Facility managers are responsible for ensuring that the systems in and around buildings remain harmonious. This starts with the operation and management of technical facilities and extends to property management. To be able to handle these many tasks efficiently, safely and sustainably, many facility managers use Computer Aided Facility Management – CAFM software. How do you benefit from such a program?
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What is Facility Management?
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Facility management, also known as property management or building management refers to the administration and management of buildings as well as their technical facilities. Facility management is a separate scientific discipline and is offered as a course at major universities. Facility management can be studied both at universities as well as in distance learning in special courses of study. In addition, there are other subjects, such as civil engineering or architecture, in which facility management is offered as a specialization.
Buildings, properties and operational processes are considered holistically in facility management. The aim of the coordinated handling of processes facilitates the legally compliant operation of plants and buildings, permanently reduce operating and management costs, make fixed costs more flexible, ensure the technical availability of the systems and maintain or even increase the value of buildings and systems in the long term.
What is Computer-aided facility management (CAFM)?
Computer-aided facility management (CAFM) refers to the support of administrative facility management by information technology. The workstations of the facility management itself are supported, among other things, by building automation, fire alarm system, video technology, electroacoustic system.
The aim of building automation is to carry out functional processes independently across all trades, to simplify or monitor their operation. Sensors, actuators, operating elements, consumers and other technical units in the building are networked with each other. Processes can be summarized in scenarios. Characteristic features are the decentralized arrangement of the control units as well as the continuous networking using a bus system.
Furthermore, this includes technical systems for safety, under the umbrella of building management as auxiliary and control systems by facility management within building management.
Facility management also includes the technical devices that serve safety, including security, technology for electrical and electronic security systems, technical building systems that serve building security, and the methods of information security.
Why do you need facility management software?
Whether in technical, infrastructural or commercial facility management: if you want to establish efficient processes in the management of buildings and facilities, you cannot avoid corresponding CAFM systems. Similar to construction documentation, defect management or construction time planning, digital programs allow you to simplify your administrative processes so that you have more time for the tasks that ultimately matter. What advantages do you benefit from?
A CAFM software is your practical helper in any operational processes of building management. By storing your data on a central platform and collaborating with your partners, the program enables the paperless and efficient operation of buildings.
Particularly experienced facility managers (incidentally, this also applies to architects, site managers or managing directors) still rely on their gut feeling when making the most important decisions. Is this sustainable? One thing is clear: it’s not! With building management software, you can put an end to this. A CAFM solution helps you make informed decisions by deriving actions based on data and tracking results.
The ultimate goal of every manager or project manager is to reduce costs. By storing your building management data in your notebook, you cannot see where the potential for cost reduction lies dormant. With facility management software you bring transparency into your costs! Stored in a central CAFM system, you can analyze the individual items and identify potential savings.
Be it the office filing or the tax return: sometimes there is no way around annoying, administrative activities. In other cases, such as inspection rounds, technical tests or documentation, you can make your work easier. CAFM software supports you by automating repetitive processes, saving you time and resources.
Many use a house manager app, others a ticket system. Facility management is versatile: and so are the programs that try to improve this field. Instead of relying on many individual programs, this software provides you with an integrated tool for the most important processes in the field of building management. As with construction management, you will then benefit from collected data storage, linked processes and a successful platform in a central digital environment.
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Digitize your processes now!
You benefit from digital processes not only in facility management: You can also make life easier for yourself with appropriate software for all tasks relating to site management. For example, you can handle any construction process from documentation to defect management to construction schedule planning in a central program.
As because all data is stored and connected in one place, you can stay on top of things and make informed decisions. A decisive advantage is a digital collaboration with your partners: since you can invite them to your projects free of charge, misunderstandings due to missing information are a thing of the past.
