fmfirst® CAFM software - Uniting the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board

9 Jan 2018

The successful integration of CAFM software system fmfirst® estates and facilities with the Facilities Monitoring Tool (FMT) across the whole of the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board (GG&C) has seen significant operational improvements.

fmfirst® estates and facilities is now installed in all sites across the entire GG&C, forming one of the largest health sector CAFM software installations in Western Europe. New integration technology from Asckey now means that the FMT and fmfirst® estates and facilities are seamlessly combined, realising significant improvements in:

• Reporting accuracy with real-time data updates
• National service and cleaning standards compliance
• Communications between Estates and Facilities and Cleaning departments
• Cross-functional task allocation and monitoring for whole-site efficiency

When NHS Greater Glasgow and the Clyde area of NHS Argyll and Clyde combined in 2006, the Board became one of the largest health providers in Western Europe providing healthcare services to over 1.2 million people and employing more than 40,000 staff.

By 2008 it was apparent that the existence of a large number of legacy CAFM systems and multiple estates packages was no longer sustainable. The newly formed board, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (GG&C), was using seven different CAFM Estates Management Systems, all of which were heavily paper based.

Following a full system review, it was recommended that these seven systems where consolidated into one centralised system to standardise data and provide a smarter, faster, more efficient service to clients. The aim was to provide benefits in both maintenance time and operational costs by eliminating operating system incompatibilities and conflicting legacy data that were creating inefficiencies and high operational costs.

The Board required the new system to perform a number of essential functions:

• Remote notification of faults by users
• Access to live status updates of task completion by users
• Mobile functionality for managers and tradesmen to improve site-wide control and data management

Essentially, the Board required a highly responsive, flexible CAFM system that could bring together all key estates and facilities tasks. It was important that the system selected was reliable, web enabled and secure with controlled user access.

The review took into consideration an existing longstanding relationship with the board and CAFM software developers Asckey Data Services Ltd and their estates package fmfirst® estates and facilities (formerly known as Eclipse-fm). The fmfirst® product suite had already been in operation at Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) and part of the Southern General Hospital (SGH), since early 2011. The decision to expand the use of fmfirst® across the whole of the newly formed Health Board came about due to the systems targeted functionality, reputation for reliability and robust user and system support.

Data migration

The logistics of mobilising such a large scale user base needed careful consideration. The migration of all legacy data from eleven separate installations over to fmfirst® was the next stage of the process. The migration exercise, successfully managed in conjunction with the Board and Asckey, involved extensive data cleansing to ensure the accuracy of all information in the database. This included over 100 locations, over 6,000 staff records and the import of over 70,000 assets into the system.

Training

A system installation of this size required a carefully coordinated, bespoke training programme for new users. Asckey’s training team arranged a series of training sessions with staff across all locations. Training covered all key areas such as Helpdesk functionality, right through to full supervisor and administration training including Mobile Task Management (MTM).

Phil Wright, Account Manager at Asckey said: “Representatives from all locations attended to learn the system basics including Help Desk, Staff Management, Asset Management and Mobile Task Management. The majority of attendees found the course allayed any fears about learning a new technology. They could see first-hand how simple and intuitive fmfirst® was to use. The session allowed trainees to interact with the software and ask questions.”

“The delegates’ hard work paid off with all delegates successfully completing the course which covered all essential functionality. A stand-alone training system was made available to all users for practice before moving to the live system”.

Each sector within the Board was allocated a super user who represented the users and could be contacted with any concerns or queries.

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