The University of Alabama in Huntsville is one of the state’s three main campuses. It enrolls 9,100 students, many of whom live in school-run dorms.
Three years ago, the university started the housing maintenance program to oversee customer service improvements. As part of their effort, they promoted Nick Coggin to Senior Residential Facilities Manager to oversee the initiative.
Since implementing the program, the university found significant success. Despite new off-campus housing choices, students are opting to stay in the university’s housing in greater numbers than before.
“We had 120 empty beds last year,” said Nick. “About 200 the year before that. Now, we’re 362 beds short.”
Coggin attributes the added demand to better outcomes for residents.
With average annual on-campus housing costs of $7,743, the 120 fewer empty beds translate to $929,160 in additional revenue for the school.
What’s contributing to these improvements? More visibility, better communication, and streamlined work order resolution with FMX.
Benefits after FMX implementation
$7,743
Average annual on-campus housing costs
120
Fewer empty beds
$929K
In additional revenue
Before FMX
Previously, the University of Alabama Huntsville utilized a feature of its housing assignment system to complete work orders. However, this feature was limited in functionality, with no tracking, visibility, asset management, or inventory management capabilities.
To supplement its limitations, Coggin and his team used disparate solutions to piece together what they needed. After a larger company purchased the school’s housing system, Coggins used the opportunity to source a unified solution.
Enter FMX. With its robust facilities and asset management capabilities, it presented the University of Alabama Huntsville with a one-stop shop for solving housing challenges.
With the new system, Coggin can plan maintenance and track work orders, assets, and inventory across his department. It’s increased his team’s efficiency and visibility into completed work. With the school’s aging facilities and warm climate, having this asset management visibility into HVAC systems and AC units is critical.
“I can look at the history of what we’ve done in a specific room,” Nick explained. “I know what we’ve replaced and if we’ve had recurring issues like blinds continually needing to be replaced. I can look into everything we’ve done. It’s nice to be able to see when we’ve replaced a motor in an AC unit.”
Now, he and his team understand exactly how much of their resources go to specific equipment and living areas. Over time, this visibility will increase the longevity of the school’s equipment and facilities.
Switching to FMX and implementation
The residential team was eager to find a more effective solution to their challenges. However, they weren’t familiar with integrating the latest facilities management software into their day-to-day.
Their previous system was less sophisticated, with limited tracking and upload functionality. It had fewer bells and whistles than FMX. Despite that, Coggin and his team were able to leverage FMX immediately.
“The usability was great for FMX. And after I’ve learned even more, it’s been even better. As I’ve gone, I’ve learned a lot. And it’s very easy to use.”
FMX provided hands-on implementation and training to make the transition easier for the department.
“FMX answered every question I had,” he continued. “The import template was great. I added all our data from scratch.”
Now past the implementation phase, FMX continues to be an effective tool for the housing facilities team.
“The other work order system kept running slower and slower. But my contractors haven’t complained about FMX. Nobody is ever coming to me saying we’re out of a part or anything anymore. It’s been awesome.”
The newly gained insights continue to provide value to the team and will continue to amount to savings and better outcomes for student housing.