Implementing Tabs CAFM for Peterhouse College

Introduction

Peterhouse College is the oldest and smallest of the Cambridge Colleges, founded in 1284. As a charitable institution dedicated to education and research, the College has made its own distinctive contribution to society for over 700 years, surviving the Reformation, Civil War and the upheavals of every century since. The College wanted to utilise a Maintenance Programme to address both Reactive and Planned tasks and also carry out statutory electrical testing. They were keen to drive the system via their asset register and produce accurate and effective management reports to assist cost control and forward planning.

To support this initiative, in 2002 the College invested in a range of modules, including:

• Reactive Maintenance
• Planned Maintenance
• Contractors Register
• Fixed Electrical Testing
• Suppliers Register
• Asset Tracking
• Tabs Web Portal
• Purchase Ordering
• Risk Assessments

As with many established institutions, change and new technology are not always embraced. This facilitated a step by step approach to implementation, with an appreciation of the obvious eventual benefits of an integrated CAFM System as the driving force.

Following graduated system training, both planned and reactive systems were readily adopted with Tabs Web connectivity proving a valuable communication tool, aiding internal customer service. As a mature user of Tabs Systems, The College has undergone several system upgrades and adopted a revised version of Purchase Ordering, utilising Microsoft WPF technology, to more advanced technologies such as HTML5 and mobile applications.

Conculsion

Tabs Systems have been part of The College infrastructure for a number of years now. There have been many time and cost benefits through system employment at this old establish hall of learning and technology has had to work along with tradition and in house process, following client etiquette. There is scope for a degree (no pun) of bespoke development for The College, which has been prevented by cost thus far.

Peterhouse College is a valued client of Tabs FM and the business relationship is governed, to a certain extent, by the charitable status of The College. Tabs FM has a wish list for system development for The College, which we hope will be further addressed in 2011 as a result of some internal generic system reworking. Personal relationships form a large part of any commercial understanding and sometimes transcend commerce and technology.