Leverage the CLEAN Future and LIFT America Acts with an IWMS

Leverage the CLEAN Future and LIFT America Acts with an IWMS

by | Dec 15, 2021 | IWMS

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce recently introduced two bills—the CLEAN Future Act and LIFT America Act—that are focused on clean energy and achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in America by 2050.

What does that mean for U.S. workplaces? A lot. The impacts on businesses and organizations of all types are substantial. Managing the nuances of each act will require powerful technologies – such as an integrated workplace management system (IWMS) – to meet the stringent requirements geared toward sustainability.

What is the CLEAN Future Act?

The Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s (CLEAN) Future Act is legislation designed to ensure the U.S. achieves net-zero greenhouse gas pollution no later than 2050. The policy also includes an interim target of reducing 2005 levels of pollution by 50 percent no later than 2030.

These targets have been set by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a global group that believes that all nations must work together to aggressively cut carbon pollution. The panel said achieving net-zero greenhouse gas pollution by 2050 will help the world avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change.

What is the LIFT America Act?

The Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow’s (LIFT) America Act is legislation aimed at reducing energy and water usage in U.S. facilities, including hospitals, community drinking water plants, and schools.

These changes are meant to modernize infrastructure, fight the effects of climate change, and improve public health standards. The policy is designed to improve:

  • Energy efficiency and clean energy
  • Electric vehicle infrastructure
  • Drinking water
  • Broadband internet access
  • Public health infrastructure

Impacts on U.S. Businesses and Organizations

The CLEAN Future and LIFT America acts will directly impact businesses and organizations by alternating building requirements and energy standards across the country. If passed, the CLEAN Future Act would require building owners to:

  • Benchmark annual energy and water usage via the Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® – this applies to buildings greater than 50,000 square feet and buildings already in compliance with local benchmarking ordinances are exempt
  • Develop a model building energy code using ASHRAE 90.1
  • Increase building energy performance standards

The LIFT America Act will place additional requirements on federally owned structures, including:

  • Reduce average facility energy intensity by 2.5 percent each year (relative to their 2018 baseline)
  • Reduce potable water consumption by 3 percent each year (relative to their 2007 baseline), for a total of 54 percent reduction by 2030

Increasing Sustainability with an IWMS

Many organizations struggle to find cost-effective ways to reduce their carbon footprint and ensure employee safety and wellness. Technology can streamline processes to effectively track and measure sustainability goals.

An integrated workplace management system (IWMS) platform, including one offered by Archibus, an iOFFICE + SpaceIQ product, makes it easier for organizations to comply with the more aggressive standards outlined by the CLEAN Future and LIFT America acts. A web-based IWMS platform can track key processes like energy and waste management, which helps organizations better understand the impact they have on the environment.

Organizations can utilize Archibus apps to align with their unique business needs, including:

  • Sustainability Assessments: Regular sustainability assessments allow organizations to measure performance indicators, mitigate risk, and reduce their carbon footprint
  • Energy Management: Many organizations have inefficient energy management practices that are difficult to find and cost them thousands of dollars each year – benchmarking, tracking, and management tools help control costs and increase sustainability
  • Green Building: Whether companies must meet new legislation requirements for individual buildings or across their portfolio, the green building app will help them achieve those goals
  • Waste Management: Efficient waste management systems allow organizations to improve health practices and minimize risks
  • Emergency Preparedness: The right IWMS tools overlap with business continuity planning, helping organizations recover quickly in emergency situations
  • Hazard Abatement: Identifying and abating indoor environmental hazards can be time-consuming, but this feature streamlines the process and keeps organizations safer
  • Health & Safety: From workplace safety accidents to PPE, organizations can gain greater control over health and safety protocols
  • Hazardous Materials: Quickly retrieving material safety information helps to protect building occupants and cut compliance costs

Where to start: Sustainability Assessments and Energy Management

Businesses and organizations don’t need to wait for the CLEAN Future and LIFT America acts to launch sustainability measures. IWMS technology makes the concept of environmental sustainability a reality by tracking, ranking, and documenting details on the condition and use of physical assets.

Manual evaluation using spreadsheets and other archaic methods are replaced by objective and systematic ways to identify and prioritize facility replacements, upgrades, and renovations based on environmental sustainability criteria.

