Adding it All Up at Durham District School Board

Like most public educators, the people of Durham District School Board in Ontario, Canada, aren't in it for the money. However, over the past couple of years they've seen what a little extra cash can do. Upon implementing ARCHIBUS, the Board was able to submit accurate space usage data to the provincial Ministry of Education, uncovering a substantial increase in funding for the district. This is more than just money in the bank - it's money that directly impacts the quality of children's education.

Eliminating Guesswork
In the Ontario school system, funding for building operations and renewal is driven by a complex formula that compares enrollments with instructional space capacity. “We needed accurate room size, room type, and room use information,” says Jim Edwards, Facilities Information System Supervisor (Accountability Officer) in the Facilities Services Department at the Durham District School Board. “Space allocation was really an estimate before we implemented ARCHIBUS.” In the past, the Board extracted information from AutoCAD drawings and manually put it into spreadsheets to determine the amount of space used for instructional purposes. With over 123 schools, approximately 500 portable classrooms, and various administration and maintenance facilities, this was no easy task. About two years ago, Edwards made his case for an automated FM solution and won the superintendent's approval. “Now, a dynamic link between ARCHIBUS and AutoCAD keeps information continually up to date,” says Edwards. “We use that information for many purposes, including capacity calculations and funding, which is where we really won big.”

New Math
ARCHIBUS was put to the test when the Ontario Ministry of Education reviewed the Durham District's space and came up with what the Board perceived as inaccurate numbers. “Based on the information residing in our ARCHIBUS database, we proved that we had less capacity than the Ministry had calculated,” says Edwards. “When we showed them this, they agreed and gave us the additional funding.” That funding goes towards providing more space for students, maintaining existing facilities, and building new ones. “I knew that such a system would allow us to be accurate, but I couldn't have predicted the extent of the funding benefits,” says Edwards. “The system proved itself.”

Maintenance & Custodial Management
Accurate space data also helps the Board track maintenance, such as plumbing and electrical work, performed on the district's schools. The Ministry of Education requires maintenance reports on a school-by-school basis, broken down by trade. With ARCHIBUS, Durham can track how much is spent on each maintenance project. Edwards and his team hope to soon tie this information to the financial system. They are also working on a customized custodial management system within ARCHIBUS. This custodial task management capability allows managers to extract employee names, hours, and locations from the ARCHIBUS custodial staff list and allocate these employees to various projects on a regular basis. Edwards hopes to define cleaning schedules and tasks associated with specific rooms and determine how much time is required to perform a specific daily responsibility, such as sweeping the gymnasium floor. “This may not sound like much, but it's a huge advantage for us,” says Edwards. The concept of custodial management resonates with schools and other public places. “Millions are spent in cleaning staff operation. If you can accurately manage this information, you can save the organization a lot of money.”

Using the Web
These custodial staff lists are shared with many groups across the Board. The planning department also regularly refers to information such as capacity data for space allocation and enrollment purposes. FM Web Central helps ensure that everyone has access to the same information. “In my view, Web Central is the best way of making ARCHIBUS useful across the organization,” says Edwards. He has created a Web page, driven by ARCHIBUS data, that resides on an intranet. This page serves as an information center for many people throughout the district.

Making the Grade
The future looks bright for the Durham District School Board. Currently, approximately 25 schools are expected to be built in the next five years in this high-growth area of southern Ontario. Aware of the Board's financial and operational success, other districts in Canada and the United States are interested in seeing how Durham is making the most of its facility information. The District has also received the prestigious Carl Bertelsmann Prize, an international award that recognizes excellence in education. The Bertelsmann Foundation, in presenting the award, cited the District's dedication to quality improvement and organizational freedom. This freedom to excel comes, in part, from appropriate resources. The Board's ingenuous use of the ARCHIBUS system helped that happen, upholding its goal to deliver quality learning opportunities for all.