The Good Practice Guide to...

SELECTING
FM SOFTWARE
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 The Good Practice Guide to
Selecting FM Software

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First published October 2006

Welcome to the Good
Practice Guide to…
Selecting FM Software
Contents
1 What software applications
are available?
2 Understanding your
business processes
6
Reviewing the functionality
available from FM software
9 Initial assessment for
an FM system his document aims to
12 Preparing your financial case and guidance about
13 The invitation to tender
14 Developing an
implementation plan
16 Training requirements
17 Technology overview
18 Industry trends
19 Summary
What software
applications are
available?
T
provide useful information
the critical issues involved in
selecting and implementing a
software solution for facilities
management. It highlights the
key considerations that must
be addressed in advance of
vendor selection and looks
briefly at some of the technology
innovations and resulting trends
that may influence your decision-
making process.
The profession of facilities
management is now one
of the fastest growing and
strategically important parts of
an organisation’s operational
structure. To reflect this
development, there has been a
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 1
corresponding consolidation in
the types of supporting software.
The most commonly used term in
the UK for facilities management
software is Cafm, which stands
for computer-aided facilities
management.
There are, however, a number
of names used to categorise
similar or related applications.
In most cases, the category
used is a reflection of the
origins of the software. Some
reflect the profession from
where the software originated,
such as CMMS (computerised
maintenance-management
software) and FMS (facilities
management software), whereas
others are created by software
suppliers to differentiate their
 product offering (eg Tifm, total,
integrated facilities management
and Cifm – computer-integrated
facilities management).
Almost all Cafm software
applications assist in the
monitoring, management and
planning of operational activities
and expenditure, standards,
regulatory compliance and capital
budgeting in one, or several, of
the following areas:
• FM – buildings/people/services/
resources including help-desks
• Asset management – buildings/
plant/equipment
• Property/space management
– utilisation/charging/
administration/modeling
• Resource management – eg
conference-room/travel bookings
There are a number of reasons
for deploying a Cafm system.
However for the majority of
organisations, it is usually
implemented to:
• Generate cost savings
• Save time
• Increase financial control
• Better manage organisational
compliance with increasingly
stringent regulatory (health and
safety) requirements
• Increase the availability of
meaningful information for better
informed decision making

Understanding your
business processes
FM software is not a quick fundamental business needs: operation are:
fix to a poorly managed or • To accurately capture, • Rapid (often real-time)
fundamentally unsound monitor and report on FM processing of information
management system. It is a tool assets and services in a timely • Improved effectiveness,
to aid operational efficiency, fashion in order to track and efficiency and control
generate quality improvement manage performance, costs • Accurate reporting
and assist in compliance. and control quality • Removal of process or
Therefore, you must be aware • To communicate information data duplication
that you will need to have and data to the necessary in- • Full accountability and
your organisation’s business house and external contractors, auditability
processes well defined in managers and stakeholders
advance of any installation of FM • To manage risk and In parallel with this, Cafm
software. This section, therefore, compliance with health and vendors are often asked
reviews (at a high level) safety legislation to provide integration from
business processes within an The key benefits of having Cafm applications into third-
FM department or organisation. documented business party products, such as HR,
Facilities management processes processes and controls to accounting/financials (ie
are typically based around three support the day-to-day SAP, Sage etc) and space-