Using data from a central repository in Archibus, building owners/managers can:

  • Establish proactive sustainability processes that can improve operational efficiencies, enhance stakeholder work environments, and boost asset value
  • Identify which assets should be repaired, renovated or replaced to achieve environmental efficiency goals or support an existing LEED™ or BREEAM® rating program
  • Improve capital budgeting and planning capabilities by tracking costs and budgets associated with environmental deficiencies
  • Increase efficiency of sustainability efforts by integrating assessments with work order management and by using a unified data repository

An energy management solution is also easy to implement in order to aggregate, evaluate, and optimize energy and utility spending decisions and reduce unnecessary consumption and costs. With Archibus, organizations can:

  • Evaluate consumption patterns to help renegotiate rates and consolidate energy providers
  • Reduce business risk and exposure to changes in energy costs or carbon emissions regulation thought what-if analyses
  • Track energy expenditures against a business plan or objective benchmarks

Article written by Fred Kraus, Sr. Director Product, Archibus
iOFFICE + SpaceIQ

Schedule a Call
View our IWMS Services
Request a Quote
Archibus OnSite Makes Fielding Work Orders Simpler

Archibus OnSite Makes Fielding Work Orders Simpler

by | Dec 12, 2021 | ARCHIBUS

Maintaining facilities takes an organized, concerted effort. There are so many facets of property upkeep to consider, each demanding its own approach to maintenance, repair, and improvement. Businesses need a tool on their side that enables not only visibility into these tasks, but also streamlined management of them. It’s why iOFFICE + SpaceIQ created Archibus OnSite.

Archibus OnSite is a new mobile solution that helps organizations efficiently manage preventive and corrective maintenance work orders, assets, and compliance. It’s designed with total facilities in mind, to enable groups and teams charged with keeping them up and running right.

Companies are taking a closer look at overhead

In the era of flex work, companies are paying more attention to the cost of overhead. What they’re finding are opportunities to cut back—not necessarily on space, but on the cost of maintaining that space. It’s all about cost optimization through better workplace efficiency.

Organizations are wasting too much time on administrative overhead: completing work orders in the office and planning work routes ahead of time. Instead, they need to efficiently maintain facilities and assets in a manner that optimizes for availability, uptime, good working order, compliance, and cost. They’re turning to Archibus OnSite to help them take a smarter approach to broad facility upkeep, and reaping the benefits that come with it.

How Archibus OnSite helps maximize overhead ROI

Archibus OnSite is built on a modern, mobile framework that makes facility teams and field workers more efficient. From fielding and sorting work orders, to built-in compliance checklists—Archibus OnSite puts critical resources in the hands of craftspeople charged with vital facilities tasks. Additional core features planned for the app include:

  • Location awareness for easy work planning and routing
  • Push notifications for instant reminders of what’s important
  • Questionnaire framework for regulatory compliance maintenance checklists

Unlike other maintenance solutions that focus solely on ticket management, Archibus OnSite takes a holistic approach to facilities management. It connects asset, compliance, and maintenance management with floor plans and maps to optimize the management of tasks—including locating and planning work.

Archibus OnSite optimizes maintenance operations by bringing visibility and flexibility to the actions that enable them. Beyond realizing the need for maintenance, upkeep, or repair, Archibus OnSite helps facility teams execute with purpose, to get the job done more efficiently and at a lower cost to the organization.

Archibus OnSite is part of a full-featured IWMS

Archibus OnSite works seamlessly with other Archibus modules to enable an even more streamlined approach to facility upkeep. The Archibus integrated workplace management system (IWMS) delivers a full profile of relevant data to Archibus OnSite users, giving them even more capabilities in the field, so they can do their job better. Over time, core synergies will include:

  • Connect to assets for a complete asset inventory and maintenance history to inform lifecycle decisions.
  • Extend to compliance and condition assessment solutions for a comprehensive view of assets under management.
  • Connect to space data and GIS to include floor plans, campus plans, and maps for wayfinding, planning, and locating.

Archibus OnSite allows facility teams to do more, faster. Robust integrations provide immediate, relevant data for an informed response to any support ticket, no matter where it originates or what the scope of work is.

Archibus OnSite as a comprehensive maintenance solution

As overhead costs loom large over organizations, Archibus OnSite ensures a higher standard of upkeep and quicker responsiveness that reduces asset maintenance costs and maximizes the ROI of the workplace using:

  • Robust and configurable workflows (approvals, estimating, scheduling, checklists, etc.)
  • Labor scheduling and workforce management and coordination tools
  • Part inventory management for simplified inventories and better cost control
  • Asset lists, maintenance history, reference documents, and compliance sheets

Archibus OnSite brings a broader level of oversight to facility upkeep and puts organizations more in-control of their response to everyday facilities tasks. No matter where or when maintenance demands arise, Archibus OnSite ensures a well-coordinated response.

