INDUSTRY
Built for any facility team, in any sector.
One platform, endless use cases.
How Emporia State niversity
Is Reducing Deferred
Maintenance Costs
With zLink
A story of how a regional public university replaced fragmented legacy systems with a unifiedIWMS platform, enabling faster
compliance reporting, smarter data use, and a facilities team that punches above its weight.
55
Buildings Campus Wide
1.5M+
Square Feet Facility Space
3+ Years
Ongoing Partnership
“Our mandate is to reduce the overall campus square footage so we can reduce our maintenance costs and be able to focus our funding on the spaces that we do need so we can improve those and create a better experience for faculty, staff, and students.
Since we got zLink, weʼve demolished two buildings,and weʼre getting ready to demolish two more. Having all our space and maintenance management data in one platform has made these kinds of decisions much faster because we can pull the justification with just a few clicks.
- Omar Herrera · Facilities Planner & Project Manager, Emporia State University
Key Outcomes
One source for all facilities data
Rapid board compliance reporting
Reactive and PM workflows and visibility
Data-driven capital planning
Maintenance access via mobile
Fire code compliance
About The University
Emporia State University (ESU) is a regional public university in Emporia, Kansas, serving 5,000 students. ESUʼs facilities team manages a broad portfolio of buildings and infrastructure including academic classrooms, athletic facilities, and utilities assets.
ESU is one of six universities accountable to the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR) which delivered a mandate to reduce overall square footage to decrease deferred maintenance costs.
Despite being smaller than many other academic institutions, ESU has built a reputation for moving fast on technology adoption and turning that agility into measurable operational results.
The Challenge
Before zLink, ESUʼs facilities team operated through a patchwork of disconnected tools. Work requests were routedthrough OnBase, a document management system not designed for facilities workflows, creating friction for everydepartment that touched a work order. Staff were forced to manually enter the same data across multiple systems, andthe accounting team in particular relied on a cumbersome three-step process just to process a single request.
Compounding the process problem was a growing compliance burden. KBOR mandates require detailed space utilizationreporting across Kansas public universities. ESU needed a reliable system of record for room data, seat counts, assetinventories, and square footage and had no clean way to produce it.
OnBase Workarounds
Work orders forced through a document management systemnot built for the job.
Manual Triple Entry
Accounting team required data entry across 3 separate systemsper transaction.
No Visibility
No centralized space data to satisfy KBOR reporting mandates.
No Mobile Access
Technicians and supervisors had no way to access asset info inthe field.
“A sister university has Maximo, and we understood it was certainly one of our best options. But it was likethe Rolls Royce of options, and we wanted to pick and choose what modules to start with. So we openedup the bid and found zLink. We developed an evaluation rubric, and we just looked at it logically. We listedall our needs and all the features that were available, we thought about the future, and we analyzed thesoftware costs 1, 3, and 5 years down the line. And when we started talking to the zLink team face to face, we were convinced they could help us achieve our goals.”
Omar Herrera · Facilities Planner & Project Manager, ESU
Why ESU Chose zLink
zLink was selected on three dimensions: completeness of features at a competitive price, a clear path toachieving ESUʼs future-state goals, and the confidence ESU developed in the zLink implementation team duringthe sales process.
Unified Cloud Platform
Cloud-based implementation built on Microsoft Azure
Real-Time Work Orders
Fully Integrated Modules
Assets, PM, Space, and Project Management in one system.
AutoCAD-Integrated Floor Plans
Building drawings linked directly to work orders and projects.
Customizable Configuration
Flexible fields, workflows, and reports tailored to ESU’s needs
Single Source of Truth
Centralized hub for space and maintenance management, documents, and project management.
Scalable Solution
A robust architecture designed to accommodate future growth
White Glove Support
A dedicated team providing hands-on guidance in implementation and beyond
Access to zLink Anywhere
The 10-Step Journey
A highly structured 6-month implementation phase laid the foundation for adoption success
Kick Off Meeting
01
Pilot Data Migration
06
Onsite Requirements Analysis
02
Data Migration & Integration
07
Configurations & Integrations
03
Training
08
Configure SaaS Environment
04
Testing
09
Existing Data
Repository Review
05
Go Live
10
Results & Impact
Streamlined Work Order Management
All work orders moved off OnBase and into zLinkʼs native work order module
Accounting team eliminated manual data-entry steps
Requesters can now track work order status and upload photos directly, reducing the need for follow-up communications
Users described the transition from OnBase as immediately embraced campus-wide
KBOR Compliance and Space Management
ESUʼs campus reduction mandate is being addressed with reliable square footage, room, and utilization data living in zLink
Since implementing zLink, ESU has demolished two buildings and is preparing to demolish two more — with the data to backthose decisions
Asset Data When It Matters Most
Emergency water shutoff valves catalogued as assets with As-Built drawing layers — supervisors can pull exact valvelocations on an iPad during a winter emergency, without hunting for drawings or calling anyone in
Fire extinguisher assets loaded with precise room locations — the environmental safety team saves time by using zLink togenerate PM plans for inspection reports
Leadership needed map-based views of statewide data. The result:
This analysis surfaced a persistent structural moisture problem in a particular building — providing a data-backed case forcapital funding
A True System of Record
zLink has become the single source of truth for campus infrastructure. Now, zLink is relied upon not only by the Facilitiesteam but also the Registrarʼs office (relies on zLink data for classroom seat counts, asset data, and campus layout informationfor course scheduling) and HR (relies on zLink data for employee directory management).
“We manage so much through zLink’s work order and project management modules. If an effort requires several differentdisciplines, shops, or technicians, we might convert it from a work order to a project. For example, when we need toreplace mechanical equipment, that goes in the
Project Management module.
And thanks to having all our data in zLink, we can easily link our building drawings and documents to a project. Plus, everyone who needs to trackcommunications about a project or work order has
access right within zLink.ˮ
Omar Herrera · Facilities Planner & Project Manager, ESU
