Malaghan Institute of Medical Research

About the client

Malaghan Institute of Medical Research is a world class independent biomedical research charity, focussing on breakthrough discoveries in immunology and immunotherapy. Located within the Victoria University of Wellington, the Institute is home to some of the world’s best scientists, dedicated to deepening the world’s understanding of using the immune system to fight disease.

The opportunity

Malaghan wanted a robust solution that covered the basics well, while providing opportunities for growth. Dealing with large volumes of clinical equipment made visibility over assets a priority for the team.

Prior to utilising FMI, the work request process at Malaghan relied on an IT ticketing system, which had limitations when it came to facilities and asset management. Additionally, without a dedicated FM system, the team relied on paper-based processes for planned maintenance works.

The journey

As a not-for-profit organisation, operating with a lean team, it was important for Malaghan to find a solution with responsive, reliable support, so they could implement the solution at a pace that suited them.

The first priority for the Malaghan team was to improve visibility over their assets, and have these linked with reactive work requests. To set up for long term success, the first step was to upload asset data into the system, classifying and defining important details of each asset.

Once this foundational work was completed, the team’s focus could shift to onboarding facility users to the new work request process. Malaghan’s 130 staff were familiar with logging reactive work requests through the IT system, which made the transition to FMI a straightforward process.

To improve compliance with the new process, the facilities team ensured every room was provided with a QR code that requesters could scan to bring up the request portal. Being able to log issues as they saw them from their mobile devices, supported rapid user adoption of the new system.  

This rapid adoption of the new work request process was supported by the usability of the system. Malaghan Facilities Manager Tim Dallas explains:

“Out of necessity, we went cold turkey with the old request system, just turned it off, and turned FMI on. But by using the QR codes, we could ensure a seamless transition, requests were still logged digitally, but now it could be done from a phone, while the issue is in front of you. The staff so far have reported that the system is easy enough to use that it hasn’t required any training”.

Malaghan have been utilising the FMI online Help Centre, and highly responsive support team, as they familiarise themselves with the product.

“So far my interaction with the team has been really good, they come back straight away with a solution, and often provide us with supporting resources. It is really great to be able to go into the help centre and look things up, there is so much information in there” says Tim.  

With goals to expand their campus at some point in the future, the facilities team at Malaghan have been putting the processes in place that will allow the solution to scale with them.

Looking to the future

The priority for the team at Malaghan is to expand their use of FMI Works over the next 12 months, with a focus on contractor management and planned maintenance.

“We’re really close to being able to utilise FMI for our contractor management, and as we become more familiar with the system, I’ll be easily able to upload all of our planned maintenance activities” explains Tim.