Facility Management glossary of terms

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

AAHSA:

American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging

AAMC:

Teaching Hospitals by Geography

AHA:

American Hospital Association

AHA:

AHA Regional and Local Hospital Listings

AHCA:

American Healthcare Association

AI:

Artificial Intelligence

AIA/ AAH:

Academy of Architecture for Health

ASHE:

American Society for Healthcare Engineering

Asset Utilization:

Percentage of time a plant is operating at Maximum Demonstrated Production Rate, with perfect quality and defined yield. This is often used as a metric for CMMS implementations.

Average:

Also referred to as the mean ? the sum or total of all responses divided by the number of respondents.

Balanced Scorecard:

A management system that is based on viewing the organization from multiple perspectives. The Balanced Scorecard is a top-down method of translating an organization’s mission and strategy into tangible linkages, interrelationships, specific activities, and measures necessary for success. A good balanced scorecard may take into consideration employee satisfaction, cost metrics, productivity metrics, etc.

BAS:

Building Automation System

Benchmarking:

A process for measuring “best practice” performance and comparing the results to corporate performance in order to identify opportunities for improvement. The comparison to “best practice,” often called a GAP analysis, leads to a prioritized array of optimizing changes directed to gaining “best practice” levels of effectiveness. We often compare our client's facilities to IFMA or BOMA benchmark information.

Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA):

BOMA International is a primary source of information on office building development, leasing, building operating costs, energy consumption patterns, local and national building codes, legislation, occupancy statistics and technological developments.

Building Exterior Gross Area (Gross Area):

The sum of the floor areas on all levels of a building that are totally enclosed within the building envelope. Building exterior gross area includes facility interior gross area, exterior walls, major vertical penetrations, void areas and interior parking space.

Categories of Moves:

Box moves (employees moved to existing workspaces) ? No furniture moved, no new wiring or telecommunication systems required. Files and supplies moved.
Furniture moves (workstation/furniture moves) ? Reconfiguration of existing furniture and/or furniture moved or purchased. Minimal telecommunication reconfiguration needed.
Construction moves (moves that require construction) ? New walls, new or additional wiring, new telecommunication systems or other construction needed to complete the move.

CAV:

Current Asset Value (also RAV): Calculated in a variety of ways; in general, CAV/RAV is the current cost to reproduce the asset. This is often used as a metric for CMMS implementations.

CBM:

Condition-Based Maintenance - Maintenance based on actual condition (objective evidence of need) obtained from in-situ, non-invasive tests and operating and condition measurements.

Churn Rate:

The total number of moves completed in a 12?month period divided by the average number of occupants during the same 12?month period multiplied by 100 percent.

Common Support Space:

Space devoted to common support services. Common support space is a portion of the facility assignable area that is not attributed to any one occupant, but provides support for several or all occupant groups. Examples include cafeterias, conference rooms, storage areas, auditoriums, fitness facilities, training rooms and computer rooms.

CoreNet Global:

CoreNet Global is the world's premier association for corporate real estate and related professionals.

Computer Integrated Facility Management (CIFM):

Also known as Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM)
A term identifying the use of a computer system for measuring, managing, and analyzing the space, furniture, fixtures and equipment and associated drawings of a facility. Includes move management, lease information, reports, telecommunications, labor and material cost accounting, and maintenance management issues.

Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM):

Also known as Computer Integrated Facility Management (CIFM)
A term identifying the use of a computer system for measuring, managing, and analyzing the space, furniture, fixtures and equipment and associated drawings of a facility. Includes move management, lease information, reports, telecommunications, labor and material cost accounting, and maintenance management issues.

Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS):

A term used for a computer system for measuring, managing, and analyzing the maintenance process at a facility. Includes MRO task planning and scheduling, inventory control and management, and labor and material cost accounting.

Condition Monitoring (CM):

The process of recording measurements that define condition (e.g., vibration, fluid and electrical characteristics, and thermal gradients) and comparing each to limits.

Condition Based (or Predictive) Maintenance (CBM):

Maintenance based on actual condition (objective evidence of need) obtained from in-situ, non-invasive tests and operating and condition measurements.

Churn:

The numberof moves or office reconfigurations that involve relocating personnel and/or equipment. This is often used as a metric for better facility management and an output of a good CAFM/CIFM implementation.

Current Asset Value (CAV):

Calculated in a variety of ways; in general, CAV is the current cost to reproduce the asset. This is often used as a metric for CMMS implementations.

Enterprise Asset Mgt (EAM):

Monitoring and management of an organization's assets across departments, locations, facilities and, in some cases, business units.

Effectiveness:

Having an intended or expected effect.

Efficiency:

Performing a task with a minimum of waste, expense, or unnecessary effort.

