Scan a QR code or asset tag on a machine and instantly know everything that there is to know about it. Respond to analytics-driven work orders and correct a variety of issues without even touching the machine. View and modify the points on a machine using your phone as a remote control, regardless of the underlying BMS or brand of equipment. These are some of the things that can be accomplished with only a few thumb taps on Ezenics Mobile, a cloud-based, agnostically integrable mobile application designed to provide service technicians with critical information and refined, “on-the-go” access to enterprise-level facility optimization systems.

At the Realcomm Intelligent Buildings Conference (http://www.ib-con.com/), large touchscreen kiosks made to look like giant mobile phones were showcased throughout the halls and gathering areas of the convention center. The interactive displays gave facility managers, technicians, and members of the intelligent buildings community a chance to try out the live Ezenics Mobile application in a big way. In addition, conference attendees were given cards with scannable QR “asset tags” on them, which allowed them to just as easily pull up the application on their own mobile devices. Scan the QR code on this article to try it out!

Personnel from Ezenics and demo integration partners from Microsoft, CBRE, Cylon, and 360 Facility were available for demonstrations, but much of the conversation surrounding the displays emerged organically as conference-goers were excited to use the application and discuss the benefits of being able to deliver the power of enterprise-level analytics integrated with most work order management and control systems to every field technician, not to mention further supporting and empowering them with prescribed solutions to common issues, downloadable manuals, detailed asset information, floorplans, location detection via GPS, and demand response live event notifications.

The Ezenics Mobile integrated solution allows technicians to effectively slash the time that it takes to locate, examine, and service a machine; respond to calls; and complete work orders to a fraction of what it would take using more traditional methods by giving them all of the information and tools that they need to get the job done in one interface, regardless of which and how many different systems their organization employs. For facility and service managers, the increased productivity of their staff means that more is getting done in the same amount of time, and that leads to significantly increased savings and client satisfaction.

Example Demonstration

At the conference, a few example scenarios were demonstrated to illustrate how the solution is used and implemented. One of the scenarios was that of an uncomfortably cold office worker and a newly-hired service technician:

“Sue” is an office worker  on the Microsoft Smart Campus, and “Matt” is a brand-new CBRE service technician. For this scenario, Ezenics is providing the integrated analytics and asset management, 360 Facility is providing the integrated work order management system, and Cylon is providing FDD-ready controllers, which enabled rapid, low-cost, “plug-n-play” integration with the Ezenics AFDDI™.

Sue arrives very early to prepare a meeting room and realizes that it’s uncomfortably cold, so she asks the secretary if anything can be done to warm up the space. The secretary makes a quick call to the facility management call center at CBRE, and they raise the temperature setpoint from 74°F to 80°F. After half an hour, Sue is still cold, and her meeting is soon to take place, so she again alerts the secretary. In response to the heightened priority of resolving the issue before the meeting, CBRE quickly dispatches Matt to the building, smartphone in hand. Arriving at the location, Matt uses the GPS-enabled location detection feature and is presented with a street view of the building along with summary information and additional downloadable content such as floorplans and other available engineering documents.

On the first screen, Matt sees a red notification for an open work order assigned to him for the building via 360 Facility’s integrated work order system and taps “Maintenance” to bring up the details. Right away, he can find out which machine the work order is associated with (VAV-01), the reporter, the call-back number, a description of the situation, and an image of where the machine is located in the building.

Even though he is a newly-hired technician who has never even been to the building, he already has an understanding of the situation, including the location of the machine responsible for making Sue’s meeting room too cold.

Matt also notices a red issue notification for the VAV and taps “Issues” to open a list of faults detected by the integrated Ezenics Automated Fault Detection, Diagnosis, and Impact™ (AFDDI™) system. With the Ezenics AFDDI™ diagnosing the issues automatically for him, Matt has no need to manually diagnose the problem himself. On the Issues page, he sees that there are a few issues listed on the VAV, including a “Setpoint Not Met – ZAT – Overcooling” fault and a “Supply Air Damper Unresponsive – On/Open” fault.

Matt opens the details pages for both faults, which provide him with full descriptions of the faults, how many times they have occurred, when they were first detected, the financial impact and severity ranks, and even a list of engineer-prescribed potential solutions. He finds that the “Setpoint Not Met – ZAT – Overcooling” fault means that even though the room is too cold, the machine is still cooling the room even further, wasting energy and causing a comfort problem. The “Supply Air Damper Unresponsive – On/Open” fault indicates that the unresponsive damper is to blame for the problem and needs to be repaired.

After finding out what the problems are, Matt taps on “Information” to learn the VAV’s brand, model, serial number, and any other information in the asset management system. With this additional information, he can already determine which parts, tools, and equipment to carry with him into the building.

Without prior experience diagnosing this VAV and these issues manually, Matt already knows what the problems are, how bad they are, potential solutions for how to fix them, and what he needs to take with him to repair the VAV before he even leaves his truck.

After the repair is complete, Matt simply scans the QR code on the side of the machine once again to bring up the diagnostics and BMS access in order to verify that it is now working properly. He notices that there is a cooling setpoint exception caused by the previous modification made by the call center, which if left unchecked would have resulted in Sue’s meeting room being allowed to drift to 80°F, invariably resulting in another service call. In order to correct the setpoint and resolve the exception, Matt simply taps “Remote” and is not only able to view real time data from the VAV but is also able to set the cooling setpoint back to its correct value via the secure BMS integration.

Using the Remote control feature, Matt is able to effect change on the VAV using his phone and fixes the exception without having to call in or find another terminal to access the Building Management System.

[an error occurred while processing this directive] Only one thing is left to do, and that is to complete the work order by going back to “Maintenance” and changing its status to “Complete” through the integrated work order management system.

Rather than making multiple trips in and out of the building, spending time manually diagnosing the issue, and juggling both his work order system and the BMS, Matt has managed to complete the job using a single, integrated software tool on his phone in just one trip. The Ezenics Mobile agnostically integrable solution provides him with an unprecedented level of support and control, and for Matt, that’s reduced frustration. For his manager at CBRE, it’s time saved and another job squeezed in today. For Sue, the conference room will be comfortable in time for her meeting. For the facility management and intelligent buildings industry, it’s “REvolutionary”.

Demo Integration Partners

About Ezenics

Ezenics was founded in Europe in 2004 with offices now also in the USA, Dubai, and Argentina. Ezenics offers an intelligent enterprise facility optimization platform that continuously analyzes sensor, machine, and energy data creating prioritized, actionable information and intelligent control. For more information about Ezenics, visit the website at www.ezenics.com or contact b.thompson@ezenics.com.

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