2 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software

planning applications. It is
also important to define the
sort of link that you require.
For example, is it a single or
bi-directional link and to what
degree do you want to integrate
the two systems? Other factors
to consider include:
• Whether you require data
from the third-party system to
be automatically imported or
whether you require human
intervention (ie whether you
only want data imported upon
the click of a button)?
• If you require automated
importing of data, how
frequently would that be (ie
nightly, weekly etc)?
• What degree of data-
validation do you require
(ie, if you add a new cost
code to your accounting
package, would you want that
automatically updated within
your Cafm application, or
should the system reject it
as unknown data until it has
been validated)?
When reviewing your
business processes, ideally
you should carry out an
analysis of the required
inputs, processes, check
points and outputs with a
view to highlighting areas
where potential improvements
can be made. It is equally
important to evaluate the
risks that are associated with
any change that is being
implemented, including the
result of inaction.
It is also worth assessing
the costs that may be
associated with a change
in processes and procedures.
Among the major areas that
should be reviewed are:
Help-desk/call/request logging
You must determine the
most effective way for your
organisation to log, receive
and process service requests.
This decision is usually based
around the volume of calls and
the availability of dedicated
personnel to manage the
requests. For example, if there
DOs and DON’Ts
 O ensure that you have
D logging service requests,
documented business
processes to avoid ambiguity
in requirements
DO ensure that you
understand the required
level of integration with
other products so that your
vendor can provide an
accurate quotation and there
are no hidden costs at a
later date
DO be alert to the possibility
of making improvements to
your current processes
DO be aware of possible
future enhancements
are large numbers of calls or
there is a requirement to keep
the help-desk small, then
organisations should opt for a
web (self-service) solution as
this will reduce the number
of phone calls your help desk
will have to deal with. This
increases the amount of time
they can spend managing
work and decreases the time
spent on data entry. With a
self-service web solution the
client will do most of the data
entry using their own web
browser, and also track the
progress of the job through the
web interfaces. The help desk
will only have to validate and
monitor. Depending on how
you set up the web solution it
is possible to entirely automate
the process of logging a job
and notifying the correct
contractor, allowing the help
desk to “manage by exception”.
Service management
It is advisable to review the
process for procuring and
delivering both soft and
hard services. This includes
the method and process for
scheduling of forthcoming
services and periodic work,
progression and completion
of events, contractor tracking
and accountability (and
effective use of time), asset
surveys and audits and
condition survey methods
(ie building, asset, asbestos
surveys and health and safety
inspections).
FM software for hand-held
devices is now commonplace
and, when used effectively,
can reduce operational costs
dramatically and improve
responsiveness and data
accuracy. If not possible from
the outset, you should always
allow future funds to enable
hand-held solutions to be
added to your FM process.
To ensure you understand
all future resource demands
and to enable accurate
forecasting of workloads for
both property and services
it is important to validate
all planned maintenance
schedules. This should include
planned maintenance of assets,
regulatory or health and safety
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 3
 inspections schedules, service
contract renewals and warranty
periods. This can increase the
life of assets and minimise the
occurrence of failures. In addition,
you should also determine the
process for recording asset
reliability to ensure capital
replacement programmes are
realistic and fully funded.
Contractor notification
Advances in technology have
increased the range of options
for communicating information
to contractors, service
departments and stakeholders.
The methods that you select
will normally depend on various
factors, such as the type and
regularity of service, the type
and size of the service provider/
contractor, the location of the
property or regionalisation of
a portfolio.
Typically, you will need to
decide which communication
method will be most cost
effective and reliable. Options
include phone, fax, email, SMS,
or mobile hand-held device.
Fax machines mean that your
contractors will be tied to a
“back to base” approach. This
means that it will increase the
amount of travelling required
for each job but it is a
Tasks such as asbestos
management, health and safety
auditing and fire safety are critical
processes that must be managed
according to specific guidelines
4 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software
well-understood and reliable
form of communication.
Whereas SMS, or hand-
held devices, allow for far
more efficient and dynamic
scheduling of work. However,
they are dependent on having
network coverage in your area
of operation. Regardless, you
should plan to have automated
notifications as standard.
Service level agreements
Most quality FM-software
applications provide the facility
to set and automatically monitor
performance targets such as
response and rectification time.
This means that you can better
measure and manage the quality
of services you receive.
When reviewing existing
service level agreements (SLAs),
it is advisable to look at the
current method used by service
providers to monitor against
their contractual obligations. You
should look at whether there
is – or should be – a bonus or
rebate system for contractors
based around service levels, the
use of multiple SLAs to cover one
contractor or one to cover several
contracts, the current method and
process for saving and storing
contracts and the way in which
contractors currently cost jobs.
Health and safety/
risk management
Tasks such as asbestos
management, health and safety
auditing and fire safety are
critical processes that must be
managed, controlled and recorded
