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2015

Facilities Management |
Service Quality Indicators
AUDITING SYSTEMS FOR COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS
IN INDIA
JIGAR CHAVDA
GUIDED BY: PROF. NIMITT KARIA
Master of Habitat Management
CEPT University, Ahmedabad

Facilities Management | Service Quality Indicators

Contents
1.

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................................... 3
What is the thesis about? ......................................................................................................... 3
What is Facilities Management (FM)? ................................................................................ 3
What are FM Service Quality Indicators? ......................................................................... 3
Why an Office Buildings / Commercial Buildings? ....................................................... 3
How will the thesis help in improving the current state of facilities? ................... 4
How will FM service quality indicators help?.................................................................. 4
What is the future scope and benefit of the thesis?....................................................... 4
Current Setting............................................................................................................................. 4

2.

Thesis question: ....................................................................................................................... 5

3.

Objectives: .................................................................................................................................. 5

4.

Scope: ........................................................................................................................................... 5

5.

Research methodology: ........................................................................................................ 6


Literature review: ....................................................................................................................... 6
Data collection: ............................................................................................................................ 6
Data analysis: ................................................................................................................................ 6

6.

Literature Review: .................................................................................................................. 7


What is Facilities Management? ........................................................................................... 7
Need for facilities management ........................................................................................ 8
Key components of facilities management ................................................................... 9
Benchmarking and KPIs in facilities management ..................................................... 11
Benchmarking:....................................................................................................................... 11
Types of benchmarking....................................................................................................... 12
KPIs............................................................................................................................................. 12
What is a Balanced Scorecard? ........................................................................................... 14
What is a building rating system? How is it useful? What does it do? ................ 15
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Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method
(BREEAM) ................................................................................................................................ 15
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) .................................. 16
DQI- Design Quality Indicators ....................................................................................... 16

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1. INTRODUCTION
If one has to understand the thesis one must know what the basic aims and objectives are. One
must also know what the thought that lead to the thesis was and how the research will
help/improve the existing case of the thesis. In order to do so the following answers to the
questions will give a brief overview to the document.

What is the thesis about?


The thesis focuses on making the process of
buying an office space effortless for the consumer,
by developing a rating system based on the service
quality indicators for these buildings. It focuses
on Facilities Management and the quality of
facilities in the commercial buildings.

What is Facilities Management (FM)?


Facilities management is a support system to all the activities related to the process of
designing, managing and operationalizing of buildings. It looks to integrate all the activities
and processes to achieve optimum results in terms of building design and building
functionality. FM deals with the management of services in buildings and enhances the life of
the buildings.

What are FM Service Quality Indicators?


FM service quality indicators can are the parameters that define the services and the quality
of services in a building. The indicators also act as metrics for benchmarking facilities in
buildings. FM Service quality indicators are a tool to measure the performance and design of
buildings in terms of service delivery.

Why an Office Buildings / Commercial Buildings?


A commercial building can be defined as a building that houses the commercial activity in
terms of offices, retail and warehouses. These are the spaces that house the commercial sector.
The place of work to be more specific. The service sector in India contributes to around 57%
of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) with an annual growth rate of 9%. CITE. An average
Indian spends approximately 8.1 hours a day in the office which sums up to 2080 hours a year.
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This shows the importance of the office space and the need to manage it. The quality of space
also affects the performance of an individual, better quality of space will lead to an efficient
and productive environment.

How will the thesis help in improving the current state of facilities?
The ratings will give the facilities managers and builders insights on how the building is
currently performing in terms of service delivery. It will also give clues on where the services
need to be improved.

How will FM service quality indicators help?


The indicators will help in analysing the quality of the facilities provided in buildings and will
also help in mappings areas for improvement in these buildings. Better service delivery means
better quality of space when it comes to buildings.

What is the future scope and benefit of the thesis?


The scope of the thesis is to further develop a data base holding all the data of the buildings
based on the ratings that are developed. It will also help the builders and facilities managers
in revisiting the buildings for services and conduct reviews of their facilities to maintain the
quality standards. It will provide a single platform where one can review properties and also
see where ones current facility stands in the market.

