Siemens Facility Management - Case proved
Client: Siemens Facility Management.
Project: Software to manage help desk, facilities, hospitality and room bookings.
Objectives: To streamline processes and to provide accurate information and key strategic data for senior managers to make business critical decisions.
Results: More efficient billing procedures, accurate reporting, increased customer satisfaction, improved staff morale, savings of around £30k per year.
‘The integration of management information systems is one of the most important challenges facing modern organisations,’ according to Gary Watkins of Service Works Global (SWG). ‘When most people are overloaded with information, the idea that they should spend time trying to cut through different sets of data to assess how different aspects of the business relate to each other seems hopelessly outmoded. So it can or should be essential that you can cut through the interpretation of any different sets of data in a way that helps you to make decisions and allow the different parts of the business to communicate on the basis of shared knowledge and shared interests.’
According to Watkins, this presents an exciting opportunity for those involved in the facilities management sector because the application of any such solutions allows them to demonstrate clearly and exactly the impact that facilities management decisions have on the organisation’s bottom line.
The result will be a greater and more strategic role for the facilities manager in future,’ says Gary Watkins. ‘The facilities managers should be able to use the information produced by such systems to make better informed decisions about this crucial area of business practice and also to communicate that information directly with the rest of the organisation in a way that makes sense to everybody.’ This is the guiding principle behind an innovative solution that has evolved from a partnership between SWG and Siemens Facility Management. The new system combines SWG’s QFM software (combining wider FM functionality with help desk and room booking systems) with Siemens’ SAP system, providing accounting information, to create a standard platform for informed reporting and decision making. The application has been extended after an initial trial to be available to users over a web interface.
Graham Jones, Deputy General Manager of Siemens Facility Management outlines the issues that led to the development of the new system: ‘Prior to QFM, the manual monthly performance report meant that we always seemed to have back logs in billing our customers for business services such as hospitality, meeting rooms, goods in and photocopying services. This was a concern because this is a major income stream which enables SFM to cover its costs. We also had a very high level of customer feedback on the need to have more detailed information on invoices. To compound the problem even further our staff were dealing with back logs to complete outstanding billing, resolving queries and the danger was that this would affect our main service provision.’
‘The new system allows us to more closely integrate with the wider business,’ he says. ‘The path we have followed with the implementation of the new process is entirely in line with the Siemens ethos in that it is both innovative and has a clear and measurable business benefit. It benefits the entire organisation and allows us to demonstrate the impact that effective FM practice has on the business and its bottom line.’
The system has been implemented initially at two Siemens sites in Manchester and Bracknell, but is now being rolled out across the UK to a number of smaller sites in a hub and spoke system. At its heart is an integration of QFM with the Siemens SAP Enterprise System. (SAP provides a sophisticated accounting package that is used as a standard source of key strategic data for senior managers to make business-critical decisions and QFM provides a desk and room booking solution, offered to Siemens’s front line employees to enable them access to a menu of options for services including room booking, catering, office services, stationery, reprographics and so on.)
The QFM based solution calculates costs and usage and reports data so that costs and budgets are reported and updated in real time and interrogated on an ongoing basis. The integration of the systems extends the functionality of the CAFM software to the rest of the organisation and builds an important new link between the facilities function and other decision makers.
The integration of these systems not only allows front-line employees the power to make best use of the facilities available but provides a common platform for charging those services and gives key data to decision makers about how both the facilities and associated services are being used. The move away from manual data entry has a number of easily identifiable benefits. It is fast, easy to use, error free and allows far greater control of both users and budgets.
The initial launch of the system has been applied to a total budget of £1.25 million and has already yielded savings in resources of at least one man year and initial cost saving quantified at around £30k per year. Siemens foresees that the main benefits of the system will develop over time as it continues to link the on-the-ground operational demands of the business to strategic decision making.
‘
We’ve only really scratched the surface of this new technology,’ says Graham Jones. ‘We set ourselves achievable objectives, which we’ve met, so the next step is to see how far we can run with this. It is always the case with new systems that you follow a steep learning curve and for us the potential of the new billing system is clear. What is most exciting is the way it has fired the imagination of senior people within the organisation. They’ve always understood the role that facilities play in the business, but now they are better able to quantify what those benefits are and make more informed decisions.’
In summary, the main improvements have been outlined as:
- Immediate billing at source after the delivery of services
- Hotel type statements for greater customer information
- Significant reduction in resource required to complete tasks
- Increased customer satisfaction
- Improved staff morale
- Accurate information
- Streamlined processes
According to Gary Watkins, the partnership with Siemens demonstrates a way ahead for the facilities sector. ‘This highlights a real opportunity for facilities managers to show how they can add unique value by embracing and applying facilities technology to the integration of all the disparate systems within a business and by providing the infrastructure needed for boardroom decisions. Importantly, what used to be a complex process and laborious process, such as interfacing CAFM with SAP systems. This used to take forever and involved somebody making decisions about how data sets related to each other. Now this is really quite easy and can be done instantly and in a way that is accessible to decision makers.’