according to specific guidelines.
Most FM systems will support
the management of risk through
inspection scheduling, recording
and analysis of performance and
by providing a comprehensive
asbestos register, which must
be compliant with UK standards
for Control of Asbestos at Work
Regulations 2002. It is important
that you first map all risk-
management processes within
your organisation to enable them
to be implemented in your new
FM solution.
Stock and purchasing
Automating stock and
purchasing processes will
provide many benefits
including automated requisition
linking directly to reactive
and scheduled maintenance
systems, automated re-ordering
in relation to usage, central
control to ensure shortages
are alleviated.
Stock software can also
have integrated procurement
functionality or provide a
link to external procurement
applications to improve
efficiency and effectiveness.
Comprehensive stock-control
software can link this distinct
area into the wider FM function,
thus helping to create a fully
integrated FM process.
Asset management
The process review for asset
management should include:
• Definitions for equipment
groups and models
• The current method of
information capture (including
cost codes and management
structures associated with
equipment)
• The linking of assets to
CAD drawings
• The management of asset
information based on groups
and model types
• The elements that affect
reliability
• Servicing and repair,
including planned
maintenance scheduling
• The process for highlighting
the most cost-effective method
of maintaining an asset
• The optimum method to
determine reliability and
service levels
• The processes for evaluating
the true cost of an asset over
a period of time and life-
cycle costing
Property management
The processes required for
property management depend
largely on whether you have
non-paying ‘tenants’, ie from
within your own organisation,
or external paying tenants,
ie leasing property from your
organisation.
The former will probably
only require a subset of
the processes necessary to
manage the latter. How big
that subset is will depend on
company policy with respect
to internal cross-charging.
Space management/planning
As with the wider property
Tenants from within your
own organisation are likely to
demand much greater detail
in space management and
planning than external tenants
management, the processes
required will depend on
whether you have internal or
external tenants. Tenants from
within your own organisation
are likely to demand much
greater detail in space
management and planning
than external ones.
Resource management
This covers such things as
conference-room bookings,
travel bookings and the like.
It is very important to assess
the current and anticipated
workload in such areas and
make an objective decision
about whether manual/
software systems are likely to
be optimum.
Data capture and reporting
Data capture is normally
dependent on the reporting
outputs that are required. For
example, in order to measure
and report on the performance
of in-house service staff and
external contractors you will
need to capture response/
rectification times, visit details
and costs, and even customer
feedback about the quality of
service provided.
Often data is captured and
reports are created with a view
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 5
to benchmarking and reducing
operational costs.
For example, a reactive
callout to fix an asset could be
combined with a preventative
maintenance activity to
avoid duplication of effort.
Or simply by reviewing an
asset’s maintenance history
it is possible to identify and
calculate whether it’s more cost
effective to replace an asset
than to keep repairing it.
The quality of the reporting
outputs that your new FM
system provides are what
defines its success. A system’s
performance-reporting
capabilities, whether they
are qualitative, financial or
operational, should be easy
to use and flexible enough to
allow you to create your own
reports. Before you set out,
make sure you clearly define
your organisation’s reporting
requirements.
DOs and DON’Ts
 O consider the automation
D
of contractor notification
DO map all risk-management
processes in detail if you
are contemplating a transfer
to Cafm
DO define your organisation’s
reporting requirements
 Reviewing the functionality
available from FM software
Functionality to be considered
As we have previously
identified, most FM software
applications currently available
have originated from a small
number of niche sectors. Only
a relatively small number of
applications can encompass
all aspects of the FM business
and most will require some
customisation in order to
satisfy requirements.
The following information
provides an outline of the FM
functionality that is available
and should be considered
during an FM software
application process. This
information is not exhaustive,
but is intended as a high-level
overview of the functionality
that should be considered.
6 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software
Software modules:
Facilities management
Help-desk functionality
• Processing of requests for
maintenance and services
from phone, email, fax, web
or networked users by way
of capturing request details,
validating, scheduling and
despatching work separately
• Capture and processing
of information including:
location details, service history,
maintenance contracts and
service level agreements
• Production of scheduled work
and handling of automatic
notification (fax, email,
print, text message) to the
relevant service providers
or stakeholders
• Prioritisation of tasks,
depending on criticality and
SLA targets
• Identification of repeat
calls and alerting the help-
desk operator about unresolved
urgent calls
• Provision of escalation points
when activities become overdue
• Requisition of stock and
processing of purchase orders,
invoices and payments
• Calculation of financial
information, including job
costs, invoice production
and reconciliation and
budget management
Services and service schedules
• Provision of visual calendar
tools to provide views of
forthcoming planned activities
• Classification of service-
activity categories (not relating
to any specific piece of
equipment) and further
sub-levels of detail such
as work types
• Creation and maintenance
of schedules for services
• Assigning of contractor/
operatives to each service
schedule, thus allowing
notification via the contractor/
operative’s selected
