Educational campuses are distinctive ecosystems. There is an individuality and independence that permeates them. While this is beneficial from an educational standpoint, it complicates the operational management of campus facilities.
Just consider the various buildings, built over different time periods and containing mechanical systems that might perform similar functions but in potentially vastly different ways. Systems that may have been made by competing manufacturers and were installed, and are now serviced by, different vendors.
The management, monitoring, and operation of all of these disparate systems can keep staff running from building to building all day long. That operational process was once a necessity but today there is a better, and more efficient way to perform these tasks. And it doesn’t involve overhauling your current system infrastructure.
The core issue with having such a wide array of systems on campus is their operational segmentation. Each building essentially functions in isolation of the others. This makes it difficult to holistically manage system-wide performance needs. With each system operating independently of the other there is a high degree of inefficiency in system performance levels, especially because of the naturally fluctuating nature of a campus building’s occupancy and usage levels.
The schedules and worktime of team members also suffers in these siloed environments. Each building must be visited in turn to review system performance data and make adjustments as needed. It’s an inefficient process that takes time away from other tasks.
While that is the way systems used to be managed, going forward there is a more efficient, centralized way to collect data, monitor performance, and manage performance operations. A campus facility management app can pull all of your system data and performance commands into one location. And that location can be anywhere because of the app’s remote access capabilities. Plus, all of those connections can be made without the need to upgrade or change out any of your existing systems.
A facility manager app can help your existing systems work smarter and more efficiently.
Consider this scenario, where a campus facility management app could be used to enhance efficiency and performance in a number of areas.
The history and english buildings on campus were built in the same year by the same architectural firm. While they have the same general occupancy numbers and utilize the same systems, over the summer months energy usage in the english building spiked, It was a change that wasn’t realized until the billing statements were received.
A maintenance team member did some investigation into the english building’s systems and found there was a bad HVAC sensor which was causing the air conditioner to run continuously. If this campus was utilizing a centralized facility management software app the increased energy usage would have been detected much earlier. This would have saved money from wasted energy costs and eliminated the consistent wear on the system.
To improve system performance you don’t always need to expend budget by purchasing new equipment. A much more cost effective solution would be to gain stronger system visibility and centralized coordination with a campus facility management app.
That’s exactly what ODIN’s cloud-based platform does. It simplifies and centralizes campus building system management by connecting existing system management BACnet platforms into one location. The portability of this application means that you can:
All from anywhere. And you can customize logins to that information so that each team member sees only what they need to.
With ODIN, system performance will get more effective, your team’s response times will shorten, and operations will see more bottom line benefits. To discover the benefits ODIN’s facility manager app can bring to your campus, schedule a demo today.