Our roadmap

Foster a culture of collaboration and unity by breaking down silos and encouraging cross-functional teamwork. Strengthen interdepartmental communication, align shared goals, and build trust to create a cohesive team dedicated to service excellence and the stewardship of the university’s facilities and assets.This includes:

• Implementing team problem-solving opportunities for staff to analyze and resolve operational challenges while fostering innovation, ownership, and cross-departmental collaboration.
• Conducting communication activities to support a shared understanding of strategic priorities and ensure alignment with UBC and VPFO goals.
• Improving visual communication on who we are and what we do through branding, signage, and website updates.
• Developing unified systems and repositories to ensure compliance, transparency, and operational efficiency.

Invest in the growth, well-being, and engagement of individuals and teams by offering training, mentorship, and career development opportunities. Cultivate a safe, inclusive, and supportive workplace while defining and communicating clear roles and responsibilities to ensure alignment between both staff and customers to optimize service performance and experience. This includes:

• Enhancing training programs, tools, and resources to strengthen staff supervisory skills for guiding teams safely and effectively.
• Improving customer service training to build strong relationships, enhance communication, and develop de-escalation strategies.
• Broadening efforts to gather more timely feedback on completed services.
• Supporting and increasing mechanisms for sharing performance evaluations and recognition within teams.
• Streamlining recruitment processes and improve organizational structure to enhance resilience to staff changes.
• Reviewing and enhancing the Facilities safety program to ensure a comprehensive approach for secure and healthy work environments.
• Providing additional training and resources for customers using Facilities systems and applications.

Deliver exceptional service to academic, administrative, and student stakeholders by understanding their needs and expectations. Strengthen relationships through proactive collaboration, timely responses, and consistent, support to the university’s diverse community. This includes:

• Enhancing audience engagement and communication channels to provide clearer, more consistent, and accessible information about Facilities programs (e.g., Routine Capital, Capital Equipment and System Replacement, Preventative Maintenance Program).
• Implementing functionality improvements in Planon to enhance customer visibility into service requests and work orders.
• Leveraging existing technology to assess space utilization patterns and align projects with UBC’s strategic and operational priorities for data-driven decisions in space planning and capital project prioritization.

Set clear, measurable service standards and performance benchmarks to guide operations. Implement these standards to ensure accountability, maintain quality, and deliver consistent service in managing university buildings and utility assets. This includes:

• Establishing service levels/standards and clearly communicate them within Facilities and externally to the UBC community.
• Implementing Climate Action 2030 objectives, such as expanding zero-emission vehicles in the UBC fleet and integrating a rainwater plan within the zero-waste initiative.
• Optimize sustainable operations and maintenance funding for buildings, utility systems, and public spaces.
• Complete and implement Facilities KPIs while establishing a continuous data collection and monitoring process.

Streamline operations by integrating systems and workflows into a cohesive approach. Leverage technology and standardized procedures to improve efficiency, reduce redundancy, and ensure seamless service delivery across all lifecycle stewardship responsibilities. Standardize and assign ownership of internal processes to enhance efficiency and accountability across operations.This includes:

• Defining process ownership to ensure clear accountability while promoting ownership and standardization.
• Implementing process improvement projects, such as Sign Shop optimization and custodial CIMS accreditation.
• Establishing a framework, governance system, and process ownership to organize and streamline processes.
• Implementing a collaborative system to map out processes from start to finish, ensuring consistency throughout.
• Focusing on the renewal and optimization of systems such as Planon and Utilities Management System.
• Clarifying ownership, funding, and maintenance roles and responsibilities for facilities assets across Facilities’ departments, UBC ancillaries, and external entities (e.g., UNA, UEL, MOTI, Metro Vancouver) to address gaps or duplication of work.

Enhance transparency, consistency, and clarity in all communications within UBC Facilities and across the UBC community. Create efficient channels for sharing updates, gathering feedback, and ensuring alignment with departmental objectives and activities. This includes:

• Refreshing and reestablishing inter-communication channels within Facilities to improve connectivity and information flow between teams.
• Creating and implementing operational guidelines for customer communication related to maintenance, customer-funded services, and project delivery.