Facility Manager's Role - Essay Example

Building Management Systems Name Institution Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Introduction 3 Facility Management 3 System Applications 4 Facility manager 6 Security Managers 7 Conclusion 9 Building Management Systems Introduction Organisations must think and operate strategically if they are to succeed or survive in today’s competitive business environment. This thinking applies to all organisations whether core or noncore business (Artkins and Brooks, 2013). For the non-core business, facilities management is an important concept to be considered. It has a fundamental role in supporting the core business. For this reason, facilities management must be implemented into the organisation’s strategy. On the other hand, security management in the facilities is very important as well. The built environment has long been a potential subject to threats and hazards (Booty, 2009). These hazards may come from anti-social behaviour, general criminality or through natural hazards. And for this reason, a security manager is required in any facility whether small or large. In order for both the facility manager and the security manager to ensure a facility is safe and secure, a building management system can be installed in buildings that monitor the mechanical and electrical equipment including fire systems and security systems (Booty, 2009). This paper will critically analyse the statement: Current facility managers and security managers must appreciate each other’s roles and responsibilities. Facility Management Facility management has revolved in the last years and today it is a major thriving business sectors that continues to grow rapidly (Kruk, 2000). Facilities management is very significant to organisations and has become a focus of best value in the management of supporting services. Well-managed services assist companies to function efficiently and effectively, offering value improvements to the core business. Over the years, the services covered under the facilities management have grown to be more complex (Booty, 2009). It is thus necessary for service providers and organizations to acknowledge the importance of facilities management in business strategic operations. Both the security manager and the facility manager are therefore regarded important in built environment. Facility management is the practice and the process of coordinating the workplace according to the requirement of a business administration and engineering sciences (Stormy, 2003). Simply, facility management is the practice of managing the vital as well as the non-vital infrastructure of an organisation’s facilities. Facility Management has a lot to do with issue concerning the quality of life in the work environment. The emergence of Facility Management is as a result of the realization of the capital involved in organisations’ factories, warehouses and offices (Stormy, 2003). For instance maintenance cost, fire prevention, construction cost, equipment to name a few. Facility Management is different from Security Management. Nevertheless, both functions and roles have a significance relationship in terms of their roles and responsibilities. The level in which Facility Management and Security Management will operate depends highly on the organization structure and locality. Concerning security, the Facility Management is expected to operate at a strategic and operational degree that requires cooperation with the Security Manager at various levels (Stormy, 2003). Facility Management is regarded an integral knowledge framework that highly supports Security Management. Therefore, Security Managers and Facility Managers are expected to show appreciation for each other. Many responsibilities and functions of the Facility Manager fall under the same sector as those of the Security professional. System Applications Managing a facility effectively requires a business owner to properly invest in system applications which are going to enable their facilities managers work efficiently with large amount of information, asset maintenance information and all processes within the facility management lifecycle (Levitt, 2011). There are many technologies used by both the security manager and the facility manager within a typical high rise building to ensure everything is in order and that there is cost reduction. One fundamental reason why facility management is very essential is the fact that when an organisation is directing people, the health and safety responsibilities require an organisation to be ready to deal with any situation. With the recent technological advancement, facility management has joined the mobile platform segment with systems developed which simplifies the work of the facility managers. Since the facility managers are forced to take the safety and health responsibility which is often the role of the Security managers, they make use of safe and safety systems in their operations (Mudrak, Wagenberg and Wubben, 2004). Technological advancement has enabled business to invest in software applications that allows facilities manager operate easily and effectively (Levitt, 2011). Facility manager software is able to access dominant reporting functions that offer greater insight into an organisation facility and assist in analysing and making rational decisions. The use of software applications can make it easy for the facility managers to coordinate the maintenance of infrastructure and prolong the span of elements within a facility (Levitt, 2011). One advantage of the management facility software is that it allows facility managers to be responsive in logging maintenance issues immediately and accessing the dataset on the main infrastructure. Since both the Security Manager and the Facility Manager share the responsibility of ensuring safety in the business facilities, many technologies have made this role easy. For instance, fire and life safety systems have helped both managers is their operations (Craighead, 2009). Fire suppression systems are made up of water supply, reticulation pumps, detectors and sprinkler heads. In addition, heat and smoke venting systems are often installed in facilities in order to discharge heat and smoke from a fire (Smith and Brook, 2013). This reduces the rate of fire spread, reduce the amount of smoke and maintain the temperature of a building. The control of heat and smoke within a facility assist prevent personnel from becoming disoriented. In a high rise building, automatic fire suppressions are highly used. These devices distribute water automatically on a fire either to distinguish it or to suppress its spread (Challinger, 2011). Over the years, the automatic fire suppression system has proven to be effective in protecting lives and assets. Other devices that are used to effectively suppress and distinguish fire include dry pipe systems, standalone fire suppressions, carbon dioxide systems and dry chemical systems to name a few (Levitt, 2011). The issue of fire and life safety system of the Facility Management is considered a shared responsibility of both the Facility Manager and the Security professional (Levitt, 2011). Security manager is required to understand life safety systems when conducting a security survey in order to ensure safety and security for personnel and property. On the other hand, the Facility Manager is required to understand the life and fire safety systems in designing security systems like access control. As a result of the evolving business realities, cost containment, quality control