The time for smarter asset management is now

Overhead costs may seem like a burden, but it’s vital to remember that real estate is an asset. To maximize asset ROI and more than justify the overhead costs that come with it, companies need to focus on the variables they can control—namely, their response to facilities maintenance.

Archibus OnSite is a ready-to-deploy, easy-to-integrate, versatile app that transforms the way an organization manages its largest asset. With seamless connectivity to other Archibus solutions, availability in seven languages, and the full support of iOFFICE + SpaceIQ behind it, Archibus OnSite will change the way companies think about and approach facility maintenance.

More Info & Pricing
Test Drive Archibus
Call now 201-792-6300
Best Practices For Using BIM in IWMS

Best Practices For Using BIM in IWMS

by | Dec 8, 2021 | ARCHIBUS, Facilities Management, IWMS

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a collaborative project management process that is used to manage the design, construction, and process of real estate, infrastructure, and facilities assets. At its core is the inclusion of all (as
many as possible) of the project’s stakeholders, including facility professionals.

More specifically, from a lifecycle management perspective, the process allows for a facilities and operation viewpoint to be considered throughout the building design and construction periods. The process also provides an opportunity to transfer
quality data – through the model’s database – that is generated at different building lifecycle phases to an integrated workplace management system (IWMS). In turn, the IWMS enables facilities professionals to hit the ground running once the
building is commissioned and occupied.

But what information is needed to ensure a seamless transition from the design-build phase to operations?

The following guide provides a BIM Execution Plan to define the BIM-related workflows and responsibilities for each project; a Level of Development (LOD) reference standard to provide clarity throughout the construction process; and answers many of the questions you may have when considering deploying and IWMS with BIM.

Download the guide, Best Practices for Using BIM in an IWMS, to explore best practices in data gathering and implementation.

Request Guide

Looking for the right BIM solution for you?

Call us at (201) 792-6300 to speak with a Robotech representative to find out how you can get access to the right BIM solution.

Schedule a Call
Request a Quote
Archibus General Manager Nick Stefanidakis Connects the dots for BIM in ARCHIBUS

Archibus General Manager Nick Stefanidakis Connects the dots for BIM in ARCHIBUS

by | Nov 9, 2021 | ARCHIBUS, BIM

As the world population continues to grow, the demand for urban and industrial construction projects will also carry on at a massive scale. Building information modeling (BIM) systems are playing a vital role in this development, with both government and private sector groups seeking more efficient, collaborative ways to build roads, skyscrapers, tunnels, and more.

BIM software is so effective that countries like Abu Dhabi and the UAE now require its use for all major construction projects. Other countries are following suit, and the BIM market is estimated to reach a value of $9.81 billion by 2026.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased the demand for BIM, which helps construction companies adhere to safety and distancing requirements. (Global use of Autodesk, one of the most popular BIM software options, increased by 350% in the first quarter of 2020.)

Clearly, BIM software is quickly becoming the new standard in the construction industry. But what are the top benefits of using BIM during the construction process? And how can construction companies leverage the technology to the fullest?

A quick guide to BIM

Like blueprints and CAD software that came before, BIM is fast becoming the standard for drafting, designing, and visualizing any construction project. But unlike past methods, BIM is highly intelligent and collaborative.

Changes to the design are updated and stored automatically in a common data environment, so architects and contractors can immediately observe these changes. In addition, small tweaks to any element of the 3D model flow through to the entire building, which helps maintain consistency and accuracy.

Design is just one element of BIM, however. The software also offers features like scheduling, cost estimations, budget analysis, energy consumption, and more.

Ways to leverage BIM data

The advantages of BIM data go well beyond 3D modeling. But leveraging BIM requires a thorough understanding of how the software can help a particular segment. For example, for those looking to use BIM to FM (facility management) purposes, the manager should first define their needs, make a data storage plan, and then classify information.

Here are other ways architects, construction firms, capital project managers, and operations and maintenance professionals can successfully leverage BIM data:

  • GPS and drones. Every 3D design starts with a point cloud, and that point can sometimes take weeks to come up with. However, GPS software and drones can be used to get quick, accurate, and detailed measurements as a launching point for BIM designs.
  • Laser scanning. Laser scanning is the best way to outline existing structures that may clash with a new construction project. This information can be directly imported into BIM software, making it easy for architects to design buildings with minimal rework.
  • Mobile apps. Owners can now use BIM software like Autodesk anywhere they go, thanks to mobile apps that can communicate both internally and externally to immediately reflect design changes.
  • Project management software. Integrating BIM data with project management software helps to further streamline the entire construction process, from the initial sketches to completion.

