June 01, 2023
Don’t Let Four Decades of Knowledge Walk Out the Door. By HD Vo & Sri Peruvemba, InMapz.
Like most mature job functions, facilities management regularly face the scenario of senior employees retiring, more so than newer job roles in artificial intelligence or electric vehicles. Every one of us can relate to the retirement party for an esteemed colleague that is hanging up their hat, we are gathered around to recall fond memories, we celebrate the
good times, we are grateful for our senior colleague Bob’s coaching and comradery. And then it hits us, when Bob walks out of that door, along goes four decades of knowledge, precious knowledge of every building, particularly the difficult sites, the cranky mechanicals that only Bob could fix, the routines, the whereabouts of the hidden shut off valves, the complex network of pipes and wires that miraculously work. But Bob’s job is done, he has earned a well-deserved retirement.
Starting on Monday, unless there is an emergency call over the weekend, two new employees, will take over Bob’s route, his role. They have been training for two weeks, but how does one transfer four decades of knowledge in two weeks? Every site wasn’t covered during training, some buildings were left out, the new employees didn’t embrace the old, stained, torn floor plans with numerous notations that were hard to read. They were trying to take photographs of maps and floor plans and important notes written on walls and on air handlers and other mechanicals. The pictures on the phone could not be sorted, there were hundreds, a faded writing by the shut off valve did not get better when viewed on your phone. There was an audit coming up, some of the sub-contractors’ employees did not speak English, other senior employees are overloaded and can’t come to the aid of the newbies taking over from Bob. So, what does one do?
It would be great if there was a way to plug a data cable into Bob’s knowledge and download all the most important infor- mation into the minds of the new employees and sub-contractors and the audit inspectors. While we wait for such miracles, what if all of Bob’s knowledge was available on an app? An app that Bob along with everyone else on staff had been using and had saved the locations, the pictures, the notes, the maintenance schedules, the quirky nature of some of the mechanicals, the shortcuts, the data that only comes from years of experience. That app exists. It’s called InMapz, a simple to use and install, very affordable app that you can use on your tablet, phone or even your desktop.
At its core, InMapz helps you locate anything, it keeps track of assets and tricky mechanicals, it reduces training time and helps new employees find the right valve in seconds and guides them to it, the app helps you plan maintenance schedules, when the filters need to be replaced, how much warranty is left on a critical equipment. It saves you the trip late at night during an emergency call; your new employees will love it, their training time of a week is now ample, and they find it much better to use an app rather than an old floor map, contractors can find everything instantly, language is no longer a barrier; you will save a ton of money during regular audits. InMapz your building and preserve’s Bob’s valuable knowledge.
About InMapz
Founded by MIT and Caltech engineers, InMapz created indoor mapping technology to convert static floor plans into digital twins through an automated process. Each structure shown on the floor plan can become a smart object with its own attrib- utes such as GPS location, model number, serial number, photographs, and so forth. For example, conference rooms, HVAC equipment, IoT sensors, etc. can be extracted from the floor plan. Users can easily add, edit, and delete other mechanicals. Rather than having to go to the office to pull up paper floor plans and cross-reference spreadsheets, users can access their building’s digital twin via the InMapz app or web browser on the phone, tablet, or laptop. Through selection and filtering options, users can both visualize on the digital twin and see a list of whatever smart objects are specified.