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FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF FACILITY MANAGEMENT

The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) defines facility management as “a profession
Definition, History, and Rationale
that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality of the built environment by integrating
people, place, process, and technology.” From this definition, facility management can be regarded as
coordination of a complex organization such as people, teams, departments, spaces, equipment, and
technology among others, to achieve more effective and efficient organizational activities. The term
“facility” refers to any range of establishments that serve a greater purpose such as providing goods and
services. In the most traditional sense, this refers to factories and offices, but the term “facilities” also
include schools, sports complexes, hospitals, hotels, retail stores, and other related establishments. The
following summarizes the history of facility management:

 1970s – Facilities management only involves building maintenance and cleaning.

 1980s – The cost-cutting initiatives of companies led to the outsourcing of non-core services
such as lighting, heating, and plumbing to facility management agencies.
 1990s – Facilities management added services such as property management, space planning,
and relocation.
 2000s – Facilities management added business processes such as payroll and human resources.

According to Atkin and Brooks (2015), facility management can also be regarded as a way to create an
environment that is conducive to the organization’s primary processes and activities. In addition, it takes
an integrated view of a company’s services and support infrastructure to achieve end-user satisfaction
and best value through support and enhancement of the core business or activities of an organization
(Atkin & Brooks, 2015). The following describes the rationale of facility management:
1. Support people in their work and enhance individual well-being.
2. Enable the organization to deliver effective and responsive services.
3. Utilize the cost-effectiveness of physical assets.
4. Allow for future change in the provision and use of space.
5. Provide competitive advantage to the core business.
6. Enhance the organization’s culture and image.
The approach to facility management involves the following steps.
The Broad Approach to Facility Management
1. Develop facility management strategy. This involves strategic analysis, solution development,
and strategy implementation for organizational concerns involving facility management.
2. Determine sourcing model. This involves assessing the most appropriate model to be used for
company-related activities. The sourcing models include insourcing, outsourcing, and co-
sourcing. Insourcing involves performing a business function internally. On the other hand,
outsourcing involves transferring a portion of work or even an entire operation to outside
providers rather than completing it internally. Lastly, co-sourcing combines some of the
activities of both insourcing and outsourcing. It is essentially a business arrangement where both
internal staff and external workers accomplish the work.

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3. Procure the services. This involves facilitating the services of a company through outsourcing or
co-sourcing models.
4. Deliver the services. This involves mobilization and contract management with the third-party
companies that perform functions or services for another company.
5. Manage performance. This involves service review and performance measurement related to
the outsourced or co-sourced services of a company.
Key Concepts of Facility Management
The following are the key concepts of facility management.
 The Informed Client Function. The organization needs to act as an informed client to achieve
end- user satisfaction and best value. The scope of an informed client involves understanding
the organization, its culture, and end-users and their needs. In addition, an informed client
understands and specify service requirements and targets. More importantly, an informed client
manages the implementation of outsourcing and minimizes uncertainty through proactive risk
and opportunity management.
 Stakeholder Engagement. The organization must effectively manage its stakeholders or those
individuals and groups with facility-related interests. In addition, organizations together with
their stakeholders must collectively determine the nature of facility management, including its
processes and activities, and the extent to which companies can satisfy their stakeholders’
interests.
 End-User Experience. The organization must properly counsel and manage its end-users or
those individuals or groups that will experience the impact of facility management. The end-
users can be classified as internal or external. Internal end-users pertain to the core
organizational units served by the facility such as the different departments within a single firm
like accounting, finance, or marketing, while external end-users pertain to the organization’s
facility and services, which are commonly attributed in the customer service sector such as the
organizations’ clients or valued customers.
 Best Value. The organization must be aware of the extent to which best value for money in
facility management can be improved. Value for money is a term used to express the
relationship between the cost of a good or service and its quality or performance. Best value
extends the concept of value for money to imply the need to strive continually for something
superior at the lowest practicable cost. When choosing options for service delivery and service
providers, there needs to be an assessment not only of cost implications but also of quality. The
organization should choose the approach and service delivery that offers best value, not simply
lowest cost, and measure performance against both cost and quality.
 Operability. The organization must ensure that facility design takes proper account of
operational requirements through a thorough briefing process. Like all good decisions, those in
design have to be based on the correct information and data, and the impact of a design on
operations has to be understood before it is committed to construction and/or installation. Once
the facility is operational, it would be costly and difficult to make alterations in the design of the
facility if particular issues arise. Designing a new or refurbished facility without understanding
the requirements of operability is likely to have negative consequences for its operational
efficiency.

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 Sustainability. The organization must establish an objective or requirement to optimize

operational cost over its life cycle. In order to sustain operations, companies must take a long-
term view of the operability of their facility to become aware of their obligations and liabilities
in the future. An example of this is taking responsibility for the facility’s carbon footprint, which
may pose harmful damage to the environment where the company operates.
 Outsourcing. The organization must identify the cost-effectiveness of obtaining services from
within the organization or outside the organization through third-party companies.
 Procurement. The organization must consider the acquisition of goods and services from an
external source such as reliable suppliers, which will support the daily operation or activities of
the firm. It is, however, necessary to regard procurement as more than the activity of obtaining
quotations from service providers and placing orders. A range of issues has to be considered,
including technical knowledge of products and services.
 Performance Management. The organization must ensure that services are provided according
to agreed performance levels. Measuring actual performance and comparing with stipulated
performance levels will show if the service is being provided as agreed or if some action needs
to be taken to correct performance.
 Management of Change. The organization must consider the minor changes arising in the
course of day-to-day operations and should be capable of minimizing disruption as well as
safeguarding business continuity.
 Maintenance Management. The organization must consider the maintenance of the structure,
fabric, building engineering, services installations, fittings, and furnishings that collectively form
the facility. Maintenance is an integral part of facility management and requires a clear
definition of arrangements to prevent failure or breakdown of parts, components, systems, and
other elements.
 Information Management. The organization must practice proper management of information
and data, which is necessary to comply with statutory obligations and duties, as well as enabling
the organization to derive optimal use and benefit from its facility. The breadth and depth of
information to be managed can be substantial and requires a structured approach for its
collection, analysis, exchange, storage, updating, and control.

References
Atkin, B. & Brooks, A. (2015). Total facilities management (4th ed.). United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd.
Micromain. (n.d.). What is facility management? Retrieved on January 29, 2019, from
https://www.micromain.com/what-is-facility-management
Rentokil PCI. (n.d.). The history of facility management. Retrieved on January 29, 2019, from
https://www.rentokil-pestcontrolindia.com/facilities-management/history

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