Astra (Online Room Booking System) and Room Optimization

ASTRA is the online tool that is used to reserve rooms on campus. A staff member in your unit will have had training on using ASTRA to book rooms. The system is searchable based on characteristics of the space (type of room, capacity, multi-media features, etc.). Once room optimization has been completed, your staff person will be able to reserve a room for some purpose. If a room is needed in any Arts and Sciences building after hours or during a weekend, this request must be made through eTech so that they can ensure that you have access to that room.

Room Optimization

Room scheduling in ASTRA will begin the day after the last early registration day opens for that Spring/Fall term (summer excluded). At that time, optimizations will be performed for each college. Optimizations will first be run based on mini-region (based on geography), then based on college, and then based on main campus availability. Optimization results will be sent to each dean’s office for review and distribution. Multiple runs of the optimization process may be necessary based on departmental/Dean’s office feedback. Once completed and approved, the optimization results will be published and made live in Banner. After initial publication, departmental schedulers may go in and make any manual adjustments necessary.

Building Access

Nearly all buildings on campus are now accessible via swipe card access. Request access by using the A&S building and classroom access form.

If you need access to a locked room during business hours, call Access Technologies at 348-9159. To gain access to a room or building after business hours, call 348-9494.

If you need to schedule an after-hours event in an Arts and Sciences building, do this through eTech. They will ensure that you have access to your room(s). See the eTech website for their room reservation request web form and additional information.

Building Representatives

Each building on campus has a staff member identified by Facilities to be the building representative; this person is the main contact for the building when Facilities’ workers (e.g., Maintenance, Custodial Services, etc.) arrive to carry out work. The building representative is also the person designated to enter work orders into the online system.

Chairs with a staff member who is designated as a building representative should recognize the importance of this role and the time commitment required to carry it out; chairs without building managers in their unit should identify who their building’s representative is and develop a close working relationship to ensure that the chair is able to obtain services and resources for their unit’s physical facility. As buildings are remodeled or built, the building representative system is being revised and centralized.

Emergency Maintenance Requests

Emergency Maintenance Request call center: 1-800-284-2504

Beginning April 8, 2013, all calls for emergency maintenance work received after normal business hours will be answered through a call center instead of UAPD. After hours are defined as 5:00 p.m.-7:00a.m., Monday through Friday, and at any time during the weekend. Once a call is received, the call center will notify the appropriate service personnel.

Facilities

Chairs and their staff (especially if a staff member is the Building Representative) will become very familiar with the services offered by Facilities, inasmuch as this is the campus office that coordinates all construction, building maintenance, grounds maintenance, and custodial services as well as managing project initiation requests and the online work order system. The Facilities Office also oversees annual inventories and surplus property.

Fire Alarms and Drills

Periodically, the fire alarms are tested in buildings; even though the fire department does not respond to such drills (staff from Environmental Health and Safety [EHS] do, instead), it is still necessary to evacuate the building any time the fire alarm sounds. The building may be re-entered only after the alarm stops.

N.B., if the fire department finds people still occupying a building when they have responded to an alarm they have the ability to issue fines up to $4,000.

Learn more about Environmental Health and Safety’s fire prevention and response policies on EHS’s website.

Grounds Use Permit

Like all groups, departments wishing to use the University’s grounds for events must apply for permission to reserve the space and to hold their event by filling out the ground use permission form. A minimum 10-day notice is normally required.

Logistics and Support Services/Surplus

A division of Facilities, Logistics and Support Services is involved in the annual inventory of property valued at over $5,000, This process entails a department annually receiving a list from Logistics and Support Services, verifying it by confirming the value and location of the item, and returning the completed form.

Sending items to Surplus also requires a unit to submit a detailed inventory. Items received by Surplus are stored for a period of time and units can visit the warehouse and make requests to obtain items that are in stock.

Visit the Logistics and Support Services website to obtain the “Property and Inventory Management Transaction Form,” which you use to request the assistance of the University movers.

Project Initiation Request (PIR)

Renovation and construction projects on campus are coordinated through Facilities and require a Project Initiation Request. A manager is assigned to all projects and the project does not move forward until the funds to finance it are committed.

Work Orders

Building representatives are the sole people authorized to submit work orders, through an online system, for repairs and maintenance to University buildings. Documenting requests and completion of such work requires that the online work order system be used, though Facilities is cooperative in working closely with a chair if repairs are called in directly to their office.