Founded in 1863, Shiloh Church is one of the oldest African American churches in Washington, D.C.
From discussions about racial justice and Bible lessons to scout meetings and technology classes, the Church consistently provides the local community with uplifting events that inspire religious and personal growth.
Of course, the vast number of events and religious services require meeting facilities, and these facilities must be well maintained in order to provide the congregation and community with safe and comfortable gathering spaces.
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Shiloh Baptist Church, Washington, D.C.
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3
Flexible ticketing
- Ability to add attachments to a ticket
- Calendaring
- Usability/adaptability
Sped up task-related communication
- Improved event tracking/preparation
- Simplified accounting
Flexible work order handling
- Calendars
- Reporting
- Attachments
The Challenge
The usability of the prior facilities management tool made reporting and tracking difficult.
The team needed to be able to document and assign various maintenance tasks, as well as improve upon scheduling and preparation for upcoming events. This meant that they needed a tool which included calendaring and reminder functions, as well as the ability to involve multiple parties in the handling of a ticket.
Of course, budgets need to be managed also. This was tricky with their earlier tool because it was cumbersome to attach an invoice directly to the work order. As the search for a new facilities management solution began, this was a critical requirement. The team needed a tool that would allow them to quickly provide information on invoices and related work to the accounting team.
The Solution
Modern ticketing combined with calendaring meant the team could easily track work orders and expenses.
Indeed it would. First, adding attachments of photos and invoices was an integral part of OTRS, so their first issue was quickly solved. Second, depending on access rights, multiple people can view and comment on each ticket created. Third, the integrated calendar made scheduling events and reminders, as well as attaching work orders to these, much simpler.
Beyond that, however, OTRS offered the facilities management team reporting and statistics that helped management clearly communicate the current status of projects to the Board of Trustees.
Also important is that the facility management staff at Shiloh Baptist Church is responsible for administering their own tools, as there is not a traditional IT team in place. It was important that they be able to navigate through the administrative dashboard to make changes, such as updating users, services, and ticket types on their own.
Why OTRS?
OTRS met today's usability and tracking needs, but also offers the flexibility to expand and further professionalize over time.
However, longer term, the team aims to coordinate even more of its work tasks within OTRS. By integrating an accounting tool and adopting some of the OTRS process management functionality, they plan to further reduce administrative tasks and speed up work through increased use of automation.
I previously used OTRS, and the difference between what it was then and what it is now, is huge. It's come a long way.Sam Franklin, Facilities Manager
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