APPA

FACILITIES MANAGER JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 35 ere is also the constant pressure for facilities operations to do better, and—as the executive management of today's higher education institutions look to tighten their belts—to do more with less. Today's facilities manager and staff must embrace best practices and new, more effective approaches. But where to start? e checklist that follows offers a summa- ry of what we call the "seven worst practices" found on today's campuses. ese include errors of all kinds—both what facilities managers do wrong and what they fail to do right. Evaluating your campus on how you rate on each of these items will provide some real insights into how you can turn them around to improve your operations. is list, therefore, is offered for your review, amusement, and inspiration. If you find yourself guilty of a few of these mistakes, please know that simple awareness is a step in the right direction, because as the saying goes, "We can all do better when we know better." In that light, we ask you to kindly share this list with your facility management colleagues. In our experience, avoiding these worst practices will make a significant impact on your performance. NOT USING THE CMMS—ERROR OF OMISSION Far too few organizations avail themselves of even half the capability of some of today's leading computer- ized maintenance management systems (CMMS)—and that's both a real shame and an opportunity. We have seen orga- nizations invest considerable time and money to find the "right" CMMS, only to have it gather dust from lack of use. When we review facility maintenance processes, we find the following: • Failure to track inventory • Failure to track time • Failure to enter work orders • Failure to enter preventive maintenance tasks • Failure to close out work orders • Failure to create reports • Your additions here In our data-driven world, information from the CMSS can be a powerful management and productivity tool. Its report capabilities can provide great visibility into how your opera- tions are performing—but only if data is entered completely and consistently. Many colleges, universities, and schools only partially track their activities. To glean useful data, staff must be trained and measured in their use of the CMMS. All staff must understand that its use is not optional, but instead a critical part of operations. If your staff is not fully utilizing this tool, you are not getting the full value from your technology investment. Worse, it might mean that you have blinders on when it comes to some criti- cal information about how you and your team are performing. When you truly embrace your CMMS, what you get is increased visibility into what is going on day to day and month to month. is data can help you make better management decisions. FAILURE TO DEVELOP A DEFERRED MAINTENANCE PLAN—ERROR OF OMISSION We often witness a disconnect on this topic between executive management and facility staff. Deferred maintenance activities are critical but poorly un- derstood, and often not given proper attention. One earnest university president recently told us that his campus had little in the way of accumulated deferred maintenance. Wishful think- ing! Only a few days prior, as part of our staff interviews, his own chief facilities officer disclosed that there was no current or valid facilities condition assessment for the institution's buildings and grounds. Having a deferred maintenance plan—and keeping it updated—is a much-needed tool that executive management can use to improve their planning and budgeting and overall facili- ties operations. More importantly, it can help executive manage- ment prevent being blindsided. Ignorance is not bliss when emergency issues arise that could have been avoided or mitigated by a good deferred maintenance plan. No one wins when this happens, and the sudden awakening is often accompanied by the need to write big checks. In our ex- perience, high-performing leaders know the projected full-project cost for the backlog of carefully documented facilities needs, and they make institutional decisions around how long it will take to retire that deficit and how to make sure the work gets done. In addition, when your vendors don't have a clear view of who last worked on an asset and no one is tracking when maintenance on a given asset is due, cost overruns rule the day. Documenting and updating a good preventive maintenance plan or policy and procedures manual will help you make sure that assets are in good working order for as long as possible and al- low you to better budget for the future. FAILURE TO BUDGET FOR CAPITAL MAINTENANCE—ERROR OF OMISSION Realistic budgets are important. e concept be- hind a depreciation schedule for capital assets is that facilities get "used up" over time. e accounting depreciation schedule often doesn't match the actual rate of consumption. Well-intentioned leaders may make a conscious allocation of funds for facilities capital maintenance, but often this alloca- tion is either intuitive or based on what they think they can afford. Rarely is the allotment based on a carefully debated and designed process. And here again, surprises often come unex- pectedly, jeopardizing other projects or even cutting into core budget areas. Good fiscal policy calls for honestly assessing and planning for these expenses, and the sharpest board members, trustees, and stockholders will insist upon it in a timely manner. Most facility departments need to spend more time to research and properly budget for capital maintenance. Facility managers need to take initiative and raise questions about antici- pated future capital needs. A "head in the sand" approach will always backfire in this critical area.

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