Managing Savills Australia Property Portfolio

Courtesy of FM Magazine   Page 1     Page 2  

Two years ago Savills Australia, a leading property services company, began a due diligence process to map out their FM solution requirements to effectively manage their property portfolio across Australia. A comprehensive analysis of existing business processes and IT infrastructure, combined with a clear business direction, enabled Savills to begin the evaluation of suitable FM software to meet their growing client base and business needs. The result was the purchase of a comprehensive, yet simple to use, Property Works management system, WSMindustrial - a system designed and developed in Australia by leading FM software developers, FM Innovations.

The catalyst for the change in their facilities management processes came from the evolving demands in the property environment and the need to introduce new management measures to address such issues as sustainability and the ABGR and Green Star ratings of buildings. The introduction of the new Part 12 of the Building Regulations 2006 as well as the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 were key contributors to the managements’ decision to be proactive instead of reactive to change. The implementation of one system that can address all of this in a simple, structured way resulted in a quick and easy adoption across the organization, and consistent accurate reporting across the entire national property portfolio.

Once the decision for change had been approved, the arduous task of assessing the corporate requirements and their priority was undertaken. A rigorous evaluation process of suitable software followed covering both functional and non-functional requirements. Functional requirements examples included workflow processes and their automation, as well as the maintenance history and reporting. Non-functional requirements covered some critical and unique needs such as integration with the Savills Property system; the scalability and capacity management of the system and the need for the system to be adaptable and flexible to fit in with the current business processes and existing systems.

The assessment results where comprehensive, but the key deciders on the investment in WSMindustrial, were:

• The proven seamless interface with MRi;

• A more flexible solution enabling future expansion with other clip on modules such as Property/Lease management, Room Event management, Visitor management, Asset management and the soon to be released Vehicle management.

• FM Innovations has designed the WSMindustrial software specifically for building and facilities management where other systems assessed have been principally designed for industrial / production and/or workshop applications and then been modified to suit the building sector.

• The partnership between the two companies was a key element to the final decision. FM Innovations has always worked very closely with their clients and their products are ever evolving enabling them to work with their specific client future needs as well as keep one step ahead of the general market requirements.

One of these critical evolving requirements for Savills, is the ability to integrate Sustainability Management into their day to day property management. To manage the environmental impacts of both pre-existing and new building stock namely in the areas of energy, fuel, gas, water and waste.

With Green Leasing now a key requirement for many savvy tenants, and with a major push from both government and the concerned public to decrease the colossal carbon footprint in Australia, the management of the environmental impacts from the commercial sector is critical. Savills took the smart route of implementing a Property works management solution which has the flexibility and richness of functionality to address their carbon footprint by simply drawing data from their day to day property management activities and converting the information into a green reporting structure.

Building owners and managers alike, are responsible for the emissions percolating from their buildings. Ultimately, and soon legally, they are accountable and liable. Effective overall environmental management needs to combine the daily works maintenance management (ad hoc & planned maintenance schedules) together with the day to day management of the sustainability impacts of the building in order to be of true value. This is reducing risk as well as deterring liability for both Savills and also their clients.

With FM Innovations in the background keeping the key WSMindustrial base system updated and consistently on the latest technological platforms, Savills are able to extend their product range, either by including new functions in the core system, or by introducing additional functionality to manage specific areas with no disruption to their current system or the management thereof. Smooth integration and instant results.

Courtesy of FM Magazine   Page 1     Page 2  

At FM Innovations we proudly provide solutions to suit your needs.  Please contact us to see how we can help your organisation.

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