Current Setting
As the urban areas grow, the complexity and scale of the buildings that house people in these
areas also grows. To keep these complex habitats running sustainably the management of the
facilities is necessary. Facilities management has over the years become an important field as
it involves guiding and managing the operations and maintenance of buildings, precincts and
community infrastructure on behalf of the property owners.
India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and with growing economy comes
urbanization. Urban areas are driven by the commercial activity vis-a-vis the rural where
agriculture is dominant.
The growth in the office space and the creation of more integrated facilities and campuses has
created growth opportunities for more organized players. The market for facilities
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management has grown with the IT revolutions. International players have also entered the
Indian market to tap in on the growing opportunities. As per the latest industry estimate the
market size for the facilities management services is close to 80 billion and has an
employment potential of 5 million people.
Commercial buildings are complex in nature when it comes to services, these are managed by
facilities managers. The quality of facilities management services must be measured and the
end user must be involved in order to improve the service quality.
Facilities management service quality indicators facilitate the manager in understanding the
level of service efficiency and the satisfaction level of the end user.

2. Thesis question:
What are the facilities management service quality indicators in commercial
buildings?

3. Objectives:

To understand the core concepts and benchmarks of service quality for facilities
management.

To understand and analyse the evaluating criteria for commercial buildings by the end
user.

To develop a rating system which will enable the facility managers to understand and
satisfy the needs of the end user.

4. Scope:

The thesis will present a brief description of what facilities management is and how ne
can define it.

It will also give a brief of what are the basic components of FM and how they are
benchmarked by making use of the service quality indicators.

It will also look at the current setting of the FM in India and how the service in India
qualify taking into consideration the global benchmarks.

It will develop benchmarks for a rating system for commercial buildings based on the
study of global benchmarks and research based in the local setting.

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5. Research methodology:
Define Question

Literature
Review

Case Studies

Conduct
Interviews

Conduct
Surveys

Identify
Stakeholders

Identify Sample
Size

Questionnaire
based on KPIs

Collect Data

Data Analysis

Prepare Rating
System

Literature review:
Qualitative study involving fundamental investigation of objective will be carried out in a
systematic manner from primary data, published research papers, international journals, and
standard books.

Data collection:
The primary data will be collected in the form of questionnaires and interviews from the users
of the commercial buildings in the context of Ahmedabad.
The interviews will focus on understanding the evaluating criteria of the end user for these
commercial buildings.
The questionnaires will be designed in order to focus on understanding the facilities
management service quality in commercial buildings and satisfaction level of the end users.

Data analysis:
Primary data collected will be analysed in line with the literature review outcome, both
quantitatively and qualitatively so as to reach the research objective.
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6. Literature Review:
The following text is a gist of the literature read in order to understand the core concepts of
facilities management. It will describe benchmarking and the concept of FM service quality
indicators on the basis of key performance indicators that are listed by the International
Facilities Management Association (IFMA) for buildings.
Further it will also describe a commercial space and the meaning of a commercial space in the
context of the research.
It will focus on case study of the design quality indicators which was developed to rate
buildings to help in understanding how a building is rated and what is the benefit of doing so.

What is Facilities Management?


To build an understanding about what facilities management is one must understand the
evolution of its definition over time as the profession evolves with the technological
advancement and the complexity in the building services. Following are some definitions given
by different authors over time about facilities management:
Author

Definition

Becker (1990)

Facilities management is responsible for co-ordinating all


efforts related to planning, designing and managing buildings
and their systems, equipment and furniture to enhance the
organisation's ability to compete successfully in a rapidly
changing world

Nourse (1990)

Facilities management unit is seldom aware of the overall


corporate strategic planning, and does not have a bottom-line
emphasis

NHS Estates (1996)

The practise of co-ordinating the physical workplace with the


people and work of an organisation; integrates the principles of
business administration, architecture, and the behavioural and
engineering science

Alexander (1999)

The scope of the discipline covers all aspects of property, space,


environmental control, health and safety, and support services

Then (1999)

The practice of facilities management is concerned with the


delivery of the enabling workplace environment the optimum
functional space that supports the business processes and
human resources

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Hinks

And

(1999)

Mcnay Common interpretations of the facilities management remit:


maintenance

management;

space

management

and

accommodation standards; project management for new-build


and alterations; the general premises management of the
building stock; and the administration of associated support
services
Varcoe (2000)

