Facilities Management Software is a tool designed to help optimise your building tasks and duties. It enables multi-site facility managers to plan and schedule maintenance strategies. Along with maximising the management of plant assets such as buildings, office equipment, and machinery.
Computer-Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) Software is used in multiple workplace environments including offices, commercial buildings, and real estate properties. It helps to automate maintenance tasks, optimise space management, improve security, and maintain equipment such as HVAC systems. All of which help to create a productive and safe working environment for your occupants.
What Is Facilities Management Software?
Facilities Management Software enables you to track, manage, and analyse your facility operations data in one place. That includes tasks such as maintenance, building layouts, occupant safety, and space management. A CAFM system allows you to automate tasks that would normally be carried out on spreadsheets and whiteboards. This provides several benefits, such as:
- Managing and tracking assets as they move between buildings
- Reducing downtime of equipment with planned preventive maintenance (PPM)
- Reducing reactive maintenance costs with effective planning and scheduling
- Streamlining work order processes such as outsourcing repairs
- Ensuring the health, safety, and well-being of a building’s occupants
- Integrating with design and modelling systems such as CAD and BIM
- Improving workplace management through space and move management
- Recording drawings and information regarding room layouts and usage
Facilities Management Software can be categorised alongside other management solutions such as a CMMS and Asset Management Software. As well as an Integrated Workplace Management System (IWNS) and Building Management Software. But a CAFM system provides several capabilities, meaning it can be utilised to perform multiple tasks and duties. This encourages property owners to save money on their software investments whilst also delivering the best possible workplace experience for occupants, in one single platform.
CAFM Software is used to automate the majority of your processes, which can be separated into two groups; hard FM services and soft FM services.
What Are Hard FM Services?
Hard services are physical parts of a property. These parts cannot be removed for the sake of the safety of the building’s occupants. Hard FM services include:
- The maintenance of HVAC systems, elevators, lighting, and plumbing
- The structural maintenance of a building and its grounds
- Ensuring fire safety systems are regularly tested and in working condition
- Responding to work orders and service requests
What Are Soft FM Services?
Soft services impact the workplace as a whole. Making the working environment a more pleasant and secure place for occupants. Soft FM services are more comprehensive and complex when compared to hard services. They include:
- Having a clear dialogue between departments
- Ensuring office spaces, common rooms, toilets, and windows are cleaned
- Calculating ROI values for plant assets
- Providing security with CCTV and RFID entrances
- Ensuring proper waste management and recycling practices
- Providing regular catering services

What Does CAFM Stand For?
CAFM is short for Computer-Aided Facilities Management. It is essentially the action of performing facilities management with the support of IT tools. These include automated technology such as IoT (Internet of Things) devices. As well as Facilities Management Software. CAFM is used by facility managers to assist them with the planning of facilities management tasks. With the objective being to streamline workflow and improve workplace efficiency. A leading industry that is embracing the use of CAFM is manufacturing. 47% of manufacturers are placing a greater emphasis on the use of IoT devices within facilities.
The Best Features of Facilities Management Software
Managing a facility consists of several processes, which can become overwhelming when done manually. Processes can include keeping a building secure, maintaining the landscape and parking areas, providing catering to staff, and tracking equipment. But, CAFM Software provides the features to both automate and keep on top of your many duties.
Preventive Maintenance Planning & Scheduling
Facilities Management Software allows building owners to enhance their maintenance tasks. Most notably, facility managers can plan and schedule preventive maintenance. Preventive maintenance strategies can considerably reduce repair and breakdown costs. As well as help avoid downtime of plant assets. In particular, equipment that promotes a good workplace environment. Such as HVAC systems, elevators, and waste systems.
CAFM tools enable businesses to record all maintenance data both past and present. Helping them to schedule mandatory inspections, either by in-house or outsourced technicians. Meaning they can get ahead of potential equipment breakdowns before they happen.
Work Order Management
A facility manager can receive multiple work orders and service requests in a single day. Particularly those who are responsible for multi-site facilities. Facilities Management Software provides the tools to store all requests in one place. Meaning managers can identify, action, and track work orders in one centralised dashboard. This allows businesses to quickly address requests without disrupting the management of a building. A capable work order management tool helps to:
- Track maintenance progress
- Identify open work orders
- Receive real-time status updates
- Track asset downtime
- Create scheduled and non-scheduled work orders
- Quickly assign and outsource work orders to contractors
Equipment Management & Tracking
A built environment is packed full of various plant assets, including equipment. Equipment comes in the form of fixtures, furniture, machinery, and appliances. Including HVAC systems, computers, and fire extinguishers. Ensuring equipment is properly managed and accounted for is essential. Helping to rescue costs and increase workplace productivity in the long term.
