UCSF Uses Archibus to Optimize 10.5M Square Feet of Campus
OVERVIEW
UCHealth is a nationally recognized health care system with a reach far beyond its Aurora, Colo., headquarters. Its 800 providers and 12 hospitals—including University of Colorado Hospital—serve patients throughout Colorado, Southern Wyoming, and Western Nebraska. Managing data across such a wide field of locations is complex.
THE ROOTS OF IMPLEMENTATION
When we first spoke with Michael DuLaney, the BIM Manager for UCHealth, in early 2021, he set the scene for what prompted the initial investment in Autodesk and Archibus.
The facility data UCHealth relies on for decision-making and reporting was once housed across three regions within three separate servers. While this division scattered facility data and made it hard to find, manually compiled spreadsheet data further complicated management of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reporting, employee spaces, and office moves.
Requests were time-intensive to fulfill and prone to error, and with the ever-evolving nature of facility demands, the spreadsheet management system became a seemingly nonviable option. With the goal of centralizing facility data, UCHealth made the decision to move from Autodesk AutoCAD® to Autodesk Revit — where deliverables from their architects lived — and combine this new BIM software with Archibus to bridge the space management gap.
CONNECTING BIM & FACILITIES DATA
With limitations on the number of Revit user licenses and the time that would need to be spent training staff, UCHealth wanted to find a way to let non-Revit users take advantage of the software’s abundance of data. That’s where Archibus comes into the picture. By implementing Archibus Space Inventory, Occupancy, and Smart Client Extension for Revit, UCHealth can now tie selected building information from Revit with enterprise databases that account for space, equipment, asset, and portfolio inventories across multiple facilities.
SMARTER FACILITY DECISIONS THROUGH UNIFIED DESIGN & OPERATIONS DATA
UCHealth has already experienced the benefits of integrating Autodesk and Archibus. And with Autodesk’s latest investment in iOffice + SpaceIQ, building owners and operators have an even more seamless way to enable scalability, accelerate deployment, boost productivity, and deliver meaningful results.
You’ll have the tools you need to keep facilities efficient, reduce costs, and ensure employee satisfaction — in a time when all of these variables are top of mind.
REASONS FOR IMPLEMENTING
“UCHealth is divided into three regions, each with its own information server, which makes building information difficult to find,” said Michael DuLaney, BIM Manager for UCHealth. “Any requests for information consumed a lot of time in finding the data and it was difficult to verify as up-to-date and accurate.”
When the legacy client server license expired, DuLaney seized the opportunity to upgrade to a web-based license. He needed a single system that could streamline and centralize data from all UCHealth locations. Using that information, DuLaney hoped to improve reporting, better manage employee spaces, and implement a process for enterprise move management.
ARCHIBUS APPLICATIONS
AUTO-CALCULATIONS REDUCE CMS REPORTING ERRORS AND LABOR TIME REQUIRED TO ANALYZE DATA
To improve report accuracy and reduce time waste, UCHealth implemented Archibus Space Inventory, Occupancy, and Smart Client Extension for Revit®.
One thing no healthcare organization wants to do is send inaccurate information to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Under the old system, DuLaney used spreadsheets and AutoCAD® output to generate the compliance reports required by CMS. It was labor-intensive and reports were prone to errors or outdated information.
With programming developed by Archibus Solution Center – Research Triangle and the Archibus Smart Client Extension for Revit, DuLaney can auto-calculate data for CMS reports, saving countless hours of manual compilations
and ensuring the data is accurate and up-to-date. Now the base data stored locally in Revit —which is only available to Revit users—is linked in Archibus. Additional data can be appended to the existing data and any Archibus user can access the web-based data. He also cut response times for information requests from hours to minutes.
“We needed a tool with a number of applications that can be tailored for our needs,” he said, “and it’s ideal for the applications to be accessed using mobile devices.”
Facilities Facts
TOP BENEFITS GAINED
DYNAMIC SPACE PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT WITH BUILDING INFORMATION MODELS (BIM) AUTODESK REVIT® INTEGRATION
Access and ease-of-use were key to UCHealth migrating to Archibus. The platform’s ability to integrate with myriad programs and add-ons allowed DuLaney to move away from AutoCAD for polylining. The Smart Client Extension for Revit auto-calculates room areas so the only required polylining is for internal and external square footages.
“Our legacy plans were all in AutoCAD and deliverables from our architects are now in Revit,” DuLaney said. “We used to update the polyline for every change in AutoCAD. Now, the calculations are done automatically, which saves countless hours and increases productivity.”
UCHealth isn’t stopping there. DuLaney and team are implementing Archibus Asset Management to track clinical furnishings and installing Archibus Moves for simple, single-person relocations to multi-phased moves integrated with construction.
“Health care organizations must be nimble and responsive,” DuLaney said. “With Archibus, we now have one system to manage data that once was spread across several regions and housed in multiple spreadsheets.”
