If there’s one thing that can cause particular frustration it is the problem with staying in touch with all the information pertaining to school property. It is not just a case of locating each piece of information about property related to the school, but also knowing that this information is utterly up-to-date and correct.
Take the issue of contracts and contractors. Are all the items of equipment that should be held under a service agreement, being serviced? When does a particular agreement run out? Are older items that are no longer of value to the school still being paid for under an irrelevant agreement?
Or take the issue of new purchases of services and equipment. What did the school buy last time? How much did it cost? Where did it come from?
In fact what schools can often do with (but can’t possibly afford) is a property manager with an infinite amount of time on his/her hands and a photographic memory.
Such a person would give the reassurance and confidence that, in relation to the school, its equipment and its premises, everything that should be done has been done, efficiently and effectively.
In such a world one would never need to pop into the school office and ask already busy administrators to find out if the fire extinguishers were checked when they should have been or how much the school paid last time for toner.
In such a world one could prepare for governors’ meetings in a flash, for every report needed for the premises committee could be retrieved within seconds. “Who is on call out if a window gets broken?” asks one governor, plus, “How much do they charge?” One could answer within seconds.
Even in that dreadful time when the site manager leaves unexpectedly to take up a new position in a school in Honolulu and fails to do a proper handover, there’d be no problem.
Such a situation is available with Every (formerly) PropertyPrefect, a system which tells one exactly what needs to be checked and when, and then records when you had the check done, who did it, what the results are, where the reports are, and indeed everything else you need to know.
What’s more, it is a system that comes with its own alerts – reminding you what you need to get done at any particular moment. There’s also a support team to help you if you are unsure of whether you do need to get something changed – or indeed with any other related matter.
