10 Questions When Evaluating FM Software Asset Management Capabilities

When Facilities teams utilize innovative data-driven software solutions that can support their asset management, tracking, and analysis needs, everyone in the company wins.

The Facility Management software solution ROI increases substantially for businesses when important asset-related capabilities are supported.

Asset management is a responsibility that traverses multiple functional areas of a business in multi-location enterprises. And for each group, there is typically a primary area of focus concerning the assets that make a business work and thrive. And while there is an abundance of solutions that address unique elements of asset management available in the marketplace, the common denominator for those assets is that they exist in the context of a “facility.”  

Managing assets effectively within the context of a facility-specific and trade-specific lens can provide a treasure trove of benefits to the business in the forms of:

• Extending the life for expensive and mission-critical assets;
• Cost-effective and timely maintenance to assure asset availability and uptime;
• Data-driven decision support for optimal repair/replacement;
• Insights for comparative analysis of asset maintenance & lifecycle costs across suppliers, services providers;
• Comparing asset management and maintenance KPIs versus industry benchmarks;

Additionally, not all assets are the same. There are unique classes of assets required in facility types – retail, warehouse, manufacturing, distribution. With rich data and effective business processes in place within facilities management, the entire company across multiple functions can more efficiently and effectively achieve the business’s goals.  

10 Questions to Ask When Evaluating Facility Management Software Solution To Enable Better Asset Management

When Facilities teams utilize innovative data-driven software solutions that can support their asset management, tracking, and analysis needs, everyone in the company wins. Key attributes to look for in evaluating a CMMS or Facility Management Software solution that is asset savvy are as follows:

1. Unique asset-related custom fields.

Does the software enable you to capture custom fields to track assets at the level of class and granularity best for your business?

2. Automated asset management programs.

Can you create proactive, automated programs for different classes of assets? (HVAC differs from On-Road Fleets differs from inventory materials management as examples – learn more by listening to how one customer describes their use of Fexa to manage assets from on road fleet to material handlers to paving stripes in the parking lot!)

3. Automated communications & alerts pertinent to asset attributes.

Can you create automated communications and alerts based on pre-defined business logic that goes out to individuals and roles not usually working inside the FM Software? (Example, an Engineering team may want to be alerted when a reactive maintenance work order triggers related to a significant component under warranty.)

4. Smart asset program adjustments.

Can you apply smart logic so that a pre-established maintenance program automatically adjusts the next visit following an unplanned reactive visit?

5. Smart automated asset-related compliance triggers.

Does the software incorporate automation that ensures that appropriate safety and regulatory compliance documentation is submitted as part of every service before the technician leaves the facility?

6. Call avoidance triage for asset management.

​Can communications capabilities be used to reduce expenses associated with unnecessary maintenance calls through an easy-to-use call avoidance triage checklist built right into the interface?

7. Outlier asset management data analytics.

Is there an easy way to surface outlier data and analytics that flags excessive costs? Examples could include flagging outlier costs status related to maintenance frequency, cost per visit, or multiple instances of parts replacements?

8. Pro-active procurement analysis for asset negotiations.

Can the facilities team easily share data-driven insights to support beneficial pricing/terms negotiations with suppliers (pro-active procurement strategies)?

9. Percentage completion reporting on complex asset projects.

Can the software easily support automation of a percentage completion reporting for capitalizable costs associated with larger, more complex, and often cross-trade-related asset implementations?

10. Extensions to other routine asset-related maintenance.

Can you create programs for other types of routine maintenance around asset elements beyond repair/usability? Examples can include refreshing signage, refreshing parking lot striping, regular window washing, routine cleaning for floors, and more.

Conclusion

The Facility Management software solution ROI increases substantially for businesses when there are robust asset management capabilities supported as noted above.

The insights and data achieved from the above asset management scenarios offer new cross-functional collaboration opportunities across the business. These collaborations can yield significant savings in the form of time efficiency and hard dollar savings.  

These capabilities enable the facilities team supported by the intelligent data-driven software solution to work with:

• Engineering to systematically capture and analyze repair data costs and resolution by asset or components;
• Accounting/Finance to efficiently and accurately assure every asset-related dollar spent is appropriately categorized as expense or capital;
• Real Estate Management to ensure that appropriate accountability for asset-related repair is handled by lessor or lessee as per contracts;
• Construction to capture and adequately maintain assets during warranty transitions;
• Legal to adequately capture and retain necessary documentation related to regulatory or safety inspections efficiently;
• Store Operations to address reactive repair situations with minimal disruption to customer experience in a retail environment;

Be sure you ask the questions above when evaluating new software solutions. At Fexa, we can support all of the above and more to help make sure you deliver measurable value to the business in the form of efficient and effective asset management. Give us a call to learn more!