Facility Management Software

Facility management software is a program that focuses on the effective and efficient delivery of support services for the companies that it serves. The software offers organizational function which integrates place, people, technology, and process within the built environment, with the aim of enhancing the productivity of the core business and the quality of life of people. Facility management system includes a range of activities, from equipment maintenance to asset management to work order processing. As a result, there are a wide range of programs available to assist facility managers manage daily operations.

In general, facility management application is developed to manage equipment and assets, reduce space and maintenance costs, and streamline the work order processes. Most software programs provide an automated system for managing scheduled and preventative maintenance of a company’s assets and facilities. It offers employees the tools to work efficiently and enter data about parts, repairs, and materials, and provides managers visibility and control into maintenance compliance, histories, and the condition of organization property.

Facilities management software has a major role in managing and organizing duties for a number of industries, comprising campuses, government offices, manufacturing centers, religious institutions, healthcare facilities, property management companies, and myriad of corporate offices. The versatility of facilities management software makes it adaptable for almost any use case.

An ideal enterprise facility management software will assist organizations lower the costs of maintaining their facilities, boost operational efficiencies, and improve the flow of information across departments. Normally, here are the features that you should look for while purchasing facility management tools:

• Asset Management: This feature helps users track and differentiate physical assets. This comprises tracking location, managing inventory and equipment, condition reports, recurring costs, and recording relevant data on service schedules, warranties, parts inventories, technical specifications, and much more. Facility managers can use data to make informed choices about budgets and upcoming orders.
• Maintenance Management: Providing automated evaluations on scheduled maintenance and preventative maintenance for routine tasks, this feature is claimed to be one of the most essential features of the facility management software. Preventative maintenance can assist anticipate process and equipment failure by utilizing meter-based or time-based triggers to notify you of service requirements. In addition to this, sometimes the feature also stores documentation and data to assist managers stay current with permits, safety codes, and industry rules, as well as respond to audit requests, thereby assisting with regulatory compliance. To sum it up, maintenance management looks after:
  • Generating and tracking maintenance schedules
  • Suggesting preventative maintenance
  • Generating and tracking work orders
  • Handling and tracking facility inventory and vendor relationships
  • Keeping track of property managers’ schedules and prioritizing tasks
  • Generating checklists and workflows for facility managers
• Space management: This feature assists companies to optimize the physical space in their buildings. It offers real-time data summarizing how a space is utilized, which personnel and assets are in that space, and how they are arranged. This helps to avoid purchasing or leasing unnecessary and additional space. This ability makes space management feature one of the most important features to look for in any facility management tool
• Inventory and Procurement: This feature ensures the upkeep of appropriate tools, parts, and materials levels; allows built-in order placement/purchasing; and tracks specific inventory locations. Some facility management system solutions might require integration with ERP platforms or other outside systems to enable inventory tracking feature.
• Administrative Management: The feature organizes real estate portfolios, leases, billing, and purchase orders for your facility’s team. Administrative management keeps track of vendor contracts, tenant renewals, and provides comparisons on performance and financial data. It also allows admins to standardize material and job expenses to prioritize work. In addition to this, the feature helps in reporting and accounting.
• Labor Resource Tracking: Labor tracking feature saves personnel skill profiles for future forecasting of personnel gaps and job-to-skill matching. The feature keeps track of human resource and employee labor paperwork, thereby making sure documents and certifications are up-to-date. Some facility management application programs might also include invoice processing and time tracking, which is useful if you work with outside contractors.
• Mobile Capabilities: Cloud-based enterprise facility management software solutions enable a real-time data exchange between managers and are accessible from almost any device. This lets on-the-ground maintenance staff and office personnel to prioritize tasks and stay in communication. If you are looking for this feature, at least look for a mobile web interface, but remember that native mobile apps (for iOS and Android devices) will best suit your needs.
• Real estate portfolio management: Having a single place to track real estate information lowers administrative costs and assists organizations maintain updated information about their estate. Moreover, portfolio forecasting system assists companies forecast their future occupancy costs and space needs. The feature evaluates historical data, and lets users to test “what-if” cases to make accurate forecast. Lastly, organizations can use analysis and reporting tools to analyze portfolio financial information and performance, then compare it with industry benchmarks or KPIs in order to find methods to reduce costs.
• Energy management: Saving energy often means saving cash, particularly over the long-term, and minimizing your businesses carbon footprint. Decreasing energy usage can also be a good way to show your organization’s commitment to making the world a better place. Energy management feature measures how resources such as heat, electricity, and water are used all over the facility. With that information, the software can also predict future use and offer managers the insights they require to make essential changes. The feature can also track greenhouse gas emissions and waste creation.
• Visitor management: Visitor management feature streamlines and digitizes the check-in process in the lobby and handles issuing ID badges for visitors. The feature takes visitors through a tailored check-in process that comprises legal signatures (such as safety waivers and visitor agreements) and even videos. Visitor management feature allows visitors to store personal data in the system for an easier and quicker check-in experience for return visits. Some facility management systems might also send automated notifications to hosts when visitors arrive, taking pressure off front-desk staff.

