CASE STUDY

Portfolio Management for Smaller Public Buildings 

The Challenge

The Municipality is comprised of small villages and hamlets spread across a largely agricultural landscape. Managing HVAC needs across its important public buildings was labor and resource intensive as, in the absence of data, onsite visits were necessary to investigate an issue, and for simple tasks like seasonal temperature adjustments.The Municipality did not want to deploy expensive Building Automation Controls into its smaller building portfolio due to cost and complexity. They needed a common sense solution that provided remote data, insight and control. 

The Details

Easy Installation Across Locations:  Cognition was installed by the Municipality’s local HVAC partner. Cellular connectivity worked out of the box, even in more remote locations, providing reliable connectivity and avoiding costly networking hassles. 

Single Pane of Glass Visibility:  Cognition alerts have helped the Municipality identify issues before they impact resident use of public buildings, which were previously identified only when the issue was an emergency and causing discomfort/inability to use a space. Cognition Alerts and Dashboard access are shared with the Municipality’s local HVAC Partners, who can now remotely troubleshoot issues and provide more timely service.

As an example, on a Saturday morning in October, Cognition detected a heating equipment malfunction managing the auditorium at the Community Hall, alerting the Facility Director and HVAC Pro.

After reviewing the Cognition Dashboard data they concluded that an HVAC visit to the site was required. The HVAC Pro fixed a faulty gas line connection, which was preventing heat from being generated.

Cognition Dashboard data was useful not only in identifying the issue and confirming it required a visit, it was also used to confirm that the site visit had resolved the issue and the building could continue with planned reservations.