Once you’ve gotten AkitaBox implemented at your organization, it can be tempting to “set it and forget it.” However, as your facilities change, your AkitaBox needs may change as well.
We recommend to all our clients that they conduct annual fiscal planning as well as administrative and logistics planning around their AkitaBox needs.
In other words, prepare for what you’re going to need to do in your facilities – and within AkitaBox – in the coming year. Taking the time to think about this can help you set the stage for stronger facilities management. How? First, you’ll determine if there are more ways you can use AkitaBox to be a better data steward for your organization. And second, you’ll know how much budget to set aside to expand your AkitaBox usage if needed.
Will You Need to Budget for More AkitaBox Usage?
Think about what’s happening in your facilities. Are you growing? Are you changing? If so, how will that relate to what’s going on in your AkitaBox account?
Staff changes: Are you hiring new employees that’ll need training to use AkitaBox?
Organizational changes: Is your organization expanding or remodeling? Will you need to add more buildings to your AkitaBox account?
[Helpful hint: If new construction is in your future, our team can coordinate with your AEC firm to get the necessary documentation to create your new building within AkitaBox for you.]
Account changes: Are there other operational areas where AkitaBox can help you solve challenges? For example, maybe you’d like to add our Inspections or Capital Management software to better optimize your compliance efforts and risk management.
Whatever changes you’re experiencing, think about how those will affect your AkitaBox needs and plan for any additional budget that may require. If you determine you’re going to increase your spend with AkitaBox, talk to us early so we can give you the information you need well in advance of budget approvals.
Planning for additional budget for your AkitaBox account is one side of the coin. On the other side is thinking about how you and your team can do more with AkitaBox this year. Whether you want to clean up your facilities data or reprioritize maintenance tasks, you’ll need to plan for the additional or changing workloads it could require.
How Can You Leverage AkitaBox More Effectively?
Keep Your Facilities Data Current
As the facilities manager, you are the steward of your organization’s facilities data – not to mention the champion of your data’s integrity.
Your data is your responsibility. You need to enter new information, update existing data when things change in your facilities, and so on.
Keeping your facilities data current and accurate is essential for things like capital planning, tackling maintenance backlogs, preventive maintenance planning, and labor allocation.
Data integrity is also crucial to help your AkitaBox system operate at its best. You wouldn’t put old, degraded fuel into a brand new car and expect it to get great gas mileage. In the same way, if you let your facilities data get outdated, you won’t get dependable reporting from your FM tools.
AkitaBox needs a constant stream of fresh information: from work orders, inspections, and even the casual observation from one of your team members walking past an asset and noticing a drip.
As you look forward into the coming year, check out your facilities data. Is it in as good of shape as it could be? Do you have a lot of unkempt data? Has your asset-specific information been updated regularly?
Take charge of your facilities data. If it’s not at the level it needs to be, make it a priority for your team to get it back up to speed. Because once it is, you’ll reap the benefits of helpful insights and powerful reporting.
One way to update your data is with a facility condition assessment (FCA).
Conduct a Living Facility Condition Assessment
Is it time to refresh your condition data? How long has it been?
One huge advantage of being an AkitaBox customer is the ability to have a living FCA. Instead of re-doing a complete FCA every 3-7 years, a living FCA is one where your FCA data is connected to the rest of your facilities data. This enables FCA data to remain current, giving you an always up-to-date snapshot of your facilities’ condition.
An FCA conducted using AkitaBox FCA software can fully integrate into your AkitaBox Pulse or Platform software and ta-dah! A living FCA.
However, even with a living FCA, it’s a good idea to regularly bring in an architecture-engineering-construction (AEC) firm to validate your condition data.
Engage with AkitaBox for Awareness
Are your outstanding work orders or preventative maintenance needs piling up? Are tasks you hoped to complete quarterly only getting done one or twice a year? Are some of your team members more efficient than others and could handle more work?
AkitaBox can show you the answers – so don’t be hesitant to use it. Take advantage of AkitaBox’s reporting power: sort and filter your data, run reports, measure KPIs. There’s no need to guess. You don’t have to wonder, “Am I behind on my PMs?” With AkitaBox, you’ll know. You can clearly see the areas that need attention.
Say AkitaBox shows you’re not keeping up with your preventive maintenance. That’s a good indicator that you need to make some changes.
Should you schedule your staff to be more effective around certain periods of time? Maybe you can adjust some of your maintenance schedules to better suit your headcount. If you don’t have the luxury of hiring more staff, perhaps you need to bring in some outsourced help. And there’s always the option to re-prioritize the most impactful maintenance tasks. AkitaBox gives you the visibility into your facilities data that can help you make wise decisions in these cases.
You can also turn to your AkitaBox Customer Success Manager (CSM) for advice. They’ll help you dig into your reports and offer recommendations.
AkitaBox is great not just for maintenance and work orders, but also for your capital planning and budgeting. If you have our Capital Management software, be sure to engage with it as well. Look at your one-, three-, and five-year budget projections. Pinpoint your biggest risks. Feel confident explaining the “why” behind your next budget request to the decision makers.
We’re Here to Help
The AkitaBox team is committed to your success as a facilities manager. Have questions? Want more training? Need advice? Reach out to your CSM. We can help you use your AkitaBox software to its fullest potential.
Also, be sure to subscribe to our blog (if you haven’t already) for thought leadership, facility management best practices, and tips for getting the most out of AkitaBox.