Facilities Management Software can be integrated with equipment tracking technology. Including Barcodes, RFID tags, GRPS trackers, and mobile devices. Each helps to build a real-time location system (RTLS). An RTLS lets building owners know where equipment is and who it is being used by. Allowing them to allocate assets to the right rooms and spaces. As well as plan maintenance schedules and reduce replacement costs.
Building Space Management & Room Scheduling
Effectively managing facility space requires multiple actions and data collecting. Including occupancy tracking, room scheduling, and space management. With Facilities Management Software, data is stored in one accessible system. Allowing building managers to organise, plan, and supervise physical spaces within a built environment. Making space management tools particularly handy for real-estate and commercial properties. Such as office workplaces and self-storage facilities.
Having space management data in one place allows businesses to better utilise space. Meaning large spaces don’t go unused, resulting in reduced costs. CAFM tools also provide an easy way to identify floor layouts for occupants and equipment. Allowing facility managers to see when a room is over-occupied or underutilized.
Contractor Sourcing With Facilities Management Software
CAFM Software enables businesses to store and access various data regarding contractors. This is particularly handy when it comes to outsourcing building work. Such as landscaping, pest control, maintenance, and security. A sophisticated system will show facility managers how qualified a contractor is. As well as insurance and job history information. Helping them to outsource work to the most time and cost-efficient personnel.
Workplace Safety and Well-Being
Health and well-being are essential for increasing efficiency and productivity in a building. Particularly commercial properties such as offices. By collecting data, businesses can understand the effect a building has on an occupant’s well-being. Factors include air quality, temperature comfort, and lighting levels. As well as access to nature, landscaping, catering and waste management.
Energy Management
A benefit of collecting facility data is being able to identify energy usage. A building will generate copious amounts of energy during its lifetime. Not monitoring energy levels can result in high bills. With Facilities Management Software, property owners can study energy patterns. Whilst also looking for opportunities to reduce energy usage and costs.
What Are the Benefits of Using Facilities Management Software?
The capabilities of Facilities Management Software allow businesses to improve operations. Including maximising maintenance management and improving space utilisation. By collecting and analysing data in a central system, businesses can benefit from a CAFM tool. Benefits of using a facilities management solution include:
Improved Workflow of Maintenance
Having a centralised CAFM system improves workflow and communication. Better workflow management enhances dialogue between maintenance personnel. Including maintenance teams, departments, and building owners. Essentially allowing processes to run smoother and quicker. Working from a shared dashboard, facility managers can monitor maintenance plans. As well as track downtime and receive real-time status updates.
Reducing Ongoing Facility Costs
Facilities Management Software makes it easy to track and record spending. It can produce reports that identify what resources are having the biggest impact on a budget. Whether it is energy bills, ground maintenance, or outsourcing contractors. In 2018 energy expenses averaged $0.06 per square foot for industrial buildings.
Tracking Equipment in Real-Time With Facilities Management Software
CAFM Software lets businesses utilise tracking technologies to collect real-time data. These include IoT devices such as RFID tags, GPS trackers, and Bluetooth receivers. A management system stores data such as usage, location, and maintenance plans. Allowing facility managers to know what equipment needs repairing or replacing.
Collecting Room Layout and Space Data
CAFM tools provide a single dashboard that stores all accessible data. Including data regarding occupants, physical spaces, and room layouts. Information can also be collected on floor specifications, such as square footage. Allowing facility managers to better utilise and plan space management. This data can also be used in collaboration with design tools such as CAD and BIM systems.
Improving Inventory Management and Purchasing
Facility managers can manage a building’s inventory levels in real-time. Helping to reduce downtime and affect occupant productivity. Having a detailed approach to inventory management also helps to plan budgets. By knowing when equipment will come to the end of its life cycle and need replacing. CAFM Software also allows for automated ordering systems to be built. Improving a building’s re-stocking process for critical assets.
Using Maintenance Plans to Prolong Equipment Use
Facilities Management Software allows businesses to track the life cycle of building assets. This helps to build preventive maintenance schedules. As well as alerting maintenance teams to asset repairs, helping to avoid unplanned downtime. A benefit of having a preventative maintenance strategy is to reduce downtime. Equipment downtime costs facilities between 5% and 20% of their productive capacity.
Why Facility Managers Need CAFM Software to Maximise Responsibility
Managing a facility requires you to perform several different tasks and duties. Using manual methods or outdated systems can pose multiple risks, which is why Facilities Management Software is essential for facility managers. Using tools such as CAFM software enables users to plan strategically and manage resources most cost-effectively.
The objectives of a facility manager differ depending on the type of property. Whether that be retail stores, warehouses, storage buildings, schools, or office space. In 2019, 73% of employees said well-managed office spaces helped them perform better. While 46% said environmental factors mattered most to them.
