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Business Case Analysis
Project: Integrated Workplace Management System
Executive Summary
The University of Maine System‘s built environment is valued at over two billion dollars (excluding
site infrastructure) and has over 565 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees dedicated to its
stewardship. It is the responsibility of the facilities management operations to ensure that these
resources are managed effectively and efficiently so their institutions can fulfill their missions of
education, research, and public service.
Over the years, the UMS has implemented and supported four stand-alone software solutions
that provide essential information management for the critical functions of work management,
space management, utility management, and capital planning. The information management
systems that support the functional areas of work management and space management are also
obsolete and no longer sustainable. Because of decreased support and usability, technological
changes, and functionality issues, the utilization of the programs has declined and varies between
campuses. The migration to PeopleSoft has further complicated the interoperability between
financial and facility management information systems.
Two recent reviews of facilities management operations have highlighted extensive deficiencies
with current systems that directly impact the efficiency of operations. The following excerpt
summarizes the current state.
“The backbone for information accessibility for most facility management organizations is
a computer-based work-order system with a web-based self-help interface. Facilities
management’s MP2 computer-based work-order system is not serving the department’s
internal information needs nor is it serving its customers’ needs.”
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The lack of accessible facility management information adversely impacts operating efficiency
and cost; it increases our risk from unplanned outages, and does not allow us to adequately
benchmark, determine facilities condition index (FCI), or measure performance. The adverse
impacts extend beyond the facilities departments because other external users are dependent on
access to current and accurate facilities information. Observations by our F&A consultant
indicate that our current solution set does not provide the indirect cost recovery (ICR) information
needed and is jeopardizing our negotiating position. Users of Resource 25 are impacted by the
inability to access current facilities space information. Conversely scheduling of maintenance
activities are adversely impacted by the inability to transparently access scheduling information.
An interdisciplinary cross-functional team has been established to develop the requirements,
evaluate alternatives, develop the business case and implement the solution. Evaluation of the
current facility management software used by other institutions of Higher Education indicates that
there are integrated suites of software currently in the market that could replace the current work,
space, and utility management solutions as well as the capital planning solution. However,
capital planning is a significant effort by itself and attempting to include it in this project phase is
overly ambitious. At this time it appears that there would be minimal advantage to migrate away
from VFA, our current capital planning solution.
The recommendation is to replace the current work management, space management, and utility
management systems with an integrated system and develop the appropriate interfaces to
PeopleSoft/SciQuest. This will increase our efficiency of operations, reduce facilities related
costs, and improve communication and visibility while providing accurate, timely and complete
asset management information to decision makers at all levels.
Project Cost: $950K
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November 2008, University of Southern Maine Facilities Management Evaluation Program review by
APPA - the Higher Education Facilities Professionals group.
Operating Cost: $223K/year Breakeven: 5.0 years
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Spread over two fiscal years.