notification method
Contract management and
service level agreements
• Creation and maintenance of
contractor records including
associated trades, notification
methods, effective periods and
labour rates
• Creation and maintenance
of contractor operatives with
associated skills, notification
methods, effective periods and
labour rates
• Creation and maintenance of
service agreements for specific
contractors
• Recording of actual payment
amounts received against
forecast amounts
• Measurement, monitoring
and analysis of contractor
performance
• Creation and maintenance
of selling rates for specific
operatives (service-provider
functionality)
• Service level agreements
- creation and maintenance of
comparison times and criteria
for availability, repair and
response categories
• Payment processing for
contractors
Health and safety/
risk management
• Recording of risk
assessments and condition
surveys, looking for potential
environmental and health
and safety problems
• Optimising planned
maintenance schedules
to keep equipment fully
operational and therefore
minimising environmental
impact
• Checking the suitability of
equipment by establishing and
utilising the correct test and
inspection schedules
• Reporting on health and
safety incidents, preventative
actions and corrections
• Updating assessments
whenever there is an internal
change (ie purchasing of
new equipment, employing
new members of staff,
implementing and updating
new working practices)
Stock/materials control
and purchasing
• Management of warehouse
stock levels
• Maintaining of minimum
stock levels based on usage
and automated re-ordering
• Automated requisitioning
linked to events, costing and
purchase order functionality
• Cost tracking and analysis
Asset management
• Maintaining an asset
register that includes planned
maintenance, health and
safety schedules, surveys
and depreciation
• Definition of an asset in
terms of location, equipment
group, model, equipment
ID and attributes such as
characteristics, criticality,
manufacturer, quantity,
installation and warranty
• Building of a register of
material assets for subsequent
use in events processing
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 7
• Creation and maintenance
of attachments, planned
maintenance schedules,
health and safety maintenance
schedules, preferred service
providers
• Accessing an asset’s
maintenance history
• Creation and recording of
condition surveys
• Ability to search for a
particular asset based on any
assigned criteria
• Undertaking of life-cycle
analysis including replacement
planning/forecasting
Property
• Property register, providing a
consolidated view of property
interests such as:
- specific information for
tenant, landlord and agent
- recording of physical details
such as space measurements,
occupants and capacity
- task management and
scheduling
- valuations and maintenance
costs
- sale and occupation costs
- construction and ongoing
maintenance aspects.
• Rate and utility payment
ledger
• Lease and tenancy
agreements
 • Inspections register or classroom), with the selected and efficiency. GPS (global
• Property-maintenance layouts defining the room capacity positioning systems) can be
cost register • Room overlapping visibility, utilised to provide enhanced
• Transaction/payment diary which ensures part-bookings benefits
• Property history including of compartmentalised space • Support for service providers
redecoration and condition automatically prohibit whole- to manage multiple FM
surveys bookings of a parent room and contracts separately, including
• Insurance and service- vice versa reporting and invoicing
charge information • A client register, used to • Support a PFI/PPP payment
• Projects and project-cost automatically cross charge to mechanism to measure service
schedules the relevant department or and availability performance
cost-code based on the booking against pre-determined criteria
Space management/planning name and calculate actual monetary
• Integration with AutoCad • Recording of meeting deductions due
data and documentation attendees with automatic • Ability to interface with
• Departmental space printing of attendee ID badges building management system
allocation • Equipment management (BMS) devices such as
• Space and service cost and scoping, allowing certain security controls, building
re-charging based on: equipment to be reserved for automation controls and
- Headcount use in selected rooms emergency systems
- Area utilisation • Management of all pertinent • The ability to handle
• Moves management and information relating to catering multi-currency transactions
churn and refreshment requirements and be able to change
• Space planning and including a catering-supplier the language used within
modelling based on space register the system
standard • Audit trails giving ‘date
Provision of further booking stamp’ information for when
Resource management functionality, such as: records are added and
Conference-room bookings: • Accommodation amended (date, time, user)
• Room diary and planner • Car parking • Provision of reporting
tools enabling users to view • Driver and transport capabilities to enable
bookings by month and room, • Visitor management the interrogation of data
and view bookings for a • Specialist modules such warehouse environments and
selected period for a number as leisure-facility booking the production of management
of rooms. It allows rooms to management information and day-to-day
be booked over a number of reports
days or in a variable block General • Electronic-signage
using a selectable frequency for • Provision of web-based functionality to link to and
either method. This provides solutions which remove populate welcome signs,
a dynamic interface and ‘drill- distance and time constraints statutory signage/directions
down’ capabilities and allow access to the system and conference facility
• User-definable set-up and 24 hours a day, 7 days a week reservation details. The latter
clear-down periods, which • Wireless technology to enable can be expected to link into
allocate extra time either side of hand-held device usage. a conference/room booking
the booking period to prohibit Typically, this is used for field system
back-to-back bookings operatives to provide a ‘real- • RFID tag technology to
• Room layout categorisation time’ link and thus manage tag/identify assets and
(eg theatre-style, conference workload and maximise time commercial goods

