Struggling to keep everything running seamlessly? It can be a challenge. A facilities manager is always spinning plates. There are usually multiple tasks to do at any one time to make sure the business runs smoothly. You'll be juggling maintaining buildings, managing teams, staying on top of compliance, and ensuring everything operates efficiently. The list is long! It is only natural that there will be some human error, and some tasks will fall through the cracks.
But what can be done? A good place to start is using or getting the most out of Computer-Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) software. It allows facility managers to make informed decisions, reduce costs, track energy consumption and enhance the overall performance of your facility.
But are you getting the most out of your facilities management software? Discover how CAFM systems offer an array of benefits. Make sure you know the key features of CAFM to get the most out of your software. From work orders to inventory management, CAFMs help you stay organised and make data-driven decisions for your facility's success.
Contents
- 1. CAFM Software for Asset Management
- 2. Streamline Work Order Management
- 3. Preventive Maintenance Management
- 4. Space Management
- 5. Reporting and Analytics
- What should multi-site organisations test when comparing CAFM software?
- Where does expansive fit?
- How should you choose the right CAFM software?
1. CAFM Software for Asset Management
As a facilities manager, you are responsible for maintaining a wide range of assets – from HVAC systems and lifts to lighting, plumbing, and other equipment. Keeping track of all these assets manually can be overwhelming, especially if your facility houses numerous assets across different locations. Asset management is one of the most crucial components of facilities management and losing track of one thing can quickly turn into a big problem.
How CAFM Helps:
CAFM software provides a centralised database, which streamlines asset management. CAFM features include:
- Track Asset Lifecycles: You can track how long assets have been in use, when they were last serviced, and when they’re due for repairs, upgrades or replacement.
- Preventive Maintenance: Schedule regular maintenance to avoid costly repairs, extend the life of your equipment and its downtime. CAFM will send reminders, so you never miss a check-up.
- Optimise Asset Usage: You’ll be able to improve asset utilisation by seeing which assets are underused, allowing you to make better decisions about where to allocate resources.
- Stay Compliant: Keeping track of servicing and safety checks means you can stay on top of compliance with safety standards and regulations, and avoid any legal issues down the road.
By using CAFM to manage your assets, you’ll be more efficient and ensure everything in your facility runs smoothly, all from one easy-to-use platform.
2. Streamline Work Order Management
Whether it's fixing routine or urgent repairs, managing and tracking work orders efficiently is a key part of keeping a facility running smoothly and makes up a large part of day-to-day tasks. Whether you use a CAFM, CMMS or spreadsheet, you will do something to track your orders. But if you aren't using a CAFM or a CMMS, they can occasionally get lost, or if they aren't tracked properly, things can get missed through human error. This leads to longer downtimes, confusion, and frustrated teams.
How CAFM Helps:
Work order management is one of the most useful features in CAFM systems. Here’s how it can improve your workflow:
- Automation: CAFM provides automatically generated work orders based on triggers like equipment breakdowns or scheduled inspections. This reduces human error and ensures nothing gets missed.
- Prioritise Tasks: You can set priorities for each task, so your team knows exactly what needs to be tackled first. Urgent tasks will get seen to first, while routine tasks can be scheduled.
- Track Progress: You can easily track where each work order is in the process in real-time. You’ll always know what’s completed and what still needs attention, so no tasks are left unresolved.
- Communication in One Place: Facilities teams can communicate seamlessly through the centralised CAFM platform. This means no more juggling emails or multiple phone calls, which can be time-consuming and information can be missed. With CAFM, all communications about work orders stay in one place, making it easier to collaborate and get things done faster.
This feature can help you speed up response times, reduce mistakes, and keep everything moving smoothly.
Maintenance Compliance Manager in UK, Louis, says,
'Expansive system has significantly enhanced our ability to track and manage maintenance activities, ensuring consistent high standards across the business.'
3. Preventive Maintenance Management
Preventive maintenance (PM) keeps your building and equipment in optimal condition. Regularly scheduled maintenance keeps your equipment running smoothly and catches minor issues before they turn into expensive repairs. Ways CAFM can increase lifespan, improve safety and helps you catch issues before they become major problems.
How CAFM Helps:
With CAFM solutions, you can manage preventive maintenance effortlessly:
- Automatic Reminders: CAFM systems allow you to set automated reminders for scheduled preventive maintenance tasks. This ensures that maintenance tasks are never missed or delayed, even if your team is busy.
- Custom Schedules: Whether it’s monthly, quarterly, or yearly, you can schedule maintenance based on your facility’s needs. Ensuring your assets stay in the best condition.
- Track Maintenance History: You can easily view the maintenance history of each asset, so you know what’s been done and when. It also allows you to identify any reoccurring issues and understand how your assets perform.
