Due to the sophistication and complexity of facilities management, there are hundreds of discreet systems, assets, applications, and vendors involved in its support. Most software systems are supplier hosted, maintained in silos, and are rarely analyzed holistically. Many of these applications are in overlap with each other and force facility leaders to operate without complete visibility to data-driven KPIs.

To help paint a picture, take the facilities naming that occurs within each application. These listings are rarely standardized. The real estate software application likely does not have the same facilities listing as the maintenance management system or the financial system. This creates a variety of difficulties to establish spend baselines, create and comply to standards and to leverage best practices across departments, locations, and business units.

The presentation by Christopher Beall, Development Director for the Collaborative Work Environment highlights this industry challenge as it relates to data management, outlines four practical steps to form a more robust data management and reporting program, and shares some dashboards for reference.