Service Center

     The Service Center is located in OPM 100 and is the central contact point for the customers requesting Physical Plant services. Calls can be made to the Service Center at Extension 4-2845, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week.

How To Make a Work Request

There are five ways to make a work request:
    1)    By Telephone (813-974-2845 or ext. 4-2845 from campus)
    2)    Online using the Online Request Form*
    3)    FAX (813-974-3199 or ext. 4-3199 from campus)
    4)    Campus Mail (OPM 100)
    5)    In Person at the Service Center located in OPM building.
*This option is for non-paying workorders only. Please refer to Basic Maintenance-Funded Jobs and Paying Jobs.

     In all five cases, the requester must supply certain specific information. This includes the requester's name, title, phone number, department, building prefix, and room number. For paying jobs, account information for reimbursement is required. Information is needed for the contact person, if different from the requester. The actual location of the work being requested must also be included, by building and room number or other specific location (as for work in stairwells, corridors, or outdoors). Finally, a job description must be supplied in sufficient detail to allow the Service Center to make a preliminary determination of the nature and scope of the work.

     If the request is made in person, by campus mail, or by fax, the requester should fill out the Work Request form appropriately, giving the information mentioned above. The form is available free of charge from the Physical Plant (OPM 100). The form can also be mailed or sent by fax upon request, to you by calling extension 4-2845. If the request is made by telephone, the Service Center representative will ask for the same information as on the form.

      When the Service Staff enter the request into the computerized work order system, they will provide the requester information about the work order, including the work order number, for reference. If you provide an email address, then the system will automatically provide you with a confirmation in an email which will include the work order number.

Who is Authorized To Make A Work Request

     Any member of the University Community can contact the Service Center with a work request; however, department chairpersons, auxiliary organization officers, or their designees are more likely to contact the Center. Certain requests must be paid for by the requesting department or organization. In those cases, the person making the request must have the authority to pay for the requested work, and must sign the Work Request form as authorized for the account to be charged.

Requester Needs To Provide

• Name, Title, Department
• Phone Number
• Building and Room Number
• Specific Location of Work
• Contact Person
• Authorized Signature

Routine Maintenance

     The Physical Plant Division is allocated an annual Education and General (E&G) budget for the maintenance of the University's E&G buildings, grounds, and utilities. This money is used for campus maintenance, repairs, and replacements in kind. It is not used for new construction, expansion, renovation, or facility alterations.

     The Service Center manages a routine inspection and preventive maintenance program (which includes computer-generated work orders) for major building systems, including lighting, plumbing, pumping, and environmental systems. This program reduces the number of maintenance requests significantly. However, departments can report any work they feel needs to be done.

Basic Maintenance-Funded Jobs and Paying Jobs

     Requests from E&G departments for maintenance work funded by the Physical Plant E&G budget are basic maintenance-funded jobs and are done at no cost to the customer. The Service Center will assign the customer a work order number and will assign the work to the appropriate department for accomplishment.

     According to its nature, work for E&G departments can be either a basic maintenance-funded job or a "paying" job. Work for non E&G organizations such as auxiliary departments and student organizations are usually paying jobs. The basic rules are fairly straightforward; however, there are a few unusual cases and exceptions. The Service Center Extension 4-2845 will help the customer with these exceptions.

     Requests for work that are not part of the Physical Plant fiscal responsibility must be paid for by the requesting department or organization. These work requests are called "paying" jobs. Paying work orders cannot be completed online since a signature is required. The Service Center will ask the requester to identify the account which will pay for the work, and the requester will need to sign the Work Request Formas authorized for the account to be charged.

Priorities of Work Orders

Work orders are treated as one of four priorities: Emergency, Rush, Routine, and Preventive Maintenance.

Emergency

     Emergencies are situations which pose an immediate threat to personal health or safety, or of major damage to buildings, equipment, or other property. The Service Center handles emergencies immediately.

Rush

     Urgent situations pose a threat (non-immediate) of personal injury, equipment damage, loss of research, or a serious disruption of University operations. Whenever possible, rush work orders are handled on the day they are received.

Routine

     Work orders for immediate tasks that do not pose a threat to life, property, research or of serious disruption to the operation of the University are regarded as Routine Work Orders. These requests are put in the job queue and are processed in the order in which they are received. Large-scale work orders are treated as projects; they may require several weeks or months to complete. Small repairs are normally done within a few days of being put into the job queue, but availability of materials and unforeseen problems could delay completion.

Jobs related to specific events require adequate lead time to be completed on the date requested.

Preventive Maintenance (PM)

     Preventive maintenance work orders are issued to maintain equipment in a serviceable condition. A computerized preventive maintenance program produces more than 10,000 work orders per year. Work orders are for scheduled inspections, service, and replacement of equipment.