ManageEngine Enhances FacilitiesDesk (CMMS - CAFM )Software; Offers Greater Customization and Building Maintenance Capabilities

AUSTIN, TX, September 22, 2010 – ManageEngine, makers of a globally renowned suite of cost effective network, systems, security, applications and facilities management software solutions, today announced a new version of its integrated facilities management software, ManageEngine FacilitiesDesk. This latest edition provides greater flexibility through extensive customization capabilities and adds the ability to manage the physical infrastructure, from individual offices to entire buildings.

The new FacilitiesDesk software allows facilities professionals to ensure the physical infrastructure for which they are responsible is properly maintained. Using the application’s calendar function, preventative maintenance and recurring housekeeping activities - such as electrical wiring checks, safety inspections, carpet cleaning and wall painting - can be scheduled in advance to ensure they are performed on-time. And because the software is easy-to-use, employees too can use FacilitiesDesk to quickly notify the facilities team in the event a problem, a water leak for example, should occur.

New customization capabilities make the job of facilities professionals easier. Working with the templates that are part of FacilitiesDesk, in only a minute or two administrators may customize request forms by choosing to auto-populate some values, hide fields that aren’t needed in certain situations, rearrange fields to display information in a specific order, and other options. The result of such extensive customization is a form that is tailored specifically to the needs of that environment.

"We've been on the lookout for a suitable facilities, admin and maintenance management solution for quite some time now and FacilitiesDesk quickly became our tool of choice for several of our facilities, admin and maintenance related tasks," said Ragid Kader, infrastructure & facilities administrator at Qatar Gas Transport Company Limited (Nakilat) QSC. "Now when users call with a problem, we are able to address the problem faster as we have the best facilities and maintenance management software. With FacilitiesDesk we are able to gain complete control of facilities, asset and maintenance operations."

"Facilities professionals are faced with a growing list of responsibilities and management's expectation that they are controlling operating costs while maintaining the infrastructure," said Ananda Raman Krishnan, product manager, ManageEngine FacilitiesDesk. "We've designed FacilitiesDesk to help these professionals stay ahead of the game through proper planning, and quickly address incidents when they do occur. We know what keeps facilities professionals awake at night!"

The new features found in FacilitiesDesk join an already extensive list of capabilities designed to allow facilities professionals to take complete control of maintenance management for both facilities and assets. FacilitiesDesk is available in two versions - Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS) and Computer Aided Facilities Management (CAFM). While each version provides specific benefits, the two are designed to easily integrate, offering a robust feature set, including tracking and management of assets, work orders, and maintenance requests; as well as portfolio and move management.

Pricing and Availability

ManageEngine FacilitiesDesk is available as a downloadable file for both Windows and Linux platforms. A 30-day fully functional trial edition is freely available for evaluation from the website. Pricing starts at $275 for the CMMS Standard Edition; the Enterprise CAFM Edition starts at $995 (annual subscription). Perpetual licensing models are also available.

For more information please visit the product web page at http://www.manageengine.com/products/facilities-desk/index.html

About ManageEngine

ManageEngine is the leading provider of low-cost enterprise IT management software and the only one making the 90-10 promise – to provide 90 percent of the capabilities offered by the Big 4 at just 10 percent of the price. The ManageEngine suite offers enterprise IT management solutions including Network Management, HelpDesk & ITIL, Bandwidth Monitoring, Application Management, Desktop Management, Security Management, Password Management, Active Directory reporting, and a Managed Services platform. ManageEngine products are easy to install, setup and use and offer extensive support, consultation, and training. More than 40,000 organizations from different verticals, industries, and sizes use ManageEngine to take care of their IT management needs cost effectively. ManageEngine is a division of ZOHO Corporation. For more information, please visit www.manageengine.com.

Media Contact:
Greg Wise
Weber Shandwick, for ManageEngine
+1–512–794–4716
gwise@webershandwick.com

Ashish Kuriakose
ManageEngine
ashish@manageengine.com

Mobile Maintenance

Today facilities managers, supervisors or craft person are on the move more than ever. Rise of wireless communications has enabled CMMS software providers to support the need for mobile maintenance. ManageEngine FacilitiesDesk CMMS Software comes with PDA based work order management allowing more flexibility and movement.

