#facilitymanagementapp

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Optimize facility operations with our comprehensive software. Streamline maintenance, enhance security, and improve efficiency. https://www.fieldcircle.com/facility-management-software/

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Best Healthcare Facility Management Software In 2022 - ReadersMirror

Finding the best healthcare facility management system software is challenging! Learn about the intricacies of hospital facility management to find your required pick.

As the COVID-19 pandemic draws to a close, healthcare facility management becomes increasingly critical. The job of a facilities manager continues to become more complex, whether it is confirming certification compliance or maintaining cyber security. Therefore, it is imperative to identify and use the best facility management software.  

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They are the five most important features of Facility Information Management System. It helps in managing the facility effectively and efficiently.

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Manage and track your assets from anywhere by using cloud-based facility management software from arc facilities. Manage your emergencies within seconds.

Our team has been hard at work putting together some exciting new updates and improvements to our platform based on your comments, suggestions, and feedback. While each organization has different challenges and needs, each of these updates is the direct result of feedback received by our Customer Success team while working in the field with each of you.

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How Facilities Team Access Information During Covid-19

The Covid-19 outbreak has affected millions of lives all across the world and till there is a cure, we have to learn to live with it as a part of our lifestyle. After months of being affected by the virus, people now are slowly returning to work in some counties, while still maintaining all the social distancing and health and wellness norms. In such a scenario, when the world is slowly starting to accept this as the new normal, the onus is on facility teams to keep facilities safe and sanitized so that the residents, employees and visitors do not stand a chance to get infected. While some states are lifting the lockdown restrictions, some are still making following the stay at home orders a mandate. No matter, whether your people are moving into a facility or have been staying in locked down all this while, as a facility manager how would you ensure that everyone is safe inside? To ensure safety, the first and foremost thing that facility professionals need is information. You might be staying at a completely different state or country altogether and might need to manage a facility at any other state, how would you make sure that you have all the updated information available with you? Also, chances are that your entire team is scattered at different locations or some of your employees are not being able to travel owing to the travel restrictions imposed by their state or local government? How would you communicate or access the information about your facility with each other? The pandemic of Covid-19 has introduced us to different levels of problem-solving options and facility managers are no exception in this case. The responsibility of keeping people safe inside a facility is a mammoth task and achieving it in these times is no mean feat at all. So, if you are a facility professional and want to manage your facility like a pro from any remote location, you can now use a facility management app. Through these apps you get instant access to all your critical building information. These apps are compatible with almost all operating systems and therefore can be accessed on the go. In difficult situations like the Covid-19 outbreak, a facility management app will keep you updated on the latest and most updated document related to your facility. No matter how scattered your team is, you can share all this information with them with the help of this application. Also, in case of emergencies, you can access the floor plan of a facility in seconds and locate the emergency entry and exit points. This help the facilities team be better prepared for emergencies in advance and develop a concrete emergency preparedness plan as soon as they see any emergency coming. With the help of this app, the entire facilities team can stay updated on the same page with the most updated information about their facility. Also, they can make real time changes in the document and share mark ups or floor plans with the tap of a button. Another very important feature of these apps is that they use the latest technologies available in the facilities world and that makes the lives of facility professionals so much easier. Most of these apps use artificial intelligence and machine learning and with the help of these technologies, you can now extract building drawings as they are. In the world of facility maintenance, more importantly, during emergencies like the Covid-19 outbreak, you need to get your work done as quickly and accurately as possible and if you can reduce your time in looking for information, you can achieve that with the help of this app. Also, in times of crisis, mobility is very important. You need all your information in your fingertips, while you are on the go. The last thing that you would want a technician doing is hunting for information through paper or digital files. In situations like this, it is all about how fast you are able to respond. And this is the reason why thousands of facilities teams across the world are accessing facilities information quickly with help of a facilities management app. As we all know, these are difficult times for all of us. This is one emergency situation that has left the best of facility teams looking for the best strategy or solution to keep people safe and prevent the virus from spreading. And to be able to successfully do this, they require information handy with them that they can access whenever they wish, without having to travel to the location of the facility. And this now is made possible with the help of a facility management app. If you are looking for one such app, you can search from the plethora of options that you get online.  

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Facility Managers are at the Forefront of the Covid-19 Response

In the light of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic, we must always keep in mind that facility management professionals are at the forefront of emergency response preparedness during outbreaks. They are the ones who are charged with actual response and they directly act as response managers and response coordinators. 

Being in charge of the maintenance of organizations, buildings and the people in it, it is the responsibility of facility managers to take the correct action towards implementing containment and prevention strategies. Let us take a look at how a facility manager can be better prepared to deal with a pandemic like Covid-19:

• Cleaning and disinfecting: a facility manager needs to reinforce cleaning routines so that the likelihood of the survival of the virus on objects, touch panels and surfaces can be reduced. The team that is responsible for the cleaning needs to be educated on this subject and the specific procedures that are to be used needs to be specified by the manager. All air circulation through centralized air conditioning and ventilation systems need to be disabled. Components that might pose a threat of infection need to be disinfected, cleaned and replaced on a weekly basis.

