2007 fmsystems conference presentation (nelnet)

Request & Process Driven

Veda Dowd & Bill MeyerNelnet

Request Driven

• The art of requesting a solution for an accurate FM:Systems suite

Who am I?

Name: Veda DowdMarital Status: Married longer than I’ve been singleChildren: 2 daughters currently attending college (I

know about student loans)Experience: Over 6 years with Nelnet, 5 as Facility

ManagerCurrent Role: Facility Manager, Denver site

Nelnet - National Education Loan network, one of leading education finance companies in U.S. (we do student loans)

Currently have 31 sites across the country with over 800,000 sq. ft. of space to manage and 4,100 employees

• Needed way to track square footage by department in order to allocate space to cost centers

• Needed way to keep track of our many leases• Needed a work order request system that would not only

schedule, but be able to have a reporting function as well• Needed a way to schedule moves more efficiently and have

accurate floor plans

Needs

We Need Help!

Decided to purchase a CAFM System after researching several companies selected FM Systems

Purchased FM Space module in October 2005

Not sure what to do next, November 2005

Hired an outside service vendor to assist and was able to get 3 of our main sites floor plans on system

We Still Need Help!

• We realized we needed someone at Nelnet dedicated to FM Systems – I was not able to devote enough time and we made the decision to hire someone full-time who could be dedicated to this project

• Bill Meyer – the answer to our prayers…. Someone who knew FM:Systems and could help us move forward

• Hired by our CT (IT) department as resource in FM:Systems

• Met with Facilities Department to develop a prioritized project plan

The art of creating an accurate FM:Systems suite

PROCESS DRIVEN

Process Driven

Who am I?

Name: Bill MeyerAge: older than some, younger than most (maybe)Marital Status: Happily MarriedChildren: 3 beautiful kids with another due in 2 years Experience: Over 7 years as an FM:Systems AdministratorCurrent Role: Contractor for Nelnet as a Solutions Provider

My Family

What is “Process”

The University of Central Florida defines a "business process" as "a chain of logical connected, repetitive activities that utilizes the organization's resources to refine an object for the purpose of achieving specified and measurable results or products for internal or external customers."

The Importance of Process

Regardless if your company has used FM:Systems for years of if you have just purchased it, process can help both the expert and the novice.

Let’s begin by talking about how most everything we do involves a process. Even common everyday tasks like getting ready in the morning: alarm clock / waking up, getting dressed, brushing teeth, doing your hair, eating breakfast, drinking coffee and driving to work.

We realize from the above example that some of the processes can be moved, some can even be removed and others are absolutely necessary (unless you work from home). This is the same with our processes in business, let’s take a look at what happens if we alter the process or remove steps in the process altogether…

The Importance of Process

Fixed Process Altered Process No Process

• wake up• get dressed• brush teeth• do your hair• eat breakfast• drink coffee• drive to work

• wake up• brush teeth• do your hair• eat breakfast• get dressed• drink coffee• drive to work

• drive to work • get dressed• brush teeth• do your hair• eat breakfast• drink coffee• wake up

Defining your Process

Experience has shown that many companies approach their facilities with an attitude of, “just get it done”, “we need this now”, “just manually adjust the report” …and so forth. Do these sound familiar to you? This may be a means to achieve a goal quickly, but will typically yield inaccurate results and more work in the long run.

A little time in the beginning can save a lot of time in the end!

The Goal

Defining the goal is going to vary between organizations, but it is crucial for understanding how to proceed.

A sample goal would be to provide a one stop solution for all facilities needs. This means that Facilities will track square footage, space types, occupancy/vacancy, maintain accurate data and timely reports, facilitate moves, manage service requests and more.

Achieving the Goal

Once the goal has been clearly defined we can begin the process of indicating the procedures necessary for obtaining the goal.

Main processes to consider:• Collecting data• Importing data• Maintaining data• CAD Standards• FM:Systems Guidelines

Maintaining Data

Now that you have your data imported into your database, you need to create a process for maintaining the data. Names and groups change, people move, projects happen. Here’s just a few of the items you will want to track:

• Control your imports• Manage your moves• Manage your assets• Manage your projects/update Autocad

Control Your Imports

How will you control your imports?• Allow the import data to control db data (this will automatically

create new records, purge old records and append existing records).

Manage Your Moves

How will you manage your moves?• Are you going to use Move Manager (the answer should be YES!)• You need to ensure you have procedures in place for:

– Who will create moves– Who will authorize moves– Who will create service requests for moves– Who will close moves– What emails will be generated and who will be the recipients– What will your move forms look like (do you have an existing

form?)

Manage Your Assets

• Do you have a db that is tracking your assets currently• What assets do you want to track

– Tracking easily moveable assets (e.g. chairs, whiteboards, etc.) can be quite the ordeal with the amazing ability of these assets to change location on their own.

• How will you maintain accuracy– Regular space audits– Bar coding system

Manage Your Projects

• Do you have a current process for Projects?• What about Redlines?• How are you getting final CAD designs?• Were the CAD drawings done to your company

standards?• How are you implementing the new design into the

Master CAD drawings for your buildings?

Project Flow Chart

CAD Standards

Creating CAD standards for your company is one of the most important things you can do in maintaining clean and accurate drawings to be used with FM:Interact.

With CAD standards you can implement:• File naming conventions• Standards for XREF’s and renaming for use with layer sets• Scales, tolerances and Fonts/Font Styles• Room Numbering Guidelines (03-C104, JAX03-104, etc.)• Layer sets for uniformity of layers/colors for all drawings• Design and Redline process flow• Audit checks & Quality Assurance Checklists• And more…

CAD Standards TOC

FM:Systems Guidelines

The FM:Systems guidelines document is absolutely crucial to your facilities group. This document can be used as a training manual for your facilities organization.

This document details:• FM:Space database settings• Procedures for creating new Sites, Buildings, Floors• Procedures for tagging and plineing areas• Space Type standards• Procedures for importing employee/cost center info• Security settings• Processes for Service Requests and Move Requests• And more…

FM:Systems Guidelines TOC

Conclusion

If your facilities does not have any set processes or procedures you run the risk of delayed and even corrupted/incorrect data.

Creating your process and procedure documentation will often help your facilities realize redundant or unnecessary processes currently in place.

An accurate set of clear processes and procedures insures the integrity of your data both now and in the future. A new employee has the opportunity to learn exactly what steps are necessary to complete their job.