If you have been noticing that your IT department and Facilities department are spending more time together these days, you are not alone. Work order software for schools has historically been more focused on the building maintenance side of things. There are assets on the IT side, like Chromebooks and network access control points that are managed in school work order software, but generally speaking the two sides have been separate. That is until recently with the advent of building automation. According to BusinessWire, the building automation industry is expected to reach a value of $215B by 2027. Typically, building automation deals with heating, ventilation, air conditioning, security and access control. The demand for increased energy efficiency and maintaining a secure & safe environment with enhanced user convenience is only rising and the time to embrace it is now.
Last week, we held our quarterly user group webinar to highlight some of the new features that were released this quarter. Below is a recap of some of the content that was covered. Thank you, as always, to our passionate users who provide us with many of the new feature ideas each quarter.
With that, let's take a closer look! The State of K12 School Admin, Operations and Facility ProfessionalsThis report is intended to provide a snapshot of the sentiments, challenges and trends in the day to day work lives of our ML Schedules users from across the country. This report is based on data we collected via a survey to our customer base at the end of January 2021. It represents an aggregation of responses from customers
across 10 different states. This report is not intended to be used as a scientific study, but rather present general feelings and attitudes across topics that are relevant to our customers. The biggest topic this year was obviously the pandemic. Our data found that most folks had to take on extra work and were either personally exposed to the virus or worked with someone that was. Despite this, most believed their district's COVID protocols worked and felt valued and recognized for their "all hands on deck" efforts. Budget cuts and the continuing operations of their buildings amidst the pandemic rank as the highest area of concern. We hope you enjoy this report and our hats are off to all of the admin, support and facility staff in school districts this past year. We salute the resiliency, dedication and flexibility you have shown! Continue reading to see some of the data and download the full report. Our latest customer success story spotlights the North Tonawanda City School District in North Tonawanda, NY - just outside of Buffalo, NY. NTCSD uses both ML Schedules and ML Work Orders in tandem to manage their space reservations and work order tickets. Jim Hart, the Director of Facilities, explains the efficiencies and time savings he experiences uses both systems. He also describes the cleaning processes he has set up in ML Work Orders to manage COVID-19 sanitation protocols. Read more to hear their story.
Flushing ice cubes down the toilet. Putting a spoon under your pillow. Wearing your pj’s inside out. These are just some of the superstitions kids have been deploying for decades as they go to bed wishing for a snow day the next morning. But, with the onset of COVID-19 and remote learning, are snow days a thing of the past for school districts? As we are currently in the heart of a frigid winter, this debate has been heating up lately. There are pros and cons and precedents set by some of the biggest school districts in the country. We explore this issue further in this blog post.
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