Data Analytics - Using PEAK to manage building maintenance contractors

What is the link between data analytics and maintenance contractors?

Maintenance contractors working in large buildings are responsible for ensuring the safe, efficient and reliable operations of some incredibly complex equipment. Data analytics allows for maintenance contractors to easily recognise when there is a problem with the system. Let's explore this a bit more.

For most of us, the equipment that keeps a building at a comfortable temperature and ensures lifts, and escalators are safe, and that everything is working in concert is invisible. Like an iceberg, most of what makes a building usable is beneath the surface.

Ensuring those systems keep us comfortable and safe requires deep domain expertise and great skill. For example, when the temperature in part of a building slips out of the required range, this could be symptomatic of any number of issues. There could be a mechanical failure with a fan or pump, a water leak with a chiller unit or a defective thermostat. Each of those different potential root causes requires a different expert to resolve it.

So, when the temperature becomes uncomfortable should the building manager call a mechanic for the pump, a plumber for the water leak or an electrician for the thermostat? The answer to that question comes down to one simple thing: what does the data say?

Data is the key to root cause analysis

Determining the root cause of a problem requires access to timely, accurate and actionable data. But, access to that data has been challenging. Often, the equipment produces data, but the data is locked away in proprietary systems. This data is hard to draw, thus making it difficult to create an integrated picture of everything in a building. Data analytics using PEAK provides access to the necessary data with accuracy.

When a maintenance contractor is called to a site to fix an issue, there is nothing more frustrating than to arrive and discover the problem is something they are not equipped or qualified to fix. Calling a mechanical engineer to fix a water leak makes no sense. But without data, the facilities manager can only make a guess, often based on intuition, as to who they should call. And this could lead to repairs being undertaken that weren’t required at all, needlessly costing time and money. The building manager is at the mercy of trusting the contractor’s advice without any way to verify its accuracy.

The PEAK Platform solves this problem. It takes the data from all the different equipment and integrates it to create a meaningful picture of what is happening to all the plants and equipment in a building. This could be an office tower, airport, shopping centre museum or any other large facility that depends on the smooth operation of complex plant and equipment.

In the case of the mysterious temperature fluctuation, a building manager can look at the PEAK Platform and not only identify that there is a problem but drill down into the data to find the actual root cause. From there, they can contact the right maintenance contractor or contractors to resolve the problem. The PEAK Platform puts the focus on the inputs to an issue and not the outputs. It ensures only accurate expenditure is made.

PEAK Platform focuses on causes, not symptoms

For maintenance contractors, there is nothing more frustrating than being asked to fix a problem they can’t solve. For the building manager, PEAK ensures they can call the right person and resolve issues promptly, with minimum downtime and outlay. The accurate data analytics of PEAK gives the building manager surgical precision in identifying issues and solving them. Just as doctors rely on MRI machines, the PEAK Platform gives maintenance teams deep insight so they can make the most accurate and cost-effective decisions.

With the PEAK Platform, maintenance contractors are empowered through data to fix problems. Building owners save time and money by directing their budgets to the right places. And wastage is avoided as excess power use and water wastage, caused by defective equipment is avoided.

The PEAK Platform gives teams the data they need to work together to solve the challenges of the built environment.

For more information on how the PEAK Platform can transform your building operations, please click here.