Building Facilities Management
Table of Contents
Effective facility management, combining resources and activities is vital to the success of any organization. At the corporate level, FM contributes to the delivery of strategic and operational goals. On a daily basis, it efficiently manages facilities, provides a safe and efficient work environment, which is essential for performing any job, regardless of its size and scope.
What is facility management?
Facility Management is essentially the management of the facility and combines all the auxiliary processes of managing business facilities, which the owner of the facility entrusts to an external associate.
Facility management can be divided into Soft facility management and Hard facility management depending on the various factors they deal with.
Hard facilities management is focused around objects implemented in a facility that can’t be removed and is regulated by law, such as safety systems, gas, and plumbing, electricity, etc.
Soft facilities management isn’t regulated by law and it can always be removed or added. It’s more focused on human resources than the building itself. The perfect example is cleaning services, decorations, vending machines, parking lots, and more.
What services does Facility Management cover?
Commercial facility management
Representing the interests of building owners towards tenants and state institutions in the commercial and legal segment. This includes real estate management, and lease management.
Technical facility management
Maintenance of systems and equipment at the facility in accordance with the manufacturer’s standards, technical requirements and deadlines, procurement and stockpiling of consumables, and obtaining technical documentation prescribed by law.
Infrastructural facility management
Facility cleaning and maintenance, reception, and security service.
Why facility management is so important?
An excellent facility management can, among other things:
- Effectively manage the assets of an organization
- It enhances the skill of people in the FM sector and provides recognizable career options
- Enable a new work style and process
- It improves and projects the identity, that is, the image of the working company
- As an aid to integration processes related to change, it delivers ongoing business after a merger or acquisition
- Facility management is an integral part of any strategic plan for the future and prosperity of a successful company.
- Facility management encompasses multi-disciplinary activities within the built environment and has an impact on people and jobs.
Importance of ongoing facility management
The facility management sector is now large and complex, it forms a mixture of in-house departments, specialized contractors, a large multi-service company, which supplies a full range of design, construction, finance, and management. Facility management integrates planning and management of a wide range of services to achieve better and more economical quality. It is becoming an integral part of a major project to manage, replace and upgrade infrastructure as well as public services.
It is a skill that continues to expand, and manages an ever-widening range of fixed assets, provides services, and makes people more trained.
Tool and software for facility management
Understanding the building as a living organism, which involves a variety of processes and information, leads to a holistic approach to the tasks of building management. Cost management and their reduction are directly related to the successful coordination of a number of processes that serve to maintain technological, aesthetic, and use-values, and thus maintain or increase the value of construction works and the facilities themselves. Building and property maintenance are part of your daily work.
In order to maintain customer satisfaction in the long run and successfully run your business, you may need to incorporate a mobile software solution tailored to the needs of the services you provide into your work. Building management software or CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) in the real estate sector must be able to handle large amounts of data. Only by collecting data is it possible to optimize the use of resources such as manpower, time, and money to make buildings energy efficient.
| Skedda | https://www.skedda.com/ | Great occupancy and space management with many more options |
| ML Work Orders | https://www.masterlibrary.com/ml-work-orders.html | Provides a very large selection of facility managing options |
| Procore | https://support.procore.com/ | Managing constructions, financials, and resources |
| stayhome.ai | https://stayhome.ai/ | Offers many management solutions and the best scheduling |
| Streamline | http://www.streamlinesoftware.net/product-downloads/ | Good solution for managing facilities, and streamline work orders |
| Quick Base | https://www.quickbase.com/ | Better efficiency and workload management |
| iLab Core Facility Management | https://www.agilent.com/en/service/laboratory-services/lab-operations-management/core-facilities-management | Ensuring your budget is maximized, and perfect resource scheduling |
| Visio | https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/visio/flowchart-software | Provides many starting files and different shapes while supporting remote workers |
| Primavera Unifier | https://www.oracle.com/industries/construction-engineering/unifier-asset-lifecycle-management/ | Many custom options will help you to increase efficiency and visibility |
| MRI Software | https://www.mrisoftware.com/ | Lease administration and accounting software that supports facility management |
| OfficeSpace Software | https://www.officespacesoftware.com/ | Building maintenance and management software that will help you with scheduling |
You no longer need anything but a smartphone or tablet to record construction-based data into digital files that you can access and manage in seconds. After loading drafts of your objects in pdf, jpg, or png format into the interface, you can record all actions chronologically. Well-implemented software will be a great help when it comes to capital project management. It will help you to make capital projects and planning everything else.
With the help of tickets, you will learn to create direct notes, assign them to responsible associates, monitor the progress of projects and all data, and monitor the status of order execution in real-time. This mode of operation will allow you to meet the requirements of sustainability
You can create data in the form of photos, voice or written notes, as well as notes on deadlines, executors, priorities, and completion status of certain objects and spatial contents. You can access the data anytime, anywhere via your own mobile device. These solutions will save you working hours and additional costs.
Communication with project participants is fast, intuitive, and easy. Anyone who owns a smartphone and is working on a project will be informed about their tasks and will be able to access them, document them, and check the status in the protocol after completing them.
