Campus Utilities Department Leverages Digital Transformation for Operational Excellence
Large college utilities and maintenance department that manages and provides the electricity, heating, cooling, repairs, and upkeep for facilities across the campus through a team of power plant operators, managers, technicians, mechanics, and administrators.
The university sought to modernize manual procedures for managing and tracking the statuses of the plant’s equipment (e.g., generators, air compressors, and boilers) and the activities and outcomes of operator and inspection rounds. Staff had been collecting data by hand and logging information on the Plant Status Board and into dozens of Excel files with multiple sheets, which created numerous operational challenges.
Firstly, the risk of data inaccuracy was significant; manual entry is prone to human error, which can lead to incorrect statuses being displayed and potentially hazardous outcomes. Additionally, information was only visible at a specific location, hindering the ability of remote or off-site team members to stay informed and react promptly. As time went on, it was becoming cumbersome to historically track, back up, and analyze crucial operational data. Furthermore, the lack of real-time updates limited the ability to make immediate, informed decisions—a critical setback in dynamic operational environments where conditions can change rapidly.
The combination of operational challenges underscored the university’s need for a more reliable, accessible, and analytical approach to managing plant status, driving the adoption of an advanced solution.
The University engaged assistance from the team at Adatafy™, an eschbach Shiftconnector Solution Partner, to digitalize their plant process management with a powerful suite of digital applications for shift handover, team communication, production management, and regulatory compliance.
During the configuration process, Adatafy populated the locations of the equipment and created a unified electronic logbook with over 50 digital forms to encompass the information previously contained on the Plant Status Board and within separate Excel sheets. University administrators could interact with Shiftconnector directly inside the development environment to test the tool and provide the deployment team at Adatafy with feedback before going live.
Once the University approved and accepted the system, the next step was to go live into production and train key users, supervisors, and administrators on how to configure the application and use the software broadly throughout the organization. Adatafy provided post-implementation hyper-care support to quickly address initial system optimization requests and inquiries.
The University’s digital transformation was not merely about replacing paper with screens, but about harnessing data more purposefully to facilitate insights and render information readily accessible for audits, vendor collaborations, and operational standardization.
The digitized platform eradicated the need for the physical Plant Status Board and disparate forms, instructions, and shift logs, allowing for greater interaction and responsiveness among personnel, informed decision-making, and proactive operational control.
The University Utilities and Maintenance department is setting the stage for continued digital evolution and analytical acumen with aspirations to add and integrate AspenTech Inmation™ for centralized operational data management.
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360˚ Overview
Plant Status
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