Information Systems for the maintenance and management

Management

The process of collecting and organizing information, developed through the inventory activities and the construction of the building registry, finds its completion in the implementation of an information system. Information systems for real estate management are now becoming fundamental tools for the organization, implementation, and monitoring of facility management services. Several factors are at the basis of this acceleration.

1. A first factor is surely due to the fact that until a few years ago, before the spread of Facility Management services, systematic ways of organizing knowledge were essentially absent in the practices of traditional managers of real estate assets. Data relating to technical characteristics of building elements and installations, operating status of assets, works executed or even only to consistency, were extremely incomplete and fragmented, if not completely absent, in both small and large real estate.
2. A second leverage factor for the spread of information

systems is certainly due to the rapid and considerable growth of various forms of contracting the building management services [1, 2], from different models of multi-service agreement to forms of highly integrated FM services (Fig.1.3). All these forms of contracting are anyway united by an overriding need for having available adequate information frameworks [3] shared both by clients and service suppliers [4], in order to work for the setting, planning and control of management activities [5]. 3) A third factor of growth for information systems— but others may still be mentioned— is finally attributable to the spread of the culture and practice of planned maintenance [6], which, by its nature, has the need of reliable basis of knowledge to enable the development of proactive strategies and the rationalization of operations over time [7, 8]. • Requirements of the INFORMATION SYSTEM the ability to perform a breakdown of the real estate assets into individual components (spaces and

technical elements).

the ability to define the elementary tasks, identifying for each task the necessary resources, in terms of labour, materials, equipment and related costs;

the ability to manage and relate different forms of information (drawings, data in alphanumeric form, scanned documents, tables, charts, etc.);

the ability to regroup the information with respect to various reading keys;

the ability to ensure the feedback of the information;

the possibility of developing a database in a way that is appropriate to the specific operational context, collecting and organizing only the necessary and sufficient data (by type and quantity);

the adequacy of the system to the methods of transmission and dissemination of information within the managerial structures.

• FUNCTIONS OF THE INFORMATION SYSTEM

• Information System as a Decisional and Operational Support

First of all, it should be considered that the standard UNI 10951:2001 defines the information system as a "decisional and

operational support tool, consisting of databases, procedures and functions to collect, store, process, use and update the information necessary for the setting, the implementation and management of the maintenance service”. The reference to the two “extremes” of management activities (decisions and operations) emphasizes a fundamental characteristic of information systems: they should be a support tool for all the different operators involved in the context of a service [10]. Specifically, the emphasis on decision-making and operational roles indicates that the same information set included within an information system (the data base) must be able, through the activation of different functions and procedures, to provide two different categories of data, as the result of different processing modes: aggregated data and single data. • AGGREGATED DATA Aggregated data can be interpretated as a plurality of data, selected on the basis of searching keys, and then processed. In

The management process, different types of decision makers define strategies and action lines also by reading and interpreting summary data, which enable trend analyses, comparison between phenomena and situations, monitoring through indexes, etc.

Knowledge of all the real estate in terms of surfaces and rooms; description of the building stock in relation to the different intended uses; description of the building stock in relation to its technical and typological features; analysis through indicators.

INDICATORS: Within the processing of aggregated data, the issue of managing indicators deserves attention. As already stated (Chap. 1), a system of indicators (KPIs—Key Performance Indicators) may be used in order to [9]:

• Measure the state of an item or process;
• Compare performance and/or services levels (i.e. develop internal or external benchmarking processes);
• Perform diagnosis;
• Define objectives and targets;
• Plan improvement actions;
• Perform continuous monitoring.

Indicators can be

used in different time dimensions: continuously, in the monitoring activities; periodically, for instance in performance assessments; only once (una tantum), for instance within an audit or specific studies or in benchmarking activities. Within an information system, the management of a system of indicators can be successfully carried out through the implementation of a tableau de bord. By tableau de bord it can be meant a set of indicators, possibly linked together through a series of cause-effect relationships. The tableau de bord is an application that, even through means of immediate interpretation such as bar graphs or pie charts, can provide different organizational levels of support information for process monitoring and achievement of company objectives. The tableau de bord operates by selecting and processing, according to defined procedures, information included in the database and it can be used in various ways by the different decision-making levels, depending on the

position occupied in the hierarchy. At the highest levels (strategic decision makers), control is achieved through synthetic measures and is generally based on overall economic and financial indicators. Vice versa, at lower levels (technical decision makers), economic and financial measurements are not so important and thus the tableau de bord provides more usefully other indicators (i.e. concerning process, market, technical issues, etc.). Indicators may provide an overall view of general functioning (i.e. annual profitability of managed assets) or they may concern only individual aspects (i.e. average annual energy costs per unit area). The tableau de bord has various functions, such as:

• to support the various decision-making levels;
• to create a common information base useful for setting up a dialogue between managers at different levels;
• to empower managers for the achievement of specific objectives;
• to define the basis according to the reporting system has to be

built.• SINGLE DATA As already stated, information systems must be able to provide not only aggregated but also single data. Single data are individual data that are selected, isolated and extracted according to specific search keywords. This reading level allows an accurate consultation of information and it can provide data for the creation of various documents, reports, programmes of the activities and operating procedures. THE COMMAND CENTRE COMMAND CENTER: a structure responsible for the planning and coordination of interventions, for the monitoring of the outcomes and for the management of the information flows. The command centre represents a key condition in order to pursue simultaneously at least two basic objectives for the management services: firstly, the monitoring and control by the client of the compliance with the contract requirements; secondly, the effective integration of the different services under the contract. • Main tasks of the command center it is possible toassert that the client, in defining the request for FM services, should consider a series of registry, information coordinated and integrated key activities referred to the CC, such as: systems, call centers, planning and management of the operations, administration, checking (Table 5.1). These categories draw a framework of functions that should be taken in charge by a command centre, but Areas Main activities Information Design of the information system for the control of services system Implementation of the information system for the control of services Operation and management of the information system Registry Setting up and management of technical registry Population and updating of the database Information management Planning and Planning and scheduling of the tasks scheduling Budgeting and management of the work orders Coordination and supervision of the operations Operation Management of the Call Centre centre Management of the corrective tasks Management of the operational unit Management of

The building files

Management of the construction documents

Management of the previous contracts

Management of the utilities supply

Insurances

Administration

Communication

Support to the internal information

Communication plan

Training plan

Monitoring

Coordination of the general monitoring activities and checks

Management of the inspections and technical checks

Management of the set of indicators

In the analysis of specifications and contract documents, the CC activities are often not explicitly mentioned.

So, it cannot be easily understood if these activities have to be carried out by the client or by another structure external to the service contract or, vice versa, if demands are not expressed because these activities are implicitly considered as natural supports to other services listed in the contract, or, lastly, if they are not considered due to inattention about these issues.

• Key functions of a command center

A possible designation of the command centre may

Be the one that identifies it as a set of activities supporting the delivery of operational services with a particular reference to:

• Planning and coordination functions
• Management of information flows
• Monitoring and checking

The objective of these activities is to pursue efficiency and full achievement of performance and service levels predetermined by the client, as well as sharing information between the client and supplier.

A possible designation of the command centre may be the one that identifies it as a set of activities supporting the delivery of operational services with a particular reference to planning and coordination functions, management of information flows, monitoring and checking. The objective of these activities is to pursue efficiency and full achievement of performance and service levels predetermined by the client, as well as sharing information between the client and supplier.

MODELS OF COMMAND CENT