Maximize BIM with the right tech

BIM offers many clear benefits, allowing companies to build in a more streamlined, cost-effective, sustainable fashion.  Combined with an open project management tool that integrates flawlessly with Autodesk and other BIM software, like Archibus, stakeholders are able to access vital information that keeps them on track with their goals.

Greater Cost Savings & Predictability

Capital projects present many budgeting challenges, with 30% of construction costs coming from rework and 55% of maintenance costs remaining reactive. Fortunately, BIM can help to greatly reduce costs during the building process, by minimizing delays and providing greater visibility. BIM can also help reduce costs across the life of the structure, from maintenance forecasting to energy specifications.

Archibus helps take these benefits to the next level. Weighted performance scorecards highlight over-budget projects and allow owners to review actual costs in comparison to baseline estimates.

Fewer Errors & Improved Schedules

When asked about the benefits of using BIM, 34% of people surveyed answered that “fewer errors” topped their list. Because BIM offers insightful data and better schedule forecasting, builders are less likely to encounter problems in later stages of construction. In addition, the same survey found that 26% of respondents believe BIM offers an ROI of 25% or more—further highlighting the importance of reducing errors.

Archibus creates a central repository of data, offering a “top-down” perspective that makes it easier to manage projects and changes once construction is completed and the building is handed over to the owner/occupier. With insights like project priorities, actions, and costs, all parties involved have quick access to streamlined reporting and project execution.

Greater Insights

BIM software makes it easier for multiple parties to communicate about the construction process in real-time. This allows all stakeholders to gain valuable insights and a greater understanding of the 3D modeling before it is put into action.

One of the premier advantages of using Archibus is the ability to see each subsystem within a building and understand its context. How does that system exist in relation to others, and what’s its role in broader building function? With this information in-hand, facilities managers can make better decisions about how they manager, alter, and maintain different subsystems, and the effects of those decisions on the building.

Increased Efficiency

In another survey of BIM users, respondents reported that the software allows them to spend less time documenting and more time designing. Increased efficiency means architects can dedicate more of their workday to creating sustainable, cost-effective buildings.

BIM risk mitigation takes many forms. Utilizing BIM data in an integrated workplace management system (IWMS) like Archibus can help model maintenance and improvement tasks sequentially, to reduce risks associated with the scope of a project and increase efficiency. Or it can deliver risk analysis for certain aspects of building function. It can even mitigate on-the-job risks by assessing the inherent dangers of specific tasks. In short: BIM makes facilities maintenance and modification safer.

Comprehensive Views

Organizations typically have a large number of projects in progress across the portfolio. Using BIM data, Archibus can help connect these project to a capital budget plan and ranks them so capital spend is aligned with the corporate mission.

By integrating BIM data into Archibus, managers get a comprehensive view of their entire project, which allows for appropriate building management once construction is complete. Using data collected during design and construction phases lets owners and operators easily track and manage assets and space. The payoff is improved asset performance and space utilization because all departments are aligned.

For example, Maintenance isn’t repairing a roof, that capital planning has scheduled to replace, in a building that CRE has slated to sell, and technology is completing a mission critical project in. BIM correlates the activities across the organization.

BIM for better building

BIM data provides a wealth of opportunities for capital projects managers, real estate developers, and more. Coupling BIM software with Archibus allows owners to leverage existing data, improve construction schedules, and get greater cost predictability.

Robotech CAD Solutions, Inc. can help you to take advantage of the benefits of utilizing Archibus and  BIM together.

Call us at 201-792-6300 to find out more.

Schedule a Call
Request a Quote
Efficiently Maintain Facilities and Assets with Archibus OnSite – LIVE Webinar on Nov 11

Efficiently Maintain Facilities and Assets with Archibus OnSite – LIVE Webinar on Nov 11

by | Oct 19, 2021 | ARCHIBUS, Facilities Management, IWMS, Webinar

Webinar held on November 11, 2021 at 11 am ET

Archibus OnSite is a cloud-based SaaS CMMS that provides preventive and reactive maintenance, asset and compliance management.
Join us to learn how Archibus’ solution takes a holistic approach to facilities management, connecting asset, compliance, and maintenance management with an intuitive mobile app for managing work, and floor plans and maps for locating and planning work.
Can’t make it? Don’t worry, a recording will be sent out to everyone who registers.

 

For more information contact theteam@robotechcad.com or call us at 201-792-6300

Always contact Robotech first for more knowledgeable and personal service.

Robotech provides Archibus applications with high quality tech support and training services.