schools decorate their buildings and prepare for trick-or-treating, while children start searching for their ideal costumes and trick-or-treat goodies.
School facilities often use age-old facility management software, such as Building Management Systems (BMS), Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS), and CAFM (computer-aided-facility management software). Yet, despite the use of such powerful tools, accidents, emergencies, or asset malfunctions are common issues that lead to potential chaos.
Such as, take a look:
Challenges Faced by School Facility Managers in Halloween
Spooktober is the time of the year for students, the one time they can dress up, go trick-or-treating, enjoy some scary stories with everyone, and conduct rituals to keep spirits satiated. However, do you know the people who miss out on all the fun?
It’s the poor facility managers, who have to leave their family celebrations to stay vigilant of ‘what goes wrong in their facilities.’
On that note,
What goes wrong in buildings?
1. Asset Management
Let’s say a school is hosting a party for all the children, and while they take in the October chill, the HVAC system decides to shut down. Someone might have cut the wires, there can be short circuits or worse, intruders.
Now, what follows is chaos and complaint. Imagine the stress on staff and managers that have to rush to the web-based software for one particular data. Additionally, if a school is not using school facility management software, staff have to rely on finding data from the repository rooms. This means the party and event are delayed. There is trouble and students and occupants rush to bash the manager with complaints. In short, productivity is delayed, as there is a lack of information and the Halloween mood is completely ruined.
2. Emergencies
Let’s face it, the aura of Halloween is chilly. Oftentimes, despite the numerous attempts at preventive maintenance, if some student or intruder decides to play a prank or attack a group of unaware occupants, things are bound to take an ugly turn.
There can be attack fights, and armed intruders on the go, which can compromise the safety of students. Pranks that involve fireworks or jump scares may also lead to accidentally setting fire to an old facility, which undoubtedly puts children at risk.
At that time, is it feasible for the manager to swipe through layers of data in the web-based software for emergency plans?
Or,
Should the staff go through the paperwork to find building maps or emergency exits to evacuate the children?
Frankly, none of these options is a good choice. (But there is a concrete solution, in the end, so keep reading)
3. Productivity Bottlenecks
Imagine owning an old-school facility that sadly lacks manpower for Halloween and Christmas repairs. So, you might decide to hire some outsourcing teams to fix leaky pipes in the washroom. These teams do a fair job, but they are new.
Half the time, they have to rely on paper building plans, which they have to access from plan rooms to make any kind of repairs. Not only is it time-consuming but it is wasting man-hours that lead to overtime and loss of productivity.
What’s more? If it’s a huge building or university that stretches across acres, new workers can't memorize the maps of facilities. Additionally, if these workers end up making wrong repairs or damaging existing renovations, an entire facility may face downtime and have to spend extra money on repairs.
Now, while an existing facility management software is a blessing indeed, it is possibly web-based. This means managers have to stay glued to this system and give out data to anyone that requires it on the go. This can be taxing for operators as they are also human. Now, while these challenges are indeed a problem, a simple solution can fix it all.
What is the Solution to School Facility Management Challenges?
With the facility management app, administrators, school faculty, leaders, and staff can stay informed about asset malfunctions, emergencies, and more. A school can make effective contingency plans to ensure the safety of its students in the event of an emergency such as an intruder alert.
One of the best things about the mobile facility solution is the fact that real-time data can be accessed via a mobile device. A single detail like an emergency exit path can be easily viewed without scrolling through layers of web-based software and paper data.
Facility Management App: How Does It Work?
Facility management companies today harness and archive plan room data in a secure cloud. It is possible to access this data through a facility management app. Designed to fit existing facility management software, this app is easy to use. It complements powerful web-based facility management software that has been around for decades.
Therefore, anyone can manage and maintain their facilities smoothly and without worry with the help of a CMMS and facility management app. Take advantage of mobile facility solutions to make your facilities ready for Halloween. For the best solution, get in touch with facility management companies in the US, like ARC Facilities.
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