University Medical Center upgrades to cloud-based eMaint CMMS to enhance its quality student environment

The KUMC facilities maintenance department keeps assets up and running, providing on-campus students with an environment conducive to healthcare, learning, and research. The campus is divided into five zones, covering more than 50 buildings, including three off-site satellite locations.

Forty-two technicians help maintain KUMC facilities, including the Energy Center, which supplies critical utilities for the main campus. Assets include generators, HVAC, and essential auxiliary equipment such as pumps, motors, and heat exchangers.

LaWayne Smith, asset reliability manager at KUMC, started working for the university in 2016. The institution already had a maintenance management system, and although it was robust, it wasn’t cloud-based, and users found it cumbersome to configure and use.

Because the on-premises system wasn’t Wi-Fi-enabled, maintenance personnel had to race back and forth to the office to log in to see work orders and document completions. Inspection rounds such as monthly fire extinguisher checks were time-consuming because the process for locating them was inadequate.

While some data was entered into the old system, it wasn’t always updated to reflect items such as decommissioned assets and new equipment additions. Paper regulatory compliance documents were stored in filing cabinets, and reports took hours to compile using spreadsheets.

Smith garnered buy-in from leadership to explore easy to use, cloud-based replacement systems that cost the same or less than the present software and could meet the unique needs of KUMC. All agreed that eMaint CMMS was the best choice.

One of the top five prerequisites for achieving implementation success is to develop a detailed plan. Here are just some of the ways KUMC achieved a positive outcome.

• Before launch, existing data was uploaded to the CMMS. Smith and an eMaint implementation specialist pored through asset information and confirmed details to ensure accurate, reliable data. Maintenance processes were optimized to streamline workflows, and forms were configured to fit the university’s specific requirements.
• Smith instituted mandatory fields in forms to ensure data consistency, including failure code entries that would help identify root cause failures. The system supports on-time completion initiatives and regulatory compliance requirements by automatically creating a corrective action work order should an inspection fail.
• All users either attended training via eMaint online learning or in-person training or both. Stakeholders continue to meet to discuss additional ways to leverage the software and to ensure standardization.

KUMC maintenance professionals use their mobile devices or laptop to receive and sign-off on work orders remotely, whether on or off-campus. Administrators working from home also access the CMMS via the cloud.

Smith created a custom naming convention specifically for KUMC facilities that connect each asset with a specific zone, building, floor, and room number. Technicians can now locate critical equipment, such as fire extinguishers, quickly and easily.

Currently, Smith is cross-referencing parts to ensure availability for scheduled PMs. Long term, he hopes to add sensor technology to continuously monitor critical assets so the team can address equipment issues well before they become failures.

“Because eMaint is cloud-based, it’s super easy for everyone to log in remotely, including employees working from home.”

– LaWayne Smith, reliability manager at Kansas University Medical Center