- Cost Savings: Catching problems early helps you avoid expensive emergency repairs and reduces the chances of downtime. You can achieve cost saving with CAFMs by using preventative maintenance to help limit the amount of emergency repairs you need to conduct.
By using CAFM to manage preventive maintenance, you’ll save money and ensure your equipment runs smoothly for longer and minimises unplanned repairs.
4. Space Management
Managing the physical space in your facility isn’t just about fitting people into offices – it’s about optimising your building’s layout for maximum efficiency. Workspaces, meeting rooms, or even storage areas, space management keeps things organised and efficient.
How CAFM Helps:
CAFM makes space management a breeze. Here’s how:
- Track Space Usage: You can see how much space is being used and where. This helps you identify underutilised areas that could be better utilised.
- Optimise Layouts: CAFM lets you plan and adjust floor plans, making it easier to accommodate growing teams or reassign rooms when necessary.
- Monitor Occupancy: With space management systems, you can track how often different areas are being used, so you can make more informed decisions about your facility’s layout.
- Ensure Compliance: Whether it’s health and safety regulations or accessibility standards, good CAFM software helps you keep your space compliant with the law.
Efficient space management makes sure you’re using your facility to its fullest potential, and ensures a more organised, comfortable environment for your team.
5. Reporting and Analytics
If you want to make the best decisions for your facility, you need to have the right data at your fingertips. Without it, you’re flying blind. CAFM systems give you the insights you need to manage your facility more effectively.
How CAFM Helps:
With CAFM’s reporting and analytics features, you can gain valuable insights into how your facility is performing:
- Custom Dashboards: Create dashboards that show key metrics like asset performance, work order completion, and maintenance costs.
- Generate Reports: Easily create detailed reports to track expenses, asset usage, and more. These reports help you identify areas for improvement.
- Spot Trends: CAFM allows you to analyse trends over time, such as increasing maintenance costs or recurring asset issues, helping you address problems before they grow.
- Audit Trails: The software also keeps a record of all maintenance activities, which can be essential for compliance and audits.
The reporting and analytics tools is one of the key benefits of CAFM. You can make data-driven decisions, improving efficiency and cutting costs.
What should multi-site organisations test when comparing CAFM software?
Managing multiple locations requires more than the ability to add several buildings to a system. The platform must make it easier to maintain consistent standards while giving individual sites, teams and contractors the access they need.
During a CAFM demonstration, test whether the platform can:
- Organise properties, assets and users into a clear portfolio hierarchy.
- Provide estate-wide reporting alongside site-level detail.
- Apply consistent workflows while accommodating legitimate differences between sites.
- Control permissions for central teams, site users, engineers and contractors.
- Schedule and monitor PPM across the complete estate.
- Maintain compliance records and audit trails for every location.
- Compare contractor performance, costs and SLA results.
- Support mobile working without creating extra administration.
- Consolidate quotes, invoices and maintenance expenditure.
- Add new sites without rebuilding the entire system.
- Migrate existing asset, supplier and maintenance information.
- Integrate with finance and other operational systems.
Ask suppliers to demonstrate these processes using a realistic multi-site scenario. A polished dashboard is useful, but it does not show how easily people will complete the everyday work behind it.
Where does expansive fit?
expansive is designed for multi-site FM teams that need greater control without introducing unnecessary complexity. The platform brings work orders, planned maintenance, assets, contractors, compliance documents, quotes, invoices and reporting together. Mobile tools help site teams, contractors and engineers update work as it happens, giving the central FM team a consistent view across the estate.
Multi-site results include:
- Ultimate Performance saved 2.5 days of administration each week and identified 20% in cost savings through better spend visibility across its 26-site estate.
- Queensway completed mobilisation in eight weeks, achieved 99% contractor uptake and improved SLA compliance by 10%.
expansive is likely to be a strong fit when usability, implementation, contractor adoption and operational visibility are priorities. Organisations primarily looking for advanced lease administration, space optimisation or industrial asset management may need to consider a broader IWMS or EAM platform.
Which CAFM platforms should you compare?
The right shortlist depends on whether your priority is day-to-day facilities control, maintenance execution, complex asset management or wider workplace and property management. Our Best CAFM Software Platforms guide compares expansive with other platforms available to UK facilities teams.
How should you choose the right CAFM software?
The five features covered here provide a useful starting point, but the right CAFM platform is the one that handles your actual workflows across sites, teams and contractors. Test suppliers against realistic tasks, including an overdue PPM, a contractor repair, a quote approval and the retrieval of compliance evidence before an audit. A long feature list is reassuring; watching the system cope with an ordinary Tuesday is considerably more revealing.
Want to learn more about how CAFM can benefit you? Get in touch with us today!