Mobile software for smarter maintenance

University of Texas Medical Branch uses IBM software to gain intelligence on thousands of physical assets across its campus.

November 8, 2010

IBM has expanded its enterprise mobile computing offerings with new software that puts critical information about buildings and equipment into the hands of maintenance staff in the field.  The new software replaces paper reports while helping organizations better manage and maintain their campuses, cities, water systems, rail lines, roadways and other infrastructure.

Through new enhancements to its Maximo Web-based software, IBM’s enterprise asset management software is available to run natively on the browsers of the Apple iPhone and iPad, and Android-based phones.

While maintenance staff in the field have traditionally worked from paper copies of work orders, the new software provides real-time information at their fingertips across the expansive territory they need to maintain — miles of track, hundreds of buildings on acres of campuses or thousands of devices spread throughout a facility. IBM Maximo Everyplace software displays job plans, location of assets, maintenance history, work-order tracking, and service requests.

The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, an academic medical center located in Galveston, Texas, uses IBM Maximo software to maintain its 84-acre campus of more than 160 buildings to quickly identify assets in need of maintenance, saving time, addressing maintenance issues — often before there’s an issue — and expediting and streamlining reporting.

All the benefits enterprises currently gain from using IBM Maximo software – reduced lag time on work orders, reduced manual paperwork and errors, and increased reporting capabilities – are enhanced through use of Maximo Everyplace on mobile devices.

The new software provides mobile access through WiFi, cellular or satellite, so there is no need to carry a separate mobile device. Since it is Web-based, no additional software needs to be downloaded to the device, and administrators have the flexibility to choose which capabilities are displayed on screen to fit individual preferences. Through Maximo Application Designer, the administrator has the ability to quickly customize the mobile view of Maximo screens for each iPhone or Android depending on the type of functions the end user requires.