8 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software

Initial assessment
for an FM system
Many organisations still use
paper-based systems to manage
their facilities. However,
problems can arise when an
FM department experiences an
increase in the services under
management. The resulting
work requests, contracts, assets
and suppliers involved, the
volume and diversity of the
activity can make paper-based
systems difficult to manage.
Additionally, paper-based
systems do not allow for the
fast/efficient production of
performance statistics, monthly
reports, job/event costs and
so on, without significant
manual effort and the manual
manipulation of event data.
By contrast, Cafm systems
have well-defined work-flows,
triggers for event reminders,
collation of event data/costs and
histories and regular reporting
capabilities. Manual systems
have their place, but this is
probably in the single location,
low-event volume arena.
Factors such as current and
projected scale of business,
workload volumes, and the
efficiency and success levels at
which your business is being
managed must be considered
in the assessment. There
are levels and thresholds at
which adopting FM software
becomes cost effective and this
is different in each business
situation.
Invariably, the quality of
analytical information gained
from FM software will lead to
an increased understanding
of how your business is
performing, which, with
appropriate action, can lead
to greater efficiencies, service
levels and profitability. Such
factors are different in each
organisation, which is why
a detailed and wide-ranging
approach is necessary.
Review criteria
When considering the purchase
of a new FM system, it is worth
setting clear and measurable
criteria against which fair
comparisons and informed
decisions can be made. In order
to facilitate this process the
table on the following pages has
been provided.
Payment
Many software vendors offer a
range of options, including:
• One-off cost for the software,
whereby the client pays for a
perpetual licence. This is either
paid directly by the client, or
by a finance house. When a
finance house is involved
the client has a leasing
agreement and will normally
pay the finance house either
monthly or quarterly.
• An annual cost, where the
client pays for the software
on a rolling annual basis.
• An ASP (application service
provider) solution, where an
organisation chooses to
outsource either all or part of
its IT operation to a specialist
partner to host its software
application(s). This
minimises the expense and
risk of purchasing and
running an application,
means that another
organisation is responsible
for system availability and
backup and allows the
organisation to conduct its
business on a ‘pay as you
go’ basis (either a fixed
monthly payment or per
transaction) resulting in a
low cost of entry.
DOs and DON’Ts
 O consider the scale of your
D
various business activities to
estimate objectively whether
Cafm may help
DO consider various types of
payment/provision options for
providing a Cafm solution
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 9
 Review Criteria Action: Yes/No Notes Review Criteria

