How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door


Arcfacilities

Uploaded on Dec 12, 2023

Category Technology

The facilities management talent crisis has escalated to critical status. In 2017, an ARC Facilities survey revealed about 40 percent of facilities managers planned to retire by 2025.

Category Technology

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How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door

Retiring Facility Workers How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door Retiring Facility Workers : How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door Introduction The facilities management talent crisis has escalated to critical status. In 2017, an ARC Facilities survey revealed about 40 percent of facilities As more senior members retire, managers planned to retire by 2025. facilities teams face a serious knowledge deficit. As these valued Now, COVID-19 has added a new wrinkle: more Traditional recordkeeping methods create workers move on, critical building of these managers are taking early retirement. problems no matter what the employment information is lost. Why? According to a report conducted by three situation. When staff doesn’t have immediate economics professors in April 2020, the number access to critical building information, minor Facility Management recollection of people actively looking for work spiked emergencies quickly develop into major and awareness. When emergencies less than the unemployment rate at the time. catastrophes. In addition, training new employees strike, professionals rely on personal That, combined with more people claiming to be can take months longer than usual, as new- recall to retrieve the correct plans retired, led the economists to conclude that many hires scramble to find As-Builts, Closeouts and and shut off valve locations. There boomers decided to drop out of the labor force.1 other documents. has never been a reliable, accessible system to store and retrieve this info efficiently. Even when building plans are available digitally, finding relevant information takes too much time. Take action now to ensure both veteran and new facilities managers have building information at their fingertips in a format that’s accessible to anyone. Retiring Facility Workers : How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door The Current Landscape Building owners and occupants depend on facilities managers to ensure The Burton Barr Central Library, buildings and their systems remain the main branch of the Phoenix safe, comfortable and sustainable. Public Library, in Phoenix, Arizona, When something goes wrong, the experienced the unfortunate consequences of information facilities manager gets a call. breakdown. In 2017, storm damage However, 86% of facilities managers ARC caused a water pipe on the building’s surveyed don’t have instant access to emergency fifth floor to burst. The broken pipe information. Most of that information exists only poured 50 to 60 gallons of water per on paper, tucked away in cramped storerooms. minute down to the lower floors. The rest of it exists on desktop computers or saved to DVDs and thumb drives. It took facilities managers three hours to find the water shut-off When building information is difficult to access— valve. Because of the delay, the either because someone has to search hundreds library sustained $10 million in of files or because the facilities manager is damage. Had facilities managers on vacation—building safety and function located the shut-off valve within become compromised. minutes, they likely would have A suboptimal building environment affects prevented the loss of thousands occupants’ safety, health and productivity. of books and millions of dollars When occupants raise these issues, in repairs and revenue. building owners take notice. The lesson learned here and in many other emergencies is simple. We need instant access to critical building information if we are to avoid the escalation of simple accidents into catastrophes. Retiring Facility Workers : How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door Plan for Tomorrow Today Rising retirement rates for facility workers, combined with outdated document management systems, creates a perfect storm of business disruption. To keep facilities running at peak efficiency, plan for tomorrow’s leadership changes today. Finding qualified workers to replace outgoing The International Facilities Management facilities managers takes ingenuity. The Bureau Association (IFMA) predicts between 50,000 of Labor Statistics (BLS) didn’t recognize to 100,000 facility management jobs will facilities management as an occupation until open over the next five to ten years. However, 2018. As a result, only a small number of colleges the number of skilled workers does not meet currently offer facilities management programs. the demand.2 The retirement challenge can easily be addressed by investing in technology that will allow you to extract information from building documents without human intervention for routine maintenance or in case of an emergency. This simple step will both preserve legacy knowledge and decrease reliance on employee recollections of building plans. Retiring Facility Workers : How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door Digitize (and Organize) All Building Information Technology plays as much of a role in a facilities succession plan as the people it serves. The next generation of facilities managers won’t accept outdated “analog” systems. Building owners have invested in many Critical needs of the industry have been technologies to serve the facilities industry, left unaddressed. Building information  An investment in a productivity including Smart Building, CMMS and BMS software. including upgrades, code changes and tenant improvement tool is worth the improvements are voluminous and complex. While these are all important, none address the effort. When you have a solution These changes add to the growing problem issue of access to critical building information that stores all this information in of documentation accumulation. More data for regular maintenance and emergencies. one place, in one format, you’ll and more time searching amounts to  Access to this critical information is left to significant operational inefficiency. save up to an hour a day in labor human memory which is why