As facilities management evolves, it's becoming more important than ever for facilities managers to prove their worth. At the same time, it's also becoming more difficult to define what success looks like. Key performance indicators (KPIs) give facilities managers a clear view of the targets they need to meet to help their organization succeed.
They compile data from multiple sources and make it transparent so facilities managers can see what's going well and where there is opportunity for improvement. Is your organization measuring the right KPIs—the ones that will ultimately lead to success?
Key Performance Indicators vs. Facilities Management Metrics
Key performance indicators sound a lot like metrics, but they aren't the same thing. Metrics are single points of data, while key performance indicators often take several sets of data into account.
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For instance, examples of facilities management metrics would include:
Occupancy rates
Real estate costs
Asset costs
Maintenance costs
Maintenance hours
Heating costs
These metrics are valuable to measure, but they are typically just one part of a broader key performance indicators. They directly relate to SMART goals, which are specific, measurable, agreed upon by all key parties, realistic and time-sensitive. For facilities managers, KPIs might include:
Improving space utilization by X percent: This takes into account not only how many work stations are occupied at any given time, but how often meeting rooms and collaborative spaces are being used across all your real estate properties.
Reducing energy consumption by X percent: This would involve looking at several factors, including heating and cooling, lighting and total electricity usage.
Maintaining our buildings X percent more efficiently: This would involve monitoring room usage and dispatching maintenance crews only as needed, as well as taking a more proactive approach to preventive maintenance.
Sometimes KPIs can be used as leading indicators.
In other words, once the KPI reaches a certain number, your organization may take a certain action—such as leasing a new property when space utilization reaches a certain percentage.
Many KPIs are lagging indicators, offering outcome information that can be valuable for planning. Whatever KPIs are defined, they should reflect organizational goals, should be relevant to its success, and should be measurable. Facilities management software can be a key partner in developing and tracking KPIs.
Key Performance Indicators Create Insights from Multiple "Truth Sources"
One reason KPIs are so important is that they take data from multiple "truth sources" and provide informative, actionable insights.
Your facilities management software, for example, may take in data from multiple departments and facility systems. If it has robust analytics and reporting capabilities, it can help you not only determine which KPIs are most relevant to your business goals, but can help you track them and track KPI trends and performance over time. Some facilities management software solutions even allow you to create custom dashboards so you can see the data points you want, organized how you want them.