Challenge:
West Orange Public Schools faced inefficiencies with an outdated CMMS that slowed work order processing and lacked effective communication tools, causing delays and paperwork burdens for the facilities team.
Solution:
The district switched to iiQ Facilities, inspired by the Technology department's success. This modern CMMS was implemented with tailored training for the facilities staff, offering real-time updates, automatic routing, and a mobile app for on-the-go management.
Results:
iiQ Facilities transformed the district's facility management, enabling faster communication with teachers and principals, automatic work order assignments, and time savings from reduced administrative tasks. The mobile app and preventative maintenance schedules have saved time and streamlined processes, making even veteran staff members advocates for the new system. Overall, the team found iiQ Facilities easy to learn and values how the software has simplified operations.
- Enhanced Communication: Teachers and principals receive real-time updates on work orders, improving satisfaction and transparency.
- Automatic Work Order Routing: Shortens response time by automatically assigning tasks based on trade and availability, eliminating manual sorting.
- Mobile Management: Facilities staff use iPads with the Incident IQ Mobile to manage work orders in the field, reducing paperwork and office visits.
- Improved Efficiency: Automated operations allow for continuous work progress, even when the supervisor is out.
- Simplified Use: Staff of all experience levels found the system easy to learn and use, increasing adoption and effectiveness.
- Preventative Maintenance: The system facilitates timely maintenance tasks like HVAC filter changes, ensuring routine work is performed on schedule.
Background:
West Orange Public Schools is a New Jersey school district with 12 schools and over 7,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade. To minimize disruptions to learning environments, a team of 85 Facilities staff works across their 14 buildings everyday. The Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) the facilities team had been using was unwieldy and slowed down work order processing. The outdated system led to hours of paperwork for Nick Munoz (
The Technology Department at West Orange, pleased with Incident IQ since March 2022, recommended iiQ Facilities to unify district-wide service management. The benefits being that with both departments on a single centralized system, data silos could be reduced and collaboration between departments improved.
The Facilities Department decided to make the switch from SchoolDude to iiQ Facilities and was pleased to find that implementation was easier than expected. A training for the entire Facilities department and a second training tailored for head custodians would ensure work orders were entered correctly the first time.
“We had all our trades guys meet at one of our buildings. uOur facilitator] walked us through step-by-step. We were able to tailor the training for our maintenance guys’ specific needs, so we focused on things like putting in the tickets, updating the tickets, who should be updated, who should be tagged. It was pretty seamless.”
With a modern CMMS now in place, the facilities team at West Orange was able to overcome one of the biggest struggles with their legacy solution: communication. District staff are now better equipped to see real-time status of their requests such as part order status or routing to other departments after evaluation. Now, communication occurs automatically within iiQ. Requestors are instantly updated. If a work order is waiting on a part and Munoz can quickly see that and know the timeline to help stay on top of it.
“We wanted to communicate more with our teachers and principals. So far, all the updates are great. The teachers that receive the updates, they’re happy that they see ethe work order] assigned, that someone’s working on it. If a part’s on order, they know it’s going to take a longer time. The communication definitely stepped up after we started using Incident IQ. It saves me so much time being able to streamline and expedite that tcommunication] process.”
With a team of over 80 on-the-go every day, two things have been key to saving time: automatic work order routing and Incident IQ Mobile. The system automatically assigns work orders to teams based on trade, so even when Munoz is out, work keeps progressing.
“That saves me a lot of time. That means I don't have to sit down and go through every single ticket, which saves me time throughout the day, and it also helps because, as soon as it's automatically assigned, the teacher gets that email and they know, ‘Oh, I just put in that work order and it's already assigned?’ So they're happy.”
The district purchased iPads for the Facilities team so they can use Incident IQ Mobile in the field. Everyone can receive and update work on their tablet, so they don’t have to go back to the main office for paperwork.
“They do all the work orders on the iPad. My concern was ‘how are we going to be able to do this throughout the day? ‘Are they going to be able to work on the iPad?’ It’s a lot simpler than I thought it would be. It hasn’t been as hard to figure out as I initially thought it would be. Even some of the veteran guys…they are good to go, they’re loving it, and I think they like it because they get to track their stuff.”
Munoz is working to develop preventative maintenance schedules and has started tracking HVAC filter changes. Before, they would have a work order go out every few months, but that wouldn’t always be given to the head custodian who needed it. Munoz would end up printing the work order out and the delay in communication might mean missing scheduled filter changes. With Incident IQ, he can ensure filters are changed on time with preventative maintenance schedules that route directly to the right person. Munoz plans to eventually tie-in inventory levels as well so filter reorders happen seamlessly before stock runs out and everything runs like clockwork.
Munoz stresses that iiQ Facilities is simple to learn, no matter the level of technical knowledge: “The biggest thing to me is that the technology side might scare some facility people, but it's not as hard as you would think. It's very simple, it's easy to learn.”