A university’s maintenance team is crucial to the success and safety of its staff and students. Unfortunately, management doesn’t always get this, and facilities budgets are often one of the first to go when times get tough. Facilities management needs to harness the power of the data they collect on a daily basis to successfully make the case for proper funding.

Maintenance budgets are under attack

As a result of these cuts, known issues are often deferred – leading to exacerbated issues and higher maintenance costs in the long-run. In the case of University of Cincinnati, deferred maintenance on a deteriorating wall due to budget constraints resulted in a dangerous situation that cost the university nearly $1 million. It gets worse: according to Dayton Daily News, 10 of the state’s 14 public universities collectively have at least $2.8 billion in deferred maintenance.

While these deferred costs may seem unavoidable as fewer funds are allocated to maintenance projects, sharing the right information can help a facility manager build a case to resist cuts.

Defend budget proposals with data

Keeping (and sharing) great records is a must for any facilities team, but in situations where money is tight, it’s absolutely crucial.

Create a paper trail (or even better, an easily accessible digital record) of all of the issues that your team discovers in their routine inspections and preventative maintenance tasks. Your team creates a tremendous amount of data every day…the trick is to capture it in a useful way.

The next time budget discussions come around, let your records become ammunition. Facilities maintenance professionals do a tremendous amount of work that doesn’t get recognized, and this disconnect makes it more likely that they’re overlooked in budget plans.

The right tools help make the best case

One of the reasons we built LogCheck was to shine light on all of the work that keeps facilities running but often gets overlooked. We built features like photos, email reports, and easy data export into our app to improve communication between staff and management. When the tireless work of engineers is visible, maintenance becomes a priority, which ultimately makes for a better, safer environment.

Do you work at a school or university and want to see how LogCheck can work on your campus? Claim your free trial today!

Header image: University of Cincinnati by cdschock used via Creative Commons license.