Here’s how it happened.
The City of Upper Arlington, located just northwest of Columbus, Ohio, serves 36,010 residents and manages a diverse range of facilities. These include fire and police stations, municipal services centers, libraries, public pools, tennis courts, senior centers, and more.
With plans to construct a new, multi-million dollar community center, the City of Upper Arlington identified the need for a more efficient way to track facility maintenance and operations.
With FMX, the City of Upper Arlington can manage and track equipment, maintenance schedules, various cost data, and more to review trends and identify actionable insights to improve community spaces.
Challenges
Previously, the city relied on an email system to manage work orders, which made data capture and analysis difficult.
With no formalized system or process to capture work orders and equipment data, it was difficult to identify critical trends, like the cost of maintenance by building. This led to critical information gaps.
Employees relied on calls, notes, or simply waiting for maintenance staff to address issues. These communication silos created costly equipment failures that the city could have been prevented with a centralized system.
A recent incident at one of the city’s fire stations highlighted the importance of preventive maintenance. After missing annual maintenance, the hot water tanks malfunctioned, leaving the station without water for five days. Implementing FMX for tracking maintenance could help prevent similar situations in the future.
Additionally, as construction began on the community center, the city needed a system that could adapt to the demands and upkeep of the new community center.
The City of Upper Arlington needed a system to do three main things: organize their data, streamline their communication, and scale with them as they grow.
FMX: The Solution
With FMX, the City of Upper Arlington now has a centralized and easy-to-use system to store facility and maintenance information.
FMX provided a user-friendly platform to:
- Centralize data: All facility and maintenance information is stored in one accessible location.
- Streamline requests: Staff submit requests in FMX, ensuring they reach the right person quickly.
- Improve efficiency: Suzanne Beach, Executive Office Administrator, assigns tasks and tracks progress.
- Enhance team operations: Maintenance teams clearly understand daily tasks and priorities.
“It makes the day-to-day much easier, as far as accomplishing what we need to do in the different buildings,” Suzanne says. “It’s helping to have everything in one system so building maintenance is able to see what they need to do each day. It’s a big improvement.”
Results and Benefits
- Increased internal trust: Clear communication fosters trust between departments and staff.
- Data-driven decision-making: FMX data will inform future capital projects and budget planning.
- Scalability for growth: The system can seamlessly manage the new community center’s needs.
- Peace of mind: There is improved follow-up and reduced risk of missed tasks, with FMX housing all communication and maintenance schedules.
Jackie Thiel, the Assistant City Manager, is excited about the future use and expansion of FMX within the city.
The city plans to draft a five-year budget to serve as a guideline for upcoming capital projects and improvements. FMX will be a crucial data source to create this budget and aid in capital investment planning, staffing increases, building repairs, equipment replacement, and more.
As for now, having FMX has increased internal trust across the organization.
“I don’t hear complaints anymore about facilities not getting back or not knowing who to contact. It really has given them one platform that they know is going to be followed up on. They can ask questions, see where things are, and, for me, it’s peace of mind. I know we’re not dropping the ball on anything anymore,” says Jackie.
FMX has empowered the City of Upper Arlington to manage its facilities proactively. With a centralized system and improved communication, the city is well-equipped to maintain its existing infrastructure and ensure the smooth operation of its new community center.
