How the University of Regina Improved Maintenance and Operations with FAMIS 360

The Company

The University of Regina is a public university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911, the research university currently has an enrollment of more than 17,200 students. It is well-known for its focus on experiential learning, and it offers internships, professional placements, and practicums in addition to education placements in 41 unique programs.  

The Challenge

Before FAMIS 360, the University of Regina faced significant issues with their existing system and with data management. The FM system that the University of Regina used before FAMIS 360 was not the most appropriate option for a higher education institution, having been built for nuclear energy. Additionally, it was at its end-of-life.  

Additionally, data entry was largely done on pen and paper, and there was a lot of administrative work required to log data like work orders, timecards, and time spent & materials for work orders. This not only increased the possibility of data errors, but also limited transparency as customers – the finance departments in the school requesting maintenance – did not have access to any of this work order information or job status.  

To overcome these challenges, the university conducted an RFI then issued an RFP with over 500 requirements. They eventually chose FAMIS 360 and went live with the solution in 2015. 

The Solution

Right away, the university implemented many FAMIS 360 modules and capabilities to complete their day-to-day maintenance and operations work, including the work management module, asset management, procurement, inventory, timecards, procedures, schedules, mobile, and inspections – all of which they still use today.   

There are about 150 full-time facility management employees in the system. Additionally, the systems management team trained 300 authorized requesters from their customer base so they could put in tickets, self-serve, and see real-time updates as tickets progress. 

The Results

Technician Efficiency

There were instant improvements to operations when the university implemented FAMIS 360. First, technicians could get the information they needed to complete a work order directly in the field, rather than having to return to computer areas or the inventory warehouse. As a result, the completion rate and speed of completion for work orders both improved substantially.

Inventory Improvements  

There were also improvements in inventory. Before FAMIS, the university had many outstanding inventory questions, like: 

• What was stagnant in the warehouse?  

• What inventory wasn’t turning over? 

• What materials did they need to order?  

Using FAMIS and consulting on-campus subject matter experts, the team ultimately went down about 20% in the number of inventory bins and saved even more in the inventory store budget. They also established a process that required approvals for inventory purchases, which helped reduce the number of unnecessary orders.  

Administratively, the system has also helped when it comes to inventory cycle counts at the end of their fiscal year.  

Asset Lifecycle Improvements  

The asset information that the university had in the old system was a snapshot in time, and new information like room changes and renovations were getting lost, leading to inconsistent records and technician confusion.  

To combat this, the university got a team together to update asset information within FAMIS and establish new naming conventions and updated asset management processes. Day-to-day, technicians can check asset information in the field and update it when necessary, thereby ensuring accuracy of asset information and making mistakes easy to spot. Overall, this change in process has improved asset data and made asset management a dynamic “team sport” for the university.  

Useful Reporting  

The university primarily uses system-generated reports, including open work order reports, overdue work order reports, scheduled work reports, and inspection reports. The work order reports, in particular, have helped increase accountability and determine headcount needs. The same goes for the scheduled work order reports, which proved that the preventive maintenance team has enough scheduled work in a calendar year to support nine full-time employees, even though they only have seven people on their maintenance crew. This has bolstered the argument for more staff to ensure safety and maintain preventive maintenance schedules.  

Additionally, “the inspection stuff has been really helpful,” notes Kathy Junior, Systems Manager. “We had a generator start on fire and, of course, that was expensive enough that it had to go to insurance. Insurance wanted to know, have you been doing the proper maintenance and inspections on it, and with the push of a button, there it was. So, lots of information at our fingertips. Anybody can get it with just a little bit of training. It’s not all heavily run through me like it was in the previous system, so that’s been a huge game-changer for us.”  

Streamlined Audits  

Finally, FAMIS has also helped provide the necessary proof of operations to provincial auditors. As Kathy explains, “For proof of timecard entry, payment, approvals, procurement approvals...they want to know which users have what purchasing dollar limits. All of those fussy things that used to take weeks to figure out and get back to people, it’s like, ‘Let me just push a button and I’ll get you that user list and their approval hierarchy, and I’ll get you that printout of the timecard to prove that Tom was approved by Rick and Rick was approved by Arnold.”  

Moving forward, the university plans on expanding analytics and space management capabilities using FAMIS 360.