Clients > Case Study: FreemanWhite

FreemanWhite provides architectural, engineering, interior design and consulting services for healthcare organizations in the United States. Founded in 1892, the firm has offices in Charlotte, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., and San Diego, Calif., and employs more than 200 professionals. The firm has received numerous awards and recognitions, including being named the 2005 North Carolina AIA Firm of the Year, as well as the 15th largest healthcare firm in the United States in 2006 by Modern Healthcare magazine.

Clients

FreemanWhite’s clients include independent hospitals and hospital systems in the southeast region. Examples are Presbyterian Healthcare System, Stanly Medical, Roper, etc…

Problem / Opportunity

The engineering service division of FreemanWhite wanted to differentiate itself from competitors by offering new services to existing and prospective clients. They felt providing a web portal to save and report on information important to all hospital facility managers would be of value. FreemanWhite management surveyed clients for common needs and determined that generator and asset data management was of importance. The problem was how do you build a simple and flexible web-based application that could be scalable as newly desired features were added?

Solution / System

BuildingSymphony was built by INSite to assist healthcare executives and administrators. The system tracks facility related data for hospitals. Modules of functionality within the system include:

• Assets Data – Hospital facilities are comprised of assets such as steam plants, generators, roofs, elevators, chillers, power plants, etc… Each of these assets has an expected lifespan, maintenance schedule, manuals & documents, replacement cost, expected repair cost, etc...
  
  As an architectural and engineering firm focused on healthcare, FreemanWhite often hired to assess and then provide engineering services to hospitals. BuildingSymphony.com is used to store and report on much of the data needed by hospital administrators and executives. The system has screens for data related to the different types of assets as well as pre-built reports so users can print out information regarding the assets.
• Capital Requirements & Funding Planner – Much of the facility asset data above contains replacement and repair costs as well as expected lifespan. This data is used in BuildingSymphony to assist executives in their capital planning requirements. Since hospitals often raise funds through local bonds and taxes the administrators need to keep an eye on capital requirements many years out. They can then match capital needs to known funding. This helps administrators understand where possible short falls may lie as it relates to known needs and ones that FreemanWhite and BuildingSymphony help uncover.
• Energy & Utility Utilization – BuildingSymphony provides a way for hospital personnel to not only track utility bills, but it also converts historic electricity, fuel oil and gas utilization to a standardized unit of energy (MBTU) for comparison and tracking. A summed total utility expense can be broken down per square foot or per patient day. This allows administrators the ability to track utilization and, based upon fuel cost, to determine the best fuel type to use. A peer reviewer report also allows the users to check their utilization against other regional hospitals.
• Generator Testing – Power generators are an important part of a hospital’s mechanical needs. As heavily regulated entities, hospitals are required by law to test their generators on a scheduled basis. BuildingSymphony is used to store much of the test data. This ensures the hospital has appropriate coverage in the event of a power outage. BuildingSymphony tracks generator tests over tie and can help uncover when there is a possible issue.
• As-Builder – Hospitals are most often built over a long period of time. As a community population increases so does the need for additional beds. Thus, hospitals are usually a hodgepodge of older and newer buildings. The buildings had original architectural drawings before the actual build-out. These drawings are almost never accurate in relation to what is actually on the property. Wiring changes, walls are moved, plumbing is redone. FreemanWhite is often hired to assess a facility and provide new specs. These are stored in the BuildingSymphony As-Builder module.
• Document Management – General design, mechanical and facility type documents and files are often stored in BuildingSymphony. Clients can easily log into the system download and view documents uploaded by their FreemanWhite team.

Technology

BuildingSymphony was built using the following technology:

• Microsoft ASP.Net 2005
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005
• 3^rd Party Controls: Telerik RAD suite, Peter’s Date Picker, etc…

Partner Involved

• lemmondsDESIGN
• CharlotteColo

Services Provided

• Business requirement gathering
• Database design
• Programming
• Site application hosting
• Database Administration