A Midwest University Optimizes Campus Operations

Responsible for supporting more than 35 buildings serving 13,000 students, faculty, and staff, the university’s facilities team was operating at full capacity. Day‑to‑day demands, combined with time and budget constraints, made it difficult to proactively assess system performance or consistently prioritize work.

Without a clear view into how their building automation systems were performing, the team struggled to identify root causes, reduce manual overrides, and resolve recurring issues efficiently. They needed a faster, more effective way to create operational efficiencies, reduce costs, and improve resolution times, while working within existing resources.

To address these challenges, the university implemented Connected Controls Services, an advanced service experience that combines cloud‑based diagnostics with expert controls support.

Through the service, the university gained deeper visibility into its building automation systems. Performance issues were identified remotely, and service experts worked with the facilities team and a local technician to prioritize actions and address root causes. This approach enabled the university to improve system performance and reliability without additional operational overhead.

With better data and expert‑led prioritization, the university quickly began seeing measurable improvements across its campus. Facilities teams streamlined day‑to‑day operations, reduced inefficiencies, and improved system performance across more than 35 buildings. Among the most notable outcomes were:

• 88% reduction in system overrides within one month
• 230+ engine duplicates eliminated
• Businesses with similar improvements report median annual energy savings of 12%¹

¹Katipamula, S. and Fernandez, N. (2020, September 21). Improving Commercial Building Operations through Building Re-tuning™: Meta-Analysis [PowerPoint Presentation]. Pacific Northwest National Laborator

A large, rural university in the American Midwest serving approximately 13,000 students, faculty, and staff. For more than 30 years, the institution has partnered with Johnson Controls to maintain safe, comfortable, and efficient campus operations.