Autodesk FM

[#1]

Hello,

I'm new to the forum but not to AutoCAD. I work for a 1,329,000 sqft Healthcare facility and we need to find a way to track our Preventative Maintenance and Joint Commission survey's. I just met with a company that would sell us a service of tracking Life safety checks (exit lights, trash chutes, fire doors etc.) with the use of a barcode system and then it would be uploaded to a DWF file... and that got me thinking.... Does FM seem like a good choice to consider for this type of data collection? What we had problems in the company's demo was we weren't able to customize the type of data, for ex: When we check our Fire Protection water flow switches we need to record psi before and after trip, and they couldn't tell us if their program would do this.. Aslo will the data that is entered show a work history on a piece of equipment? Maybe I should ask is there a Demo version of FM to try?

Thanks to all..if you need more information please ask.

Steve

[#2]

Hi, Steve!

5 million sq ft hospital here. I'm piloting FMDesktop right now. Not all
of the Autodesk Authorized Resellers are selling it yet, but, if your
local representative doesn't, call one out of your area for an online
demo. You can't download FMDesktop as a trial version like AutoCAD,
unfortunately, but, the web demos I've seen have been fairly easy to follow.

I took some classes on FMD last year at Autodesk University, which
convinced me I could handle it (it appears a lot less intimidating than
Archibus did to me. I know Archibus is the leader, but, it takes a lot
of customization from what I've heard).

I ordered Facility Manager (for Access), Facility Link and Facility Web
to try out in a small pilot project, in order to get more backing for a
full rollout. I didn't include Facility Request, because we already have
a work order system in place here (based off of an SQL database), and
it's outside of what I'd like to eventually do here.

I'll be including Life Safety, as well as MEP information in my system.
Currently I'm working on which areas are served by which air handling
unit. I haven't run any reports yet, but, it will sure be easier than
doing it manually.

I'm not sure if any of that helped or not, I'm just always excited to
talk to another Facility Manager. Seems all of the FM/CAFM people out
there these days are consultants instead of end users.

Cheers!

Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com

Hydes wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I'm new to the forum but not to AutoCAD. I work for a 1,329,000 sqft Healthcare facility and we need to find a way to track our Preventative Maintenance and Joint Commission survey's. I just met with a company that would sell us a service of tracking Life safety checks (exit lights, trash chutes, fire doors etc.) with the use of a barcode system and then it would be uploaded to a DWF file... and that got me thinking.... Does FM seem like a good choice to consider for this type of data collection? What we had problems in the company's demo was we weren't able to customize the type of data, for ex: When we check our Fire Protection water flow switches we need to record psi before and after trip, and they couldn't tell us if their program would do this.. Aslo will the data that is entered show a work history on a piece of equipment? Maybe I should ask is there a Demo version of FM to try?
>
> Thanks to all.. if you need more information please ask.
>
> Steve

[#3]

5 Mill that's awesome!! Probably if I included all the out buildings (practices) I might get close to that.. anyway Thanks for the response!

what disappointed me most is that this consulting group thought they knew what type of info to put in their data base but when it came down to it...it wasn't "critical" data yeah sure it's nice to know what color the paint for a room is or what type of door but I need to track Fire door repair data or when our last load bank test on 8 gensets was. I will call my autodesk branch today yet...I think I still have time. I'm curious if this FM package could/would generate a work order of sorts, right now we have a system much like you have in generating work orders but for life safety inspection it's not the best. What I'm shopping for is a "one stop shop" for generating and printing reports and tagging them to a certain piece of equip, or room or flow switch or what ever.

Nice to hear from you Melanie! thanks again.

[#4]

Not *quite* awesome. I'm the only full time CAD person, I've got a
couple of LT users and some more part time users in IT and telecomm (as
well as fielding calls from 'corporate'), but, it would be awesome if we
had a centralized documentation department with more staff, if not for
the whole Health System, at least for just my facility.

~nodding~ I've also most people tend to focus on asset management rather
than real facilities management. And just because you *can* track it,
doesn't mean you *should*. Yes, assets and room finishes are important,
but, it's a thing of what you actually spend the most time needing and
using. ROI for that information gathering and updating.