Equipment Lifetime:

Span of time over which the equipment is expected to fulfill its intended purpose

ERP:

Enterprise Resource Planning – A software system comprised of a single or integrated suite of applications to manage enterprise business functions, including finance, human resources, and order fulfillment

Facility Assignable Area (Assignable Area):

Calculated by measuring the portions of the floor used to house personnel, furniture, support areas and common support areas. Each assignable area is measured to the outside of the enclosing wall or furniture panel except in the case where a wall or furniture panel is common to more than one assignable area. In this case, measurements are taken to the center of the wall or furniture panel.

Facility Condition Index (FCI):

The Facility Condition Index (FCI) is a standard facility management benchmark that is used to objectively assess the current and projected condition of a building asset. This is often the output from a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). By definition, the FCI is defined as the ratio of current year required renewal cost to current building replacement value.
Building condition is often defined in terms of the FCI as follows: (Good) 0 to 5 percent FCI, (Fair) 5 to 10 percent FCI (Poor) 10 to 30 percent FCI, (Critical) greater than 30 percent FCI
The purpose of the FCI is to provide a means for objective comparison of facility or building condition as well as allowing senior decision makers to understand building renewal funding needs and comparisons.

Facility Management:

The practice of coordinating the physical workplace with the people and work of the organization; integrates the principles of business administration, architecture and the behavioral and engineering sciences.

Facility Rentable Area (Rentable Area):

Calculated by subtracting major vertical penetrations, interior parking space and void areas from facility interior gross area.

Facility Usable Area (Usable Area):

Calculated by subtracting the primary circulation and the building core and service areas from the facility rentable area. It is area that can be assigned to occupant groups.

Failure:

No longer capable of performing the intended function

FMECA:

Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analyses: An integral part of RCM directed to determining type, probability, cause and consequences of potential failures.

HVAC:

Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning

International Facilities Management Association (IFMA):

International Facilities Management Association - IFMA is the largest and most widely recognized professional association for facility management, supporting more than 18,500 members. The Association's members are represented in 125 chapters, 15 councils and one Special Interest Group (SIG), in 60 countries worldwide.

IFMA Health:

International Facilities Management Association (Healthcare Council)

Interior Parking Space:

The space used for vehicular parking space that is totally enclosed within the (occupied) building envelope.

Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS):

Enterprise-level software solutions that integrate four key components of functionality: project management; real estate portfolio and lease management; space management (moves, adds and changes [MAC]); and maintenance management.

ISO:

International Standards Organization

JCAHO:

Joint Commission for Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

JIT:

Just-In-Time – used to describe a manufacturing or other process in which materials arrive as close as possible to the time required

K

KPI:

Key Performance Indicator – metrics that indicate performance to high priority objectives

Major Vertical Penetrations:

Major vertical penetrations includes stairs, elevator shafts, utility tunnels, flues, pipe shafts, vertical ducts and their enclosing walls.

Mean:

See definition for average. Mean and average are used interchangeably, and the interpretation is the same.

Median:

The middle value in a range of responses is the median. One?half of all respondents will be below this value, while one?half will have a higher value. The median also is known as the 50th percentile. The advantage in using the median is that it is not affected as much by extreme highs or lows in the range of values as is the case with the mean.

MES:

Manufacturing Execution System – schedules, tracks, and manages production; helps manage manufacturing labor, quality assurance, and maintenance; collects data generated by factory automation systems and creates production histories.

Metrics:

Objective means of measuring performance and effectiveness. Often called Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

MIMOSA:

Machinery Information Management Open Systems Alliance: An organization directed to facilitating the development of open exchange of equipment condition, maintenance and lifetime management information.

MTBE:

Mean Time Between Events: Defined event used by some organizations to replace failures in reliability calculations (e.g., Mean Time Between Events)

MTBF:

Mean Time Between Failure

MTBR:

Mean Time Between Repairs

MTTR:

Mean Time To Repair

Multi-Use

Used in a report to describe facilities with two or more primary uses, such as a single site that encompasses headquarter offices as well as production or research facilities.

MRO:

Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul

NPV:

Net Present Value: The current value of future revenue based on the time value of money

O&M:

Operations and Maintenance

OEAM:

Operating Equipment Asset Management: A comprehensive, fully integrated strategy, process and culture to gain greatest lifetime effectiveness, value, profitability and return from production and manufacturing equipment assets.

OEE:

Overall Equipment Effectiveness: A term from Total Productive Maintenance that represents actual output compared to objective calculated from normalized Availability, Yield and Quality.

OEM:

Original Equipment Manufacturer

Office Plans:

Private offices - Enclosed by floor-to-ceiling walls.
Open plan offices - Spaces divided by movable partitions.
Bullpen style - Open areas with no partitions.

