Published: June 23, 2014  Updated: March 19, 2025

Why Your School District Needs Quality Facilities Maintenance Software

The Complexities of Managing School Facilities

Managing educational facilities presents a unique set of challenges. Facility managers shoulder the responsibility of maintaining a vast array of assets while ensuring the safety of a large population, particularly students. This task intensifies for those overseeing multiple facilities within a district, especially in expansive metropolitan areas. The sheer volume of assets, combined with the critical need for a safe environment, demands a systematic and efficient approach. This article delves into the question of why your school district needs quality facilities maintenance software

Understanding the Power of CMMS in Educational Settings

Within the reliability and maintenance domain, computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) is well-regarded. While many industries acknowledge the benefits of such a system, it has specific advantages for educational institutions.

Budgetary Control and Financial Stewardship

School districts frequently face budgetary constraints, which means careful financial management. Facilities maintenance software plays a crucial role in this area. One of its primary strengths is its capacity to assist in maintaining financial stability and reducing unnecessary expenditures.

Asset Tracking and Inventory Management

The software's asset-tracking capabilities include fields for location, costs, related inventory, associated preventive maintenance (PM), and more. Schools can set up depreciation values, automatically adjusted based on the type used.

Inventory organization helps prevent the over-ordering of spare parts and helps reduce stockouts by auto-adjusting quantities. Again, you can use the system to organize storage rooms, giving each part/supply a location. For equipment, you could set up an issue/return/policy in the CMMS. All of these features help to minimize waste and reduce costs.

Preventative Maintenance and Equipment Longevity

Returning to your asset management, implementing a preventative maintenance schedule helps extend the lifespan of critical systems, such as plumbing, boilers, and HVAC units. Regular maintenance reduces the likelihood of costly breakdowns and premature equipment failure. Again, you can see the expense savings.

Staffing Efficiency and Work Order Management

For labor resources, you need a skilled team, able to handle a variety of jobs. Processing work requests and creating and scheduling PMs and other maintenance also keep expenses lower. While you have to consider maintenance an expense, see it also as an investment.

The software enables the efficient creation, assignment, and tracking of work orders. Within the work order, you have fields for type of work, priority, asset requiring maintenance, its location, and description. A CMMS also gives you a place to attach inventory, specific labor resources, and attachments such as images and safety documentation.

Discover how streamlined maintenance processes can elevate production. Learn more.

Performance Analysis and Resource Allocation

By analyzing work order data and performance metrics, managers can identify bottlenecks and areas where staff resources can be better utilized. For assets, you have numerous reports, including key performance indicator reports.

Other reports give you on-time completion percentages for work orders and attainment reports for technicians. You have cost reports for assets, inventory, and labor. All of these reports and others help you make those financial decisions that will save you expenses.

Enhancing Safety and Security

If you really want to keep costs down, educational facilities must make safety the top concern. Addressing safety concerns promptly and proactively helps prevent accidents and ensure the well-being of students and staff. Return to the preventive maintenance section. Create your list of PMs such as inspections of fire systems, lighting, emergency exits, playground equipment, walkways and parking lots, and the general grounds.

Of course, educational institutions should already have emergency plans in place. However, how about reporting potential problems to maintenance? Do you track down a supervisor or leave a voicemail? Or have you invested in a CMMS that gives non-system users an HTML link to submit work requests? Once the system receives the request, supervisors can review the issue and decide its priority.

Extending Asset Lifespan and Reducing Replacement Costs

Again, returning to assets, a CMMS helps keep the reliability of equipment and other assets and extends the lifespan of each. That way, you're saving money by not having to purchase replacement items before it's time.

Improved Operational Efficiency and Resource Allocation

Circling back to inventory and labor, since you have better organization in the storage rooms and a skilled team, supervisors have better oversight of inventory, its usage, classification, quantities, and more. Also, the supervisor can assign specific technicians or crafts to a maintenance job. With more efficiency, you'd expect to reduce costs in these areas.

Advocating for Educational Facilities Maintenance Software

When faced with budget discussions and potential cuts, school district leaders should advocate for the implementation of facilities maintenance software. A CMMS offers numerous benefits, including improved financial management, enhanced safety, and increased operational efficiency. While the direct impact on students and teachers may not always be visible, the indirect benefits are substantial. By ensuring that facilities are well-maintained and resources are managed effectively, districts can create a more conducive learning environment for all.

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