GIS based interactive Facilities Management Environment (IFaME)

Transcription

1 GIS based interactive Facilities Management Environment (IFaME) Vasanth KC 1, G.K. Viswanathan 2 1 GIS Consultant, NeST Information Technologies 2 Sr. GIS Consultant, NeST Information Technologies NeST Towers, University Jn, S. Kalamaserry, Cochin Abstract: About the Author: Market potential of providing a cost effective and robust solution to SMEs (Small and Medium Business Enterprises) for managing space, assets & facilities in the context of building space has been the key driving force for NeST to develop IFaME (Interactive Facilities Management Environment) on ESRI s ArcEngine development platform. Proven advantages of ESRI s mapping technology being bundled as ArcEngine were put to best use by NeST in developing this product. The desktop based solution provides key benefits to SMEs in the areas of Property & Lease Management, Workspace Management, Occupancy Management, Furniture & Equipment (assets) Management, Maintenance Management, Move Management and Emergency Management. An easy to use, intuitive and interactive user interface, inbuilt powerful queries & reports, thematic mapping, easy information retrieval options, scalable application framework and a flexible data model are its key advantages. Scaling up to include Building 3D Model for developing Emergency Response System and integrating sensor information through NeST s Eagle, a product for integrating OPC compliant Sensor information are the ongoing initiatives to take this product to international clients. The product has been developed in VB.Net & ArcEngine 9.2 and works on Windows XP & 2003 platform. MR Vasanth KC, B.Tech -Civil Graduate in Civil Engineering from NIT Calicut, the author has been working in the field of GIS for the past 12 years. Currently he works as a GIS Consultant in Functional Consultancy Group at NeST Information Technologies. Experienced in geospatial technologies (GIS, Remote Sensing Photogrammetry & LIDAR) and equipped with functional knowledge in Cadastral Mapping, Water Utilities, Facilities Management & Transportation Network domains, the author primarily functions as a Business Analyst for Enterprise GIS NeST. E mail ID: vasanth.kc@nestgroup.net Contact No: Page 1 of 5

2 Introduction The advantage of integrating GIS technology for building space management is being increasingly realized by facility managers across the globe. The potential of offering a cost effective GIS based solution in this segment is behind NeST s initiative for developing IFaME. IFaME is designed as a cost effective solution for small and medium business enterprises for managing workspace, asset (furniture and equipment), workforce occupancy & emergency in organizations in the context of building space. The product leverages the advantages offered through GIS and facilitates facility managers in effectively managing the facilities. The product has been developed in VB.Net & ESRI s ArcEngine 9.2 and works on Windows XP & 2003 platform. Key Features of IFaME With its easy to use, intuitive and interactive user interface, inbuilt powerful queries & reports, easy information retrieval options, the product offers key benefits in the following areas: Property Lease Management Site Infrastructure Management Workspace Management Facility/Asset Management Workforce Occupancy Management Emergency Management Figure 1 - IFaME - User Interface Layout Page 2 of 5