building owners costs according to ARC Facilities are struggling to address retirement issues. data. You’ll also eliminate endless trips to the plan room, as well as mindless searching through outdated computer files. Staff won’t have to call your longtime facilities manager at 10 p.m. to find out where a valve is. Anyone with a mobile device can find the answer with a couple of swipes. Retiring Facility Workers : How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door Take Advantage of Technology When choosing a facilities management platform, choose with the future in mind. The platform should scale as your business grows. It should also incorporate advanced technology that all generations of managers will easily embrace. Forward-thinking technology that improves efficiency includes: • Artificial Intelligence. • QR codes. When Google Maps predicts your commute time QR codes are two-dimensional barcodes that during rush hour, that’s artificial intelligence (AI) at help you identify information about the items work. When integrated into document management they’re attached to. A smartphone can read platforms, AI analyzes all the data so facilities QR codes to expedite repair and maintenance. managers can instantly access building information. When attached to an HVAC system, for example, a technician can quickly pull up manufacturer With the addition of machine learning, name, model and serial numbers, and information previously only available to facilities other information. and maintenance personnel becomes accessible to everyone. Using an app, an office manager, • Mobile-optimized software. nurse or other staff person can essentially read a In 2019, more than half (53%) of web traffic blueprint. The app not only shows her the location came from smartphones, up from 16% in 2013. of a shut-off valve, for example, it will show a As 5G moves closer to reality, expect the amount picture of the valve and perhaps a video of how of smartphone use to increase. to turn off the valve. To meet the needs of mobile-first users— • OCR. including your new facilities managers—nearly Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a every piece of digital information produced technology that converts scanned paper must be mobile-optimized. Facilities managers documents, PDFs, images and other documents don’t spend much time at a desk. They move into searchable, editable text. With OCR search between buildings all day long. Giving them capabilities, you can find what you need from mobile access to critical building information a 50-page manual in seconds. A scanner only allows them to act immediately to address creates an image of a document. OCR software concerns and solve problems, reducing risk allows you to search that image. to your building. Retiring Facility Workers : How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door Make Building Information Accessible to Everyone HVAC system failures, water leaks and power outages keep facilities managers up at night. If one of these incidents occurs in a building without emergency staff, it creates devastating delays and damage. A power outage in a hospital puts lives at risk. A leak in an older building could destroy equipment and the building itself. A mobile-optimized, user-friendly software As you transition information into the cloud, solution that’s accessible and available to which is where most software solutions store everyone helps facilities managers sleep data, identify what information facilities teams easily. When all staff have the app on their use most frequently. Typically, the most-used phones, anyone—on site or not—can take action information includes: immediately. No longer does information exist • Complete set of current as-builts only in one person’s head. It’s at everyone’s • Shut-off locations and instructions fingertips to use and to share with each • O&Ms other and with first responders. • Warranties An accessible mobile platform also gives new • Emergency plans & procedures hires the information they need from day one. • Compliance documents The transition from old guard to new becomes simple and efficient. Several months of training These documents are familiar to facilities gets whittled down to weeks. Instead of spending teams. The right digital solution will make them valuable time understanding a disorganized seem familiar to people outside the facilities file system on a desktop computer, the new management space. facility manager can focus on learning core competencies from the retiring manager. An intuitive user interface and advanced technology will ensure key building information is accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Retiring Facility Workers : How to Keep Critical Building Information from Walking Out the Door The Path Forward The combination of a retiring workforce and a talent shortage signal challenging times ahead for facilities management. The businesses that plan strategically to attract and retain new facilities managers, as well as use technology to ease the transition, will find themselves well positioned for the next five years and beyond. ARC Facilities provides a mobile-first platform AI allows facilities managers to share and designed to assist in all aspects of facilities access information, while powerful OCR search management succession planning. With an and hyperlinking technology capabilities lets easy-to-use interface, the ARC Facilities platform them find what they need fast. lets your team operate from anywhere. References 1. A rends, Brett. “Opinion: COVID-19 crisis sparks ‘early retirement’ wave.” MarketWatch, May 2, 2020. www.marketwatch.com/story/covid-19-crisis-sparks-early-retirement-wave-2020-04-30 2. Hanford, Desiree J. “How FMs are Using Internships, Apprenticeships to Develop Talent.” FacilitiesNet, May 15, 2019. www.facilitiesnet.com/facilitiesmanagement/article/How-FMs-are-Using-Internships-Apprenticeships-to-Develop-Talent--18383 To find out how ARC Facilities can help you ease the transition to the next generation of facilities management, request a demo today. www.arcfacilities.com/request-demo or send an email to [email protected]. ARC Facilities I 855-500-0660 I arcfacilities.com Copyright © ARC Document Solutions, LLC 2020. ARC, ARC Document Solutions and the ARC logo are registered trademarks of ARC Document Solutions, LLC in the U.S. and/or other countries. FACRW-1020-01