Running a successful Facility Management company is undoubtedly complex. There is a myriad of services that are provided across a broad spectrum of locations for a variety of clients that all have different needs, demands, workflows and contractual terms. This is further complicated by the fact that it is a highly competitive industry with tight margins, and that the works are undertaken by a combination of in-house employees and external contractors.

With these complexities in mind, Eaco Systems has been working with companies in the Facility Management industry to help them:

  • Win new Facility Management Contracts;
  • Meet the needs of their existing Clients;
  • Reduce the risks associated with running their Facility Management company;
  • Optimise the running of their Facility Management company to reduce costs and to improve their bottom line; and
  • Establish a profitable and scalable organisational structure that can work well into the future.

Key Challenges

Eaco's business and systems solutions have equipped Facility Management companies to overcome the following key challenges:

  • The need to demonstrate they are setting the new benchmark of quality by using state of the art technology and reporting systems.
  • Meeting the Reporting Requirements of new and existing Clients.
  • Managing Programmed Maintenance Work Orders where a significant number of jobs need to be automatically created on a one-off basis and/or a pre-scheduled basis.
  • Managing Reactive Maintenance work orders.
  • Managing Work Orders from multiple sources and multiple systems.
  • Integrating with Client Systems.
  • Ensuring the upholding of all Compliance Standards.
  • Maintaining positive brand experience and expectations of high quality work and service.
  • Maintaining clear and current communications between all Stakeholders whilst the works are undertaken.
  • Creating and Managing a network of high quality staff and independent contractors.
  • Distributing work to field workers and managing jobs through to completion.
  • Impressing Customers with phenomenal service, quality and safety standards.
  • Automating the management of Supplier Invoices and Payments.

Results

The power of the Eaco System's adaptability has enabled FM companies to specifically configure and customise the Eaco Software Suite to function as a robust Facility Management System. This solution has delivered significant advantages to FM Companies including helping them to overcome the challenges outlined and ultimately helping them to:

  • Win new clients;
  • Retain existing clients;
  • Scale up revenues without the need for additional administrative and accounting personnel;
  • Manage the risks associated with running a Facility Management company; and
  • Maintaining the brand and reputation of the company.

Solutions Implemented

We have worked with the Facility Management industry to customise and configure a number of Eaco's tried and trusted solutions in a way that embraces the use of technology through a uniquely collaborative approach:

Eaco's Deeply Configurable System was used to demonstrate to current and prospective clients that the FM companies could meet their exacting needs. This included showcasing that the Eaco System could be configured to:

  • Provide real-time GIS and Mapping Insights and Reporting;
  • Track all of their Managed Properties and Managed Assets and all Works undertaken on each;
  • Integrate with their preferred systems for Work Order creation and updates;
  • Create custom Workflows;
  • Meet the Induction and Compliance requirements of clients on a site-by-site basis;
  • Meet the Safety and Quality requirements of each client on a job-by-job basis;
  • Create custom Reporting, including real-time access to the status of each Work Order through the Client Portal; and
  • Customise invoice and payment structures to meet client requirements (e.g. On-Sell Invoices, Cost-Plus Invoices, etc).

Eaco's Control Centre was used to create a Collaborative Works Management Platform where all Stakeholders could log into their respective Portals and view the latest updates in regards to the Works undertaken. Stakeholders were granted permissions, which were set in accordance with their role, meaning they could only view and update all information relevant to them.

The Stakeholders provided with a Portal included:

  • Principal Clients and their Staff;
  • Contract Managers;
  • Site Managers;
  • Accounting and Administrative Staff;
  • Field Workers; and
  • Suppliers, Contractors and Sub-Contractors.

Eaco's Managed Properties and Asset Management Solution was used to create a comprehensive register of a client's Properties and the Assets within each Property. This register included data on:

  • Exact Location of each.
  • Contact Details.
  • Site Checkpoints.
  • Preferred Suppliers.
  • Jobs.
  • Files.
  • Etc.

Eaco's Work Order Capture Solution was created utilising Eaco's expertise to establish integrations with external systems to automate the process of capturing details of Work Orders from multiple clients using different systems. To streamline this process, Eaco built Job Capture integrations including:

  • Programmed Jobs based on pre-set schedules;
  • HTML "Post a Job" Widgets that you can place on your own websites as well as the websites/systems of your clients;
  • Email parsing of Job Request emails from clients;
  • API Integrations with your clients' systems; and
  • Creating batches of Jobs from excel spreadsheets.

Eaco's Automated Job Distribution and Tracking Solution was used to distribute FM Work to the preferred tradespeople and service providers. A customised Job Matching algorithm formed the basis of this solution and was programmed to take into account a broad array of factors such as:

  • Type of Service(s) required
  • Licences and Insurances required
  • Inductions completed
  • Location - Live Location or Pre-Determined
  • Pricing
  • Availability
  • Reputation

Eaco's Job Safety and Quality Management System was used to ensure that exact Job Safety and Quality Management requirements for each Job were met. The FM companies were able to establish the specific process to be followed and the information that needed to be collected, including:

  • Job Safety Analysis
  • Pre-Work Checklists
  • Situation Analysis
  • Photos
  • Customer Sign-Off
  • Etc.

Eaco's Contractor Management Solution  was used to create and manage a Network of Tradespeople and Service Providers based on upholding an FM company's need to maintain compliance standards and delivery of high quality work and service.

Eaco's Supplier Invoice and Payment Management System was used to streamline the significant amount of back-office work involved with managing invoices and payments to Suppliers. In particular, this solution helped save significant administrative burdens, by:

  • Creating a Template for a standard Schedule of Rates for all contractors within an organisation's supplier network;
  • Creating customised Schedule of Rates for specific contractors within the supplier network based on agreed alternative rates;
  • Automatically tracking details of the works undertaken (type of work, travel distance, work duration, completion certificate, status, etc);
  • Automatically creating invoices on behalf of the suppliers and providing them to the organisation that hired them;
  • Automatically flagging supplier invoices that are outside the parameters of pre-agreed rates;
  • Organising supplier invoices and listing them for approval; and
  • Facilitating the importing of approved supplier invoices into accounting systems.

Eaco Software Suite

The comprehensive solution for the Facilities Management case involved using the full suite of Eaco's Software.

The products used to create these solutions include:

  • Eaco's Control Centre for configuring and operating the system to meet the needs of each Client/Contract, Supplier Network Management, Compliance Management, Operations Management, Supplier Invoice and Payment Management, etc.
  • Eaco's FieldWorker App for the frontline management of Works on-site.
  • Eaco's Dispatch System for the real-time mapping of FieldWorkers.
  • Eaco's Client Portal for keeping Clients and their Staff up to date.
  • Eaco's Supplier Portal enabling them to manage and update the Works that they undertake as well as their Staff, Compliances, Job Matching Profiles, Schedule of Rates, etc.
  • Integrations for interacting with internal and external systems.

Call Eaco Today to discuss your Facility Management needs

To commence a discussion about your particular facility management needs in the pick up the phone and call us today on 1300 739 814. Alternatively, you can email the Eaco team at support@eaco.me

Looking forward to seeing how we can work with you to help in the very near future.  

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