Background
The Company is one of the world’s largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies.  It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and non-prescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide.  Currently, The Company is exploring more than 90 new therapies for medical conditions such as diabetes, breast cancer, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia. 

Facilities and Property Overview
The Company maintains a portfolio of 28,858,472 square feet throughout 369 sites, and owns and leases properties in 69 countries. 

Challenges
The Company wanted to strategically align the efforts of its facilities organization with its overall business goals. In order to execute a plan, the facilities department needed to have all related data available for analyzing current processes, locating bottlenecks, and capitalizing on opportunities for forecasting and meeting future goals. To maximize occupancy and accommodate business needs, The Company needed to unlock information that was neither accessible nor optimized for use across its multiple locations and departments.

The previous integrated workplace management system (IWMS) system at The Company had a limited quantity of individual licenses for facility planners and a diminishing product line that did not support current requirements or needs.  Other issues included:

• CAD drawings remained static in the previous proprietary database with no internal support or client interface for real-time transactions
• Client feedback or move requests entered a ‘black hole’, impairing customer service levels
• When a move request was identified, the manual transfer of data from system to system left too much room for human error
• The system wasn’t able to integrate with other applications already in place, and as The Company managed data across multiple locations, one central location was needed to store information.  When running reports, data never matched up, making the validity of the data and the processes in place questionable. 

The Company’s facilitates team needed to find ways to maximize occupancy without impairing the productivity of the workforce.  They wanted to put processes in place to share real-time information enterprise-wide, improve accuracy, gain balance and fortify strategic partnerships.  Their goal was to raise their visibility, become a more strategic player in the organization, and contribute data needed in decision making to help The Company remain competitive.   

Solution
The Company chose FM:Systems’ FM:Interact Web-based workplace management solution because it greatly increased the productivity of The Company’s facilities department.  

 FM:Interact enables The Company to share information across the entire organization, easily integrating with other systems and departments such as information services, human resources, security and finance to increase data integrity. Now the data in reports is accurate and reliable, helping to identify processes that are working and those that need improvement.

For enterprise-wide access, FM:Interact runs on The Company’s intranet and can be accessed by all employees using standard Web browsers.   An intuitive interface provides quick and easy access to key facilities information such as floorplans, reports, employee information and critical documents across multiple locations.

FM:Interact has transformed the facilities department’s process for user requests.  Now an automatic e-mail goes out when a request is placed, notifying The Company and the user that action is required.

Static CAD drawings from the previous proprietary database are now seamlessly integrated with AutoCAD and transformed into data rich facilities tools. Now, when customers make a move request, they can go into the system and dynamically search for and make specific requests based on available space. An e-mail is automatically generated, notifying the customer and The Company of the request. Facilities department employees can then review the request and accept or decline.

With a blended workforce containing full-time employees, contracted staff, and temporary employees, the previous approach The Company had of tracking space and occupancy just didn’t work anymore. FM:Interact allows The Company to see how many employees it has at various workforce levels as well as where they are located. The Company depends on this information to provide a 360-degree view of the workforce to keep track of who is in the facility at all times, time allocations relating to payment, and safety concerns. The data is critical to mastering the right levels of occupancy and vacancy – never under or overstating numbers.

Results/Accomplishments
FM:Interact proved that The Company’s facilities department is an integral part of the corporate network. Eliminating human error with move requests has not only improved customer service levels but also enabled Company employees to return their focus to strategic, mission-driven tasks. Eliminating time-consuming data entry and having to manually transcribe and track down requests frees up time for more core competency activity.

Integration into Third Party Solutions
FM:Interact integrates with The Company’s HR, security, IT, and telecom community directory and creates a comprehensive view of the workforce. In 2005 The Company was able to develop Global ID numbers for employees, eliminating the use for social security information to be used within documentation, thus ensuring employee privacy.

Enterprise-wide Visibility
FM:Systems enables The Company to share information across multiple systems and departments, creating a true 360-degree view of employee occupancy for the organization. A 30 percent churn rate made it nearly impossible to track employee activity accurately – the facilities team had to make assumptions as to personnel and space needed or overflow. Being able to identify the types of employees in the workforce (full-time, temporary, and contracted), where they are located, start and termination date, etc. with FM:Systems affords The Company true visibility in hiring or moves. Improving asset performance adds to The Company’s overall ROI and heightens physical and network security. 

Improved Move Management
Too much focus on occupancy rates can lead to inadequate contingency space with negative results such as increased churn, a disruption in operations which lowers productivity, or the “echo effect” – to get one person in the right location, you have to move two or three others. The Company uses FM:Systems to create the right amount of vacant space to accommodate moves, finding ten percent works best for the organization. Having a detailed understanding of occupancy by work requirements also allows The Company to deploy modified workspaces smaller than average work stations used for contract employees. The Company has replaced eight traditional workspaces with 16 modified work stations to maximize space and increase workforce productivity.

$60 Million in Savings
When The Company needed to add capacity, it considered leasing a new building, building a new structure, or better utilizing existing space. FM:Systems gave The Company more visibility into the organization’s occupancy structure, enabling it to see the opportunity to leverage existing space rather than purchasing or building a new one. Taking this high-density approach saved The Company $60 million in capital expenses associated with a potential new structure or lease. Rather than taking 18 months to build a new structure, it reconfigured the existing space it already had in only six weeks.

“The Company recognized accessing necessary data wasn’t just in the tools - it was about the process. In order to contribute to the corporate mission and be seen as a decision maker, facilities needed to optimize the financial performance of both property and employee productivity with an enterprise-wide facilities management solution,” said the senior director facilities and space planning at The Company.