Facility management

Facility management is an interdisciplinary field primarily devoted to the maintenance and care of commercial or institutional buildings, such as hospitals, clinics, hotels, resorts, schools, office complexes, sports arenas or convention centers. Duties may include the care of air conditioning, electric power, plumbing and lighting systems; cleaning; decoration; groundskeeping and security. Some or all of these duties can be assisted by computer programs. These duties can be thought of as non-core or support services, because they are not the primary business (taken in the broadest sense of the word) of the owner organization.

It is the role of the facility management function (whether it is a separate department or small team) to coordinate and oversee the safe, secure, and environmentally-sound operations and maintenance of these assets in a cost effective manner aimed at long-term preservation of the asset value, and also other janitorial duties such as making sure the environment is properly cleaned and sanitized for its tenants. In those cases where the operation of the facility directly involves the occupants and/or customers of the owner organization, the satisfactory delivery of facility-related services to these people will be an important consideration too; hence, the term "end-user satisfaction" is often used both as a goal and a measure of performance.

The term facility management is similar to property management although not exactly the same. While both manage the day to day operations of a facility the property such as cleaning, maintenance and security, similar to Janitors, one must not confuse it with such a title. The property manager has an expanded role which includes leasing and marketing activities whereas the facility manager role focuses on existing tenants who usually are owner occupants. An important feature of facility management is that it takes account of human needs of its tenants in the use of buildings and other constructed facilities. These softer factors complement the harder factors associated with the maintenance and care of engineering services installations.

According to Atkin and Brooks^[1], an important concept in the facility management field is that of outsourcing, where the owner enters into an arrangement with external organizations to provide one or more services in preference to their being provided through internal arrangements. The reasons for this action can vary, including lack of in-house resources, lack of expertise and pressure to reduce costs. Unfortunately, confusion can exist because of the close association that facility management has with outsourcing. The two concepts are not synonymous; rather, outsourcing is one means for providing facility-related services to the owner organization.

Facility management is performed during the operational phase of a building’s life cycle, which normally extends over many decades. As such, it will represent a continuous process of service provision to support the owner’s core business and one where improvement will be sought on a continuous basis. It is essential that decision-making in the preceding design and construction phases is therefore properly informed about operational requirements if the facility is to provide optimal support to the owner’s business. In this connection, facility management can be seen as an integral part of a coordinated and controlled process of design, engineering, construction and operations. Where a facility is provided on a turnkey basis, for example design-build-finance-operate (DBFO), the consortium responsible for the delivery of the physical asset and then operating the core service will need to understand implicitly the day-to-day demands in managing that facility. Under such arrangements – typically public-private partnerships (PPP) – owner-operators must fully integrate operational thinking into early design decision-making.

A major challenge facing facility owners is reducing demand for energy for economic reasons, but also because energy consumption goes hand-in-hand with carbon emissions. Reducing energy during the operational phase of a facility's life similarly reduces carbon emissions. When considering that 30-40% of a country's total carbon emissions is attributable to buildings and other constructed facilities, it is clear that operations and, hence, facility management have a significant role to play.

Role

The discipline of facility management and the role of facility managers in particular are evolving to the extent that many managers have to operate at two levels: strategic-tactical and operational. In the former case, owners need to be informed about the potential impact of their decisions on the provision of space and services. In the latter, it is the role of a facility manager to ensure proper operation of all aspects of a building to create an optimal environment for the occupants to function. This is accomplished by managing some of the following activities.

Environmental Health and Safety

• Waste Removal
• OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety)Regulations (could be a different organization depending on type of building i.e. hospital)
• HAZMAT (Hazardous Material) compliance
• Building Cleanliness: This sub-discipline of facility management includes routine cleaning (restrooms, common areas) as well as more specific emphasis on dust control ^[2] and hygiene maintenance.^[3]
  

Dust control is an increasing concern^[4] and is crucial for providing a "safer and healthier environment for employees and customers."^[5] Indeed, the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases notes that dust mites are a common cause of perennial allergic rhinitis, an affliction that affects roughly 60 million people in the United States.^[6] The Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) attributes 70% of dust inside the workplace to the outdoors. According to the TRSAA, floor mats placed inside building entrances capture up to 70% of dust debris. Specialty mops^[7] are an integral component of addressing dust control.

Workplace cleanliness can be addressed by both employer and employee, though only in the former is the concept formally considered facility management. The latter concerns the introduction of hand sanitizers,^[8] for instance, to reduce the spread of germs.

