1 Manager, 9 Buildings,
Endless Possibilities with AkitaBox
at U of I Community Credit Union

U of I Community Credit Union serves members throughout central Illinois with their “Do More Good” philosophy. As the credit union has expanded its physical presence from just a few locations to 7 branches — including 9 buildings across 5 communities and 3 counties — the challenges of managing multiple facilities have grown accordingly.

Ben Bryant serves as the Facilities Manager, overseeing the maintenance and operations of all credit union properties. Originally starting as a teller six years ago, his role has grown along with the credit union and now encompasses everything from routine maintenance to managing facility issues and supplies across all locations—a one-man operation supported by various vendors when specialized work is needed.

What makes Ben’s approach particularly noteworthy is his creative problem-solving with AkitaBox. By thinking beyond traditional applications, he’s adapted features like the Inspections module to address additional organizational needs, showing how the right tools in resourceful hands can solve challenges beyond their original design.

As U of I Community Credit Union expanded its branch network, what worked for a smaller operation wasn’t cutting it for their growing footprint. Ben faced several key challenges:

• Documentation Management & Information Access: Critical building information was stored in various digital and hardcopy locations, making it difficult to quickly access important details when needed. When facility issues arose at branch locations, accessing relevant documentation often required returning to the office or making multiple inquiries.
• Reactive Maintenance: Without a centralized system to track maintenance history and schedule preventive work, Ben often found himself responding to issues after they occurred.
• Inconsistent Maintenance Request Methods: Before implementing a unified system, maintenance requests came through multiple channels – a request through Fresh Service in Microsoft Teams, an email, or post a note on his office door. This inconsistency made tracking and prioritizing work difficult, especially as the number of locations grew. A request such as “Can you swing by my office and check my thermostat?” might have worked for one or even two buildings, but not for 9.

After evaluating several options and hearing from other AkitaBox customers, Ben and the credit union leadership selected AkitaBox to help address their critical need for better documentation and organization, ensuring that expensive surprises could be avoided in the future. AkitaBox’s visual and easy-to-use location based asset mapping feature stood out in particular for this one-man facility team.

The implementation process included:

• Data Centralization: Consolidating scattered facility information into a single, accessible platform. No more digital and paper scavenger hunts!
• Digital Floor Plans: Creating accurate digital representations of each location with assets mapped to their precise locations. He knows exactly what he’s got and where each asset lives.
• Asset Documentation: Cataloging critical facility assets with images, relevant specifications, warranty information, and maintenance histories. Every asset gets its own digital biography.
• Workflow Standardization: Establishing consistent processes for maintenance requests and vendor management. Ben admits that this is still a work in progress to get everyone in the office on board who’d been accustomed to the older more casual ways, but he’s got AkitaBox support to help him with this.
• Customer Success Support: Throughout the implementation process, Ben worked closely with his dedicated AkitaBox Customer Success Manager who provided personalized training, helped customize the system to meet the credit union’s specific needs, and continues to offer ongoing support through regular check-ins and system optimization recommendations.

The implementation of AkitaBox has brought several significant improvements to U of I Community Credit Union’s facilities management approach:

• Mobile Access & Improved Information Access:
  Mobile functionality enables access to critical information while on-site at any branch, eliminating the need to return to the office for documentation. Information is now at fingertips, not locked in a filing cabinet or computer miles away. This has dramatically reduced time spent searching for critical information, allowing for more time fixing and preventing issues.
• Preventive Maintenance & Enhanced Asset Lifespan:
  The system facilitates planning and tracking regular maintenance activities, making it easier to maintain a proactive approach. This shift from reactive to preventive maintenance has helped reduce unexpected breakdowns and extended the lifespan of facility assets across all locations.
• Vendor Coordination & Documentation:
  Tracking vendor information within the system makes it easier to coordinate with the right specialists when needed. With clearer documentation and service histories, there’s never a “Who did we use last time?” moment, and specialized maintenance and repairs can be coordinated more effectively. Ben is able to assign work orders to his vendors in AkitaBox, including preventive maintenance, and communicate about key updates such as work completed, parts ordered, and more.
• Documentation Repository:
  All warranty information, service records, and equipment specifications are now stored in a central location, making them easily accessible when needed. The days of digging through disorganized folders are over.
• Streamlined Communication:
  The work order system has made communication between branch staff and facilities more consistent, ensuring issues are properly documented and addressed. No more post-it notes on the office door.
• Portfolio Insights & Data-Driven Decisions:
  The reporting dashboard provides a comprehensive view of all 9 buildings in the credit union’s portfolio, allowing for tracking maintenance trends, identifying recurring issues, and making data-driven decisions about resource allocation across locations. As the facility data continues to accumulate and fill with cost data, AkitaBox Capital Management will soon provide even more budget insights.
• Phased Implementation:
  One of the most valuable aspects of AkitaBox for U of I Community Credit Union has been the ability to develop their facilities management plan at their own pace. Rather than requiring a complete overhaul of existing processes all at once, the platform allows this one-man team to implement features gradually, focusing first on the most critical needs and adding additional functionality as they continue to populate it with more data.

What really stands out is the creative application of AkitaBox’s features beyond standard facilities management:

IT Asset Mapping: The credit union’s IT department is utilizing the floor plans for mapping technology assets throughout the branches. This mapping capability has also proven valuable for the credit union’s hybrid work model, allowing workers in the office part-time who’ve reserved a desk to easily identify it on a specialized version of the office building floor plan.

Creative Problem-Solving: Though AkitaBox isn’t designed as an inventory management system, the facilities team found an innovative workaround for a pressing need. By repurposing the Inspections module’s customizable forms and checklists, they created a simple but effective system to track supply levels across branches. Custom “inspection” forms for supply closets allow for regularly documenting inventory levels, monitoring usage patterns, and ensuring essential supplies are always available. Weekly work orders to the cleaning team make sure that janitorial and coffee bar supplies are kept current. This resourceful adaptation has eliminated emergency supply runs and helped optimize purchasing without requiring additional specialized software. It’s a perfect example of how flexible tools combined with creative thinking can address multiple organizational challenges.

With AkitaBox as its facilities management foundation, U of I Community Credit Union is better positioned to fulfill its “Do More Good” mission throughout central Illinois. The standardized processes and centralized information will seamlessly accommodate new branches as the credit union grows, avoiding the challenges faced during previous expansions. By transforming facilities management from a reactive scramble to a strategic asset, AkitaBox helps ensure that members experience comfortable, reliable locations while the credit union maintains its buildings efficiently and cost-effectively for years to come.