CMMS Government Software to Reduce Taxpayer Expenses

By Dave Clifton
Content Strategist
SpaceIQ

Government buildings are the product of taxpayer funding. Not only does that mean they need to be open and accessible to citizens, they also need to be well-maintained and well-serviced to ensure that they serve the purpose they’re designed for. In today’s era of building management systems, CMMS government software is on the forefront of upkeep and maintenance. More than that, it’s on the front lines of keeping taxpayer expenses lower.

It’s important to consider where government building budgets come from. If the cost of building maintenance for the city’s courthouse increases from $800,000 to $1 million annually, that money needs to come from somewhere. Often, it comes through increased taxes or from the city’s coffers—which also represent taxpayer funds.

In short, it’s important to be proactive with government building maintenance, to keep the cost to taxpayers as low as possible. This mission starts and ends with government CMMS software.

What is government CMMS software used for?

Government CMMS software is the electronic maintenance system for buildings. From routine janitorial to capital improvements, project expenses to seasonal maintenance, every maintenance and repair task for the building flows through this platform. It’s a system of record and management, as well as a historical archive of maintenance performed to-date, in the past year, or going back as far as necessary for the purpose of record-keeping.

More than a system of management, CMMS software is also a system of organization. It allows maintenance teams to flag and tag requests to different cost centers, or to compile information about a specific system such as the HVAC or plumbing. It represents a trove of data that makes it easier to plan and budget for future upkeep expenses, using data that’s readily available.

In short, government CMMS software streamlines building management. On the surface, it enables more proactive management all around; under the surface, the data it collects helps drive down costs.

The benefits of CMMS for government applications

Managing building and asset maintenance through a centralized system affords governments a wide variety of benefits when it comes to increasing ROI. Here’s a look at what to expect when the burden of facilities upkeep shifts to a well-organized, carefully orchestrated management system:

• Better budgeting for recurring and routine repairs and maintenance
• Better cost allocation and expensing to different cost centers
• Expedited time to repair for support tickets and maintenance requests
• Improved planning for capital improvements and large projects
• More organized ticketing and task allocation through a CMMS
• Archived repair and maintenance tickets for reference in the future
• Access to prior servicing data and notes, to facilitate better future service
• Automations to reduce time, cost, and manpower affiliated with repairs

The ultimate outcome is well-maintained government facilities that perform the service they’re meant to. From the neighborhood post office to the public works office building downtown, taxpayers will find the buildings at the core of their local government are themselves supported. It instills confidence that taxpayer funds are being put to work appropriately, and that they’re benefitting from them when it comes time to interact with government facilities.

How to implement CMMS government maintenance software

Instituting CMMS software in government buildings is simpler than it seems. Most governments have some form of legacy software for managing maintenance tasks, which means they’re already familiar with the benefits. Porting an outdated system over to a new, cloud-enabled system is often a matter of export/import or extract-transform-load (ETL), to migrate historical data and repeating tasks from the old system to the new one.

For smaller municipalities that lack a CMMS, starting from scratch is simple thanks to intelligent software. It’s easy to program repeating upkeep and maintenance services, or set up triggers that automate maintenance and upkeep workflows. Broad integrations also make it possible to quickly connect and populate data from other maintenance and recordkeeping systems.

The simplest way to implement a CMMS for government facility upkeep is to start using one and make it the standard for which all maintenance and repair tasks go through. Consistent use leads to better familiarity, which makes it a central part of total maintenance services. Over time, the system will become a more robust repository for data and the people using it will acclimate to more efficient solutions for facility upkeep.

The bottom line on CMMS government software

When we think of government building upkeep as a taxpayer expense, it becomes imperative to keep these costs as low as possible. That means understanding them and working to strategically mitigate them—and to do that takes access to data only a CMMS platform can provide.

Whether it’s a courthouse, town hall, police station, local army base or even the local DMV, CMMS software represents an opportunity to control building maintenance and repair costs at a granular level. The result is facilities that look and feel well-maintained, at less of a cost to the taxpayers who rely on them.

Keep reading: 5 Pillars of Government Facility Management Software