Unlike retail chains, which typically feature a single store type across multiple locations, higher education systems must manage widely disparate types of facilities: lecture halls, classrooms, libraries, dormitories, gymnasiums, cafeterias, parking garages, and more. To make a complex situation even more difficult to control, these facilities may be spread out across different campuses in different cities—or even different countries.

The upside to managing such a wide variety of facility types? More opportunities for savings. Through the use of a powerful Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) such as IBM TRIRIGAⓇ, universities can implement cost-reduction strategies in the areas of space management, facility and asset management, capital project management and more.

Cost-Reduction Strategies for Universities: Use an IWMS

The IBM TRIRIGA® IWMS consists of six integrated modules covering multiple key aspects of workplace resource management: real estate, capital projects, facilities, workplace reservations, workplace operations and energy usage. The modules collect and share information, giving organizations a single view of all facilities and assets. Large organizations use the modules—separately or, ideally, in combination with each other—to streamline operations, reduce waste and cut costs. In particular, universities who use TRIRIGA glean great value from the software in the following areas:

• Space Management

When you’re looking for cost-reduction strategies at your university, it helps to start by asking these questions: How much of your space are you actually using, and is all of it being put to the best possible use? Proper space management reduces costs by ensuring all facilities are being used to their fullest extent while still retaining sufficient room for expansions. This may mean consolidating underused classrooms, or relocating classes to smaller spaces to free up room for additional classes. Space management is a key feature of TRIRIGA’s Facilities Manager module, which uses up-to-date CAD drawings to let you make the best possible decisions about your space based on accurate measurements; it also lets you see all the space in your entire portfolio in a single view using campus-wide floorplans.

Universities can use TRIRIGA to reduce the costs associated with the ebb and flow of student enrollment. TRIRIGA helps maintain sufficient facilities to provide an optimal learning environment for students without leaving too many buildings underused, should campus populations take an unplanned dip. When classes and departments shift locations, the IWMS can also help manage all the details associated with the move to keep everything on schedule and to ensure nothing goes missing in transit.

• Facility and Asset Management

Campus equipment and infrastructure that gets regular attention lasts longer, resulting in fewer replacement expenses over time. At the same time, however, there’s no sense in spending more time or money on equipment checkups than necessary. Preventive maintenance programs, which are part of the Workplace Operations Manager module of IBM TRIRIGA, provide a balance to those concerns; by giving you access to accurate lifespan and repair histories of all your facilities and assets, TRIRIGA can help you develop an ideal preventive maintenance schedule. TRIRIGA also helps increase the efficiency of work order management, streamlining the process and reducing the need for multiple trips to retrieve the parts, tools and manuals necessary for jobs.

TRIRIGA also helps you make informed repair-versus-replace decisions. If newer, more efficient equipment makes more financial sense than increasingly-frequent visits from your maintenance crew, you’ll have the numbers to back up your purchase request.

Higher education institutions and systems that want to take full advantage of TRIRIGA’s cost-reduction potential should also consider the use of mobile TRIRIGA apps, which bring TRIRIGA’s functionality into the field, thus giving your workers the opportunity to use TRIRIGA’s key features while away from the office.

• Capital Project Management

Capital projects are notorious for blowing up budgets and schedules. When your higher education system launches a capital improvement plan, make sure it’s managed properly. TRIRIGA users have the Capital Projects Manager module at the ready to do just that.

Whether you’re overseeing renovations or brand-new construction, TRIRIGA helps track budgets and schedules, both for your teams and your third-party vendors. If a team’s delay could cascade into problems for other teams, you’ll know about it early enough to head it off.

Getting Started with eCIFM and the IBM TRIRIGA IWMS

Every higher education system works to eliminate waste. It’s an institutional imperative to put every dollar toward helping students reach their goals and their potential. Modern university systems and other institutions of higher education rely on the IBM TRIRIGA IWMS to help them cut costs without sacrificing quality. TRIRIGA ensures they can get the most value out of each building in their portfolio, whether owned or leased.

eCIFM is a certified value-added IBM TRIRIGA reseller. We can install, configure and upgrade TRIRIGA to suit the needs of your organization; we also offer a customized TRIRIGA solution designed for the specific needs of higher education. We’ve helped major university systems reduce costs by making the most of TRIRIGA’s abilities. If you need to stretch your budget, let us know.