Business Planning: IT Requirements:

(i). What functionality (from Does the IT department need to

the previous section) do I have be involved in, or sign off, the
now, how many man-hours of purchase of the new FM software?
effort are expended in providing If so, it is advisable that they
it and what is their cost? participate early in the decision
making process to ensure the
(ii). What functionality (from project gains their acceptance
the previous section) do I not
have but need, why, how many
Is the new system going to be
man-hours is it likely to take
stand-alone or networked?
and what are their cost?

(iii). What is the estimated cost How many user licences will
of FM software that will provide be needed, and what level of
the functionality I have and the access will be required (ie ­
additional functionality I need? read-only, read and write,
administrative rights etc)?
(iv). How many man-hours in If so, you will need to verify both
total will be needed to run a the different types of user available
software system and what is with the new system and the
their cost? various levels of security that the
application provides
(v). What other additional costs
should be considered in your Will any of your users require web
business plan? (ie software, or remote access and, if so, what
hardware, data-importing, functionality will they require?
project management,
implementation, consultancy,
training, maintenance) From both a hardware and a
software perspective (product
(vi). What is the payback functionality, number of users,
period for an investment in technology offering), how much
FM software and is the period growth and scalability will you
acceptable? require from your system over the
next three to five years and will
(vii). If the payback period is your chosen application offer you
acceptable do you have budget the necessary scalability?
for your new software?
Which programming language is
Would your organisation prefer your new system developed in?
to buy or rent the application?
Be aware that each option What is the database technology
has very different financial used?
implications, which will influence
the business case How well will the system integrate
with other applications and does
Is the new FM system going the database technology utilise
to be self-contained within the standard formats to facilitate the
facilities department or will integration of other applications
other areas of the organisation (ie ODBC compliant)?
need to link into the application
in order to share data and Will you be hosting the new
reporting facilities? (eg finance, application in-house or will you
human resources or an existing outsource it to an ASP (Application
CAD system) Service Provider)?

10 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software

Action: Yes/No Notes Review Criteria Action: Yes/No Notes

Working practices:

Will a review of existing FM

practices, maintenance plans,
workflow and processes, as well
as current relevant legislation
need to take place prior to
implementing the system?
If so, it will be easier to
accommodate the changes prior to
installing the new software

If you are retaining existing

working practices, does the new
system provide the necessary
flexibility for existing workflows
and terminology to be retained?

Product output:

Review your current system’s exist-

ing reports. Can they be improved
upon and will you need additional
reports?
How flexible is the reporting
provided by the new system and are
you able write your own reports?
If so, ensure you use an industry
standard reporting application
that you or someone else in your
organisation has experience with

Note that it will almost certainly be necessary to iterate

these review criteria but the first stage is always to
determine whether there is a justifiable financial case.

The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 11

 Preparing your financial case
Item Description: Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Costs

Software licence costs

• Capital investment
• Annual technical support
(helpline/bug-fixing)
• Annual product maintenance
(upgrades/new releases)

Infrastructure costs
• Hardware
(servers/workstations/hand-held devices)
• Platform software
(database/communications/operating systems)

Consultancy
• Project management
• Technical design services
• Development/customisation
• Data Management/transition services
• Report writing
• Installation support
• Training

Internal (employee-time) costs

• Project management
• IT department
• Finance department
• FM department

Savings

• Reduced headcount
• Increased efficiency of help-desk operation
• More efficient use and scheduling of contractors
• Value for money through performance management
• Sub-contract renegotiations
• Increased asset life
• Improved asset performance
• More accurate capture and calculation of job costs
• Invoice to order reconciliations
• Prevention of duplicate payments
• Improved compliance
• Lowering number/cost of health and safety incidents
• Reduced stock holding through improved stock control
• Automatic re-ordering
• Improved space utilisation
• More accurate space re-charging
•R  eporting
•M  ore responsive decision making

