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For Norland's Multi-Site Services Division, this approach is built around a centralised operation. Information, job control and contract management are pushed out to the field via a Workflow Management methodology. With a 24-hour help desk at its heart, this methodology is based on sound, robust processes with people, skills and information flow as its key delivery points.

For the last three years, the underlying CAFM technology to support service delivery in the Multi-Site Division has been provided by FSI's Concept™ platform. The Division's clients come from the public and commercial sectors and occupy a diverse and complex range of premises.

“It's a massive variety,” says James Wimbleton, Norland's senior business systems analyst. “Everything from hospitals and courts to multi tenanted buildings across the entire country. Within the buildings, the plant we are responsible for maintaining and managing is mainly mechanical and electrical: heating systems, air-conditioning, ventilation and electrical services.  But it is largely essential equipment and it also includes statutory items such as fire alarms and extinguishers, so the maintenance responsibility is extremely high.”

Concept™ had already been installed when James arrived at the company. Previously, Norland had used an access-based CAFM system, but the rate of company growth and the rise in the number of sizeable service contracts defined the need for a platform that could cater for a significantly larger client portfolio.

“With the wide geographical spread of our customer base, Norland was looking for a mobile data solution and at that stage, FSI had already partnered with mobile specialist Cognito and delivered many integrated SMS and mobile data communications CAFM systems for their joint customers,” says James. “Concept™ was the best-of-breed option. Today, in addition to the Help Desk and SLA modules, we use the eSQL product – a purchasing decision that was actually driven by a customer request to be able to access management information via a web portal.”

Challenge

Like any automation project, the implementation of Concept™ posed some interesting cultural challenges for the company. In particular, migrating from a paper-based system to handheld PDAs was a major transition for Norland's army of engineers.

“A lot of them were used to working with time sheets and job report sheets and initially, there were some reservations,” says James. “To be fair, the system was a little slow to begin with and that's why there was some early grumbling. And there were some teething problems with the PDA hardware. But as they started to use it, our engineers soon saw how the system actually reduced the sheer volume of paperwork that they were expected to keep stock of on the ground.”

Benefits

“Mobility is one of the major business benefits of using Concept™”, says James. “To be able to control a national contract from a central location is a real boost for our efficiency,” he explains.  “It means you cut out all the inefficiencies of distributing paper-based information and jobs to the four corners of the country.”

In addition, the ability to supply Norland's clients and managers with a higher standard and greater range of management information in real time has helped the company to build on its reputation for customer-centric service delivery.

“It also allows us to control our resources much more effectively – and the information provided by Concept™ gives us a far greater understanding of the resources we have available to carry out a particular task, and of the member of staff or contractor who is in the right area to complete it,” says James.

“The skills sets we have at our disposal across the organisation are more readily available to us as a result.”

Concept™ HelpDesk is currently used for both reactive and planned maintenance, and James says it has improved the accuracy and measurement of response times in the system. Before the software was implemented, the paper-based communications system meant that Norland's managers and clients would have to wait for job information to be returned manually.

This improvement is particularly important for Norland's strategy of providing clients with a 'First Time Fix' service and maximum levels of responsiveness. Customers are provided with a 24-hour response service designed to give them peace of mind, regardless of their location or the time they log a call.

“From an end-user's perspective, Concept™ must be one of the easiest systems to access,” he adds. “Other CAFM systems give you bland screens or information overload with endless fields and boxes to fill in. This is really user friendly and it doesn't have all those barriers. It's got much more of a familiar, Windows feel about it.”

While there are no immediate plans to extend the range of Concept™ modules in use at Norland, James says that with the company's ever-expanding client-base and the long-term goal of rolling the system out across its Corporate Services and Critical Engineering Services divisions, additions are not out of the question.

“Concept™ does have a strong impact on the way we are able to deliver services, and in the majority of instances, as more useful information comes into the system, it means we are better able to cover information requirements from the business,” he continues.

Norland Managed Services continues to work closely with FSI on the evolution of the system.

“Our relationship with FSI as a supplier is very good,” says James. “Their help desk team is very responsive and any developments we have collaborated on have progressed relatively smoothly.”

In particular, these developments have focused on enhancements to the Concept™ PDA interface.

“We had specific format requirements for the PDA forms, and in fact these have now been updated for a second time,” says James. “These were major development projects from our point of view, with important consequences for the system's end-users, and FSI has been very good at understanding exactly what we are trying to deliver for our staff and our clients.”