As one can imagine, Georgia Tech Athletics is no small operation. They’ve got fields for football, baseball and track. Courts for tennis and volleyball. Practice facilities. Golf facilities. Department facilities. Without a sturdy system in place, it could easily be a maintenance nightmare.
That’s why when Jim Kenyon, Associate Director of Facilities, Operations and Events, joined the department, his first task was to find and implement a maintenance system that could keep their small maintenance team (just 10 day-to-day technicians) running smoothly. One of the first issues Jim spotted was that the department was mostly using a paper-and-pencil approach when it came to work orders and documenting completed work. That proved itself to be a problem pretty quickly.
“If somebody fills out a work order or piece of paper and hands it back, obviously that paper can just disappear. Tracking things is a problem. That was a point of frustration among the department before Asset Essentials,” says Jim. “Plus, it’s difficult to create a preventive maintenance plan that way. But, the one major thing – and my two supervisors are big on this – the way we’re using Asset Essentials really helps with our customer service to other departments. They — they being people in our compliance department, people in our marketing department — can see that we’re getting things completed, and they’re really appreciative of being able to receive updates on work orders they submit.”
The team was responsive in working with us on it and really made sure we got things right. This was a big cultural change for us. We didn’t want to rush it. We had to get it right getting off the ground. It’s operating the exact way we wanted it to. It’s definitely the right fit for what we wanted.
Jim Kenyon
Associate Director of Facilities
Because he’d used Brightly’ software in a previous role, Jim knew Asset EssentialsTM would be the right fit to help complete operations faster while increasing performance. Their implementation process was originally expected to take six weeks, but they got up and running in just three.
When asked how implementation went, Jim says, “It was great. The team was responsive in working with us on it and really made sure we got things right. This was a big cultural change for us. We didn’t want to rush it. We had to get it right getting off the ground. It’s operating the exact way we wanted it to. It’s definitely the right fit for what we wanted.”
What exactly did they want? In a word: efficiency.
“The major goal was to improve our efficiency, and I think that’s been accomplished. There’s definitely an increase in productivity. We’re getting things done quicker. That also ties into customer service. It’s [Asset Essentials] given us the ability to operate better as a department. We’re not sending two guys to a job that we see only requires one. I can say with certainty that’s been recognized by the rest of the departments,” he says. “And for our maintenance technicians, they now can categorize and prioritize things, so they can efficiently plan out their day with the tasks they need to tackle. Another goal was trying to visually be able to see the frequency of work orders we’re getting that relate to certain operations – electricity, carpentry, custodial, things like that. That’s something that helps us structure our third-party needs.”
One way the software helps them increase productivity is by providing visibility into technicians’ strengths. For instance, if one person consistently gets a certain kind of task done the quickest with great results, it doesn’t make sense to assign a different tech to those jobs that are outside of their sweet spot.
“Maybe one guy’s a great painter and one’s good at carpentry. We can assign work orders by skillset and give them jobs they not only enjoy doing but are best at doing,” says Jim.
Using Asset Essentials to handle the department’s M&O needs has not only helped Jim and the technicians,
it’s also provided clarity and better communication for supervisors. With that added transparency, supervisors are better able to provide the maintenance team with what they need to be successful.
“They definitely want to see the breakdowns of types of work orders being submitted. That will show them whether or not we need to increase our coverage in certain areas. The second thing is time. If we can give our supervisors this data, and they can go to their supervisors with the data on how long it takes to complete different things. That could cause our administration to say we need more people on deck.”
In addition to improving efficiency and transparency with the administration, Jim had another requirement for the software they ultimately chose: whoever they worked with had to be able to go at the department’s pace. With such a large operation to manage and a range in technology comfort level amongst the technicians, Jim needed a system that he could not only tweak to fit their team’s needs, but also a provider who would allow them to take things slowly and build as they were ready.
Georgia Tech Athletics hosted the New England Patriots as they prepared for Super Bowl LIII
“Maybe one guy’s a great painter and one’s good at carpentry. We can assign work orders by skillset and give them jobs they not only enjoy doing but are best at doing,” says Jim.
Using Asset Essentials to handle the department’s M&O needs has not only helped Jim and the technicians, it’s also provided clarity and better communication for supervisors. With that added transparency, supervisors are better able to provide the maintenance team with what they need to be successful.
The major goal was to improve our efficiency, and I think that’s been accomplished. There’s definitely an increase in productivity. We’re getting things done quicker. That also ties into customer service.
Jim Kenyon
Associate Director of Facilities
What really put this new tool to the test was when Jim and Georgia Tech Athletics got to host the New England Patriots, the eventual Super Bowl LIII champions, as they prepared for the big game. When asked about
the facilities, Head Coach Bill Belichick said, “Certainly, Georgia Tech was great. We, fortunately, have had the opportunity to do this a few times and Georgia Tech was a great facility.” With Asset Essentials in place, they were able to manage, track and optimize the work that needed to be done to have the facilities in tip top shape for the Patriots.
When asked if he recommends Brightly to other M&O teams, Jim adds, “You guys haven’t put any pressure
on us to take the next steps, which we appreciate. For organizations trying to slowly change their culture in terms of maintenance tracking, you’re a great fit. We’re all on the same page that we want to grow with the software. I would say anyone else needing that crawl- walk-run approach, the Brightly platform would be excellent for them. It’s so easy to use.”
Learn more: Brightlysoftware.com