According to the university, it is Australia’s first university to embrace mobile app Snap Send Solve¸ to enable its 60,000 staff and students as well as visitors to instantly report on-campus facility issues.

Broken computers, blocked toilets and broken bicycle racks are just some of the reports that the university says are sent each week to campus support teams to resolve, with on average 50 reports made per week.

The app is operational across all eight University of Melbourne campuses, and the university says the wealth of data — gleaned from 676 reports logged in only three months — is helping the it to better understand what areas require more maintenance and where future issues may arise.

Director of Client Services at the University of Melbourne, Chris van der Weyden, said: “Snap Send Solve empowers the University community to help us monitor our vast campuses, all with the convenience of a mobile phone.”

“Before the rollout of the app, students would need to tap their tutors or lecturers on the shoulder to report these issues. Teaching staff then had to try and figure out what do with the feedback.

“The University of Melbourne is committed to giving everyone on campus the power to help our support teams keep the campus running smoothly.”  

Snap Send Solve worked with the University of Melbourne to integrate the app into its existing service management system and amend the GPS coordinates to correlate with the specific classrooms or areas.

Danny Gorog, chief executive and founder of Snap Send Solve, said: “Once a problem is snapped using the app, the platform automatically sends a report containing images, description and other relevant data to the appropriate team. For example, the technology team would be alerted to a broken computer, understand exactly where it is and may even be able to identify the exact issue before responding.

“With the snap of a photo and brief description, students can report maintenance issues in real-time sparking more engagement with the university. The app was introduced three months ago and already has 52,000 downloads – so clearly it’s a popular tool.

“Because Snap Send Solve works anywhere, anytime, teachers and students can also use the app to report incidents to local councils – the technology does the thinking for them, automatically determining the council or authority that is responsible for responding by using GPS technology.”

Snap Send Solve says the University of Melbourne joins more than 700 other authorities that receive Snap Send Solve reports across Australia and New Zealand, including local councils, telecommunication companies and supermarkets.