and speed-to-market accelerations will impact on the future concept of the facility management (Alder, 2005). The huge challenge of facility and security managers will be to integrate knowledge into technological advancement and security threats. Facility manager A facility manager is an individual who is responsible for coordinating and organizing employees and entities within a facility in order to ensure that work is done accordingly and help attain both bong-term and short-term objectives of a facility (Barrett and Baldry, 2003). The facility managers and have a role to play in a building management systems. They have different roles and responsibilities that ensure that both short and long-term objectives are met. Their roles and responsibilities include: they are responsible in planning all activities of their facilities. They do this by controlling schedules, managing any contract they have with their clients, formulating and developing work standards as well as carrying out evaluation of their employees and their external contractors. They also ensure that personnel are hired and well organized by implementing suitable policies and procedures that can be used to govern them (Bernard and Richard, 2003). Moreover, facility managers are responsible of both building systems and maintenance needs. In order for them to fulfil these objectives, they should have strong appreciation as well as sufficient knowledge on building design and planning, construction costs, architectural designs, coding and zoning compliances and engineering designs to name a few (Leyden, 2003). Furthermore, facility managers ought to focus on the substantial effort with regard to budgeting, accounting and economic projections. This ability can enable them predict various situations that are associated with building management. They also are in charge of external maintenance of buildings which may include aspects such as trash and controlling of pests. This also can be done by spending substantial time on operations, maintenance and repairs. These operations help the building maintain its aesthetic purpose. In addition, facility managers are also forced to deal with issue concerning security of individuals within the buildings. This role has been accentuated due to rising security considerations (Raymond, 2005). Security Managers On the other hand, security managers also have their roles and responsibilities that enable them govern a building management system. First and foremost, that takes care of management and oversight of a building (Richard et al., 2013). They are responsible for management and execution of activities which involve information security programs. They are able to serve as primary advisors to operations head on every information security matters. They also maintain awareness of all operations regarding security functions and also offer guidance, coordination as well as oversights to designated assistant security assistants. Their second major role is compliance. In order for a security manager to successfully implement information security program operations, they ought to comply with the fundamental information security program’s rules and regulations (Barrett and Baldry, 2003). They can do this by ensuring that direct access to very important and classified data and information is limited to only authorized personnel and completely restricted to the public knowledge. They should also comply with information security needs with regard to all uses of information technology. In addition, they should ensure that if any classified information is offered to industry contractors, they should comply with the existing information security requirements. Security managers also have another major role which involves planning and coordination (Bernard and Richard, 2003). This ensures that they perform a wide assortment of implied as well as specified planning-related operations. These planning-related activities include; developing of written instructions and developing security measures and procedures related to visitor’s access. Therefore, security managers can successfully maintain safety within a building by coordinating with systems security personnel for effective management, utilization and oversight of information in electronic form. They should also coordinate the preparation and maintenance of security guides with original authorities (Leyden, 2003). They should also coordinate when necessary with the appropriate authorities in response to security threats and events. Finally, considering planning and coordination, security managers should contact special security officers appropriately on matters of common concern. Security managers also focus on education and awareness (Raymond, 2005). This is one of their responsibilities since they maintain security awareness and education, and conduct training programs. This role requires security managers to formulate, organize and conduct security education and training programs to their personnel who implement security duties alongside changes in policies and procedures thus helping them in solving problems. Finally, security managers are responsible for threat and incident response. Security managers ought to ensure that any security matter and incidents are reported, recorded as well as coordinated immediately to the appropriate authorities and should be thoroughly assessed and investigated (Bernard and Richard, 2003). In addition, it is also the responsibility of the security managers to handle such cases properly by taking actions to mitigate damage and hence prevent any future occurrence of such security issues. Therefore, both facility and security managers have different roles that cumulatively offer support to the building management systems. Despite them having different roles and responsibilities, both the facility and security managers actively take part in security and life safety concerns (Raymond, 2005). This vividly indicates how their roles and responsibilities intertwine therefore creating grounds for appreciation. Conclusion To sum up, Facility management is the practice and the process of coordinating the workplace according to the requirement of a business administration and engineering sciences. Although Facility Manager and Security Manager are different, they share a strong relationship coupled with similar roles and responsibilities. For instance, both facility managers and security managers are obligated to coordinate when it comes to issues related to security and life safety concerns. Concerning security issues, facility managers are expected to liaison with security managers in ensuring facilities are secured all the time. In solving security issues, technological advance has made it easy for both managers. For instance, the automation fire suppression systems have simplified the way fire is distinguished or contained in a facility. Due to their engagement in the facility management, it is right to say that Facility Manager and Security Manager should appreciate each other’s roles and responsibilities. References Alder, S. (2005). Disaster and Recovery Planning: A Guide for Facility Managers." Security Management. Atkin, B. and Brooks, A. (2015) . Total Facility Management. Fourth edition, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Barrett, P.S. and Baldry, D. (2003). Facilities Management: Towards Best Practice. Second edition. Oxford: Blackwell Science Bernard T. and Richard P. (2003). The Facility Manager's Emergency Preparedness Handbook. 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