Retiring FAMIS

Short for Facilities Asset Management Information System, FAMIS is the application the University uses to submit and track emergency and routine building maintenance using repair work orders. For nearly twenty years, FAMIS has been the heart of Yale Facilities operation. It sends work orders to technicians, provides automatic billing and cost distributions to departments, and captures labor and material costs for Yale’s 300+ buildings. It also tracks 18 million gross square feet of campus space and occupancy, supports a preventative maintenance program for equipment and building systems, accumulates custodial hours and manages inventory. Lastly, it also includes procurement processing and supports the operations call center. 

This and next summer, FAMIS will be replaced in phases by a new software system called AssetWorks. AssetWorks is an integrated workforce management system used by over 60 colleges and universities nationwide. “This upgrade is a huge financial investment for Yale. We feel very good about this new system and our new partner.” said John Kaufhold, Senior Director of Business Operations for Yale Facilities.

AssetWorks will provide all the same functions as FAMIS, but on a modern platform with expanded capability. It includes many technological advances such as work order automation, split charging, building automation system interfaces and expanded project management and  mobile device applications. Another new feature includes the ability to launch procurement requisitions from mobile devices. “We also see the potential for energy and capital project integration into AssetWorks, which is a long-term goal in phase three,” said John Kaufhold.

Choosing AssetWorks spanned eighteen months and included an extensive RFP (request for proposal) process involving eight different vendors and a steering committee that included campus and community representatives that John chairs. The contract for AssetWorks was recently finalized, and phase one work has begun in earnest to stand up all the campus space tracking information by July 2021. The team targets July 2022 for phase two going live with everything else – most specifically, the work order and maintenance processes. “We see this implementation going into fiscal year 2023, when we hope to wrap it all up and finally sunset FAMIS,” said John Kaufhold.

It takes a village to implement a new system. The internal team includes Facilities Operations, Business Office, Yale’s IT team, Procurement, Financial Systems, Shared Services, University Properties, and others from the community who are all committed to making this transition successful. “Our Facilities team is excited to provide a whole new level of customer service, transparency and improved reporting to the community as we phase this in,” said John Kaufhold.