Testimonials
Broward Health
A case study for better maintenance practices with DirectLine
FORT LAUDERDALE FLORIDA – With a growing population that continues to put further pressure on the North Broward Hospital District coupled with some buildings that are almost 70 years old and a new 400,000ft2 expansion in the works, it is doubly important for the maintenance department to be as responsive as possible to the pressures of their community. Broward Health needed to rethink its maintenance management practices and with that in mind, the Maintenance Management System they were using.
Company Background
The North Broward Hospital District is one of the five largest public healthcare systems in the United States and the largest in Florida. Providing service since 1938, Broward Health is a nonprofit community health system offering a full spectrum of healthcare services. The District encompasses more than 40 healthcare facilities including Broward General Medical Center, North Broward Medical Center, Imperial Point Medical Center, Coral Springs Medical Center, Weston Regional Health Park, Chris Evert Children’s Hospital at Broward General and dozens of smaller clinics throughout the district. The District is truly a medical safety net for Broward County residents. To manage this impressive list of facilities, NBHD employs over 110 people in their maintenance department.
The Challenge
“With constant expansion plans”, explains Jose Ramirez, one of five Regional Facilities Managers responsible for maintenance, “we realized that the systems we had in place for the past 7 years were going to be inadequate for our future needs. The
system we had was already holding us back”, Ramirez, continued. “Functionally it held up for the first few years, but as our needs expanded and the breadth of our responsibilities grew, we were simply unable to use what we had without further expensive modifications”. The other complication was the reduction of available IT resources to manage the system and fix problems when they would occur. Dana Scarpati, Megamation System Administrator, lead a team of regional managers that
looked at several facilities and maintenance management packages to find a solution that not only met their immediate needs but would grow in capacity and functionality with the district as they continued to grow. “Immediately, we realized there was
something different about Megamation’s DirectLine online maintenance management service. Unlike other vendors we spoke to, Megamation insisted on calling themselves ‘Service Providers’ and that’s exactly what we got… Service”.
The Solution
Probably the biggest benefit to Broward Health was a new HTML web page for Work Requests; accessible by all staff in the district. Members of the district community, regardless of whom or where they are, have the ability to personally enter a work request into the system, removing at least one layer of administration. “Just having the new website Work Request capability has reduced administration time dramatically”, continued Scarpati. In addition to creating their own work requests, people have the ability to go online to check the status of their requests, further reducing the burden on the maintenance department.
DirectLine is now being used to manage the entire maintenance process from work management to inventory control. “We chose DirectLine because of it’s functionality but soon realized there were many other aspects of the solution that have proven to be
invaluable”, said Scarpati. “Megamation offers unlimited training and technical support as part of our monthly subscription service. I have access to an account manager that knows me, my organization and my needs intimately. With DirectLine, we always get an answer when we call and get answers to our questions… that’s a major bonus!” In addition to managing the facilities, Broward Health uses DirectLine to manage the maintenance of its vast fleet of vehicles.“Our maintenance people are spread out across the district. They rely on a sound fleet of vehicles to get the job done. DirectLine allows us to keep this fleet running at optimum performance”, explained Ramirez. Although DirectLine comes complete with a comprehensive library of built-in reports, Broward Health had invested a substantial amount of money building over 200 Crystal reports to work with their old system and wanted to keep them. The flexibility of the DirectLine application made the conversion relatively easy and painless for Broward Health and as a result they are able to use the existing reports as they were originally intended. “The truth is, like most other hospitals in our country, allocating capital dollars is not an easy task”, mentioned Scarpati. “We knew we needed a system but getting funding for the system was not going smoothly. When we were introduced to DirectLine and their monthly subscription model, we quickly realized we could afford it through our monthly maintenance operational budget”, Scarpati continued. “So we originally went with DirectLine because it met our financial needs but in the end we’ll keep it because it does everything we need it to do and more”.
In the future, Broward Health plans to start using hand held wireless devices to provide live access to DirectLine from anywhere throughout the district regardless of where our maintenance crews are. They will have access to the tools that will make them more efficient no matter if they are on site or between jobs. The difference between DirectLine and most other CMMS/ EAM applications is that no synchronization is required. Simply use a cellular based handheld device, log into the system and work as usual. Although they have yet to work out the logistics and the schedule for the roll out, Broward Health is confident in this solution and expects that they will reduce response times and increase work capacity in a relatively short time once the hand held system is in place. Scarpati says the relationship with Megamation has been like night and day to her old solution provider. “From the initial implementation to the ongoing training, impeccable technical support, and the willingness to make changes at any time to suit our unique needs, Megamation has never let us down. They even take care of all the upgrades and new releases as part of their service. The people, the product and the service are second to none and we look forward to a long-term relationship with Megamation Systems”.
DirectLine is a world-class online CMMS/EAM service offered globally through an all- encompassing monthly subscription. With hundreds of customers throughout North America and Europe of various sizes and industries, DirectLine continues to benefit a broad base of maintenance and facilities management professionals.