A focus on the management and delivery of the business


``outputs'' of both these entities [the real estate and
construction industry]; namely the productive use of building
assets as workplaces

Nutt (2000)

The primary function of facilities management is resource


management, at strategic and operational levels of support.
Generic types of resource management central to the facilities
management function are the management of financial
resources, physical resources, human resources, and the
management of resources of information and knowledge

The earlier definitions highlight that facilities management is only concerned with the
hardware that is the buildings, equipment and furniture but later definitions also give an
emphasis on the software such as process, people, environment, health and safety as the part
of facilities management. Further some definitions also mention the life cycle of the building,
financing, space planning and operations as part of facilities management which further
broadens the scope of the field, and makes it a major support system for all the activities that
enhance the working of the built environment.
A more recent definition of facilities management is given by the international facilities
management association on its website, the definition is as follows:
Facilities management is a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure
functionality of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology
(international facility management association, 2014).
For the purpose of the thesis the above definition holds true as it is derived from the current
setting of facilities management.

Need for facilities management


All buildings that are designed have a certain life expectancy. As the building is occupied it
demands maintenance and management, these aspects of the post occupancy of the buildings
are often overlooked which ultimately results in shortening the life of the building and often
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degrading the quality of the space that is meant to serve. Facilities management has its major
focus on the life cycle of the buildings and has its focus set on the post occupancy services of
these buildings. The formal practice of facilities management is a new phenomenon and hence,
subject to misunderstandings and speculations. However facilities management is a discipline
that has evolved out of practice over time. Facilities management is the integration of 3 key
activities:

Property management (real estate) this includes strategic activities like designing,
planning and refurbishments.

Property operations and maintenance this consists of operational activities like


cleaning, maintenance, mowing, etc.

Office administration - this focuses on tactical activities like catering, M&E, etc.
(kincaid, 1994)

Facilities management involves strategic planning that optimizes the value and costs of the
facilities. The environment that the facilities provide to the employees, processes and systems
has a large impact on productivity. Facilities management provides strategic direction and
development or guidance to achieve the desired results. Facilities management navigates the
requirements and mitigates the risks. Facilities management also reduces the load on the
resources used to manage a facility.

Key components of facilities management


Property Management (Design Briefing Stage)

Strategic Property Management

Real Estate acquisition, Disposal and control

Lease Management

Risk Management

Governmental relations

Financial Data Management

Facilities Planning (Design and Construction Stage)

Strategic Facilities Planning

Building Design and Construction

Space Planning, Utilization, Allocation and construction


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Interior Design

Energy Management Planning

Telecommunications and networking coordination

Cost Controls and Data Management

Facilities Operations and Maintenance (Occupancy Stage)

Maintenance Management

Utility Operations

Facility Maintenance

Condition Assessment

Major Maintenance and Renovation

Grounds Maintenance

Life Safety Systems

Energy management operations

Material control

Transportation and vehicle maintenance

General Services

Facilities Support Systems

Security

Telecommunications

Transportation and parking

Mail Services

The areas of work of a Facilities Manager, include the following core competencies

CommunicationCommunication plans and processes for both internal and


external stakeholders

Emergency Preparedness and Business ContinuityEmergency and risk


management plans and procedures
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Environmental Stewardship and SustainabilitySustainable management of built


and natural environments

Finance & BusinessStrategic plans, budgets, financial analyses, procurement

Human FactorsHealthful and save environment, security, FM employee


development

Leadership and StrategyStrategic planning, organize, staff and lead organization

Operations and MaintenanceBuilding operations and maintenance, occupant


services

Project ManagementOversight and management of all projects and related


contracts

QualityBest practices, process improvements, audits and measurements

Real Estate and Property ManagementReal estate planning, acquisition and


disposition

TechnologyFacility management technology, workplace management systems

Professional FM is needed to plan, maintain and manage these facilities. It is part of the drive
to meet the higher demands of organizations and individuals. Whether as employees,
customers, students or patients, people have higher expectations of their living, working and
leisure environments. As, good facilities management can deliver flexibility, adaptability and
sustainability. It can help organizations respond to cost pressures or the need for greater
security.

