Strategic plans will help to increases marketing growth of the company. Organizations must think strategically if they are to do more than simply survive in today’s increasingly competitive marketplaces. This thinking applies to both core and non-core business. In the case of the latter, facilities management has a pivotal role to play in support of the core business and must be closely coupled with the organization’s overall strategy.
Developing Facilities Strategy: In order to manage facilities efficiently and effectively, robust strategies must be developed with in the context of the organization’s strategic business plan. A business plan for facilities management should have below goals.
- Consider the needs of the organization, differentiating between core and non-core business activities.
- Identify and establish effective and manageable process for meeting those needs.
- The internal or external service should be provided with appropriate resource needs..
- Identify the source of funds to finance the strategy and its implications.
- Establish a budget, not only for the short term, but also to achieve best value over the longer term.
- Recognize that management of information is the key to providing a basis for effective control of facilities management.
- Consider the needs of the organization, differentiating between core and non-core business activities
The three main steps in the development and achievement of a workable strategy for facilities management are:
- Analyzing requirements
- Developing solutions
- Implementing solutions
I. Analyzing Requirements: This is top level analysis. The aim of the analysis is to thoroughly understand the present state of the organization’s facilities management. This means assembling all material facts including:
- The organization’s objectives, needs and policies;
- Physical assets and space utilization;
- A review of resources, processes and systems to provide a broad picture of the current provision of services; and
- Detailed breakdown of costs involved in the form of a cost analysis.
II. Developing solutions: Once information from the analysis stage has been assembled, a robust and structured approach to the interpretation of the information can be adopted. The information obtained from the analysis should be open and should be interpreted in a way which allows new ideas and develop innovative solutions. The recommended approach is:
- Generating options;
- Assembly of criteria for judging options;
- Evaluating options; and
- Selecting preferred option.
III. Implementing solutions: Policy statements can be developed into operational plans and implemented through a process that is capable of managing change. The change management process should be undertaken adopting best practice in human resources management. The implementation plan should consist of programs, performance measurement, milestones and risk analysis. The risks associated with successful implementation should be identified and necessary protective measures should be taken.
In summary, the plan should encompass people and systems, communication, resource planning and procurement/purchasing.