Facility management software solutions are majorly divided into three types namely computer-aided facility management software, computerized maintenance facility management software, and integrated workplace management software. Let us have a detailed look at each of this category:

1. Computer-Aided Facility Management (CAFM) Software: CAFM software solutions streamline facilities maintenance and management. These programs are used for real estate planning, space management, preventive maintenance, building operations, project management, and more. These systems leverage facilities data into planning tools and performance metrics to optimize the process of facility management. A CAFM software possess administrative abilities such as management, tracking, reporting, and planning on business locations and physical spaces. These software solutions serve majorly as a database for FM related equipment, activities, and spending.
2. Computerized Maintenance Management Software (CMMS): These types of software solutions are also known as Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) or computerized maintenance management information system (CMMIS). CMMS maintains a computer database of data about a company’s maintenance operations. This data is intended to assist employees do their jobs more effectively and to help management make informed choices. The software contains many of the same features as CAFM application but offers a somewhat deeper look into an organization’s maintenance planning and execution. CMMS solutions may include automated maintenance tracking and scheduling features. The software is particularly developed for preventive maintenance.
3. Integrated Workplace Management Systems (IWMS): This software helps companies optimize the use of workplace resources, including the management of an organization’s infrastructure, real estate portfolio, and facilities assets. IWMS software is commonly packaged as a completely integrated suite or as separate modules that can be scaled eventually. They are used by real estate services firms, corporate occupiers, landlords, facilities services providers, and managing agents. Usually focused on supporting real estate and facility managers, IWMS solutions are turning out to be more employee-centric, thereby expanding their touchpoints to include all building visitors and occupants.

Some of the challenges that users face while using facility management software are:

• Technological changes: A number of facility management software systems are behind the curve, as they are yet to address mobile implementations. Also, they do not support other devices. Today, facility management is not only focused to just one office, in many cases, they may be scattered across various company-owned properties or even vendor premises. So, the solutions must be designed such that people can access it from anywhere they go, and on their preferred device. Sometimes, this regular update becomes important for productivity-related reasons. Many software vendors still fail to address this mobile nature of facility management.
• Cost: People are always excited to see an ideal software, and they do not always take the realities of the associated costs into consideration. As client needs turn out to be more and more complex, software makers will require to spend more and more money in developing and researching the correct solutions for the customers. The cost of development is never affordable, and hence this is one of the biggest issues facility management application is facing. For many companies, budgets and cost are still limitations. Therefore, enterprise facility management software vendors will need to provide different packages and price points to allow organizations to implement the application.
• Security: The need for security is one of the major issues faced by facility management tools. The need for integration with different networked devices and software platforms has made data security a big issue and concern these days. Maintaining security is a challenge that has always been here and is becoming more and more a matter of concern. The sophistication of attacks is becoming higher and higher, and if we do not keep pace with that, there will certainly be problems leading to great losses.

Facilities management software provides different significant and impressive benefits. Here are some benefits of having a facility management system:

• Resource planning: A facility management application helps organize the inventory, administrative, and labor resource aspects of a company. The streamlined connection between service technicians and office administrators’ increases efficiency and minimizes miscommunication between departments. Users can connect particular jobs with qualified staff members and track job times for future decision-making. Managers also use enterprise facility management software to determine ongoing maintenance requirements and offer upkeep for current assets.
• Dashboards: A comprehensive facility management software works to increase the lifespan of assets, and in turn, reduces the cost for ownership. Through preventative and scheduled maintenance, this type of software reduces inconveniences and reactive maintenance costs. Designing a rigid asset upkeep schedule guarantees that assets perform at their peak while keeping up employee safety as well as smooth operational schedule. Users can access detailed reports to see the replacement costs and times. Managers can keep track of labor resources and decide on which employees are most qualified for particular jobs.
• Lowe energy costs: With facility management application, companies can identify areas to cut waste and re-evaluate their energy performance. The dashboard feature of the enterprise facility management software offers a detailed view of resource allocation, energy consumption, and time per job to identify operational inefficiencies. This analysis shows how a company is performing and where there is room for development.
• Effective regulatory compliance: While certain stakeholders might not place a strong emphasis on compliance, there are likely countless regulations that are applicable to different industries. Failure to obey these laws can lead to significant penalties or even a temporary closure of operations. Enterprise facility management software can be used to test against problems of compliance and include the essential activities to guarantee compliance.
• Employee insights: Another benefit of facilities management software is an advanced insight into employee performance. Every employee will be aware of the exact part he/she has in the different operations of the organization, and key stakeholders will be capable of assessing the performance of separate employees against expectations. You can track your employees’ performance to decide how they are doing on the job, identify opportunities for improvement, and calculate their productivity levels.

