The Challenge:
First Presbyterian Church previously grappled with the tedious task of remotely locking and unlocking doors. Even after introducing Brivo several years before eSPACE, they still manually input data from Google Calendar to both Brivo and their HVAC system. The old HVAC controller posed additional challenges, limiting scheduling to just a week in advance. As a result, the church’s main coordinator spent a full day each week – roughly 8 hours – orchestrating HVAC and Access Control, a time-consuming process not reflective of his valuable role.
The Outcome:
After integrating eSPACE with Brivo, the church streamlined their operations significantly, saving around 5 hours weekly just on door management. This doesn’t even account for the additional time saved from avoiding manual updates due to event changes. Now, with a unified view of HVAC and Door schedules, he can manage everything in under 15 minutes a week. This efficiency reclaimed valuable time, allowing him to dedicate more to the church’s ministry and its operational needs. The integration not only replaced his cumbersome process of juggling three separate papers but also eliminated interruptions and the subsequent time spent retracing steps. The newfound ease and peace of mind have been transformative for him.
“For churches with lock / key – do it in phases. Get the scheduling and then build off of that – We couldn’t afford to hire somebody to do all the locking / unlocking and HVAC stuff, so the automation has been a game changer”
Mike Lauter, Director of Operations
Full case study:
Mike Lauter, the Director of Operations at First Presbyterian Church in Douglasville, GA, juggles a myriad of responsibilities, from bookkeeping and facilities management to staff oversight. One of his significant challenges was the outdated and tedious process of manually locking and unlocking doors, a hassle the church tried to alleviate with Brivo a few years prior to discovering eSPACE. Despite the addition of Brivo, Mike still found himself manually integrating event details from Google Calendar into Brivo and their HVAC system. The inefficiencies were further compounded by the limitations of their HVAC controller, which only permitted a 7-day scheduling window.
These inefficiencies consumed a substantial portion of Mike’s time. He spent an entire Monday, approximately 8 hours, scheduling HVAC and Access Control. This manual process also meant dedicating about 5 hours every week just to manage doors, not factoring in the additional time lost to constant manual updates with event changes.
However, the church’s operations underwent a revolutionary change with the integration of eSPACE and Brivo. This integration enabled Mike to oversee and manage both HVAC and door schedules in a mere 15 minutes weekly. The time savings were transformative, allowing Mike to refocus on the church’s ministry and its growing operational demands. Beyond time, the solution delivered peace of mind, eliminating the need to shuffle between three scheduling papers and mitigating the disruptions of frequent task interruptions.
For churches still relying on traditional lock and key systems, Mike advocates for the adoption of eSPACE, emphasizing the long-term benefits and ease of transition for future staff. Automation, in his experience, not only streamlines operations but also ensures a smooth onboarding process for incoming team members. His advice to churches considering this transition is to roll out changes incrementally, starting with scheduling and building from there.
Reflecting on their journey, Mike notes, “We couldn’t afford to hire someone solely for locking, unlocking, and HVAC tasks. Automating with eSPACE has been a genuine game-changer for us.”