• Limiting concentration of people: as per the guidelines set forth by governments across the world, the concentration of personnel needs to be reduced. A facility manager can achieve this by making adjustments to shifts, installing options for remote working and creating flexible work environments. Employees who exhibit symptoms of cold need to be encouraged to stay at homes.

• Reducing physical proximities: it is the responsibility of facility managers to ensure that density of staff in the same space is reduced. For instance, in elevators, employees should not exceed 50 percent of the capacity; neither should they be working in spaces that are smaller than 2.5 square meters. In order to avoid getting staffs, clients or suppliers in the workplace interact with each other through handshakes and reduce the risks of hand to hand contamination, alcohol based sanitizers should be placed in meeting rooms, cafeteria and rest rooms.

• Cancelling international trips: we all know that international trips, fairs and events are an important part of every facility manager’s job; however these must be completely avoided during an outbreak like Covid-19 that is affecting more than a million lives across the world. Considering the large number in which people are contracting this infection, travel increases the possibility of bringing it back to your country and workplace.

• Keeping people informed: you need to make sure that there are flexible policies for sick leave at your workplace. These also need to be in accordance with the national healthcare recommendations. Ensure that all your staff knows about these. Put up posters that talk about the rules and regulations about hygiene. There should be instructions too on what an employee should do if he suspects that he has an infection. 

With the help of a facility management app, facility management leaders have access to highly accurate data related to facilities that not just has spatial information of employees but also information about assets that are associated with the day to day operations of a business. This app offers a platform for tracking all these information and it is needless to say that during these difficult times, the data available in these apps are being actively used in response planning and coordination. Let us take a look at how accurate information can help facility management teams to respond to unplanned emergencies like the global pandemic Covid-19:

• Space inventory: consider your organization space and assess the risks associated with each of these spaces. These could involve areas that are crucial to operations. This also means considering space that might be more susceptible to the spread of the outbreak. This might be areas where employees and staffs mostly congregate like meeting rooms and breakouts. All these areas are tracked and managed by these apps and facility managers can avail this information on the go.

• Asset tracking: facility management solutions are perfect for tracking location of equipment and different supply areas and these when coupled with preventing maintenance programs can enable you to manage tasks like inspecting and also filling sanitizers and cleaning materials.

• Utilization of space: it is possible for organizations to track usage of bookable space and locate who might be using that space over the period of time by looking through a room booking history. If your organization is using sensors, with the help of a mobile booking app, facility teams can tell who all were there in a meeting. This is a great way to track employee location.

• Air quality: as occupants or employees congregate, the air quality will gradually diminish. A facility management solution with analytics will help you visualize the air quality of specific areas. This will also help you improve floor plans and reconfigure the furniture layouts.

Therefore, the role that facility managers play in responding to emergencies or outbreaks like the Covid-19 go hand in hand with the availability of the right kind of facilities management app. Without an app, it will not be possible for a facilities team to stay updated on the latest facilities information and respond to emergencies in the best possible way. 

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The Importance of Maintenance and Failure Finding in Facility Management

When we talk of facility management, we are generally used to classifying maintenance tasks into three categories which are preventive, corrective and predictive. However, experienced facility managers will admit that there are a large number of tasks that do not fit into any of these categories. A good example of this is failure in finding tasks. But do you know what a failure finding in maintenance is all about? Do you need to make it a part of your maintenance plan too? If your answer is yes, when do you need to apply it? Most of the times, looking for failures is a part of the maintenance strategy. The main aim of this kind of maintenance is to ensure that the equipment is available for a long period of time. But if you are not able to ensure if a piece of equipment is reliable through your routine inspections? The answer to this is to effectively look for failures. In simple terms, this is known as failure finding. What are failure finding tasks? Failure finding tasks imply the inspections that we make on a particular type of equipment in order to find out the hidden failures or defects. This is the reason why they do not fit into a specific kind of maintenance. The goal here is not to maintain a particular asset but to find out if it is still eligible to work. Therefore, these are often referred to as functional checks. This is an important step since this is what differentiates failure finding from predictive and preventive maintenance. In this, your facilities team is not trying to predict or prevent a failure but instead, looking for one. For example, the malfunctioning of a generator used as a  backup in a health clinic will never get detected during the normal operations of the building. If by any chance the generator gets broken and you have not looked for any failure previously, you will be able to find it out when it is ultimately too late. The same rule applies to smoke detectors, fire alarms and other equipment that are activated only under certain circumstances or during emergencies. Therefore, it goes without saying that failure finding tasks are required to have the maximum reliability of backup mechanisms and security. Let us take a look at a few type of systems that require these kind of screenings on a regular basis: • Alarm systems like smoke detectors, fire alarms and the like • Electrical circuits and systems that regularly test the current capacity and load • The pressure relief or control valves • Fire extinguishers or mitigation systems that minimize the effects of any possible failure • Back up systems like the electric generators or water heating systems • Shut down systems that can automatically shut down an equipment before more expensive parts like the engine gets damaged Accessing information about these equipment The first step towards failure finding in facility management is knowing where each equipment is located. In a large facility, it is not possible for the facility management professional to manually find out the location of every equipment. In such a scenario, what comes handy is a facility management app. With the help of this app you can locate every equipment on your phone. You can also access floor plans, shut offs, As-Builts at the tap of a button on your phone. These apps are powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning and as a result they can extract building information from drawings. These apps not just keep facility teams updated on the latest building information but also keeps them ready for emergencies. Teams using these apps are known to handle emergencies fast and effectively compared to the ones still reliant on traditional methods of locating building and equipment information. In which situation do you need to go for failure finding? This type of maintenance is generally recommended when a failure cannot be detected under the normal circumstances or through the routine preventive maintenance checks. Functional checks are also justified when: • There is no way in which you could prevent the malfunction or therefore there is no chance of executing preventive maintenance • Testes and screening can be performed without causing any disruption to the normal functioning of any building • The chances of a hidden malfunction in any equipment or system is very high • The chances of the test resulting in a malfunction is extremely low • The cost of this failure finding task is way lower than the cost of corrective maintenance When  it comes to carrying out the maintenance work of a facility, the onus is entirely on the facility managers. It is always better to find a failure or issue and solve it before waiting for it to turn out into a great disaster for the facility and the people residing within the facility