Let us have a look at the different trends that will be seen in the future in facility management software:

• Internet of Things (IoT): IoT, in the future, could have a considerable effect on the facilities management sector. This can be through the employment of smart sensors that may be used to collate, track, and communicate essential data associated to the performance and status of the buildings. With IoT, facility managers can identify changes in light, temperature, humidity levels, water, vibration, and motion. The use of IoT in facilities management software can assist remote monitoring of alarms and smoke detectors to get real-time data about some of the primary emergency services. There are different intelligent technologies as well such as smart surveillance systems, NFC sensors, and security applications that can assist in automating different facility management related operations and boost their efficiency in the coming period.
• Artificial intelligence and robots: Robots are already being used in factories and workplaces to increase efficiency and boost output while getting rid of additional tasks. In addition to this, different companies are using AI as well for bot-driven activities, thereby reducing human errors while increasing productivity.
• Big data: Big data has a huge potential to overcome different facilities management issues by offering actionable solutions. Data may be used for predicting energy usage in spaces on the basis of their temperature, weather, or time. Data can also be used for identifying power outages or equipment failures based on data gathered using IT networks or smart meters. Analyzing the correct data can assist in bringing significant changes within the company by helping with smart decision making.
• Sustainability and environmental awareness: The biggest issue in the coming period for facilities management will be how to reduce carbon footprint and become more environmentally aware. Technological trends are emerging where the facilities management tools assist organizations become more efficient in their waste management and energy usage.

The cost of facility management software is directly proportional to the size of the facility being managed, as well as the number of concurrent users required. While software developers market software on a per user/month basis, these are normally introductory level price tags to get potential users. A business must expect to invest additional costs upfront for the initial implementation and any required training, apart from the current subscription-cost of the software. Some software solutions charge a one-time fee, while others charge a monthly or yearly fee, which is calculated based on the number of applications required within the program and the size of your facility.

WareBuy is the industry’s first dedicated marketplace for buying and selling packaged software solutions and services. Buying a software will be easy since the platform offers different benefits such as:

• Secured payment
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• Price Transparency; hence, no additional or hidden costs are added to the cart.
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How do I select the facility management software?

When selecting a facility management program, it is essential to first understand your company’s requirements from the application. These requirements can assist you know what each feature does and which ones your organization requires. Different vendors provide industry-specific modules or versions of the software with most helpful features. Once you have known your primary requirements, you can compare different software solutions based on how well they deliver those requirements.

What do facility managers do?

There are different duties that a facility manager performs. At the most fundamental stage, a facility manager ensures that the facility meets the requirements of the employees and staff working within. For instance, a building manager of a commercial office may be responsible for decorative plant care, hiring security, ensuring custodial services are performed regularly, and collecting rent from office tenants, among others.

What skills do facility managers require?

Because the duties of a facility manager are so varied, they require a wide range of skills. Some of the skills needed are:

• Personnel management
• Business management
• Maintenance
• Operations management
• Technology management
• Sustainability
• Risk management
• Information management
• Communication
• Fire safety
• Project management
• Leadership
• Quality assurance
• Performance management

What features are included in facilities management software?

The major features of facilities management software include:

• Preventive maintenance scheduling
• Maintenance management
• Asset management
• Preventive maintenance tracking
• Work order management
• Inventory management
• Movement management
• Space management
• Vendor management
• Lease administration
• Business intelligence

How can a facility management software help businesses cut costs?

Using a facility management software is one of the quickest methods to cut on facility management costs. Simply shifting to an automated and digitized platform from an inefficient, error-prone, pen-and-paper system reduces the resources and time that must be dedicated to work order management, thereby allowing different teams to focus on preventive measures. In addition to this, access to enhanced analytics makes it simple to understand core areas of improvement and patterns of overspend so that these can be addressed quickly and reversed.

Does facility management software give strong ROI?

Facility management software normally has a solid return on investment (ROI), particularly for multi-location companies whose operations were earlier run manually and without an FM software. Most times, the savings brought by switching to electronic payment processing (instead of manual invoicing) is sufficient to offset the cost of the program.