Goodbye Work Orders.  Hello Real-Time Maintenance Analytics!

Rick Rolston, CEO, BuiltSpace Technologies Corp.

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Manual work orders have been the primary method of capturing operating cost data.  Often completed on paper, or more recently as e-forms on tablets or laptops, traditional work orders report far too little detail, far too late, to be of value in modern maintenance management.

Real-time service processes change everything, providing instant access to costs, for individual equipment or across an entire asset class, and providing real visibility into what really happened across your building portfolio.  Look carefully at the above visualization; a day in the life of a service technician on site (name and buildings removed).    Imagine now if you could click on any of the graphics to drill down to the original service report which includes timestamp and geo-location to ensure that the technician was actually on-site.  As the service provider employing the technician, you know the work is being done.  As the end-customer, you too know where your operating budget is going.   Moreover, each inspection is permanently recorded before the technician steps away from the equipment.

Manual work orders are expensive to manage and have generally failed to deliver critical data.  Today, that’s changed.  Here are some of the benefits of real-time maintenance processes.  They are game changers for service providers and end-customers alike.

 Equipment Level Costs

Repair or replace?   When should equipment be serviced?   If you call in a service partner, what should it cost?   Are you getting fair value for the services?  All these questions can only be answered if service processes accurately capture emergency and preventative maintenance costs against individual assets.  

Real-Time Service Reporting (Just like UBER)

Building owners, facilities managers, and leading service providers are now asking “Why can’t facilities services be delivered in real-time, just like UBER?”      Before a customer orders an UBER car on their smartphone, they are given a firm price for their service, receive updates throughout their journey, and, when they arrive at the destination, they simply step out of the car, with payment made automatically through the UBER app.  An email receipt follows within minutes.   Indeed, why can’t facilities services, for any trade or service, be more like UBER? 

They can.  Customers can receive detailed email service reports with one-click access to the verified location of service.  In addition, details are instantly available with each piece of equipment, as permanent service history. 

Standardized Asset Condition Reports

Apples to apples comparisons of service processes are impossible without standardized procedures.   BuiltSpace allows you to compare service interventions by a technician, equipment type, location, time of year, and other factors, with standardized procedures and standardized responses, supported by photographic, descriptive and verified intervention data. 

Here’s a very simple example of condition reporting: fire hydrants, like most life safety assets, must be periodically inspected and maintained.  The Inspection Details (see right) graphic compiles asset condition results in an interactive bar graph.   The yellow portion of the second bar (Paint Required?) clicks through to select those requiring paint, displayed on a city map.   A gallon of red paint and a service plan dispatched to the paint shop solves the problem.

The Future of Facilities Operations

Maintenance, energy efficiency and building automation go hand in hand.    Progressive facilities operators are asking for integrated building automation solutions that include “work orders.”    It’s time to rethink those processes.

Real-time service processes, real-time maintenance analytics, dynamic service plans, predictive, financially driven business decisions are the future of facilities operations.   This data will be used by machine learning engines to schedule maintenance based on predictive analysis, optimizing service delivery, but more importantly, it will eliminate administrative waste to provide more maintenance for limited budgets.