Total net expenditure/saving:

12 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software

The table on the previous page
has been designed to assist you
to prepare a realistic financial
case, capturing all costs and
savings in order to determine
whether the investment is
justified. It is useful to look
over a three or four-year period
in order to gain a true picture
of the actual costs/savings of
The invitation to tender
If the financial case is made, it
will be possible to put together
an invitation to tender for issue
to potential suppliers from
information gleaned during the
review of your processes and
the available Cafm software.
When selecting a vendor, the
following should be considered:
• The vendor’s financial stability.
• The vendor’s understanding
of – and experience with –
your market sector or type of
software requirement: how has
the supplier demonstrated their
experience and success within
the market? It is particularly
important to ask the vendor
to cite examples of successful
integration with third-party
implementing a new system. Be
mindful that cutting corners and
costs in the first year may lead
to dramatically higher costs of
ownership over the long term.
The table offers a simple
template for creating a budget
estimate. Your business case
must compare the total cost of
owning software with the total
products if you have that
requirement. Have they taken
you on a reference site visit?
• Ensure that the supplier
provides a clear project plan
and a requirements definition
document which represents
their understanding of your
requirements. In addition, they
should provide key milestones
and timescales in the plan as
well as effort, duration and
therefore cost.
• If the supplier is executing
data gathering and input on
your behalf, ensure that the
data is ready to be used at
the training session. Is the
supplier prepared to provide
you with a free-of-charge
training database that you can
financial savings that it will
deliver. Typically, you should
aim for a return on investment
within two to three years.
DOs and DON’Ts
 O include all reasonable
D
costs and savings when
drawing up the financial case
keep installed on a system
and which users can practice
on so that it doesn’t affect the
integrity of your live data?
• Ownership of source code –
is the vendor simply a re-seller
of the software or are they the
proprietor of the source code?
This will greatly influence the
quality and attentiveness of the
service you receive. What level
of technical support and project
management is available from
the supplier? Are they prepared
to provide personnel on-site
DOs and DON’Ts
 O examine the potential
D
vendor’s overall package
and experience
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 13
 on the day that your system
goes live in order to ensure the
smooth launch of your system?
• Does your supplier provide
post sales support? What is their
ongoing review process? Do
they have a proactive account
management function that is
prepared to meet on a regular
(quarterly or as required) basis?
• Does your supplier proactively
develop the functionality within
their product offering? Are they
prepared to share with you
a product roadmap outlining
where the product is going over
the next few years?
Does the supplier have a
regular user group or special
Developing an
implementation plan
The development of an
effective and realistic
implementation plan is a very
important step in ensuring
It is crucial to develop and agree
a formal project plan with all
stakeholders to enable resource
demands to be met and project
milestones to be achieved
14 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software
interest group (SIG) that you
can attend to discuss new
functionality within the product?
Is there a cost to attend?
Plus, will you have the ability
to influence the direction of
the product through a SIG?
Is the supplier committed to
keeping abreast of the latest
technology? What technological
developments will be
incorporated into the system?
You should also have a clear
and documented understanding
of how disputes with your
software vendor are to be
settled. All software companies
should provide a clear and
that the timely delivery of the
new software solution meets
the needs of your business
and delivers a rapid return
comprehensive licence
agreement, which should
include a disputes resolution
procedure. In the (rare) situation
that this is called upon it is
advisable to evaluate your
position and if necessary seek
third-party advice.
Subsequently, you should
agree and document a course of
action with your supplier in order
that the project may progress. It
is worth incorporating process
revisions, any ‘work-around’
modifications to the original
plan, product redesign or
changes, additional training
and any additional support that
may be required.
on your investment. It is
crucial to develop and agree
a formal project plan with
all stakeholders to enable
resource demands to be met
and clearly defined project
milestones to be achieved.
A typical implementation
plan is shown in the panel
on the next page. While
developing the plan, it is also
useful to put in place some
key performance indicators
(KPIs) against which the
success of the project may
be measured. These should
include key project milestone
dates that must be achieved in
order for the supplier to claim
progress payments.
Typically, the implementation
constraints with any IT project
are timescale, resource
availability and scope of
requirement. These are the
critical inputs that must be
managed in order to achieve
the desired output.
The management of cost
and time overruns is central
to the planning of any FM
software installation. The
software vendor should
ensure that your exposure
to such risks is minimised
and they should build
additional time into the plan
which provides a contingency
for any unexpected issues that
crop up.
Your supplier should
be able to provide a clear
definition of a satisfactory
installation and a
commitment to achieving the
milestones within the agreed
timescales. Likewise, you
as a customer can also help
proactively to minimise risk
by managing the following:
• Making available the
necessary hardware and data
within the agreed timescales
• Staff availability, including
the recruitment of new
personnel within the
necessary timescales (ie, it is
difficult to launch a new help-
desk without the necessary
personnel to operate it)
• Availability and co-
operation of IT resource,
including client personnel, against agreed milestones is
allocating specific time slots the best way to ensure that
out of their normal daily your software is delivered on
routine to assist in the time and on budget.
set-up of the project
• Project sponsorship/ DOs and DON’Ts
ownership from a member of  O agree with the supplier
D
the client’s team to drive the a clear definition of a
project forward satisfactory installation and
Taking an active role in the a commitment to milestones
with agreed timescales
development of the software
DO take an active role in the
vendor’s implementation plan implementation plan
and then managing the project
A typical implementation plan
Stage 1: After receipt of tenders confirm requirement(s) against
the suppliers’ submissions. For each submission:
Document any shortfall in functionality to be added.
Review existing IT environment and document any
changes to the platform/infrastructure necessary for
implementation.
Estimate any necessary additional developments.
Stage 2: Update the financial case template for each submission,
identify the most cost effective and confirm it gives the
necessary return on investment.
Stage 3: Consistent with the chosen submission define timescale
and key performance indicators (KPIs) and include
these in the contract placed.
Stage 4: Identify a multi-disciplinary project team and ensure
they are allowed to set aside the necessary time.
Stage 5: From the review of business processes collect,
validate and transfer the required data to interface with
the software. Ensure that the selected Cafm provider
is pro-active in providing advice at this stage.
Stage 6: Run the pre-installation checks on any developments
resulting from Stage 1 and install the Cafm software.
Stage 7: Activate data/software interface
Stage 8: System testing, commissioning and sign-off/acceptance
Stage 9: Train system users and administrators
Stage 10: Go live with Cafm software
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 15
 Training requirements
All software claims to be “user
friendly”, but the diverse nature
of FM software, its inherent
integrated components, and
the computer-literacy levels
of a typical user makes the
investment in training as
important as the software itself.
Adequate focus on
training requirements for
both the system users and
administrators is a vital
component in ensuring the
success of your new system
implementation.
As outlined in the previous
section, it is very helpful if the
software provider is prepared to
give you a training database on
which users can practise data-
inputting skills and system
knowledge, without affecting
the integrity of your live data.
When drawing up training
plans, it is well worth
considering the following:
• Documenting a clearly
defined training plan, with
