FM Definitions
ACTIVITY SETTINGS:
Places that are designed to support particular
behaviors, such as large formal meetings and small informal
gatherings.
*AMENITY AREA:
Any area in a facility used by employees
for non-work activity, such as employee dining rooms,
vending areas, lounges, day-care centers and fitness
or health centers.
AUDIT:
A thorough inspection of the base building, interior
development and infrastructure; also used as a tool
to provide senior management with the cost of capital
renewal programs on which to base strategic facility
planning.
BENCHMARKING:
The continuous process of measuring products,
services and practices against the toughest competitors
of those companies recognized as industry leaders.
*BUILDING CORE:
The "guts" of a building, which
normally includes building elevators, restrooms, smoke
towers, fire stairs, mechanical shafts, janitorial,
electrical and phone closets.
*BUILDING MAINTENANCE:
The preventive and remedial upkeep of building
components (HVAC, electrical, plumbing, elevators, carpentry
and painting), excluding janitorial and grounds maintenance.
BULLPEN STYLE
OFFICES: Open areas without partitions.
+CIRCULATION AREA:
The portion of the gross area of a building
required for physical access to various divisions and
subdivisions of space.
+CHARGEBACK SYSTEM:
A system of cost control that requires the
requesting unit or organization to pay for work done
to its area.
CHURN:
The total number of employee workplace moves made in
a year, divided by the total number of office employees
in that facility, multiplied by 100.
+CONSTRUCTION
AREA: That portion of the gross area of
a building rendered unusable by the presence of structural
elements such as the walls and columns.
+CORRECTIVE MAINTENANCE:
Maintenance activities performed because
of equipment or system failure. Activities are directed
toward the restoration of an item to a specified level
of performance. Sometimes called "breakdown maintenance."
COSOURCING:
When a corporation does not want to transfer responsibility
for the facility function to a service provider, but
desires the results that they have seen through outsourcing
done by other companies. Based on a long-term relationship
with an emphasis on values traditionally associated
more with "partnering" than "vending."
*COST OF OPERATION:
The total costs associated with the day-to-day
operation of a facility. It includes all maintenance
and repair (both fixed and variable), administrative
costs, labor costs, janitorial, housekeeping and other
cleaning costs, all utility costs, and all costs associated
with roadways and grounds.
+CUSTODIAL AREA:
The sum of floor area used for building
protection, care, cleaning, and maintenance.
+CYCLICAL MAINTENANCE:
Maintenance that can be predicted and performed
on a regular basis (cycle).
+DEFERRED MAINTENANCE:
A formal or informal listing of unaccomplished
maintenance tasks. Such situations arise because of
shortages of funds, personnel, or specific management
practices.
DOWNSIZING:
A reduction in the workforce.
ERGONOMICS:
The study of equipment design in order to reduce operator
fatigue and discomfort.
+FACILITY:
Something that is built, installed or established to
serve a purpose.
FACILITY MANAGEMENT:
A profession that encompasses multiple disciplines
to ensure functionality of the built environment by
integrating people, place, process and technology.
*FIRE CORRIDORS:
Special corridors with partitioning designed
to create escape routes in time of fire.
*FLOOR PLATE:
A broker’s buzzword for rentable floor
size.
+FOOTPRINT:
The working square footage required to support a particular
function; this often includes space for furniture as
well as chair movement and circulation.
FREE ADDRESS ENVIRONMENTS:
A variety of different workspaces and no
permanently assigned offices or workstations. Workers
select the setting that suits their activity at the
moment.
+GROSS AREA:
The sum of floor areas within the outside faces of the
exterior walls for all building levels which have floor
surfaces.
GROUP ADDRESS:
designated group or team workspace for a
specified period of time.
GROUPWARE:
Team-oriented computer software packages, desktop videos
and electronic conference boards that are applicable
to facility planning and management needs. Facilitates
the rapid sharing of data, text and e-mail among a variety
of users.
HARMONICS:
Distortion in an electrical distribution system.
HOTELING:
Workspace that is reserved on a first call basis and
not dedicated to any specific worker beyond a specified
amount of time.
HUDDLE ROOM:
A non-scheduable meeting space for three
to four people. This space may be used for a brief meeting
or can be assigned for the length of a project. Usually
utilized by those who are housed in open workstations.
INSOURCING:
A common approach in which facility management executives
look to outside facility management service firms as
process experts. Outside service providers are hired
as consultants to measure operations against the commercial
benchmark and make recommendations for improvement.
The internal staff then implements the recommendations.
+INSTALLED EQUIPMENT:
Equipment affixed to the owner’s buildings
that is maintained by the facility manager, not the
functional operator or line manager.
INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS:
Buildings that are designed with a flexibility
to accommodate change.
*INTRAOFFICE:
The common area between departments, sections,
etc., used for corridors, aisles, or walkways.
+KEY PLANS:
Small-scale floor plans designed to show room locations,
occupant room numbers, and occasionally telephone numbers.
*LAYOUT:
A plan created by a space planner, interior designer
or architect showing locations of tenant improvements
and the utilization of the space by the tenant.
+MECHANICAL AREA:
That portion of the gross area of a building
designated to house mechanical equipment, utility services,
and nonprivate toilet facilities.