Mechanical Systems

• HVAC/R (Heating, Ventilating, Air conditioning and Refrigeration)
  • Indoor Air Quality
  • Temperature Control
• Preventative Maintenance (Scheduled maintenance to prevent break down)
• Predictive Maintenance (Use of equipment or tests to predict when maintenance will be needed)
• Elevator Maintenance

Power Systems

• Normal power
  • Electrical Substations
  • Switchgear
• Emergency power systems
  • Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems
  • Standby generators

Building Systems

• Building Automation Systems (BAS)
• Building Monitoring systems (monitoring capabilities only)
• Security and Locks

Life/Safety Systems

• Sprinkler systems
• Smoke/fire detection systems
• Fire Extinguishers
  • Gaseous Extinguishers
  • FM-200
  • FE-25
  • Halon
• Signage
• Evacuation Plans

Space Management

• Office Space Layout
• Furniture Placement and Systems

Definitions

One definition provided by the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) is:

"A profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place, processes and technology."

Another broader definition provided by IFMA is: "The practice or coordinating the physical workplace with the people and work of the organization; integrates the principles of business administration, architecture, and the behavioral and engineering sciences."

In the UK and other European countries facilities management has a wider definition than simply the management of buildings and services. The definition of FM provided by the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) and ratified by BSI British Standards is:

“Facilities management is the integration of processes within an organisation to maintain and develop the agreed services which support and improve the effectiveness of its primary activities”.

The British Institute of Facilities Management has formally adopted the CEN definition but also offers a slightly simpler description:

"Facilities management is the integration of multi-disciplinary activities within the built environment and the management of their impact upon people and the workplace".

In Australia, the term Commercial Services has replaced facilities management in some organisations. Commercial services can also define services other than just looking after facilities, such as security, parking, waste disposal, facility services and strategic planning.

A single or multiple buildings located on a single plot of land is referred to as a "Site". Multiple sites located in a single metropolitan area, but used by the same legal entity, are referred to as a "Campus." A Facility Management department may be responsible for a site; a campus; or, a regional area with multiple sites or campuses which may be a mix of owned and leased facilities. A Facility Management department will normally exist to manage the owner-occupied, physical assets of a company; whereas a Property Management department will normally exist to represent the only leased spaces. A Facility Management department is focused on cost effective, long-term utilization and value preservation of the owned assets while a Property Management department is typically focused on short-term lease returns.

Technology of building automation

Administrative vs. Technical Management

The support of administrative facility management through information technology is identified as Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM), Facilities Management Systems, or Computerized Maintenance Management Systems.

The collection of monitoring and supervising devices, control and regulation systems, management- and optimisation facilities/mechanisms in buildings within technical facility management are identified as Building Automation (BA). The goal is to accomplish functional processes in the overall industry independently (automatically), according to pre-adjusted values (parameters) or to simplify their operation and monitoring. All sensors, actuators, control elements, users and other technical devices in the building are interconnected in a network. Workflows/sequences can be summarized in scenarios. Characteristic feature is the decentralized structure of control units (DDC) as well as the integrated networking via a bus system (usually EIB/KNX or illumination (DALI))

Movement to technical management has been rapid in some industries while other industries still rely on the antiquated administrative approach. Industries with more linear structures and processes typically are more inclined to implement technical systems because ongoing management of these systems can be maintained by a top down organizational structure. Industries that are not as linear have tended to be slow adopters of technical management because of the belief that the system cannot be implemented or maintained effectively. Industries like commercial office and retail often tend to have the most challenges in implementing and maintaining technical systems because their organizations reflect a great deal of diversity with owners, brokers, managers, and tenants typically being from different organizations with disparate interest and priorities. Recent trends have shown a dramatic increase in the use of technical management largely due to research demonstrating the tremendous cost savings of converting to the technical approach. In addition, technical management providers who are capable of matching the organization's processes, constituencies, and provide comprehensive setup and maintenance support throughout the life of the system have delivered significant advantages and reduce the number of early project terminations and under utilized or "orphaned" systems [1].

Components of best in class systems may include:

• Certificate of Insurance [2]
• Incident Tracking
• Project Management
• Preventive Maintenance
• Automated & Mass Communications
• Visitor Access
• Security
• Fire & Life Safety
• Accounting

Orthography

In the United States both 'facility management' and 'facilities management' are widely used, while 'facilities management' is preferred in the UK, Canada, Australia and English-medium businesses in several European countries. In the US the 'facility management' departments of public or government origin are called '(State/County/City's Name) Department of Facilities Management', while if the 'facilities management' is part of private entity it might be called 'Facilities Management Department/Division of (ABC Corporation/Company/LLC/etc.)

See also

• Building Information Modeling
• Computer aided facility management (CAFM)
• Computerized Maintenance Management System
• 1:5:200
• Community Based Facilities Management
• Building automation
• Cleaning or Cleanliness

References