Michael Chamberlin:
Plains-Speaking About Johnson County, Kansas Government...and More

He cooks. He watches the Kansas City Chiefs. He works at landscape and still-life photography. But when he's not engaged in those pursuits, Michael Chamberlin is the Information Systems Administrator for the Facilities Management Department of Johnson County, Kansas. Johnson County is that Great Plains state's most populous county, and accounts for nearly 1/3 of the state's total real estate value. In January of 2000, he left the County Appraiser's office, where he had spent 5 ½ years as the applications manager, GIS administrator and web page developer, to manage the FM department's ARCHIBUS implementation.

Prior to that, Mike worked for a neighboring county, starting as a COBOL programmer, moving up to systems administrator, and finally becoming GIS manager. In all, he has over 21 years in local government information systems. And he has been a presenter at many ARCHIBUS Users' Conferences.

We spoke with him recently about whether, technologically speaking, everything is still up-to-date in Johnson County. The views contained in this interview are his own and do not reflect the opinions of the FM department or Johnson County government at large. Read the interview here.

ARCHIBUS Demonstrates Ability to Consume COBie Data Based on Latest COBie Challenge Parameters

The buildingSMARTalliance has recently recognized ARCHIBUS software as demonstrating the ability to consume COBie data based on the most recent public COBie Challenge parameters.

This recognition was given following the alliance's December 2011 COBie Challenge in Washington D.C., a public event which focused on the production and consumption of COBie data by Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and Computerized Asset Management Systems (CAMS). In this Challenge, design software vendors imported a set of simulated facility management information for the Common BIM files project, the Medical/Dental Clinic. The specific model file used was the COBie Handover file (ZIP).

The U.S. General Services Administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Department of State's Overseas Building Operations currently require the delivery of COBie data in their contracts. Because COBie is required by the government, it is also becoming increasingly important to the entire construction and facilities management industry, where it is being adopted on a wider scale.

The benefits from GSA-wide COBie adoption, for example, are the consistent delivery of correctly-installed equipment maintenance and other information without incurring any additional cost in worker time or other expense. COBie data can also be directly loaded into any maintenance management system or third-party software, such as ARCHIBUS, that is compliant with the standard. Read more here

2012 ARCHIBUS Users' Conference: It's Not Too Late to Register

Great Conference. Great city. Great savings.

Boston - April 29 - May 2.

Join us and your colleagues to hear how ARCHIBUS is leading the revolution in real estate, infrastructure, and facilities management. Learn from more leading-edge organizations presenting valuable topics, such as:

• Aeroporto di Torino - Managing Maintenance and Safety with Tablets at Turin Airport
• British Petroleum - CB Richard Ellis Steers BP to Effective Management of Global Portfolio with ARCHIBUS
• Caterpillar, Inc. - Caterpillar Integrates Cisco VOIP with ARCHIBUS for Emergency Response
• City of Kansas City - Kansas City, MO, Implements an Enterprise Sustainability Platform to Comprehensively Manage the Energy, Environmental, and Building Asset Lifecycle with ARCHIBUS
• Coca-Cola HBC Italy - With Personalized Dashboard, Coca-Cola Enables More Effective Collaborative Relationships
• Kaiser Permanente - Moving from Operations to Strategy: Transforming Space & Occupancy Management into an Integral Part of the Enterprise Strategy
• Plus 60 more sessions

Don't miss this opportunity to spend time learning from industry experts. Review the full Conference program here.

Time is running out. Register today.

Book It! Stay at the Users' Conference Host Hotel and Benefit Twice

Boston offers numerous hotel options for attendees going to the International ARCHIBUS Users' Conference beginning April 29. But the best option is staying at the official Conference host hotel: Marriott's Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

When you stay at the Marriott Renaissance, you avoid all the hassles of commuting from less conveniently located hotels, so you arrive at the sessions relaxed and have more time to enjoy on-site meals and networking to exchange ideas with colleagues.

Moreover, our very economical nightly rate of only $199 - a more than 50% savings from the standard rate - helps your bottom line...and is even lower than the U.S. GSA per diem rate. But you'll also help the ARCHIBUS Users' Conference avoid increased costs due to un-sold rooms in our contracted block of accommodations. Those savings can be re-invested in other educational activities that enhance your professional development.

Even if your corporate travel department has lower negotiated rates with the Renaissance/Marriott and you book through that service, the ARCHIBUS Users' Conference will still get credit for your stay when you make your reservation at our host hotel.

So make your reservations today.

Please Note: Conference attendees are responsible for making hotel reservations, but if you have a change of plans and are unable to attend the Conference, you are also responsible for canceling your reservation to avoid any penalty from the hotel.

Webinar Posting: How ARCHIBUS Can Help You Meet New ADA Requirements for Access

There's no better way to start the New Year than by signing up for a little ARCHIBUS professional enrichment with these upcoming training sessions in our Boston office. Register today for:

• Feb. 27-29:
  SA201 - ARCHIBUS System Administration
• March 12-15:
  SI302 - System Integration/Web Central
  SI303 - System Integration/Web Central-Advanced

For complete course descriptions and to register, click here.