Sigma builds university facility asset management database

Mequon, Wisconsin

Concordia University Wisconsin (CUW) is a private liberal arts college located in Mequon, Wisconsin. CUW is located on approximately 200 acres of land, and includes over 28 buildings consisting of 2,200 rooms, totaling 760,000 square feet of interior building floor area.

Driven by regulatory requirements, basic facilities management needs and an overall desire to become more cost efficient, the CUW facilities management group began the process of evaluating various facilities management software platforms. After a thorough review of software options, CUW selected GIS as the appropriate solution for comprehensive mapping, data storage, and retrieval for all interior facility and exterior facility assets. CUW selected The Sigma Group to build the initial GIS facilities database, and also to train Concordia personnel on the use, update and maintenance of the database.

The project included taking existing AutoCAD floor plans, site surveys, and other facility records, as well as conducting limited field survey measurements, and organizing and compiling the information into a single GIS database. Exterior facilities within the GIS database included buildings, pavements, lighting, and other site improvements, as well as water, sewer, electric, and telecommunications lines.

Interior facilities of the GIS now include all floor plans for each floor of the various campus buildings, with locations, attribute data, and photos for facility items such room numbers/names, room use, room square footage, fire extinguishers, pull alarms, electrical panels, transformers, door numbers and many other items.  The database is now used by CUW to create intelligent thematic maps and reports of CUW facilities information that can be easily shared in a secure environment among the facility GIS users as well as non-GIS personnel.