Benchmarking and KPIs in facilities management


Benchmarking:
"A standard by which a metric can be measured or judged." Thus, benchmarking is the
determination of benchmarks that are appropriate to a given situation in order to generate
knowledge and information to evaluate to the original metrics.
Benchmarks are goals to aim for. Other names for benchmarks include best practices and
exemplary practices. Businesses choose benchmarks based on standards within their industry.
For instance, you might look to peak performers in your industry and set their performance
levels in areas such as manufacturing or marketing as your benchmarks -- the levels you will
strive to reach.

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Types of benchmarking
Generally, three different types of the benchmarking, which influence its contents and course,
are distinguished:

Strategic benchmarking looks for the best strategies and their prerequisites. It is a tool
to the determination and orientation of future key competences by describing and
assessing different interdependent tendencies and processes of finances, customers,
competitively or capacity for learning and developing,

Process benchmarking compares similar processes with the aim of process


optimization, performance characteristics benchmarking compares services or
products with the aim of recognizing performance gaps.

Another distinction is made on the basis of the investigation area:

Internal benchmarking - comparison between similar areas within an organization,

External benchmarking - comparison of benchmarking partners belonging to the same


trade/industry but also the external ones.

KPIs
Key performance indicators are specific measurements used to gauge performance. They're a
way to precisely measure performance. Like benchmarks, performance indicators can be
goals, but they're more like steps on the way to the larger goal. You also can think of key
performance indicators as a way to measure your progress toward the benchmark goal and to
gauge how close you are to reaching that goal.
The table below lists the 9 areas defined by the IFMA for KPIs.
1. Description of

2. Sizes and uses of

Facilities

facilities

Industries

represented

Facility use,
Hours of operation

No. of occupants

Location of facility

Vacancy rates

Space allocation

area, Usable area

Ownership

Gross area, Rentable

3. Office space planning

Square footage per

policies

Office type and size

occupant

Building efficiency
rates

Workstation
utilization rates

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Office space per


worker

4. Relocation and
Churn

Organizational
moves

Cost of moves

Churn rate

Support area

5. Maintenance,
Janitorial and Indirect
Costs

Maintenance costs

By age of facility

Percentage of

6. Utility costs

Utility costs

Utility usage

replacement cost

Repair vs. preventive


maintenance

Outsourcing of
maintenance function

Janitorial costs,
Indirect costs

7. Environmental and

8. Support and Project

life safety costs

costs

9. Financial Indicators

Replacement value of

Environmental costs

Security costs

Life-safety costs

Project costs

Lease type and cost

Space planning costs

Cost of operations

Employee amenities

Cost of providing the

facility

costs

fixed asset

Occupancy cost

Financial ratios

Total annual facility


costs

As KPIs are used as metrics to measure performance they can be used to both enhance the
internal performance of the building management and also as a tool to benchmark externally
with the best practises around.

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The difference though is as follows:

KPIs for collective benchmarking

KPIs for individual organisations

No limit to the number used

Shouldnt have too many

Individual KPIs dont need to be relevant to

All KPIs need to be relevant

all participants
Need absolutely specific definition

Not quite so critical

Reasonable approximations are acceptable

Reasonable approximations may be


acceptable

Must be structured to accommodate size

Not needed for internal comparisons

differences in participating organisations


Mentioning targets is inappropriate

Setting targets can be beneficial

Based on the KPIs one can develop a balanced scorecard to access the performance of the
facility.

What is a Balanced Scorecard?


In the early 1990s, Robert Kaplan and David Norton developed a new approach to strategic
management. Based on the premise that intangible, or knowledge-based, assets employees,
volunteers, information technology, image are increasingly important to organizational
success, the balanced scorecard not only measures financial outcomes, but also balances the
fiscal element with employee, business process and customer perspectives.
The balanced scorecard provides a method for aligning business activities to organizational
strategy. An organization's vision and mission statement are translated into specific and
calculable goals, and a set of performance measures is established to monitor the
organization's success in achieving those goals.