3 Key features & benefits of IFaME are listed below: (i) Property Lease Management IFaME facilitates managing information related to a company s property & lease details of its sites & buildings across the globe. Following are the key benefits offered in this area. Manage property & lease info related to company sites across the globe View & query property lease information of sites & buildings Generate alerts & s based on lease expiry dates Generate reports on site & lease details (ii) Site Infrastructure Management IFaME provides spatial information of site infrastructure in a property site. Key benefits are: View site infrastructure details such as buildings, pathways, parking lots,swimming pool, lawns, play areas etc View utilities/facilities in the site/campus (Water pipe lines & fittings, Sewage lines, Electric lines, Cable Lines, Telecommunication lines, Telephone Booths, etc) View information of utilities by clicking on the map Get details of building on clicking (Building Name, Number of Floors, Total Floor area, Floor Area Ratio, etc) Locate & view buildings in a site based on building name View photo of a building on clicking building footprint Print Site Map with the needed site details (iii) Workspace Management Effective workspace management requires quick information such as how various departments are allotted spaces, how spaces are utilized, vacancies available in spaces etc. IFaME facilitates in providing this information by managing workspace to the smallest functional unit. This facilitates operational effectiveness of space management in the organization. IFaME enables workspace management in the following ways. Easily navigate to view a floor space of building by selecting a site, building and floor number Manage building space based on the function or usage of a space by dividing the floor space to smallest functional units called space units View space units based on designed usage (Office, Cabin, Server, Workstation, Rest Room etc), designed types (Assignable, Passage, Un Assignable, Vertical Penetrations etc) & designed occupancy View space allotment to various functional categories like department & section. Space units can be charged/allotted based on functional categories & sub categories (eg: departments & section in an office) Calculate charge back based on space usage Track space units based on designed & actual usage (eg: conference room being used as office), designed & actual occupancy ( eg: Space designed for 4 persons being used by 6 persons) & Page 3 of 5

4 based on assigned & occupied functional unit (eg: Floor space allotted to Admin unit is being used by HR department) Provide single click information on vacancy & space utilization of floor spaces Generate floor/building or department wise reports on space usage type, space utilization and space availability (vacancy) Track history of space usage View photos of floors Option to view floor wise engineering drawings and display selected layers of engineering drawing on floor map (iv) Asset Management IFaME facilitates managing assets (Furniture & Equipments) in a building. Following functionalities are provided: Facilitate allocating assets to a space Manage Asset information and facilitate various aspects of asset management including Contract and Lease Management, Maintenance Management, life cycle management, Repairs etc. Manage asset movement within or outside building Provide single click info of all assets in a space unit View photo of assets (Furniture & Equipments) Query on equipment or furniture based on asset information like cost, conditions, owner departments/sections, purchase date, maintenance date, contract and warranty expiry dates. Thematic display of assets to view based on expiry dates, conditions etc for any selected floor. Generate floor/building or department wise reports of assets based on Costs, Contract Expiry, Warranty Expiry, Condition, Maintenance related information etc. (v) Workforce Occupancy Management IFaME facilitates management of work force space allocation. Following are the key benefits. View current vacancy in assignable spaces under various departments & sections Assign an employee to an assignable space Locate an employee based on employee information Single Click info of occupants assigned to a space Option to view occupant photos Track history of space occupied by employees View utilization of spaces based on occupancy Thematic display of occupants based on department, section & occupant designation Options to generate floor/building & department wise occupancy reports (vi) Emergency Management IFaME facilitates Emergency Management by providing single click options to Page 4 of 5

5 View door entry and access control points View camera feeds from space units View Fire Extinguisher locations in each floor View sprinkler layouts (dwf format) of each floor View emergency doors, windows, exits, phones (speakers) View emergency plans for each floors Future Enhancements Integrating information from Building Management Systems, integrating 3D building models to facilitate emergency response are the two areas where IFaME application framework can be extended to bring value. Following are key benefits envisaged by these future enhancements View building 3D model for emergency response/rescue personnel and provide options to mark command and staging areas to facilitate rescue operations Monitor real-time movement of personals & equipments using RFID (useful in hospitals) Integrate with fire/temperature sensors and provide emergency routing solutions Provide camera feeds by clicking on floor space Tie energy management with floor space/occupancy for optimizing Building Energy Management Systems. Conclusion: GIS technology has a great potential that can be leveraged in integrating various information related to facilities management of a building. Providing cost effective solution would be the key to attract business enterprises to embrace the advantages of GIS. Arc Engine makes available rich mapping and data access functionalities at an affordable cost proposition. ESRI s licensing strategy has gone a long way in bringing the advantages of GIS technology to this domain. References: 1. IFaME Functional Requirements Specifications NeST s proprietary solution for interactive facilities management Page 5 of 5