The optimum resolution at which to track PPM assets can be far from obvious, and getting it wrong can require expensive restructuring with a contract in motion. iiS and iiS partners can advise on how best to structure PPM asset data, with options being:

* Track each asset
* Track each asset and its sub-assets
* Track similar items in a building as one asset
* Track similar items at a site as one asset

If you would like to discuss options for PPM asset data resolution, contact your account manager or ppm-data@iisfm.com

Performance measurement requirements from your customers can seem daunting, but they can also lead to increased efficiency and streamlined processes. Our experience has shown that while many PPM service providers are fully committed to “doing the work on time”, there is often a lag in completing the back office updates which mean the data for each job is complete. This can lead to feverish levels of work to comply with quarterly reports, for instance.

If the emphasis on logging full job details is changed to when the work is done, rather than afterwards, KPI’s can be analysed at any time. A key is timely communication from on-site engineers, using tried-and-tested methods such as phone, text or email, or newer technology, such as live Smartphone access.

If you would like to improve your processes to facilitate better readiness for Performance Measurement, contact your account manager or performance@iisfm.com

A ”one touch-job completion” by engineers on site, has long been an aim for resource-sensitive service providers. One of the problems has been the cost of PDA’s, and the fact that they become obsolete quite quickly. Operating system rationalisation in the Smartphone world now means that mainstream apps can be provided for almost all Smartphones.

Fast Track Mobile from iiS complements existing Windows and Web solutions, to provide a low-cost solution for mobile staff. Engineers receive new jobs as soon as they are issued, and job status changes (such as Responded To and Completed) can be achieved with a click of a finger (or thumb!). If the Smartphone has a draw capability, such as with a touch screen or stylus, end user customers can also SIGN the job there and then.

Fast Track Mobile works with iPhone, Blackberry and Android (contact iiS for version details), and works with Wifi and Internet connections, and also when no connection is available.

Using pre-loaded schedules of rates is becoming a popular way to control job costs, and can be used to accurately forecast contractual costs for both existing and new contracts.

Utilising your own rates and tasks, a national schedule of rates, or your own customised version, exact tasks and costs can usually be found in seconds, leading to accurate costing and speedy distribution of instructions to the right staff member or service provider.
 
Level of Detail
The contents and pricing of the Schedule of Rates (SOR) tasks can be broadly descriptive, or extremely detailed – you just match the detail level to your requirements.

Margins and Contracts
Utilising the margin mechanisms with different mark-up calculation methods, the same SOR task can be used to derive different costings based on contract margin variations.

Benefits of Schedule of Rates based work tracking
* Add your own Task Descriptions and COSTS
* Find standard and non-standard tasks IN SECONDS
* Very low DEPLOYMENT COSTS
* Scale up to multiple CONTRACTS with multiple MARGINS

Utilising Hosted Systems, or Software-as-a-Service, is becoming more and more popular as organisations look to avoid expensive capital expenditures (CAPEX). A trend is to reduce costs by paying for systems out of operational expenditure (OPEX). Saving on large outlays is one of several advantages to be gained from using hosted solutions.

Benefits of hosted systems:
 
* NO CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) Required
* NO BLESSING from IT Required
* NO DELAYS – use your system within days
* NO HIGH COSTS – typically £35 per user per month
* NO DEPLOYMENT COSTS at all?

The cost of hosted solutions has steadily reduced to where they are being considered by more and more organisations. The main benefit seems to be outsourced IT resources. Room Booking and Help Desk systems can be “turned on” for users with little project assistance from corporate managers, and the number of licenced users can be varied monthly, according to needs.

Many managers and consultants who have a great deal of experience in the preparation of PPM plan data, insist on preparing the base data for PPM systems (asset and procedure pairing, start date and cycle, service provider) in a spreadsheet. Spreadsheets are undeniably convenient, but most of the managers and consultants being described would say that preparation of plan data in a spreadsheet is ONLY way.

It’s quick, similar plans can be copied, and whole sections can be cut and pasted. This sounds good, but it’s all prone to error, the type of error which may not reveal itself until the plan is live.

If base and plan data is entered directly into a system which is back-ended by a professional database such as SQL Server, most of the errors which occur in a spreadsheet can be precluded, because the database simply won’t allow them. The application should provide any further required protection against bad data.

The best PPM systems also have time-saving mechanisms, such as creation of Tasks and Task Dates by groups of assets. Essential an expert user would be saying “create the 28-day inspection task for all the air handlers in the specified building, to start on 1st July” or “all the assets in this room are to have their quarterly inspection, starting on 2nd July”.

Fine-tuning can be done later (often visually, as in the case of staggered start dates), but creating the plan in this way completely prevents the bad data that creation in spreadsheets can allow.

The analysis to determine whether fully automatic PPM is beneficial, or “a good idea”, runs the gamut from common sense to philosophy. “We won’t have to do anything once it’s set up!” cry the proponents, while the worriers wonder “if it’s actually fully automatic, how will the users remember how to use it?”

There are many opinions to consider, but this doesn’t alter the fact that the technology for fully automatic PPM, including distribution of instructions by email, is already here.

By pairing assets and PPM processes and giving them start dates and cycles (PPM Tasks), server-based services can periodically apply lead times for forecasted dates (future PPM Task Dates without jobs), and the jobs themselves. In practical terms, this might mean checking every hour for dates coming due up to 6 months into the future, and jobs coming due within the next two weeks.

Turn it loose and put your feet up?

All organisation refine their operations, so the search for better systems is non-stop. New software packages to automate time-consuming processes, improved software to integrate new techniques and operating system advantages, etc., are fairly common reasons to research new software. What usually happens? The best matching software systems are reviewed on the web, and then the companies are invited to present and discuss.

Thousands of motorway miles and hundreds of train hours are gobbled up moving people around the country, and any potential climate change benefits associated with travel reduction are almost always ignored.

The other approach is to attend “webinars” or “web seminars”, which can be presentations to groups, or one-on-one. Perhaps the best scenario is that the prospective buyers group around a PC and large-ish monitor, and the presenter uses GoToMeeting or Webex to “reveal his desktop” to the group, as if he or she was in the same room. If there has to be a last-minute postponement, little damage is done, and little inconvenience caused. And the travel reduction is good for the Earth!

Help Desk or PPM work location shown in MapQuest

Helpdesk & PPM work locations can often be made clearer, by showing a map to operators and service providers alike. Existing technology means showing where a work location is on a street is quite straightforward. A number of different methods exist, whereby a postcode or more precisely longitude and latitude, and drive mapping engines like Google or Mapquest, to show within a few metres, exactly where a building is located.

Some elements of data are very specific to the application that required them, but longitude and latitude angles are “hundred year data”, in that they are very unlikely to be superseded by “better” location information, and can be utilised by map systems, GPS systems, routing systems, and any other application which works with precise location data.

iiS’s software uses maps in conjunction with Labour Resource Planning and building data, generally: http://www.fasttrackhelpdesk.com/