Dean Close School was established in 1886 and is set in a picturesque parkland of 50 acres within the centre of Cheltenham, UK. It is a prestigious day and boarding school, renowned for focusing on student development, with its ethos encouraging independent thinking and self-confidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With an average of 800 students attending, facilities include a two-storey art school, a music school, three
theatres, an all-purpose sports facility with a 25m pool, floodlit AstroTurf pitches, rifle ranges, climbing walls, squash and tennis courts, and seven boarding houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dean Close School has been a valued client of Service Works Global (SWG) since 2015. We spoke to Mick
Seamarks, Compliance Manager at Dean Close School, about how they are using QFM to ensure their sites run smoothly and cost effectively whilst maintaining compliance for the safety of staff and students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWe investigated three different CMMS software vendors. SWG, another major company and a local software house, wanted to create a bespoke system for us. QFM was the best choice for us and came out on top for meeting our requirements. Before QFM, we used a Microsoft Access database-style job sheet that the help desk would print and give to operatives. Jobs were being cherry-picked, some jobs were being lost, and just generally, it wasn\u2019t working efficiently for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Improving the efficiencies<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWith QFM, jobs can now be allocated to operators throughout the day. As they come in from the help desk, work orders can be passed to the operator. This means that they can check their work in real-time whilst out and about around the site. Now, jobs that may be in the same building or next door in the adjacent buildings are picked up while the operators are there, instead of them having to travel backwards and forwards across sites \u2013 and we have eight sites in total. So, it\u2019s more efficient for staffing
resources, which means jobs are getting done quicker, so everyone benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nReducing the costs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWe have reduced paper usage alone by somewhere in the region of 3,000 sheets per year, purely by using a mobile device and digital forms. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
And the information added to these forms gets saved straight onto the main database for reporting. The most important thing is that QFM has saved us time, which of course, equates to money. Jobs are getting done quickly, and we are not having to work overtime or getting delayed, and we can plan work more efficiently.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Compliance insight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the things we have been extremely strict on is compliance. QFM allows us to look at where we have outstanding work, where observations in compliance tasks have been raised (by either ourselves or external contractors); we can see the whole picture so we can plan more work. For example, if we know the job is scheduled in an area where we are doing building refurbishment, we can now look at QFM. If we see other outstanding jobs, they can be swept up simultaneously. We are not doing the job and then going back and undoing something we\u2019ve already done to rectify something else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Effective data management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI like the reports; they\u2019re so good. I have to do monthly stats for the bursar, and I can schedule them to run overnight so that in the morning the interface is ready and waiting to go. Then it\u2019s just the case of manipulating that data as appropriate.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Improving the process<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe employ one individual to do our compliance checks: that\u2019s water testing, fire extinguishers, emergency lighting, etc. The QFM app allows him to perform necessary checks on various items and equipment, and record faults there and then, which automatically feed back into the
system. For example, if an extinguisher needs replacing, he can raise that task while he\u2019s there. QFM immediately captures it: he hasn\u2019t got to remember to log it when he comes back to the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWe pick up more issues as we are going around in this way and have also started using the mobile device for general day-to-day, walking around the building. If we see something, we can open the app, fill out the details, and it\u2019s in the system. So, we are more proactive in identifying faults and getting them resolved often before the staff\u2019s noticed there is an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Effective by allocation of work to engineers by location to avoid frequent cross-campus travel; fully customisable forms and checklists on the QFM app to improve standards and save paper; and improved compliance and reporting due to better data capture and management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5960,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"industry":[38],"project-type":[47],"class_list":["post-6616","case-study","type-case-study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","industry-higher-education","project-type-fm-success-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case-study\/6616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/case-study"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/case-study"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=6616"},{"taxonomy":"project-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swg.com\/aus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project-type?post=6616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}