Monitoring Facility Management Benchmarks

Benchmarking is not a perfect science. It is a multiple step process that allows an organization to compare aspects of performance, identify differences, seek out alternative approaches, and assess opportunities for improvement, implement change, and monitor outcomes. It should all begin with an internal evaluation, comparing performance matrixes of your own organization over time. In the field of facility management these matrixes can include operating costs, space utilization, operations and maintenance activities, moves and facility management staffing.

Having a quantitative understanding of your operations lends itself to comparing your organization to others. One common mistake people make when developing a benchmarking strategy is selecting only organizations within their own industry to benchmark against. You should also compare your facilities to the operation of other facility types. Comparisons across industries will lend itself to gauge the potential that may exist for improvement. Analysis of more descriptive case studies and networking must take place in order to raise the bar.

Many sources are available for analyzing facility benchmarks. IFMA, the International Facility Management Association, one of the most widely recognized professional associations for facilities management, recently published its Space and Project Management Benchmarks Research Report for 2006. The survey includes data from a sampling of organizations throughout North America representing a spectrum of industry types and facility uses. The report covers space and project management, as well as move management.

Analysis of national move management practices highlights the high cost of moves. The average churn rate or the average number of moves completed over a 12 month period divided by the average number of occupants in the facility was reported at 36% from a low of 16% in education to a high of 62% in the energy industry. The average box move where no furniture is relocated costs on average $152, and the cost involving reconfiguration of existing furniture or the movement of furniture is $679. As a result, many facility managers are developing improved practices to minimize downtime and reduce the cost of moving.  According to Shari Epstein, IFMA’s associate director of research, there has been a continuing decrease in the cost of moves attributed to improvements in the processes. How does your organization rank?

Four out of five respondents to the survey track space at their facilities, in most cases for the purpose of designing space. One of the interesting trends revealed in the analysis of the space data is that individual space has stabilized in recent years. The trend in office size is stable and a balance appears to have been struck between private offices and workstations with open partitions. However, “the amount of common space increased on both a percentage and square footage basis.” This may speak to the increasing trend to develop collaborative space for teams to function.

The larger the space the more likely it is tracked. The survey indicates that 98% of respondents track space when square footage exceeds one million. Participants like Randy Dinnision of Lexis Nexis, an in4mation client, typically queries a CAFM, computer aided facility management, database or CAD system to complete their surveys. According to the survey, 43% of facility managers use a CAFM system. Recent innovations in CAFM systems continue to make these systems more user friendly and affordable for a growing number of organizations.

For more information on IFMA’s benchmarking reports visits the online IFMA Bookstore at www.ifma.org/bookstore.