Using your iPhone or Blackberry or any PDA device you can do the following

Work Requests raised through phone calls can now be instantly created from your hand-held device on entering details such as, requester name, request title and description.

• View work order details then and there
• Assign requests to supervisors instantly
• Spontaneously add resolution to a request
• View/Edit resolutions for a request
• Add work log for a request
• Add the time spent details for a request from your mobile device
• Add craft person work log
• Add the time spend details of the craft person too from your hand held device

No add-on and no additional cost. PDA support is a standard feature in ManageEngine FacilitiesDesk. Use the following links to try ManageEngine FacilitiesDesk from your mobile

PDA CAFM Software Demo

PDA CMMS Software Demo

Username and Password : administrator

Automate Work Request Dispatch

Maintenance administrators spend their most productive time during the day sorting accumulated work requests. Here are a few tips how you can leave the mundane sorting to FacilitiesDesk CAFM / CMMS Software

We are going to setup a dispatcher for us using three components from the FacilitiesDesk Admin console.

Here are the 3 ingredients

- Groups

- Business Rules

- Notifications

1. Create different types of group based on problem category or based supervisor skill sets

A group is a transient holder to place requests of similar kind or requests based certain criteria. Supervisors will listen group based on their skill sets and pickup requests.

Quote:

Action: Create a HVAC groups where HVAC supervisors will be listening to it. You can also create queues based on specific skill sets say Electrical, plumbing etc.

2. Define Business rules to classify work requests based on any defined criteria

Business Rules helps you classify requests based on conditions / rules. Say, you can classify a work request with title "HVAC problem" and place it in the HVAC group or assign it to a HVAC technician.

Configure business rules to classify work requests and place them in relevent groups. Define business rules based on the work request title or description.

3. Notify supervisors about the request assigned

Notify supervisors immediately via email or SMS, whenever a request has been assigned to them or to the group they are subscribed to.

To all the maintenance request administrators:

If you can get this working and if it saves you an hour of sorting and dispatching, Drop a line.

CMMS, CAFM Mobile Demo

We have updated ManageEngine FacilitiesDesk demo with mobile login for Supervisor and Craftperson.

Try it from your iPhone, Blackberry or any mobile device and let us know your feedback.



To access the mobile demo, goto http://demo.facilitiesdesk.com and click on the mobile image.

HVAC Maintenance

Buildings today need proper operating systems not only for people comfort but also for equipments. For example, all your telecommunications systems requires specific environment to operate properly. To achieve this, you need to have your HVAC systems always in top condition.

To prevent any problem for your HVAC systems, proper maintenance chart should be developed. And its always good to have a cmms software to implement the maintenance chart and also to keep track of all the maintenance activities.

HVAC Maintenance check should include

General Checks :

Thermostat : Check thermostat settings to ensure comfortable cooling and heating.

Electrical Connections : Check and tighten all electrical connections, loose and faulty electrical connections can be unsafe and also reduces lifetime for major hvac components.

Lubrication : Lubrication is a must for all moving parts, this not only reduces the noise levels but also improves the life by reducing friction and ensures smooth operation of moving parts.

Drains : Check drains for any blocks, a plugged drain may cause water damage and affects HVAC performance

System Check : Check system start, run and stop to ensure proper and safe functioning.

Cooling Checks :

Coils : Check and clean evaporator and condenser coils. Clean coils improve the ability to cool fast and saves energy.

Refrigerant : Check refrigerant level and adjust if needed. Maintain optimal level of refrigerant makes your HVAC system more efficient.

Blowers : Inspect and clean blower assembly (includes blower housing, blower wheel and motor). Airflow problems can reduce system efficiency

Heating Checks :

Gas or Oil : Check all connections, pressure, burners for leaks and cracks for safe and efficient running.

Using FacilitiesDesk cmms software maintenance module you can keep track of every HVAC system. You can also create multiple maintenance activity schedules along with checklists and safety tips to keep the system running effectively and efficiently.

Preventive Maintenance

Preventive maintenance is a systematic way of checking and repairing a asset, equipment, machine or vehicle. Asset life can be significantly extended by simply tightening screws, cleaning, lubricating and replacing parts that show wear. Most of the equipment manufacturers design a specific preventive maintenance checklists for maintenance professionals to follow when they take the equipment down for maintenance.

