Tips for getting your staff started using maintenance management software.
Deploying maintenance management software can sometimes be overwhelming for your team. There may be so much data you want to collect, but staff need to learn the software while still completing all their duties.
Our recommendation: Start slow and get feedback from your team. Determine the most crucial data you want to collect and how you want to use the software. From there you can make a plan for a successful rollout of the maintenance management software.
Here are some suggestions to help you get started based on some success stories we’ve seen with other parks and recreation agencies.
Start with Hands-On Training
Your maintenance staff may initially be reluctant to try new software. One way to take some of the anxiety of change is letting them see how it works–and how easy it could be–right away.
Here is one way we’ve seen this happen:
- Create a task for your maintenance staff to complete training modules
- Email your staff the link to the maintenance role training.
- Your staff will watch 4 short videos and then see instructions for their first time login.
- Have staff log into Productive Parks and complete the task they were assigned.
Once they see how easy it is to complete a task, they may feel less apprehensive during the deployment period.
Tip: We have training for all roles in the system. You can find them in our Knowledge Base training section.
Work Requests
Another way to roll out the software is to start by using the work request feature. Maintenance and non-maintenance staff can create work requests for the assets in the system. Work requests go directly to the designated asset manager(s). The asset manager turns the requests into tasks for maintenance staff.
Staff can learn to create work requests through the work request training module. Anybody in your agency with a login can create work requests. General users (non-maintenance staff) do not count against your license agreement. You can have as many general users as you need for no extra charge.
Tip: Some agencies choose to tell their staff that they will only address work requests through Productive Parks. This method standardizes work requests and cuts down on requests by emails, sticky notes, texts, and random meetings in the hallway.
Inspections
Inspections provide an excellent way to keep easy-to-access records of your most important assets. You can create as many inspections as you need in Productive Parks, and they are all customized to the needs of your agency.
Inspections can include:
- Playground
- Vehicle
- Equipment
- Facilities
- Parks
- Athletic Courts & Fields
- Aquatics
- Trails
- And any other assets you want to regularly monitor
The inspection templates also allow you to create to-do lists, such as opening and closing duties. You can also embed several tasks into an inspection template, allowing you to track separate tasks from a single screen.
Tip: If you are looking for examples of inspections, please contact our support staff. We’ve collected some great examples that can be a starting point for creating your inspections. We’re also more than happy to build out inspections for you if you don’t have the time to do it.
Scheduled Tasks
Productive Parks allows you to create daily, weekly, and monthly scheduled tasks in the intervals you need. Once you create a scheduled task series, it is always in the system.
For example, if you create a mowing route for the growing season, next year all you have to do is change the dates (or any other relevant information) to restart the scheduled task series.
Other Helpful Features to Get Started
Bucket Tasks
If your maintenance staff is relatively independent and they just need to know what needs to be done and can figure it out from there, bucket tasks can be a great option.
Bucket tasks allow you to assign a task to a “bucket” instead of a person. You choose who has access to that bucket. When staff log in each day, they will see the available bucket tasks and choose which ones they want to take. Once a bucket task is taken, other staff will not have access to it.
For example, if you have several staff who complete playground inspections, you can add all your playground inspections in a bucket, either individually or by putting a scheduled task series in a bucket. Your staff can pull the playground inspections for the areas that they will be at for the day.
Assigning Tasks to Self
All maintenance staff have the ability to assign tasks to themselves. If they see something that needs to be done, they can assign a task to themselves and add their hours on a single screen.
Quick assignments
Quick assignments help make the process easier by creating a templated task of their most common duties (graffiti removal, trash pickup, facility repair, etc.) so they just fill in any variable information, such as where the work takes place. You can create as many quick assignments as you need.
Get Support
You have lifetime support with Productive Parks. If you're dealing with staff turnover, new assets, training difficulties, or anything else, we're here to help.