+NET ASSIGNABLE
AREA: The sum of the floor areas available
for assignment to a program occupant. By definition
this excludes custodial, circulation, mechanical, and
construction areas.
OUTSOURCING:
Refers to a full transfer of the facility management
functions to an outside firm. The corporation then manages
the outsourcing contract rather than the entire facility
management function.
OPEN PLAN OFFICES:
Spaces divided by movable partitions.
OUT-TASKING:
A word coined to further define the area to be tasked
to an outsource provider.
*PANELS:
Modular furniture sections used to define the limits
of a workstations. Panels do not extend from floor to
ceiling.
*PARTITIONS:
Inside floor-to-ceiling structures not otherwise
meeting the criteria of walls. Partitions are movable
or removable.
PARTNERING:
Refers to the working relationship between owner, designer
and contractor. Also can be used to identify the relationship
between owner and the supplier of a specific good or
service. It provides the opportunity to institute longer
contracts with the supplier instead of working on an
annual basis.
+PREVENTIVE MAINTENANCE:
Planned actions undertaken to retain an
item at a specified level of performance by providing
repetitive scheduled tasks which prolong system operation
and useful life; i.e., inspection, cleaning, lubrication
and part replacement.
PRIVATE OFFICE:
Offices enclosed by floor-to-ceiling walls.
PROACTIVE:
The planning process necessary to achieve success that
involves looking ahead and anticipating the long-term
to prepare for the future in the present. It addresses
not only urgent matters, but also the important, emphasizing
the important matters.
+PROGRAMMED WORK:
Work done in annual "slices,"
normally in all facilities.
+PUNCH LIST:
A list of deficiencies, incomplete, or unacceptable
work items compiled by the project manager during the
final inspection of a project.
REMEDIATE:
Activities undertaken to reduce or eliminate contaminants
so that property and groundwater are not in violation
of applicable environmental standards.
REMOTE TELECENTERS:
Office centers providing technology and
administrative support, located near customers and staffed
by employees dedicated to that site or splitting their
time between that location and another.
+RETROFIT:
In building, to add new materials or equipment not provided
at the time of original construction.
RISK MANAGEMENT:
The process of making and carrying through
decisions that reduce or minimize the adverse effects
of accidental loss upon an organization. It must be
able to adjust to changing organizational requirements
and external market conditions.
SATELLITE OFFICE:
An office used by a company for employees
who telecommute. It allows employees to reduce commutes
by working at an office close to home for a few days
a week.
SHARED SPACE:
Two or more employees sharing a single,
assigned workspace and work tools, either simultaneously
or on different shifts.
*SHARED TENANT
SERVICES: Services provided by a building
to allow tenants to share the costs and benefits of
sophisticated telecommunications and other technical
services.
+SOLE-SOURCE PROCUREMENT:
A procurement awarded to a single vendor
without competition.
+STRATEGIC PLAN:
A plan that projects programs five to ten
years for most business functions. Some strategic facility
management plans project three to five years.
SUPPORT AREA:
Includes computer centers, mail rooms, reprographics
and copy center, library space, training rooms, communication
centers, auditoriums, conference rooms, security areas
and shipping and receiving area.
TELECOMMUTING:
Work arrangement program where employees
work at a location other than a typical office. This
place may be the home or an alternate (satellite) office
close to home.
*USABLE AREA:
That area of a space that may actually be
occupied by a user. Equation: Usable area = Rentable
area - Common area
*USER:
The generic definition of the occupant of a space. This
may be a tenant, a company or a department. A given
space may have more than one user for each tier of definition.
VACANCY RATE:
The current vacant square footage or meters
in a facility divided by the total usable area and multiplied
by 100. For example, if the facility currently has 12,000
square feet vacant and the usable area is 200,000 then
the vacancy rate is 6 percent.
+VALUE ENGINEERING:
Evaluation of construction methods and/or
materials to determine which have the net result of
reducing costs, consistent with specified performance,
reliability, maintainability, aesthetic, safety, and
security criteria.
VIRTUAL OFFICE:
Employees have the freedom to office anywhere
(home, hotel or car) through the use of portable technology.
VIRTUAL CORPORATION:
Businesses that are composed of independent
individuals and/or businesses that provide the physical
resources of the corporation. Though operating from
separate locations, they function together as an integrated
business entity. There is no physical headquarters from
which the enterprise is run.
*WORK LETTER:
A document that includes building standards
plus any additional items to be paid for by the landlord
or by the tenant; the letter specifies who is responsible
for each item.
WORKPLACE STANDARDS:
Guidelines used to allocate workspace on
a corporate-wide basis according to set criteria, such
as position, title or seniority.
*WORKSTATIONS:
Any space for which a function is accomplished.
This may be an enclosed space or a space in an open
area (e.g., a conference room, an executive office,
a coffee station, a reception area, a data input station).
A workstation does not necessarily require that a person
or persons be assigned to that particular space.
*ZONES:
The identified portions of an office area served by
the HVAC system that have separate thermostatic and
temperature controls.
- +Cotts, David C. and Michael Lee, The Facility
Management Handbook, Amacom. New York, 1992.
- *Brown, Robert Kevin, Paul D. Lapides and Edmond
P. Rondeau, Facility Management,John Wiley
& Sons Inc., New York, 1995.
- All remaining definitions came from Facility
Management Journal
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