I'm not entirely sure of the capabilities of the Facility Request
module, whether that handles preventative maintenance
recording/scheduling or not. It might, but, you'd have to hear from
someone who has used it to be sure.
I do know that you could link information/data to the piece of equipment
(in this case, a door), with Facility Manager, though.

Hopefully someone at your local reseller's office will be able to
understand what you're going for and show you a thing or two, describe
how FMD handles things.

There are a couple experienced users that hang out at FMDUGI.org and
there are some FMDesktop forums on AUGI.com... of course, the augi
forums get about as much traffic as this one does. ~sigh~

I'd like to hear how things go for you, if you end up implementing any
type of CAFM solution.

Good luck.

Melanie Perry
***not all who wander are lost***
http://mistressofthedorkness.blogspot.com

Hydes wrote:
> 5 Mill that's awesome!! Probably if I included all the out buildings (practices) I might get close to that.. anyway Thanks for the response!
>
> what disappointed me most is that this consulting group thought they knew what type of info to put in their data base but when it came down to it...it wasn't "critical" data yeah sure it's nice to know what color the paint for a room is or what type of door but I need to track Fire door repair data or when our last load bank test on 8 gensets was. I will call my autodesk branch today yet...I think I still have time. I'm curious if this FM package could/would generate a work order of sorts, right now we have a system much like you have in generating work orders but for life safety inspection it's not the best. What I'm shopping for is a "one stop shop" for generating and printing reports and tagging them to a certain piece of equip, or room or flow switch or what ever.
>
> Nice to hear from you Melanie! thanks again.

[#5]

So I need to move to a 5 Million sqft. facility before I get help huh?? rats!! Sister I feel your pain.. I've started working with our local Print reproduction group to post and make available Construction Docs as they become avail from the A/E group we work with. I have one campus so far online and I can see this will work nice when all start to play along. It's been a struggle to make available prints to employees that don't use dwg files...so I started making some ground rules "standards" if you will, for any employee/manager that wishes to see prints they must first obtain and learn Autodesk Composer..what a load off my back that was. Once they realized that they could red line and mark up...they became empowered to do their own thing with out me. I don't get along to well with our telecom dept..they're too greedy and stuffy.. but that's just me saying that.

I'm turning the lights off and headin' out. Nice chatting with you and I'll keep you posted as I find out information.

[#6]

I've worked as one of those FM "consultants" for a hospital and I don't
think the question posed in this news article has been answered. As I
understood it the question was "Can the product and the database be
modified to meet our specific requirements?"

I have no hands-on with this particular product.
This is not to say the products are not useful for consultants and customers
alike as they are obviously sold to a lot of consultants and customers
alike.
Finally, again, after twenty years of this vertical market of AEC-CAFM
applications I see the root of the problem with clarity noting I am what I
am and that's all that I am and what I am is only the best I've been able to
muster falling far short of others whose shadow I often feel lucky to be
able to even stand in.

<%= Clinton Gallagher
NET csgallagher AT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://clintongallagher.metromilwaukee.com/




wrote in message news:5692400@discussion.autodesk.com...
So I need to move to a 5 Million sqft. facility before I get help huh??
rats!! Sister I feel your pain.. I've started working with our local Print
reproduction group to post and make available Construction Docs as they
become avail from the A/E group we work with. I have one campus so far
online and I can see this will work nice when all start to play along. It's
been a struggle to make available prints to employees that don't use dwg
files...so I started making some ground rules "standards" if you will, for
any employee/manager that wishes to see prints they must first obtain and
learn Autodesk Composer..what a load off my back that was. Once they
realized that they could red line and mark up...they became empowered to do
their own thing with out me. I don't get along to well with our telecom
dept..they're too greedy and stuffy.. but that's just me saying that.

I'm turning the lights off and headin' out. Nice chatting with you and I'll
keep you posted as I find out information. Message was edited by: Discussion Admin

[#7]

So it appears you've had a lot of time on your hands to think about all this? Although you are correct in stating that I haven't had my question answered yet, but as most things, it will get answered in due time I'm confident of that. Unless you have another suggestion hidden in your message that I didn't catch (maybe because I'm a "monkey" according to your intellectual intuitiveness) it seems that you maybe making more out of this than what is called for. At any rate, Have a nice day!