Chapter 21: Mobile Technology For Improved Productivity: Analysis of an In-Field Trial at an Australian University

This project is part of research into mobile staff productivity in Australian universities, funded by the Australian Federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR). To achieve productivity gains, a wireless technical solution for managing maintenance work orders needs to be developed. A second parallel consideration concerns the implementation of a mobile (roaming) solution to support job completion and resolution, as well as reduce time and travel costs.

The organization is a university that has five dispersed campuses across the southeast corner of the state. The institution is a multi-campus, complex organization where staff, both academic and general, are often required to work across campuses. It is technologically sophisticated, with high-quality fibre-optic networks, expanding wireless coverage, and an increasing use of laptops. While the technology exists to support a more flexible, mobile workforce and adoption of laptops is strong, adoption of emerging mobile devices and collaborative technology is slower and not being leveraged for improved productivity, improved decision making, reduced consumption of paper, and reduced travel. Each campus has facilities maintenance staff based at a workshop that houses materials and tools, as well as a PC for administrative purposes. Previously, a mobile technology (PDA) was adopted that enabled the facilities maintenance staff member to download maintenance jobs to a mobile device, then take the device (including all notes and contact details) to the location to conduct the required work. The device is also used to record the time spent on the job and the work conducted. The existing PDA device has the capability to connect to the university’s wireless network. However, the PDA is nearing the end of its life, as it is almost two years old, is quite large in size, and has limited battery life. Due to these limitations, many staff choose not to take their PDA out in the field with them. At regular intervals during the work day the staff member returns back to his workshop, then docks the device into a docking station attached to a PC to allow it to synchronize. This process uploads all finished job details and downloads any new job requests since the last synchronization. While this has reduced the amount of administrative paperwork traditionally required for each service request, the requirement to return up to four kilometers (see Appendix 1) to the office to synchronize the mobile device, only to discover that the next job may be located in the building next to the previously finished job, causes unnecessary waste of time and money associated with the costs for time and travel. The facilities maintenance staff, who are plumbers, carpenters, and electricians, are older adults (mostly over 45 years, with many being 60 years old or over), who have limited mobile technology skills. The majority of these staff believe that the best way to manage work orders is by paper and a pencil. A business analyst and a project manager have been employed to develop a roaming solution to make the workforce more mobile, look at any productivity gains, and conduct a trial to achieve the identified productivity gains.