Given the rate of change and budget pressures today, many organizations do not invest the time or resources to develop a traditional strategic facility plan. However, an agile management approach can be used to leverage available information so executives and facility staff can be confident that they have the right facilities in place and they are making good investment decisions.

1. Presented by
Robert Lambe, CFM
President, RAL Location Strategies
Preparing An Agile
Strategic Facilities Plan
StrategicFacilityGuide.com
Insight From Your Facility Data

2. StrategicFacilityGuide.com
Insight From Your Facility Data
Abstract
Given the rate of change and budget pressures today, many
organizations do not invest the time or resources to develop a
traditional strategic facility plan. This makes it difficult for
executives and facility staff to be confident that they have the
right facilities in place and they are making the best investments
in these assets.
However, an agile management approach can be used to
leverage available information and quickly create or revise a
draft strategic facility plan. Once developed, this draft strategic
facility plan can be used to guide decisions as well as to identify
important information gaps.

3. Why Consider an
Agile [Strategic] Facility Plan?
You want some type of directional facility
plan and don’t have one.
(Because of funding, time, buy-in, etc. etc.)
An agile facility approach may not
be right for your organization.

4. Draft Facility Plan “Placeholder”
– Established direction for near future
– Based on documented baseline & forecast
– Used to engage stakeholder input
Prioritized Action Plan / List
– Provides framework for decisions on asset
investments and operational priorities
Ongoing Assessment & Refinement Cycles
– Agile project management used for action items
– Reassess Draft Facility Plan based on measured
progress after completion of action items
What is an
Agile Facility Plan?

5. PERSPECTIVES OF FACILITIES
What are the different dimensions of facilities?
StrategicFacilityGuide.com
Insight From Your Facility Data

6. Architectural Perspective
“The Facility as Sculpture”
• Size & Configuration
• Form is important
• Image matters
(inside and out)
• Physical Context
• Asset Cost

7. Engineering /
Building System Perspective
“The Facility as Machine”
• System Efficiency
& Reliability
• Facility Condition
• Supporting
Technology
• Asset Cost
• Sustainability

8. Business Operations Perspective
“The Facility as Workplace”
• Operational
Efficiency
• Productivity
• Service Levels
• Occupant
Satisfaction
• Supporting
Technology

9. Real Estate Perspective
“The Facility as Property Asset”
• