Choosing an integrated workplace management system (IWMS) takes months of evaluation and a significant investment. Yet a year after go-live, many campuses still have shops tracking work in spreadsheets and technicians carrying paper.
Universities usually struggle with IWMS adoption because of how campuses work, not because of the software itself. With dozens of departments, budgets, and priorities under one roof, progress tends to stall in three places: decentralized operations, unreliable data, and change management that ends at go-live.
The University of Florida, the University of South Carolina, and the University of Central Arkansas each worked past one of these barriers using AssetWorks solutions. Here’s what they learned and how you can apply it on your campus.
Most campuses run on point solutions: separate tools for work orders, space, capital planning, and reporting that don’t share data. Deferred maintenance tracked in one system has no connection to capital planning in another, and directors spend hours stitching reports together.
That matters because the backlog keeps growing. Gordian's 2026 State of Facilities in Higher Education report found the backlog of deferred renewal had reached $156 per gross square foot, up 8 percent in a year. Meanwhile, capital investment in existing buildings is funded at only 73.5 percent of what’s needed to keep that backlog from growing.
With funding falling short, facilities leaders must make the case for every dollar, and that case is only as strong as the data behind it. When condition, maintenance, and capital data live in separate systems, building that case is slow, manual, and hard to defend. Consolidating onto an integrated platform fixes the fragmentation, but only if everyone on campus uses it.
When the University of Florida first implemented AiM, a finance team led the project, so the system was set up mainly as a financial tool and operations leaders couldn’t get the reports they needed. When Mark Helms joined as Assistant Vice President in 2016, he likened it to keeping a Jaguar in the garage while commuting on a moped. Like many long-time campuses, UF decided it was time to start over and build operations into the system.
Rather than replacing AiM, UF reimplemented it, this time bringing teams from across campus into the process. The payoff was significant. Of the $460 million the State of Florida distributed for deferred maintenance across its universities, UF used its AiM data to help secure $148 million, more than double the next school’s award. As Helms put it, “We could back it up, and we were in a position to not be questioned.”
Apply it on your campus: Most campuses are really many organizations sharing one footprint. If your IWMS is configured for one group alone, everyone else keeps their own tools, and the system becomes one more silo. Secure an executive sponsor to settle shared standards like work order priorities, labor rates, and space categories, and bring every unit into configuration decisions from the start. Already live? A reimplementation may get you further than a replacement.
Before AiM, the University of South Carolina (USC) was running on an outdated legacy system; they had plenty of data, but no one could trust it. Space spreadsheets went stale as soon as they were shared, and staff keyed in utility usage by hand every month across more than 250 electricity accounts. As USC’s space manager put it: “This is as accurate as I can give you, but as soon as I hit send, it’s old.”
AiM fixed that by becoming the hub that connects USC’s campus systems. It’s now the university’s system of record for space, feeding updated data nightly to PeopleSoft and the registrar’s office, while utility data flows in automatically. Even a capital projects integration the team had wanted for more than a decade, one their legacy system couldn’t support, is on its way.
Want the full story from an R1 research university? Read how USC replaced fragmented facilities software with AssetWorks.
Apply it on your campus: If a new system launches with data users don’t trust, they go back to their workarounds. Give data cleanup and integrations their own workstream, starting with what people rely on most. Tools help, too: a survey tool like the one in ReADY Space can confirm how rooms are used, and keeping condition assessments alongside maintenance data keeps them current.
For many field technicians, going mobile is a big shift. Trading paperwork orders for a tablet changes their daily routine. Brenda Graff saw this firsthand when the University of Central Arkansas adopted Go, AssetWorks’ role-based mobile apps that give each person on your facilities team the tools their job requires, right where the work happens:
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"The Go system — our guys carrying iPads and logging notes as they go — took some getting used to, since they weren't used to that responsibility before; they used to just get a paperwork order and go. Now it's all on the iPad. They can make notes, close out the job, and handle what's needed right there on-site. It took a while, but we're now seeing positive feedback from our maintenance staff."
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Apply it on your campus: This kind of change takes time, so plan for it. Roll out in phases, starting with visible wins like service requests and mobile work orders. USC, from Lesson #2, timed its go-live for summer so a dedicated training team could prepare 120 technicians on Go before fall semester.
Keep training continuous, too. In the NFPA's 2026 State of the Skilled Trades report, 39 percent of skilled trades professionals named workforce retention a top concern. For campus facilities teams, that means a steady stream of new technicians who each need to learn the system.
An IWMS simplifies university facilities operations by bringing maintenance, space, capital planning, and asset lifecycle data into one connected platform. A CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) focuses on maintenance alone, and point solutions each cover a single function.
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Point Solutions |
CMMS |
IWMS |
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Scope |
One function per tool |
Work orders, preventive maintenance, assets |
Maintenance, space, capital planning, real estate, energy |
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Data Sharing |
Siloed by tool or linked by fragile custom integrations |
Maintenance data only |
Shared across functions, with standard data connectors to campus systems |
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Primary Users |
A single department |
Maintenance teams |
Requestors (ReADY), technicians (Go), and leadership (AiM) |
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Best Fit |
Narrow, single-need operations |
Maintenance-focused operations |
Complex, multi-building campuses |
Point solutions can be connected, but those links can break when either system changes. With an IWMS, a renovation’s effect on space, capital plans, and deferred maintenance shows up in the same place.
In the AssetWorks ecosystem, each group gets a tool designed around its role. ReADY Request gives the campus community an easy way to submit and track requests. Go puts work orders in technicians’ hands in the field. AiM gives facilities leaders one source of truth for planning and funding decisions, the same kind of data behind UF’s funding win.
UF, USC, and UCA started in different places, but their challenges are common to campuses at every stage. What made the difference was the right platform paired with the right approach. Wherever your campus is today, start with the same three moves:
Replacing an IWMS, consolidating point solutions, or getting more out of the system you already have? Our team is happy to share what we’ve seen work on other campuses.
Why do universities struggle with IWMS adoption?
Campus operations span many units with separate budgets, legacy data is often incomplete or unreliable, and field staff and requestors need time and ongoing training to change how they work.
Why do universities struggle with facilities management software on campus?
Disconnected point solutions create data silos, and even after consolidating, many universities stall on adoption because of decentralized operations, unreliable data, and limited change management.
What is the difference between an IWMS and a CMMS?
A CMMS focuses on maintenance tasks like work orders and preventive maintenance, while an IWMS connects maintenance with space, capital planning, real estate, and energy data in one platform.
What integrated workplace management system works best for complex university estates?
The best fit is a higher-education-specific IWMS with role-specific tools, multi-unit support, and a vendor experienced in campus implementation, because adoption determines results as much as features do.
Which integrated workplace management systems do large universities typically use?
Large universities use enterprise IWMS platforms, higher-education-specific IWMS platforms such as AssetWorks Facilities’ AiM, extended CMMS tools, or homegrown systems.