"By consolidating management and implementing common tools and processes, we have been able to increase our productivity five fold," says Paul Drotar, manager of regional non-manufacturing engineering for Facilities Management.

One Group, One Goal

Under the old organization, GM's facility support services were managed locally. Each location had its own procedures, terms, and documentation. Goals and results were not always unified, and services were not common. Since the consolidation, project management, portfolio planning, and space coordination have all been standardized.

One way the FM organization is able to provide such a unified approach is by supporting single points of contact. Each building has a facility management representative (FMR) who handles all tenant interactions and maintains facility data. The Space Management team serves as the point of contact for internal support services and outside vendors. They also oversee long-range planning, communications, installation, and furniture procurement.

"The FMR acts as landlord for their specific facility. They are responsible for ensuring that all requirements are being met, and they maintain all the data relating to their facility. If one of our tenants has a facility need, they know exactly who to talk to," says Drotar.

Common Processes, Common Tools

The coordinated deployment of information technology is essential to GM's management vision. To facilitate this goal, GM collaborated with Computerized Facilities Integration (CFI) of Southfield, Mich., in the development of the large-scale CAFM system to serve as a central repository for all space data.

The CAFM system allows users to access space information—including floor plans, occupancy details, and a wide variety of graphic reports—through a Web portal on the corporate intranet. After entering their username and password, users are presented with an interactive map showing every structure in GM's domestic portfolio. Users can pan, zoom-in, or select a building by clicking on the map. Relevant facility information is presented in a dashboard-style layout with a list of reports on the left-hand side that can be printed or downloaded in Microsoft Excel format.

"If someone needs facility information they can go online and access it themselves, knowing that they have the most accurate data, without waiting until Monday for someone to get it out of a drawer or off a PC," says Drotar.

At the bottom of the CAFM screen is a maintenance menu that is accessible only to authorized personnel, based on login. The maintenance menu allows FMR staff to update facility data onscreen in real time.

"Only the person who is responsible for a facility can go in and change that building's data. This function increases efficiency and accountability because, if something needs to be corrected, the FMR can go directly into the system and change it," says Mary Findlay, CFI's account manager to GM and the CAFM service center program manager.

The CAFM system is actually the interface for a network of other inter-related systems including a facilities location database which designates a unique numeric identifier for each structure; a database that holds GM's master facility and furniture drawings; and a space information system that tracks office area, tenant occupancy, and space use.

"The system is a powerful planning tool. At a glance, managers can view occupancy details by department or building, and see exactly where space can be compressed," says Findlay.

Integrated Approach Makes Broad Impact

Overall space management across GM has become more efficient as a result of the WFG's unified facilities approach. Since the CAFM system tracks key statistics, such as square footage, it has become the gold source for square footage data throughout GM. Increasingly, staff members from IT, human resources, and other organizations outside the facility management group access the system through the Web to monitor their own space, equipment, and personnel.

"Inevitably, people will try to use data for their own benefit but since we define what the data means, there is no ambiguity," says Drotar.

Mobile Technology Tools

Another way the FM organization leverages technology is by emphasizing the use of handheld devices. Using Dell Pocket PCs, running Microsoft Office with customized software, management representatives can download CAFM information and take it with them.

"We have people walking around every day so PDA units have proven very useful for us. When a management representative finds a space discrepancy, or institutes a facility change, he or she can immediately adjust that information in the field and upload it to the system upon returning to the office," says Drotar.

Handheld units have also proven useful for the FM team's move service center staff.

"With PDAs, our move service center people can walk through a space noting telephone line location, network information, and equipment inventory as they go," says Drotar.

Key Success Factors

There were a number of significant factors that contributed to the success of the initiative. One of the most important, according to Drotar, was establishing consistent terms of communication.

"When consolidating people from different organizations, it is very important that everybody agrees on terminology. There has to be very clear consensus on what constitutes a room or a structure," he says.

Establishing specific maintenance responsibilities as part of ongoing operations is also essential for keeping data systems accurate. During the initial roll out phase, FM staff developed numerous process modeling and integration documents in conjunction with each process that clarify terminology and specify precisely who is responsible for what.

"We also found that it is important for the people who own the facility data to be the ones responsible for maintaining it. The data has more value if they have to go through the pain of obtaining it," says Drotar.

Upper management also issued a "notice of decision" at the outset of the transition that specified the FM team's intent to streamline procedures and implement the CAFM system.

"Basically, the notice of decision announced that we are adopting these systems as an organization, and that this is how we are going to do business in the future. It is a way of saying that this decision is not a groundswell, it is coming from the top down," says Drotar.

Deployment and Scalability

Another critical component to the group's success was having a coordinated long-term deployment plan. It took the FM organization three years to complete system implementation across the continental U.S. As part of the deployment plan, Canadian operations are expected to be integrated by the end of 2004, with Mexico coming online shortly after.

As the North American phase nears completion, the FM team is beginning to face the challenges of rolling out the system globally to its operations in Europe and Asia.

"We are conducting some pilots in Europe, trying to determine how best to integrate their systems and standards. One thing we already know will be an issue is that our space standards are all measured in cost-per-square-foot, while the Europeans use a metric system. So we still have to work out those details," says Drotar.

As the FM program moves forward, other corporate systems will be integrated into the CAFM system, including asset management, asbestos tracking, roof management, and mobile equipment.

"Currently, our system processes an average of 15,000 changes a month for 190 million square feet. Our target once we go global is around 400 million square feet. So, while we have made some great progress, there's still a lot of work to do," says Drotar.

By Johnathon Allen