OTIS: A Clearer Picture of Your Sports Surface Maintenance

Managing an artificial sports surface involves more than arranging regular maintenance. Sport clubs, centres, schools, colleges, universities and multi-site trusts also need to keep track of completed work, inspection reports, usage levels and future maintenance requirements. When this information is spread across emails, documents and individual records, it can become difficult to maintain a clear picture of a facility’s condition and maintenance history.

The OTIS Customer Portal from Technical Surfaces helps address this challenge by bringing important sports surface maintenance information together in one accessible online location. Available to all MatchFit® maintenance contract customers, OTIS provides a central point for reviewing maintenance activity, monitoring surface usage and keeping track of scheduled work.

Knowing what work has been completed, when it took place and what was recorded during each visit is an important part of managing an artificial sports surface. Through OTIS, customers can access Work Completion Reports from their maintenance visits, providing a convenient record of the services carried out on their facilities.

Having this information readily available makes it easier to review previous maintenance activity, refer back to reports when needed and maintain an organised record of the care your surface has received. For organisations responsible for several pitches or facilities, a centralised record can also make it easier to maintain oversight across different sites.

The amount of use an artificial sports surface receives has an important bearing on its ongoing maintenance requirements. A pitch used heavily throughout the school day, for extracurricular activities and by external sports clubs, may experience a very different level of wear from one used less frequently.

OTIS captures surface usage hours and user numbers, helping to calculate the intensity of use. This provides useful information for understanding how your facility is being used and informing longer-term surface management. By considering usage alongside maintenance records and surface condition, facility managers can make better-informed decisions about maintenance planning and the care their surfaces require.

Accurate usage records can also help support warranty and guarantee compliance where applicable requirements call for usage information to be documented.

Some schools and facilities carry out routine maintenance themselves between visits from a specialist contractor. Drag brushing, for example, may be undertaken by an in-house site or grounds team. Recording this activity is important because it contributes to the overall maintenance history of the surface.

OTIS allows customers who undertake their own drag brushing to log their maintenance hours within the portal. This helps bring in-house activity into the same record-keeping system as their contracted maintenance visits. Keeping these records together provides a more complete picture of the maintenance being undertaken, rather than relying solely on the reports from contractor visits.

For a school trust, college group or organisation responsible for multiple sports facilities, keeping track of maintenance across different locations can present an additional challenge.

OTIS supports multi-user access, helping relevant members of a team access information about their sports surfaces through the same online platform. This can make it easier for organisations to maintain visibility of maintenance activity across their facilities and keep important records accessible to the people who need them. Rather than treating each pitch as an entirely separate responsibility, the portal provides a more centralised way to review surface information and oversee maintenance arrangements.

Planning is a key part of an effective maintenance programme. Knowing when visits are scheduled and being able to refer to the contracted maintenance schedule helps facilities prepare for upcoming work. OTIS allows MatchFit® customers to review their contracted maintenance schedules in one place. The platform also provides a way to interact remotely with the Technical Surfaces Scheduling team.

Having access to this scheduling information, alongside the maintenance records, helps to bring the planning and delivery of maintenance closer together, making it easier to keep track of arrangements for your facility.

An effective maintenance programme relies on understanding the condition of a surface, how it is being used and what work has already been carried out. OTIS brings together several useful elements of that picture: work completion reports, usage information, in-house maintenance records and contracted maintenance schedules.

The portal does not replace professional maintenance or the need to assess surface condition. Instead, it provides information that helps customers maintain better oversight of their facilities and make more informed decisions about their ongoing care. For schools and trusts managing busy sports facilities, having these records organised and accessible can make the administrative side of surface management more straightforward.

OTIS is available to all Technical Surfaces MatchFit® maintenance contract customers, providing a central place to access important maintenance information and manage records for their sports surfaces.

If you would like to learn more about OTIS or discuss a MatchFit® maintenance contract for your sport clubs, centres, school, college or trust, contact Technical Surfaces.

Contact Technical Surfaces to discuss how OTIS could help you.