Dive Brief:
- Facilitron has deployed a suite of AI solutions to bolster the capabilities of its facility management and public space rental platform, the company announced on June 4.
- The updates include an AI-powered “duplicate detection function” in the company’s computerized maintenance management system, Facilitron Works, a predictive text feature that provides users with suggestions based on past history, and enhancements to the platform’s scheduling and reservation system, Facilitron S&R. These enhancements include AI-supported verification for developer fees and certificates of insurance, the company said.
- Facilitron Works will also now allow administrators and facility management staff to review and eliminate possible duplicate orders, the company stated in the release. Duplicate work order submissions can lead to multiple technicians being deployed to address the same issue, wasting time and resources, Jared Wagman, head of product for Facilitron, said in an email.
Dive Insight:
Facilitron’s school facility and public space rental platform is experiencing large growth across the U.S., operating across more than 10,000 schools in 31 states, with over 1 billion square feet of space covered on its platform. Facilitron, which has been likened to Airbnb, now serves some of the country’s largest school districts through its platform, including nearly 50% of all Florida schools.
In addition to enabling school districts to rent out space, such as gyms, theaters, playing fields and facilities, the company also offers scheduling, attendee management tools and a building automation solution that can manage lighting, HVAC and other connected systems, Facilitron CEO Jeff Benjamin previously told Facilities Dive.
Facilitron’s newly announced AI solutions will also enable campus facilities managers to prevent future equipment failure and breakage by identifying routine equipment service needs, the company said. These solutions include AI-generated preventive maintenance profiles that are customized to clients’ asset and work order histories, per the release.
“When an issue arises, particularly a significant one, it is often reported simultaneously by multiple individuals [and] can inundate the department with requests for the same problem,” Wagman said. These duplicate requests are often written differently enough that staff processing them believe they describe distinct issues, or in larger institutions may be sent to different human processors who have can’t see all requests, Wagman added.
The preventive maintenance profiles could support site- or client-specific needs such as quarterly vehicle maintenance, annual facility inspections and fire extinguisher checks, Wagman noted.
Additionally, Facilitron’s AI predictive text feature can leverage users’ previous work orders to produce more accurate maintenance requests, Wagman said. This is especially helpful for non-maintenance staff, who are frequent originators of work orders on Facilitron’s system and may create orders that “lack completeness, describe incorrect issues, [or] are written in confusing language,” Wagman added.
Upgrades to Facilitron S&R also provide efficient document management, streamline the verification process and eliminate the backlogs that typically delay facility maintenance and rental opportunities, per the release. The COI verification feature reviews certificates submitted by facility renters for inaccuracies and returns submissions that need attention back to the renters for corrective action, Wagman said. This feature replaces a time-consuming manual review process that burdened facility operators and was susceptible to human error, Wagman added.
“The end result is a dramatic reduction in event liability for our partners, as a significantly greater number of valid COIs are on file prior to their events,” Wagman said.
Facilitron’s AI enhancements utilize Microsoft Azure AI capabilities like machine learning, natural language processing and predictive analytics to extract insights from user data collected by Facilitron, Wagman said.
