It is a challenge to provide support services to the rest of the organization. Urgent needs are communicated through e-mail or when passing by in the hallway. In order to know if delivery is timely and adequate it is important to increase transparency in the operation.

One common problem is the lack of coordination of support activities. Real estate related functions are managed in one system and by one team, office support issues are handled through e-mail or are at best on the intranet, while meeting rooms and conferences are managed in Outlook.

To improve and become more efficient a new and more integrated approach is needed. Then it is possible to gain control and offer the organization better services while reducing cost.

Facilities Management stands for a coordinated effort to host business critical support activities in one organization. FM-services include office support services, real estate services and conferences services. The rapid development we see today in the area of Facilities Management is driven by the big potential in service level improvement and cost saving.

Facilities Management is a changed way of providing internal support services with the goal of:

• Cost savings
• Service improvements
• Scalability and flexibility
• Quality improvements
  

Facilitties Mangement includes services needed to support the core activities at an office or production facility, such as office support, reception, internal services, mail room, conferences services, catering. Depending on the organization FM can also include procurement, real este services, IT-services, printing servies and production services.

Traditionally most FM-services have been provided by an internal supplier but in recent years outsourcing has become more common. As with IT-services there is a trend to outsource FM-services and an opposite trend to keep them in-house. A new concept, mulitsourcong, means that the organization uses a mix of internal and external service providers while keeping management. In that manner important competence and control stays within the company.

• In-house
• Outsourcing
• Multisourcing
  

A FM-project aims to identify all parts of the FM operation, creating a foundation for change and improvement. Renewed work processes and new tools like IT-support systems, creates a common ground for increased efficiency and scalability. A common factor is to study how an IT can be used to increase cost transparency. Sometimes the FM-project will also include discussions about who best supplies FM services, an internal supplier or an external supplier or maybe a mix.

Activities in the FM project may include:

• Site survey
• Development of a strategic plan with goals and indicators along with necessary changes
• Change management and implementation of the strategic plan (ie process improvement, SLA development)
• Implementation of technical solution such as service and repair request management, space management, budget management, key performance index reporting)
  

P.Cap develops Capability™, a market leading system for Facilities Management. Capability™ is a fully web based solution for Facilities Management including request and repair request management, conference management, room reservation, time reporting, asset management, work order management, contract management  end more.

Read more about our products: Capability™ FM Direct Capability™ Conference Direct Capability™ Visitor Direct Capability™ FM Enterprise Capability™ FM Service Provider