Nowhere is the well-worn adage
“rubbish in… rubbish out” more
appropriate than in FM software,
so commit the necessary time
and resources to training
16 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software
users grouped into different
user functions.
• Identifying and documenting
the goals or outcomes for each
training programme included
in your training plan
• Whether the software
vendor provides the range
of training courses to suit
your needs from both a
system functionality and user
perspective
• Achieving buy-in from all
likely delegates to ensure that
they will be committed to the
success of the new solution by
undertaking specific training
• Identifying and costing
any additional future training
which may be required
• If you have a number of staff
to train, or a high turnover of
staff, consider whether you
should invest in a ‘train the
trainer’ programme, so that
key members of your staff can
conduct the training in-house
in the future
• Whether the training is
conducted in-house or on-site,
ensure that staff will not be
interrupted by other pressing
needs during the course
which may interfere with their
concentration
• Does your supplier provide
full training documentation
with their course? Is there an
additional charge for this?
The quality and timeliness
of training can determine the
rate at which you make an
operational return on your
investment in the new
FM software. It will also
greatly influence the quality of
reporting that can be achieved.
Nowhere is the well-worn
adage “rubbish in...rubbish
out” more appropriate than in
FM software, so make sure
your organisation commits the
necessary time and resources
to training before and well
after the system goes live.
DOs and DON’Ts
 O agree with the supplier
D
and commit time to a
thorough training programme,
ideally with dummy data
Technology overview
This section provides a high-
level overview and definitions
for some of the more common
new technologies:
BMS
Building Management System:
an integrated system that
monitors the status of certain
building components (eg
fire alarms, security doors,
and environmental sensors).
It is capable of providing a
centralised notification when
one of these components
goes outside of normal
operating parameters.
GPRS
General Packet Radio Service:
a protocol (or set of applied
rules) for data transfer using
the GSM mobile phone
system.
GPS
Global Positioning System:
a network of satellites which
allow devices equipped with
an appropriate receiver to
accurately determine their
latitude, longitude and even
their altitude.
GSM
The Global System for Mobile
communications. It’s the most
Newer PDAs have colour
screens, photographic and audio
capabilities, enabling them to be
used as mobile phones, cameras,
web browsers or media players
popular standard for mobile RFID
phones, and is used by more Radio Frequency Identification:
than two billion people across An automatic identification
210 countries. method, similar in principle
to a barcode, which utilises
PDA a device called RFID tag.
Personal Digital Assistants: An RFID tag is a small
hand-held devices that object that can be attached
were originally designed to or incorporated into any
as personal organisers, but product, equipment or system
became much more versatile component. It contains silicon
over the years. A basic PDA chips and antennas to enable
usually includes date book, them to receive and respond
address book, task list, memo to radio-frequency queries
pad, clock, and calculator from an RFID transceiver
software. Newer PDAs (reader). Passive tags require
also have colour screens, no internal power source,
photographic and audio whereas active tags require a
capabilities, enabling them power source.
to be used as mobile phones,
cameras, web browsers or
media players.
PocketPC
A PDA that is powered by the
Windows PocketPC operating
system (this is also referred
to as Windows CE and
Windows Mobile).
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 17
 Industry trends
In general terms the technologies
outlined in the previous
section have contributed to
four key trends within the FM
market place. These are:
Trend 1:
The internet and web-enabled
FM applications will continue to
grow; both in terms of popularity
and product/functionality offering.
Eventually FM Web applications
will be used in organisations as
the primary application service
mechanism. This will lead to a
swing towards self-service and
users will expect to be able to
request, receive and manage
FM services through a web
interface rather than being
one step removed (through a
help-desk). The number of staff
employed by the help-desk
will also therefore reduce.
Trend 2:
FM departments and service
providers will become more
service-centric as well as
cost focused. The primary
FM will become increasingly
automated. Understanding this
will enable you to make more
informed decision when selecting
a technology and software partner
18 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software
benefit offered by the latest
technology is improved service
quality through increased
responsiveness and useful
performance data. At the same
time, the need for security, privacy
and accessibility continues
to be a priority for users.
Trend 3:
Mobile computing will continue
to accelerate through the
use of integrated-computing
devices and web technology
will remain the primary delivery
mechanism for mobile devices.
As a result, FM applications
will take increasing advantage
of the geographic specific
nature of mobile devices
because applications can
provide information and services
specific to the current location
of the user. This will lead to
an increase in efficiency.
For example, a user
performing a condition survey
needn’t repeatedly enter data
to determine his/her current
location, because it could be
determined automatically by
GPS or by RFID. There will also
be a notable increase in RFID
tags in the FM market place to
identify assets and equipment.
Trend 4:
Network bandwidths will
continue to increase, thus
allowing internet-based
services and information to be
provided in a timelier manner.
The increase in real-time
information and feedback will
both increase the efficiency
of service providers (because,
for example, there will be no
need to go back to base to
pick up another set of jobs)
and will increase the accuracy
of management reporting.
Like many professions, FM
will become increasingly
automated and will require
much less human intervention.
Understanding these trends
will enable you to make
a more informed decision
when selecting a technology
and software partner.
Don’t forget, you are
purchasing a system that will
serve you for at least three to
five years, so it is important
to select an organisation
that can demonstrate a
willingness to invest in R&D
to ensure the products and
services they provide you
with remain at the forefront of
innovation and best-practice.
Trend 5
There is increasing demand
for Software as a Service
(SaaS) or Application Service
Provision (ASP) as it was
previously known. In this
approach software is hosted
on the provider’s secure server
rather than on the client’s
own IT system and access is
via an internet connection.
The benefits include the
minimisation of upfront
Summary
This document has been
designed to provide a high-
level overview and some
general guidance to assist
organisations in selecting
FM software.
Information is one of the
most valuable, but sadly
usually one of the least
considered, resources available
to an FM department to support
more efficient management
licence fees in favour of a
monthly or quarterly rental
fee which can be met from
revenue budgets rather than
capital budgets. Furthermore
in-house IT departments do
not have to accommodate any
extra software on their servers
including the possibility of extra
databases. SaaS offers a cost
effective solution which can be
rapidly deployed. In addition
to supporting tight budget
control, system upgrades can be
easily applied and the solution
overcomes any shortage of
in-house technical personnel
of property and services.
Technology is one of the tools
that an organisation can use to
harness this critical operational
and performance data. The
influence of IT on the FM
profession in the coming years
will be significant.
Successfully implemented
FM software can provide
significant financial savings
as well as time saving and
The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software 19
enabling organisations to
focus on their core business.
A concern for many
organisations is that SaaS
may bring a degree of security
vulnerability. However such
concerns can be associated
with any IT solution and the
best way to minimise the SaaS
security risk is to work with
a vendor that understands
the issues and operates a
rigorous security policy.
With a strict SaaS selection
procedure in place, the benefits
can outweigh the risks.
efficiency improvements
and measurable customer-
service benefits.
It is important to have
both a carefully structured
product selection as well as
implementation process so
that the scope and goals of the
project are clear both to staff
internally and to the supplier in
order to secure the initial and
future success of the solution.
 Notes

20 The Good Practice Guide to Selecting FM Software