Preventive maintenance is usually outlined in instruction manual or maintenance checklist. In most of the preventive maintenance checklist the first step would be cleaning the exterior and interior of a equipment. Cleaning, lubricating and tightening are the three important steps in any preventive maintenance checklist.

Preventive maintenance ensures machines, equipments, assets and vehicles are kept in proper working condition. A major, expensive repair can be avoided by carrying out preventive maintenance activities at scheduled time intervals. Scheduling preventive maintenance will be easier when you have a cmms software implemented.

Implement a cmms software to keep track of preventive maintenance schedules for every machine, asset, equipment and vehicle. You can also prevent missing any preventive maintenance activity by uploading and maintaining the preventive maintenance checklists in CMMS software.

Plant Maintenance and CMMS Software

Plant maintenance refers to strategies, methods, checklists and practices used to keep industrial plants running effectively and efficiently. Starting from regular checks of equipment or assets to make sure they are functioning properly, to cleaning floors, rooms, walls, restrooms etc. The general aim of plant maintenance is to create a productive working environment that is also safe for its workers.

Not all factories and plants are same, each plant is unique and the ways to maintain these facilities and plants often vary. For example, a assembly unit will have different machinery than a chilling unit. Meaning every unit generally has its own maintenance plan, tailored to its priorities and particularities. A maintenance plan should include scheduling times (preventive maintenance) for equipment, asset checkups and general clean-up.

Most plants employ their own maintenance staff. This can include workers such as on-site engineers, whose job is to make sure that machines continue to operate effectively without any downtime. Downtime of key equipment will result in stoppage of the line which can be financially damaging.

Preventive maintenance is a crucial aspect to make sure a plant runs efficiently. Periodic checking of machines to see if it is operating correctly is one commonly used preventive measure. This can prevent machines, equipments from breaking down and also help to anticipate a possible problem.To ensure safe and clean work place its not only maintaining the machines and equipments but also the floors, walls, restrooms, cafe etc. Cleaning and clearing wastes will make it a better place to work.

With so many critical maintenance work items which determines the plant output. One critical maintenance activity missed might bring the whole plant down, so its always good to have a cmms software to manage the schedule and keep track of each and every maintenance activity. A well implemented cmms software for a plant will result in improved productivity gains.

Role of CMMS Software

In general the role of Computer Maintenance Management Software (CMMS ) encompasses the entire maintenance spectrum helping maintenance and facility managers across the organisation to take effective control of facilities, assets, equipments and maintenance operations and lower the total cost of maintenance.

Main challenge of today’s businesses is do more with less. The only way to acheive this is through better work processes, skilled employees and enabling technology. CMMS software is one tool that can genuinely enable your organization to meet the goals.

10 to 30% reduction in maintenance related expenditures is acheived/claimed by organizations that successfully implement CMMS software and its supporting processes. Factor in, the lost opportunity due to equipment or asset failures and the potential liability of safety related failures, it is plain to see the value behind even a large scale CMMS software implementations.

Hotfix for 6.0 ~ Release Announcement

Dear Users,

We are glad to release the Hot Fix build no:6001 for ManageEngine FacilitiesDesk.

Existing users (from Build number: 6000) can apply the HotFix 6001 from the following link:

Hot Fix Download

New users can directly download the exe file of the product from the following link:

Product Download

What's New?? From build 6000...

1. Asset booking with booking calendar
2. My bookings view in home page for both meetings and assets
3. Support for Pop3S and IMAPS
4. AD login for craftperson
5. Revamped asset details page

Below are the issue fixed in the build 6001:

1. Listing of asset additional fields in listview is fixed
2. Issues in Preventive Maintenance Calendar is fixed
3. Additional fields issue in create space is fixed
4. Issue related to booking meeting room is fixed
5. Category not getting replaced in templates is fixed

Many more trivial issues were also fixed apart from these to improve the working of FacilitiesDesk. Hope you now have excellent usability experience.

As always all your feedback are welcome.

Happy Facility Management!

For support please Contact:

facilitiesdesk-support@manageengine.com

Toll Free
US : +1 888 720 9500
Intl: +1 925 924 9500