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Steps to Manage your Facility in the Post Covid-19 World

As a facility manager, you must have asked yourself multiple times “when will the quarantine get over?” One of the things that facility managers are busy doing in this quarantine is planning. What will be happening when the containment measures get lifted? How will businesses operate when the quarantine gets over? The day after quarantine will not be as we imagine it to be now, at the present time. Our fight against Covid-19 is a long-term race and our survival will greatly depend on how well we are being able to adapt. As a facility manager, therefore, you will always be in the process of planning to overcome social distancing which might last for months even after the pandemic gets over.

Are there chances of a second outbreak after Covid-19?

At present, no one has a clear idea but we all know that as we get past the peak of the outbreak and the rate of the infections gradually start decreasing, it will be primarily because of the stringent containment measures and not because the disease somehow, someday disappeared all by its own. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that caused the corona virus outbreak might just continue to circle around the world and still get transmitted. Therefore, there are high chances of a new virus outbreak when the containment restrictions get lifted. 

How to resume normal life in a post Covid-19 world?

Despite all the researches and studies going on in the world, the knowledge that we have about the outbreak is still very limited. All the scenarios depict similar behaviour to the other corona viruses. Therefore, in facility management, the best way in which you can plan your post quarantine life is by focusing on the territories that have already successfully controlled the virus and are returning to work gradually. 

How to prepare your business facility for the post quarantine?

You must have a progressive return to work plan. You need to start by reopening your facility in phases. Only minimum employees must be allowed to work on-site while the rest would still need to work remotely from their homes. The best part of this has been that by now your team has learned to work and coordinate from a distance. You would also need to outline your team to act progressively. The first group that return to work should be the ones who have recovered from the infection and confirmed to have developed antibodies against the virus. This needs to be followed by young people and other age groups without the associated pathologies. Employees and workers above 60 years of age with diabetes and any other autoimmune disease or cardiovascular problems, cancer or asthma, need to still work remotely from their homes 

Get your team to work on shifts

If you want to assemble your team in person, you would need to pay attention to the most number of people who can occupy the office space while maintaining the recommended social distance. You can therefore create a rotating schedule where all your teams do not need to be present in the office at the same time. The rooms need to be airy always and the air circulation through your air conditioning system needs to be avoided.

Plan for strategic natural storage

Apart from following the social distancing measures, the best way in which you can prevent the spread of the virus is by washing your hands. You need to increase the supply of your alcohol based gels and sanitizers, having a concentration of at least 70 percent alcohol and make the disinfectants available at all your strategic points like doors and lifts. This strategy will be highly effective in containing the spread of the virus. Also, depending on the location of your facility, you need to prepare a stockpile or at least a continuous supply of protective materials and nitrile gloves.

Make the most use of technology 

Technology these days are changing the face of facility management completely. From the Internet of Things to Big Data, the evolving technological innovations are making the life of facility managers easier every passing day. Once such use of technology in accessing important building and equipment information has been recognized to take place within the help of a facility management app. These apps are generally powered by artificial intelligence that extracts information from building drawings and makes them available to facility teams and technicians in no time at all. Therefore, whether it is an emergency situation due to an existing pandemic or a system failure that needs your immediate attention, you can control all this within seconds as you have all the information available in your phone on the go. 

Dealing with the impacts of Covid-19 and planning crisis management is now of the most crucial responsibilities of facility managers across the globe. With proper planning in advance, you will be successful in dealing with the pandemic.