Whether you’re a general manager, director of operations, director of security or parking, or event manager at a convention center – your day starts early.
On event day, it’s a super long day.
You start with emails, check phone messages, and respond to them all.
That’s only the beginning, and you’re probably ready for the door by 8 AM.
Does this sound familiar?
Now you must walk the 1,000,000 plus square foot space you oversee looking at room sets, reviewing floor plans, and confirming pre-conference and post-conference meetings.
You’re busy.
Extremely busy.
The last thing you want to be burdened with and stressing over is your staff doing their job.
Agree?
You want peace of mind knowing they’re checking rooms, putting things in the right place, and checking the “stuff” that needs to be checked.
From one end of your property to the other, you need facility inspection software that’s going to help you safeguard staff accountability and strengthen operational processes throughout your convention center.
Today, we’re going to show how facility inspection software is the solution that can help your staff efficiently and effectively inspect everything, and with superior accountability in place.
Let’s go!
AN OFTEN-FACED CHALLENGE FOR CONVENTION CENTERS
One of the common challenges faced by convention centers that we hear quite often is execution.
Another challenge is not being able to prove it.
Yes, we know your staff does their job.
But how much of their job is slipping through the cracks?
What is sliding under the radar?
The worst part is that the question doesn’t necessarily mean your staff is at fault.
You don’t know what you don’t know.
That’s a fact.
But you know it's happening.
A black hole of checklists, work orders, and fragmented processes prevent you from identifying whether it’s a problem employee or an ineffective process.
Facility inspection software enhances your operation and makes tracking accountability achievable.
Here’s the thing, we’re not here to do a feature dump on facility inspection solutions.
We’re focused on explaining the ways you, as a professional who manages a large property, can identify your operational or staff-related weaknesses.
And fix them!
Here’s another fact:
- Unless you position your property to track accountability, there’ll be no Proactive Operations in your future.
Not even the least bit.
Would you say it’s time to change that?
We say, “Yes!”
There’s a solution.
Yes, the functionality is great, but we’re talking about what it can do for you.
It’s undeniably important.
There’s a difference, too.
A software solution’s value comes from the ability to hold your staff accountable for their performance, ensure your process helps them be successful, and most importantly, to have the documentation to back it up.
This synergy between an operation, the staff, and a powerful software solution are necessary.
The impact can be extraordinary with the right leadership driving it forward.
TACKLING ACCOUNTABILITY CHALLENGES WITH FACILITY INSPECTION SOFTWARE
Accountability is manageable when you have a good system in place.
Now, if you’re already using a software solution or evaluating whether you should move to one, use the following seven traits of a progressive system to validate whether you’re making the right decision.
These seven traits will help you move your operation from a cost center to a profit center.
It’s always about a return on your investment.
These systems quickly provide an ROI.
1. Facility inspection software starts and ends with complete, accurate documentation.
A software solution will come with the ability to record and manage your property’s vital information accurately.
All your staff can execute inspections while digitally delivering the results to you without the need to write it down – no more pen and paper.
If someone is producing inaccurate and useless reports, you know what and how to resolve the issues immediately.
2. Checklists: Paper lists are bad for business and only prove ineffectiveness.
In theory, we’d say checklists are an important tool for your operational efforts.
However, they’re only as reliable as the employees completing them.
A core flaw in your inspection process might exist.
Or, your problem employees will eventually reveal themselves to you.
How do you validate whether your staff completes the required inspections?
The problem is chronic.
An employee might only initial the checklist without completing the inspection, or address only the items they feel matter.
Typically, we see “the flying check marks” on the checklist, where an employee checks off all items without taking the time to inspect according to the standard process.
What happens when someone on your staff disregards an inspection that affects the safety of your attendees?
This action is harmful to the effectiveness of your operation.
What’s worse is the potential lack of data integrity.
You’re beyond accountability at this point.
Lack of data integrity results in unnecessary allegations among your supervisors and staff.
When conference rooms are disheveled, suspicious items pose a threat, or injuries occur without warning – who’s to blame?
3. Are you ready for early retirement?
Keep an eye on inefficiencies to keep your organization humming and from losing your job.
Sorry to be blunt, but, it’s the truth!
The good news is that most software solutions give your staff the tools to be well-organized, from the ability to record an inspection at the time of inspection.
Do you agree there’s no reason your employees should be spending questionable hours handling inspections that take a quarter of the time?
That’s why you need to use facility inspection software.
4. Don’t sweat the learning curve.
Most inspection software can have your team trained up in no time.
We’re talking fully operational.
You’ll be moving your team from disjointed with no accountability, to effective and efficient.
Your operational black hole will close - forever.
5. RFID and QR code tags lead to smoother inspections.
Running routine inspections is easy for your staff when they no longer need to check off a list.
Your ultimate alternative is using a device to scan tags at any location.
- Your staff scans the label.
- A digital checklist populates in seconds.
- All inspection items for a location become accessible.
- Staff completes the inspection promptly.
Now you have the power to hold staff accountable for their inspections.
You also have a fluid, trackable process in place.
How’s that for Proactive Operations?
6. According to science, a picture is worth a lot of words. Science doesn’t lie.
Software solutions can make recording your inspections a painless process.
For your staff, it requires minimal effort.
With the ability to attach pictures, video, and audio, your staff has all the details to show results.
7. Stuff needs to be inspected, well, because stuff breaks.
If your staff spot furniture that’s broken or faulty equipment during their inspection, from your software’s mobile app, they can create a work order in real-time.
Your engineering team is then able to track and respond to the work order effortlessly.
We call this maximum efficiency.
SCRUTINIZE YOUR PROCESS AND CONSIDER THE EFFECT ON ACCOUNTABILITY
Following your implementation, you might find out that the problem wasn’t your employees.
It was your process.
That’s good news because it’s easy to fix your process.
Finding trustworthy, accountable, effective, and efficient staff – requires a lot more effort, patience, and training.
Now, we do not deny that unreliable employees exist.
Many times, though, you’ll find the problem comes from processes poorly defined in your operation.
Your staff’s weaknesses are more likely to surface when you don’t have the fundamentals in place to keep them together.
Implementing smart processes together with your inspection solution will lead to honest employee contribution.
Use this list to find problematic processes and employees.
Work diligently alongside your team to produce absolute efficiency.
OVER TO YOU
As a final thought, use the built-in analytics provided by many of these systems to measure success.
You can quickly uncover ways to allocate resources better, train employees, effectively, and manage location inspections at your property with ease.
So, will you start using facility inspection software at your convention center anytime soon?
Editor's note: This post was originally published in October 2015 and has been updated for comprehensiveness and freshness.
