|
How will UPlanIt save us money? |
|
|
Paying for outside consultants to prepare your 10 Year Property Plan is expensive.
Using UPlanIt can help you save this money because you don't need to have expert
building knowledge to use it. |
|
We have already done our 10 Year Property Plan. Why should we change to UPlanIt? |
|
|
Although you may not need to submit another plan for a year or two, UPlanIt provides
a way for you to keep track of your property maintenance in the meantime. The end
of year rollover keeps it current at all times. Reports help you to see maintenance
requirements at all different levels. Once you have put in the data, you can use
UPlanIt for all your future 10 Year Property Plans. |
|
We have our own spreadsheet to handle this job. Why should we change to UPlanIt? |
|
|
Many schools have capable spreadsheets developed over the years. However, UPlanIt
is likely to be more comprehensive, and most importantly, it does not require you
to have building knowledge to use it. It also rolls over each year, keeping the
data current with no additional effort. |
|
How will UPlanIt make it easier to do this job than what we already do? |
|
|
We acknowlege that keeping track of property maintenance is a tedious task. Once
the data is put in to UPlanIt, it's always there, and you can print reports at any
time to see what requires doing. You can populate your own 10 Year Property Plan
template for the
MOE at any time, knowing that the data is always up to date. UPlanIt is online,
therefore any authorised person can use it from any computer. |
|
Does the MOE know about UPlanIt? |
|
|
Yes. See the
MOE letter.
Also, UPlanit populates your 10 Year Property Plan template for the MOE. |
|
Can we submit our 10 Year Property Plans to the MOE using UPlanIt? |
|
|
Yes. You can populate your own 10 Year Property Plan template for the MOE at any
time.
You still have to get the MOE to "sign off" the plan. |
|
Who should we get to put in the data? |
|
|
There are two levels of input. The first is to set up internal and external areas
with their names and locations. This can be carried out by anyone as simple data
entry. The second level is to describe these areas in terms of building materials,
when they were last maintained, etc. This level of input is best carried out by
someone who knows the school really well. However, none of the data input requires
any building knowledge at all. The knowledge is in the software.
|
|
Once the school is set up, what do we do when work is done? |
|
|
When work is done, you go to the record for that part of the school. You reset the
"Year when the work was last done" to zero, so that the lifecycle is reset. The
next maintenance cycle is then shown for the year in the future that the work will
need to be done again. At the end of your financial year, print out any reports
you might need for auditing, then do the end of year rollover to keep the data up
to date. |
|
How do the predicted costs keep up with inflation? |
|
|
Every year we update the costs of maintenance in the software, in line with industry
standards. We also take account of regional differences. Costs forecast for future
work are based on an "if done now" basis, just as in the MOE 10 Year Property Plan
template. |
|
What if we already use a Service Provider to help with our 10 Year Property
Plans? |
|
|
If you are content with the service you receive, you can ask that your Service Provider
use UPlanIt as its data recording tool. This is becoming quite a common scenario
- it allows you to have the Service Provider set up the school, but you retain the
ability to keep track of maintenance as it occurs. You also take advantage of the
numerous reports that show maintenance tasks at all different levels. |
|
We use Programmed Maintenance Services (PMS) to do our painting. How can UPlanIt
fit with this? |
|
|
Often PMS only takes care of external painting. UPlanIt records ALL work at a school.
UPlanIt allows you to record money already set aside for work to be done, so you
can enter PMS payments here and see them flow through to the 10 Year Property Plan
spreadsheet as a credit against forecast costs. |
|
How does UPlanIt treat capital vs maintenance work? |
|
|
In line with the MOE, UPlanIt categorises painting as maintenance, and most other
work categories as capital. You can also enter additional one-off capital projects yourself,
and associate them with rooms and or exterior areas. These capital projects then
appear against these areas on all reports, so that you can decide what maintenance
do to if capital work will also be taking place. |
|
How does a new or altered building get incorporated into UPlanIt? |
|
|
You can add new buildings at any time, or alter the descriptions and sizes of existing
buildings. |
|
What if the buildings or materials on my site don't fit with those in the UPlanIt
model? |
|
|
UPlanIt endeavours to be able to cater for all building materials and building styles
commonly found in New Zealand schools. In terms of external buildings, UPlanIt allows
you to customise many aspects of a building. If you find a material type is not
present, choose the one that most closely matches in terms of maintenance requirements. |
|
What do we do about parts of the school that just simply aren't handled by UPlanIt? |
|
|
UPlanIt has an area called "Extra Items". This is for items that you want to maintain
but they don't fit in any normal category. Examples might include covered walkways,
playgrounds, specialised seating, grandstands, etc. You can enter these in UPlanIt,
using your own lifecycle and cost of maintenance. |
|
What if we don't agree with the costs that UPlanIt forecasts? |
|
|
UPlanIt endeavours to forecast costs on a "best practice" basis. We err on the generous
rather than the conservative side. You can alter the costs if you wish once the
data has been output to the 10 Year Property Plan spreadsheet. However, you do so
at your own risk. |
|
What if we can't afford the costs UPlanIt forecasts? |
|
|
UPlanIt is a capable product but it is not capable of generating money! UPlanIt
forecasts costs on a "best practice" basis. It is up to you to decide how you will
use the money your school has at its disposal. |
|
Can we alter the costs and times that UPlanIt forecasts? |
|
|
While UPlanIt has many default settings that save you from having to enter very
specific details, it is also possible to customise UPlanIt for your school. You
can alter maintenance life cycles if you wish, although this is not recommended
and you do so at your own risk. You can also defer or bring forward work to bring
it in to line (timewise) with other work that might be happening around the school.
You cannot alter costs, except when the data has been output to the 10 Year Property
Plan spreadsheet. Again, this is done at your own risk. |
|
What if the school can't do the work in the forecast year? |
|
|
You can defer or bring forward work to bring it in to line (timewise) with other
work that might be happening around the school, or to smooth the costs. This adds
or subtracts a year to the forecast work year. This function is designed to assist
schools to smooth costs and to create efficiency, but is not designed to encourage
you to put off work indefinitely. |
|
What computer specs do we need? |
|
|
UPlanIt is a web-based program that you use from our website. Your computer has
to have an internet connection (broadband is highly desirable, as dial-up speed
is very frustrating in data-intensive software). You also need an internet browser,
eg Internet Explorer. You can use an Apple computer as long as it has a modern operating
system. To populate the 10 Year Property Plan spreadsheet your computer be able
to open the file in a spreadsheet program. |
|
What do we get for the annual fee? |
|
|
Each year we update the costs and maintenance lifecycles according to industry standards
and best practice. We also improve the software, add new reports and endeavour to
keep up with what the MOE requires. These updates are automatically applied on our
web server, so you get them as they are available. Generally we change costs once
a year, and we will give users at least one month's warning of this change. Data
for your school is kept in a MySQL commercial grade database, and we ensure that it is regularly
backed up. |