The vision is translated into operational goals and linked to departmental and
individual performance

A plan for business processes is outlined

The strategy is modified based on feedback

The balanced scorecard process involves viewing the organization from four perspectives,
developing measurements to gauge performance and analysing data relative to each
perspective:

The stakeholder perspective measures directly impacting customers and customer


satisfaction

The internal perspective measures reflecting performance of key business processes


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The learning and growth perspective measures reflecting the organization's


learning curve

The financial perspective measures reflecting financial performance

The four perspectives of the scorecard allow for a balance between:

Short- and long-term objectives

Outcomes desired and the drivers of those outcomes

Objective and subjective measures

In a perfect planning cycle, the balanced scorecard is derived from the organization's strategic
plan, the strategy map is derived from the balanced scorecard and the operating budget stems
from all three.
For the purpose of the thesis the balanced scorecard can be used for gauging the internal
performance of the facility and stakeholder perspectives. Further the card can be designed in
order to rate the building for user satisfaction and service quality.

What is a building rating system? How is it useful? What does it do?


Over the years several ratings have been developed by different organisations for buildings
and their performance. Following are a few rating systems that are followed around the world:

Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method


(BREEAM)
BREEAM is by far the oldest building assessment system. Developed in 1988 by the Building
Research Establishment (BRE), the national building research organization of the UK, it was
initially created to help transform the construction of office buildings to high performance
standards.
BREEAM has been adopted in Canada, and several European and Asian countries (Kibert,
2003). BREEAM assesses the performance of buildings in the following areas:

management: overall management policy, commissioning site management and


procedural issues

energy use: operational energy and carbon dioxide (CO2) issues

health and well-being: indoor and external issues affecting health and well-being

pollution: air and water pollution issues


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transport: transport-related CO2 and location-related factors

land use: greenfield and brownfield sites

ecology: ecological value, conservation and enhancement of the site

materials: environmental implication of building materials, including life-cycle


impacts

water: consumption and water efficiency

BREEAM has two categories; for design & procurement assessment at the beginning of the
design process and management & operation assessment after it is in use.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)


In North America, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) developed the LEED rating
system with a market driven strategy to accelerate the adoption of green building practices.
The LEED rating system has gained a lot of momentum since Version 2.0 was released in
March 2000. As of August 2004, about 1,450 projects have been registered for LEED
certification.
LEED is structured with seven prerequisites and a maximum of 69 points divided into six
major categories which are listed below.

Sustainable Sites

Water Efficiency

Energy and Atmosphere

Materials and Resources

Indoor Environmental Quality

Innovation and Design Process.

LEED is still only used at the end of the construction process or design process for
rehabilitation projects.
Apart from the above 2 rating systems a building assessment system was designed to
document, rate and improve the quality of the buildings. The following is a Case Study of the
same.

DQI- Design Quality Indicators


The Design Quality Indicator (DQI) is a toolkit to measure, evaluate and improve the
design quality of buildings.
Development of DQI was started by the Construction Industry Council in 1999 and the toolkit
was launched as an online resource for the UK construction industry on 1 October 2003. In
2004 the DQI received recognition from the British Institute of Facilities Management for the
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role of involving users in the design process. The DQI tool was made available to users in the
United States in 2006, and an online American version was launched on 20 October 2008.
Framework for DQI
DQI applies a structured approach to assess design quality based on the model by the architect
Vitruvius, the Roman author of the earliest surviving theoretical treatise on building in
Western culture, who described design in terms of utilitas, firmitas and venustas, often
translated as commodity, firmness and delight. DQI uses a modern day interpretation of these
terms as:

Functionality (utilitas) the arrangement, quality and interrelationship of spaces and


how the building is designed to be useful to all.

Build Quality (firmitas) the engineering performance of the building, which includes
structural stability and the integration, safety and robustness of the systems, finishes
and fittings.

Impact (venustas) the buildings ability to create a sense of place and have a positive
effect on the local community and environment.

What is it for?
It has been developed to help all built environment stakeholders gain more value from the
design of buildings, and to assist in improving the quality of buildings.
Who is it for?
A non-technical device, the DQI can be used by all stakeholders involved in the production
and use of buildings, including public and private clients, developers, financiers, design firms,
contractors, building managers and occupants.
When can it be used?
The DQI questionnaire encompasses questions which are relevant at any stage in the
development of a building and the tool can be revisited and re-used throughout the life of the
project. Ideally the DQI is used at every key stage of the development; it can also be used
repeatedly at a particular stage. There are four versions of the tool and DQI Online
automatically adjusts the questions displayed so they are relevant to the particular phase of
the project that is being assessed.

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