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FM Strategic Advisor Newsletter #2

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FM Strategic Advisor Newsletter #2

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0000-00-00 00:00:00

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[FIRSTNAME], you received this newsletter as a Facility / Property Management Professional by signing-up or through association with Michel Theriault or Strategic Advisor. If you don't want to receive future newsletters, use the link at the bottom to unsubscribe.

Facility, Property & Asset Management Consulting

Energy Decision Support Software

We are constantly reviewing current literature, research and new initiatives in addition to working with the industry to share information and develop leading solutions for our clients.

One of our contacts recommended a free software program from Environment Canada. Their RetScreen software can be downloaded and used to analyze energy projects for payback and environmental impacts. It's intended to reduce the cost of pre-feasibility studies and enable Facility and Property Managers to make better decisions with easier technical and financial analysis of potential projects. For more information, go to www.retscreen.net

Key Problems with KPI's

We came across a recent research article in the Journal of Facilities Management in which three key problems with current KPI's were discovered.

The researchers are Qi Zhou Moss & Keith Alexander of the University of Salford, UK and Johanna Alho of the Helsinki University of Technology.

The three key problems with current KPI's are:

They bear no relation to the client's strategic objectives
Each service line had individual performance management systems
KPI's do not help to improve services

The most significant problem, according to the research, is the lack of relation to strategic objectives. Also, using KPI's won't improve services unless you manage performance in addition to measuring it.

This mirrors my own experience and observations. Managing performance - not simply measuring it - is the key focus of my Performance Management seminar and is central to my approach to implementing performance management systems.

New: On-Line Articles

Serving Up Quality
78% of Facility Managers agree that getting the correct level of service is the biggest challenge in their outsourcing initiative, according to IFMA's Research Report #27.

This statistic suggests significant gaps in outsourcing and out-tasking implementation. The most likely reasons for this problem include poorly defined service levels in the contract, a performance issue with the service provider or ineffective management of the relationship.

Regardless of the root cause, the challenge can be solved by defining service levels, implementing performance management and establishing effective contract management.

These three elements should be put in place before implementing a contracting or outsourcing relationship, but you can still implement them with your current service provider or plan them for the next renewal or re-tender. In fact, these techniques can even be applied to in-house services. Click to Read more..

The Stay-Back Team - Making Outsourcing work
Successful outsourcing doesn’t just mean selecting the right service provider; you also need an effective Stay Back Team (SBT) in place.

The SBT is the cornerstone of any outsourcing initiative and is an important link between your corporation’s business and the service provider, not only from the onset of the RFP process and ensuing re-organization when the contract is awarded, but also for ongoing management of the services. Click to Read more.

Recent Blogs from Strategic Advisor

Visibility
I see a trend when talking with senior facility and property professionals about their processes and systems. The trend is a lack of visibility into crucial aspects of their costs and activities. While they have implemented systems and processes for managing their facilities, real visibility is often lacking.

Visibility (in the form of management information, not just data), enables Facility and Property Managers to take the next step towards improving their operations. Few have visibility into key processes, work loading, work order activity, maintenance activity, moves, projects, etc.

This strategic information is used to build business cases with senior management and make strategic decisions about process, resourcing and subcontracts.

The best approach is to decide why you need the information and what decisions you expect to make and then implement processes and systems that get what you need, rather than starting with processes and systems that give you everything else.

A Great PM Expo Seminar!
My seminar on Performance Management at PM Expo in Toronto attracted a diverse crowd, with lots of interest. The audience of government and private sector representatives included both corporate facilities and commercial property management professionals.

None of them use a Performance Management to manage their current service providers, but a number want to introduce it to their suppliers. The fact that few organizations use a formal Performance Management system with suppliers is typical. It has traditionally been used for large scale outsourced services and and industry has been slow to adopt these excellent techniques for out-asked or subconracted services.

For those of you who missed the session, I discuss devloping effective measures, and how to use Performance Management as a tool for managing successful performance, not just to penalize poor performance. After all, when your supplier fails, so do you.

If you are interested in learning more or benefiting from experience to implement your own Performance Management system for suppliers or internal operations, contact us and we can discuss your requirements.

Update your Contract Management
Have you updated your contract management yet? Contract management is moving from legal terms and specifications to an important tool between you and your service provider to ensure success.

I see a lot of old contracts still being used that are difficult to follow, are unclear on deliverables beyond technical specifications, don't provide you the tools you need to effectively manage and administer the contract and more importanlty, don't provide you with information and services that ensure your success.

Many managers still use the old school approach to managing contracts and are failing to benefit from a stronger working relationship that enables the service provider to understand and help achieve the most important goals.

Comments or Suggestions?

Please feel free to contact us with your comments and suggestions or to discuss industry issues.

Sincerely,

Michel Theriault
Principal, Strategic Advisor

About Strategic Advisor
We provide consulting, training and advisory services for Facility and Property Management. We help you get results, reduce costs and improve your team's effectiveness.

Services include:
- FM Assessments
- FM operations strategic plans
- Organizational Design / Improvement
- Performance Management
- Chargeback Implementation
- Managing Transitions
- Contract Docs / Contract Management
- Policies & Procedures Development
- Outsourcing / Contracting decisions
- Training & Education
- Surveys

Visit:www.strategicadvisor.ca
Download:Strategic Advisor Bochure

New:surveyFM.com
Surveys & Polls

We now develop and administer on-line surveys for customer satisfaction or other stakeholder/employee input.

Learn more at www.surveyfm.com

Interested in the results of current public polls and surveys? Scroll to the bottom.

New:FMeducation.ca
Training Workshops

Improve your image and get better results with your communications. Specially designed workshops for FM and PM staff will improve Writing and Presentation skills. Now available.

Learn more at www.fmeducation.ca

Download Brochures:
»Strategic Writing Workshop
» Strategic Presentations Workshop

Resources
Click the links below for FM and PM related resources.
» Magazines
» Associations

Free: FM Assessment Checklist
Take advantage of our free Mini FM Assessment Checklist to assess your operations against best practices:Download » FM Assessment Checklist
On-Line »FM Assessment Checklist

Articles in the Media
A number of magazine articles by Michel Theriault of Strategic Advisor are scheduled to be published in 2008 so far:

• Managing Performance in Critical Facilities
• Procuring and Managing FM Service Providers
• Reducing long term ownership costs at the design/construction phase.

IFMA's 2007 Trends Report

IFMA's 2007 Current Trends report lists "Linking Facility Management to Strategy" as the #1 trend for Facility Managers.

At Strategic Advisor, we agree with this assessment, however the link must be accompanied by management information that enables you to act in support of your company's strategy.

Results: Polls & Surveys

On-Line Mini FM Assessment Checklist Survey:Only54%of the 14 Best Practicesare in use (on average) by FM & PM professionals who responded to the survey.

Do you have a Contract Management system in place?75% of FM & PM professionals don't have a formal system in place to manage their contractors performance.

Poll Results - Pie Charts

Current Polls on SurveyFM:

• Top Priorities for 2008
• Do you use performance Management?
• Satisfied with Suppliers?
• Are you outsourced or in-house?
• Do you use Contract Management process with suppliers?

Please visit www.surveyfm.com and contribute your experience to the polls.

The notion of 'best practices' does not commit people or companies to one inflexible, unchanging practice. Instead, Best Practices is a philosophical approach based around continuous learning and continual improvement.

Source: Wikipedia

surveyFM.com
FMeducation.ca
StrategicAdvisor.ca

Visit our website for more articles & information at www.strategicadvisor.ca

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Strategic Advisor
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Guelph, Ontario N1H 8E8
michel@strategicadvisor.ca