Special solutions for facility management
Facilities management solutions will be a great help when it comes to building facility management. By going further and using these listed solutions, it will be a lot easier to maintain the facility.
Air Conditioning
Air conditioners and their importance are great, they are no longer a matter of comfort but also protection of people from unfavorable external and internal influences. They have been known commercially for over 50 years. Only in recent years have they become economically justified and acceptable to the general population, especially bearing in mind that we are facing constant climate change and an increasing number of extremely warm days during the summer. Although the first association when thinking about the importance of air conditioning is related to achieving the desired temperature in the room, there are many other advantages.
Cleaning services
Maintaining the hygiene of business premises – the task of every employer is to provide a clean and healthy working environment for their employees. Not only will clean rooms help increase productivity and improve mental health, but they will also help ensure their physical health. If your employees work in the immediate vicinity, and one person becomes ill, when the hygiene of the space is not maintained, it will not be long before everyone is infected. Trying to clean the office space will eventually become an impossible task, which is why you may want to consider hiring a professional cleaning company. There are many benefits to using a cleaning service whether you are in a large office space or simply a smaller startup.
Cleaning office space provides one of the biggest benefits, as mentioned, in improving the mental health of your employees. Research shows that the surveyed workers agreed to feel much more productive in a clean and organized work environment. As a result of cleaning the business premises, employees are more likely to feel inclined to take care of their space and their work, which means less lost or incorrect documentation.
First impressions in business can be difficult, especially if you are a smaller company looking for more customers or clients. That is why it is important to understand how important aesthetics and proper maintenance of the hygiene of your company’s business premises are. The moment a potential buyer or client comes to your premises, they will take everything into account and that includes the cleanliness and organization of your office space. Also, if you are hiring a young team of new workers, you would like them to enter an environment in which they could develop. Professional facility cleaning service is extremely important for small and medium enterprises.
You will also find that productivity increases not only with a better mental state but also with the time saved when employees do not have to worry about maintaining the hygiene of the business premises, washing the floors, dusting.
Another question you may find when you ask your employees to deal with the hygiene of the facility and the cleaning of business premises in addition to their primary occupation is that they may not clean well and will not have the appropriate equipment. In the end, they are not hired to clean, so they will not do such a good job as a professional hygienist. You will definitely notice the difference with a professional cleaning and hygiene maintenance service. Not only will everything look immaculately clean, but it will also use products that are safe for your workspace and environment. Careful cleaning of business premises will leave a positive effect on both employees and visitors to the business facility.
Security
Security alarms
The advantage is that security alarms greatly contribute to the carefreeness of employees. They can notify you immediately if an intruder enters the facility. Most security systems have motion detection sensors, which can be especially useful if you place them where you can enter the accommodation. Some systems have motion sensors that are specifically designed for doors and windows, and others have additional sensors that you can place wherever you want. State-of-the-art security systems give you the ability to adjust the range and sensitivity of the motion detector, giving you additional control over the level of security of the facility.
Keep in mind that advanced security systems can be very complex. The most modern system in the facility can attract guests, but there is a possibility that it will confuse them, ie lead to false alarms. A few questions to ask before installing a security system: What happens when the alarm goes off? Will the police or a private security company be notified? How will you, as the owner of the facility, be notified? What happens if you are not available?
Although security systems are sometimes complicated to set up, they are the right solution for some partners. However, always check how much this system will cost you and how it works before you invest in it.
Security cameras
Before installing a camera in a building, study the video surveillance laws that apply in your area. Installing a camera in rooms where privacy is expected (such as a bathroom or bedroom) is illegal in most countries.
Some owners choose to install cameras because they think it will help them with the implementation of house rules. For example, if you do not allow the stay of additional unregistered people, smoking within the facility or its vicinity, or the stay of pets, the camera at the front door can deter people from violating these rules.
Technology as a support
Many tools and technological devices knocked on the door and brought about a revolution by solving some problems that have plagued us for a long time. All big companies investing enormous sums of money in researching this area and its application.
Thanks to the development of technology, many managers have a much easier job and no longer have to do everything the traditional way. By implementing the latest technologies and using software, performance and quality of work are promoted. A good selection of devices and tools will make it easier for both employers and employees.
Energy efficiency
Awareness of the necessary changes in the way of life, production, and consumption is increasing, and the protection of the human environment and natural resources has long been a priority of the world community. Energy efficiency has not only entered the recommendations, directives, and laws on construction but has become one of the main measures of quality and value of buildings and has been established as a standard.
Technical devices are energy efficient if they have a high degree of efficiency – small losses when converting one form of energy into another. The ultimate goal is to reduce energy consumption to a minimum, while not compromising the level of comfort but maintaining or even increasing the level of comfort.
The most common measures taken to reduce energy losses and increase energy efficiency are:
- Insulation of space that is heated or cooled,
- Replacement of worn-out or inefficient carpentry,
- Replacement or installation of efficient heating, air conditioning, and ventilation system
- Installation of measuring and regulating device
- Replacement of non-renewable energy sources with renewable ones,
- Replacing energy inefficient consumers with more efficient ones.
