SaaS

Louisiana State Takes Facilities Management to the Cloud

• By Michael Hart
• 10/29/14

Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge has moved to a new cloud-based system to manage its facilities.

The university chose a system from Accruent, a developer of management software specifically for higher education. LSU will use Accruent's FAMIS SaaS (Software as a Service) cloud system to manage its 539 buildings with a total of 12.7 million gross square feet of classroom, lab, office and other kinds of space.

"LSU's mission is focused on education, research and public service," said Facility Services Executive Director Tony Lombardo. "Having a world-class facilities organization and the tools to run that organization are imperative."

Accruent reported that LSU will use its Integrated Workplace Management System to manage every facet of its facilities, from real estate acquisitions and project management through inventory control, maintenance and operations and space management.

Accruent CEO Mark Friedman said he believes LSU chose his company to replace its legacy facilities management system with a cloud-based system for the same reason many colleges, universities and other organizations are doing the same thing: "No infrastructure costs, automatic upgrades and access anywhere, any time and on any device."

Since 2012, Accruent has accelerated investment in and development of FAMIS, its university facilities cloud-based management system, which is now also in place at Iowa State University, University of Texas Austin and McGill University.