Back in 2007 the NHS ADB was producing Room Data for PFI hospitals all over the United Kingdom. Ten years later much of that data is sitting in PDF files and is virtually inaccessible.  Steve Foott, eRDS director  is currently returning  all the information contained Royal Stoke University Hospital’s  4,500 room PDFs  back into live data within eRDS, so that it can be updated and maintained in a modern Room Data Sheet database to match the on-going developments at the Hospital.

When room data is held on-line in a central database the task of keeping it up-to-date becomes much easier. Instead of storing information in various excel sheets and word documents, the database can be added to and kept current as a usable asset register as the building is maintained and refurbished over time. This can be used for preventative and planned maintenance as well as for financial forecasting and calculating depreciation’s.

The asset register and room data information in eRDS Cloud can be used to populate facilities management applications like Maximo and Planon. This results in help-desk operatives having a better understanding of the building and leads to more efficient problem solving. Maintenance teams can be better prepared with the information they need before arriving on-site to deal with work-orders.

Being better informed will result in more effective management decisions. eRDS Field provides the tools for efficient information gathering. Our user defined check lists make it easy to handle inspections to ascertain the condition of any of the buildings assets, and identify those which need maintenance or replacement.

All buildings have room data in one form or another no matter what size the project is. HMB Architects in Dublin used eRDS Cloud on a small residential conversion and refurbishment project within a conservation area in Ireland. The client wished to be closely involved with the renovations and worked with the builder. eRDS helped him specify the finishes and fit-out specification to clearly communicate the scope to the construction team.

A full set of room data sheets was created by the architect and client and then used to help with cost calculations in Excel. The client felt they had a good oversight on the spec and costs of the fit out, and the builder benefited from knowing exactly what the client wanted. Even on a small project there are hundreds of fittings and finishes to consider, and the team found eRDS to be an efficient way of managing the detail and getting decisions made in a timely manner.