Open System:

Systems from multiple suppliers that are capable of electronic communication (connectivity) and information exchange (interoperability) through published conventions without any proprietary or system-specific links

PdM:

Predictive Maintenance: Also Condition Based Maintenance

Percentile

Indicates dispersion of data and a specific percentile identifies where a value lies in relation to other values in' a range of responses. The 25th percentile is the lower one?fourth point in the range of values in the group. The 50th percentile, also referred to as the median, represents a value of which one?half of the group falls below and one?half falls above. The median is not affected by extreme high or low values whereas the mean could be distorted.

PM:

Preventive Maintenance

Post Occupancy Evaluation:

A survey taken after project completion to assess end users' level of satisfaction with the various aspects of the new working environment, as well as to check on the performance against specifications of the major systems (Cotts 1999.)

Proactive Maintenance:

Activities and actions applied to equipment prior to and during operation to prevent problems, gain greatest reliability, and minimize failure

Preventive Maintenance (PM):

Maintenance tasks to avoid failure—including inspection, service and/or replacement—conducted at regular, scheduled intervals based on average statistical/anticipated lifetime

Primary Circulation:

The portion of a building that is a public corridor or lobby. It is further defined as space required for access by all occupants on a floor to stairs, elevators, restrooms and building entrances or tenant space entry points on multi?tenant floors.

Prognostics:

The ability to predict or forecast the future condition of a component, or system of components, in terms of either failure or degraded condition, so that it can satisfactorily conform to operational requirements (MFPG Forum, September 1999)

Project Management:

Project management is the process of planning, organizing and managing tasks and resources to accomplish a well?defined objective, usually within constraints on time, resources or cost.

RAV:

Replacement Asset Value

RCFA:

Root Cause Failure Analysis: A formalized process to identify the fundamental defect that caused a failure

RCM:

Reliability Centered Maintenance: A systematic, disciplined process to ensure safety and mission compliance that defines system boundaries and identifies system functions, functional failures, and likely failure modes for equipment and structures in a specific operating context.
Develops a logical identification of the causes and effects (consequences) of system and functional failures to arrive at an efficient and effective asset management strategy to reduce the probability of failure.

Reactive Maintenance:

Corrective action taken upon failure or obvious threat of failure

Reengineering:

A one-time fundamental rethinking and business process redesign to achieve dramatic improvements in performance

Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM):

A systematic, disciplined process to ensure safety and mission compliance that defines system boundaries and identifies system functions, functional failures, and likely failure modes for equipment and structures in a specific operating context.

Develops a logical identification of the causes and effects (consequences) of system and functional failures to arrive at an efficient and effective asset management strategy to reduce the probability of failure.

Repair:

An invasive process to correct a defect; interrupts availability

ROA:

Return On Assets: Profit divided by asset value

ROE:

Return On Equity: Profit divided by corporate equity

ROI:

Return On Investment: The profit gained from an investment divided by the monetary value of the investment

RONA:

Return On Net Assets: sales minus expenses divided by total assets

SAE:

Society for Automotive Engineers

Secondary Circulation:

The portion of a building or floor required for access to some subdivision of space that is not defined as primary circulation. Secondary circulation may or may not be surrounded by walls or furniture panels.

Site Population:

The number of full and part-time employees, contract workers and/or tenants located at the facility(ies).

Six Sigma, 2Cp:

The use of statistical tools applied in a disciplined way to identify and solve problems

SMRP:

Society of Maintenance and Reliability Professionals

SPC:

Statistical Process Control

SQC:

Statistical Quality Control

Strategic Facility Plan:

Two-to-five year facility plan encompassing an entire portfolio of owned and/or leased space that sets strategic facility goals based on the organization's strategic objectives. The strategic facilities goals, in turn, determine short?term tactical plans, including the prioritization of, and funding for, annual facility related projects.

Total Productive Maintenance (TPM):

A team-based approach to equipment management that emphasizes zero defects/zero loss operations, maintenance cooperation (autonomous maintenance), small group activities, and cleanliness

TQM:

Total Quality Management

VFD:

Variable Frequency Drive: A method of controlling the rotating speed of an electric motor

Virtual Private Database (VPD):

Virtual Private Database (VPD) a technique for masking the data so that an individual only sees the data they have access to. For example, the database can be made to display only information for the building or site that an individual should have access to even though the entire database is there.

Void Areas:

Rooms that are more than one story in height. Void areas exist on upper floors, such as atriums, light wells or lobbies.

Workstation:

Any type of space designated for occupant usage, either an open or an enclosed area, where an occupant can be seated.