A shared goal between building owners is to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of occupants. Especially as 87% of people spend their time inside buildings. Facilities Management Software allows businesses to concentrate on occupant well-being by:
- Utilising physical space on floors and in rooms
- Scheduling regular landscaping, cleaning, and catering services
- Reducing downtime and unavailability of plant assets
- Ensuring equipment is kept in working order with routine maintenance
With a facility management tool at their disposal, facility managers can:
Increase Workplace Efficiency
Storing and accessing real-time data allows facility managers to review how they can best use a building’s resources. This speeds up the move management process and reduces any potential interruption in the workplace. It also enables them to be more effective when delegating tasks to teams or third-party contractors.
Improve Strategic Processes
Whether proactive, preventative, or reactive, a CAFM system supports the use of multiple maintenance strategies. With proactive maintenance helping to reduce maintenance bills by up to 70%, it’s worth considering how software could improve overall ROI.
Provide Agility and Accessibility
A cloud-based facilities management solution allows you to manage data from remote locations using mobile devices. It provides agility while protecting data when accessing important data such as occupant details, contract terms, or statistical analysis.
How to Find and Compare the Best Facilities Management Software
Whilst most Facilities Management Software can appear the same, there are variations. One vendor may focus more on mobile access for facility managers. Whereas another may provide more tools needed for maintenance management. These differences make it important for businesses to know what they want from a CAFM tool.
When it comes to finding the best Facilities Management Software, there are four steps to take. This is called the evaluation and comparison stage. The steps include:
- Drafting a definitive list of features, requirements, and KPIs
- Shortlisting vendors that match the list of requirements
- Listing the functions that each vendor supplies
- Noting what each vendor offers (free trials, training support, prices, etc.)
When it comes to comparing each CAFM vendor, there are a few points to keep in mind:
Actively Seek Out a Free Trial or Live Demonstration
Free trials and live demonstrations can be extremely handy for building owners. They can make the difference between choosing vendor ‘A’ over vendor ‘B’. Usually, an online demo will be the first interaction with a product. It may also be accompanied by a salesperson willing to answer questions. Businesses can use a free trial to highlight a product’s strengths and weaknesses. Helping to understand if the product will help them meet their facilities management objectives.
Consider All Key Areas of Facilities Management Software
When searching for CAFM Software, facility managers must consider all variables. Key areas to consider include:
- A clear user interface that is easy to navigate
- Essential maintenance and management features
- Support team contact information
- Training in the form of video tutorials or web-based classes
- A vendor’s prior experience in the same industry
- GDPR compliance with occupant and personnel data
Cross-Check Each Product With Requirements
A facility manager needs to be sure that a CAFM product will match their initial requirements. This can be done by cross-checking each requirement. As well as asking questions, such as:
- Can the product provide the right features to improve workflow and communication?
- Does it offer the right reporting tools to track and reduce ongoing costs?
- Will it provide a notification-style system that alerts staff to work orders?
- Can the system migrate occupant, equipment, and maintenance data?
- Can it work with IoT-enabled devices, such as GPS trackers and smart heating systems, to provide real-time data?
- Is it a cloud-based solution that allows personnel to access specific data via a mobile device?
Enquire About Prices, Plans, and Hidden Costs
For a greater return on investment, a product shouldn’t cost a business more than it can provide. A facility manager should seek out pricing plans for each CAFM product. As well as highlighting extra fees for data storage limits and implementation.
How to Deploy Facilities Management Software In the Workplace
Once the right CAFM Software has been identified, the next step is deployment. At this stage, a facility manager will need all decision-makers and stakeholders on board. As well as considering the needs of staff, teams, and occupants. For good measure, a product should be checked against questions such as:
- Is it easy to use?
- Will employees need to be trained?
- If training is required, will it be provided and how long will it take?
- Should employees be familiar with hardware that is included in the system?
- Will there be specific functions for each department and team?
When detailing an integration plan, facility managers should consider several key points. Including:
Timescales for Deploying Facilities Management Software
Deploying Facilities Management Software can be a lengthy process. It requires data to be migrated, employees to be trained, and systems to be updated. Timescales can be extended if it is being deployed across multiple buildings. Facility managers also need to factor in time for any challenges they face.
Employee Training
Training can be time-consuming, but it’s an important part of deploying a new CAFM tool. To ensure a business is getting the most from its product, all staff need to know how to use it. This not only requires time but can also be an extra expense.
Integrating Other Systems
Most Facilities Management Software can be integrated with other tools. These include design systems such as CAD and BIM. As well as email programs, calendars, and data storage. Integrating a new system can provide various challenges to facility managers. Including time constraints and further employee training
Migrating Existing Facilities Management Software and Occupant Data
A building owner already has copious amounts of facility management data to hand. Whether that be floor plans, occupant data, or contractor information. Migrating this data to a new system can be time-consuming. Especially if existing data has been stored in files, on spreadsheets, or in note pads.