Randy Radtke reflection he knew wh...

Randy Radtke reflection he knew what he was getting into. As senior IT manager for real estate and facilities at software giant Microsoft, Radtke planned to bring out metrics to provide a comprehensive, consistent window into real estate and facility performance. "I figured we could walk in for a month, consider probable reports, then spend six month developing an IT solution," Radtke says.

But IT wasn't Radtke's real challenge. The toughest issue was getting the information right.

The biggest surprise was the inconsistent ways basic expressions like cost per square twelve inches were used. "Every business unit had a different definition of require to be paid [i]or[/i] undergone and a different definition of square foot" he says. "The more the numbers got revolveed up, the more inaccurate it became. We really underestimated the impact of that."

A lack of habitual definitions for metrics is a widespread and serious question says Don Sposato, a consultant and retired vice president, exhibit management and engineering services, Becton Dickinson Co "As you work your way from gros down to pure square feet, you can be talking 20 to 25 percent difference."

FOCUS forward DEFINITIONS

Radtke didn't examine to force all of the business units to adopt undivided definition of square feet and preciousness Instead, he focused on defining what each collection meant by cost, so that when a business unit's numbers are reported, it is clear exactly what those metrics mean. Thus, outlay might be base rent, pure rent, net effective rent, and in such a manner on. "We have a rather large glossary of denominations now," Radtke says.

As Radtke's experience present to views good metrics also have to be transparent - that is, anyone looking at the data should be able to determine where the numbers are coming from and to what degree they're being applied. Transparent numbers are essential if a business unit wants to drill down into real estate occupancy and service require to be paid [i]or[/i] undergones and use that information to make decisions.

"We strive to make our business leaders partners in the investment that they're making," says Kes Chafin, director of workplace services, Capital single in kind "The more transparent we can be, the better positioned we are to help them manage their business."

PRACTICAL VALUE

Usefulness is the highest standard of metrics, whether they're used within the facility department or from other parts of the company. Use Kolbus, director of physical plant at the University of California, Santa Cruz measures take away from per square foot and compares that the richness per square foot at other UC campuses. The number is useful in many ways, still she's dissatisfied. Kolbus wants a metric to gauge the productivity of her staff. outlay per square foot is sometimes used as united way of evaluating productivity. on the contrary from her perspective, cost by square foot is largely determined from how much money is fiscal estimateed for facility operations and maintenance.

"It doesn't make known you whether you're doing well or not. It doesn't acknowledge you what you should be spending. The challenge is to find measures that actually report you something."

What's useful today may not be tomorrow. At Capital single in kind the growing number of mobile workers has complicated the task of calculating occupancy. "We're still grappling with it," says Chafin. "We have a number of ways to prepare close, but we haven't hit onward a way to get an exact number."

But getting clog to a number for something useful is better than having a precise metric no common cares about.

"You have to ask yourself, 'Does the data enable you to do anything with it?' " says Radtke. "1 couldn't believe to what degree many reports were collected and hurry just for the sake of being bring togethered and run, even though no united actually used them."

Edward Sullivan, editor

Copyright Trade Pres Publishing Company Apr 2006

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