Rethinking Your Facility Management Approach: Process Management

You have been inundated with articles, webinars, and letters from CEOs regarding business approaches to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you prepare to reopen, you’re going to have so much more on your plate than just welcoming guests and ensuring your team members are creating memorable experiences. It’s a good idea to take time now to outline some of the most important processes you’ll need to implement or revise, and then automate where you can. Read on for a few quick tips that can help lighten your burden.

No. 1: Stay Informed.

Guidelines for phased reopenings are being updated often, so be sure that you’re keeping up on what’s changing. Stay informed of guidelines from organizations at global, federal, state, and local levels, as well as those best practices outlined by industry organizations like IAAPA, AMOA, or IATP. From there, make a targeted plan – with deadlines for completion – to help you develop your facility’s procedures around capacity and events management, cleaning, and social distancing. It’s also a good time to brainstorm operational practices that you’ll want to implement for sales, marketing, and other communication efforts.

No. 2: Analyze your current processes and practices.

With the need for adaptations in how you welcome guests in, the way you position staff to assist those guests is likely to change as well. For example, you might currently have a need for team members in Admissions, Redemption, at attractions, and at other information counters to manage your current weekend capacity. But in the short term, you may wish to have a more centralized sales desk with team members selling admissions or assisting guests in a larger area. Using different POS screens, you can easily allow team members to sell items and packages across one or more facility divisions to maximize the efficiency of the labor you have on-site.

No. 3: Document the processes.

Don’t leave the implementation up to chance. Make sure that you’re documenting important procedures that need to be followed once you reopen and share them with everyone involved. In terms of cleaning processes, be sure to include what needs to be done, where, by whom, how often, and how the person performing the task will document completion.

Remember that guests will need documentation as well, so consider crafting FAQ sheets for group events, and placing signage throughout the facility to remind staff and guests of measures that are in place and suggestions for hygiene. Guests will feel safer if they can see how much their safety means to you.

Your facility’s digital signage is a great place to include some of this information as well. Of course, you’re displaying things like food and beverage prices, or attraction and admissions packages, but consider other important messaging needs as well.  Things like timed sanitization reminders, information about your facility’s commitment to cleanliness, notification of next timed attraction availability, and reminders about social distancing protocols are all messages to consider adding to digital signage throughout your facility.

No. 4: Keep communication flowing.

Once you reopen, it’s going to be important to communicate between shifts to keep everyone in the loop. Use Daily Information Maintenance inside your software to communicate daily messages about the day so you can continue to improve and adapt your service.

Inside Scheduling, you can even use shift notes to communicate messages to incoming shift leaders with information on tasks that need to be performed or checked, etc.

Nearly any CenterEdge report can be emailed automatically whenever you see fit through the use of notifications. For example, you might wish to manage guest headcounts as they leave the facility so you’re able to allow more guests entrance. A team member stationed at the front exit can log guests’ exits and every 30 minutes or hour, a shift leader might wish to review the Head Counts report, or get a quick snapshot with the click of the Head Counts button in any point of sale station, to ensure the appropriate number of guests are on-site.

In terms of staff, you’ll want a firm handle on labor costs to ensure profitability. Hourly Labor Cost Analysis reports can give you the most current revenue versus labor so you can send special offers to your email or social media audience, upsell to guests in the facility, or manage staff accordingly.

While the state of our new norm may keep changing, it’s imperative to stay committed to our teams, our guests, and our processes. The more systematic we can be during this time, the more prepared we’ll be to meet every new challenge.

Have other ways you’re managing and automating your processes? Share them with us in CenterEdge Community, in the comments or on Twitter.

Interested in learning how CenterEdge can make managing your business a whole lot easier? Schedule a virtual demo or call 336.598.5934, Option 1 today.