After adopting FSI as their CMMS, Gregory Fink, Director of Facilities Operations and Maintenance at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and his teams realized that several key decisions made in their initial implementation process had resulted in a system configuration that didn't fully deliver on the benefits that the software was capable of. 

In this case study, learn how one of Pennsylvania's largest hospitals evaluated their implementation and brought their system back to basics, benefiting from the changes made as a result of addressing difficulties head-on. 

Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center is the only locally based academic medical center in central Pennsylvania. The 619-bed medical center provides adults and children advanced patient-focused care for cancer, heart, vascular and neurological conditions. It is Pennsylvania's only nationally verified Level I Trauma Center for both children and adults. 

The Challenge

In 2015, the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center made the switch over to FSI as their CMMS-provider, but from the beginning the system experienced little innovation and they realized that the technological capabilities were not being fully utilized. The organization was facing difficulties in fully leveraging and benefiting from their CMMS as a result of a few root causes:

• Lack of stakeholder involvement
• Inadequate training and support
• Poor data migration and system configuration
• Underestimation of implementation complexity

This resulted in a system that did not align with best practices, with a lack of standardized asset names, too many administrators using the system in different ways, and a bloated work order tagging system. 

The Solution

In 2022, the Penn State team realized that the configuration of their CMMS was creating pain points, and a plan to optimize the system to get back to a more baseline out-of-the-box setup based on FSI best practices was developed. Through a comprehensive "reboot" roadmap, FSI and Penn State worked to investigate essential areas of change, test new system configurations, and roll out a more streamlined, functional system with all stakeholders in the loop. 

Roadmap steps:

• • 1. Assessment and Analysis Redux
    2. Define Objectives
    3. Research and Evaluate
    4. Implementation and Training
    5. Integration and Data Migration
    6. Change Management and Communication
    7. Optimization

Current Progress by the Numbers

What's Next

Now in the optimization stage of the re-implementation process, the team has worked hard to arrive at a more functional system that efficiently addresses the needs of multiple types of workflows, and continue to identify opportunities for enhancement that will further streamline operations moving forward. 

One of the key goals the organization is regularly working on is getting mobile devices in use for all tradespeople on site, with 35 devices currently in the hands of site staff. The refreshed system will continue to evolve and improve as those that use it on a daily basis adjust and offer their input on how to make processes even more efficient. According to Fink, "once the departments/users accept it they then start to innovate."

"Pulling reports is no longer clunky and our backlog is becoming a real number instead of a perceived number. We needed someone to tell us what we were doing wrong and put us on the path to recovery. We've been supported from start to finish working with the FSI team."

Greg Fink, Director of Facilities Operations and Maintenance

Key Takeaways

Start with the end in mind.

Without a clear vision of what you want from your system, it is impossible to effectively set goals to aim for. Decide what the desired end result is, and develop a process accordingly. 

Internal communication and education is key.

Greg spoke to the importance of getting all teams on board with the idea of things changing, and making sure that adequate education is done across the board so all users know how to best use the system in the way it is intended to be used. During a training with shop leaders, Greg recalled one staff member expressing "I wish someone had shown me this before."

Choose your team with intention.

An implementation team can make or break the process. Ensuring that everyone is on the same page and approaching the project with a common goal avoids friction that can take plans off track when individuals primarily have their own specific wants in mind.

Be open to suggestion and recommendations.

For the Hershey Medical Center, one of the big reasons that the first implementation went down a less ideal path is because the implementing teams were confident that they knew what was best for the system and were less receptive to the idea of following standard best practices. This resulted in their CMMS ending up more complicated than it needed to be, creating extra work for users. 

If you’re interested in learning more about FSI, get in touch.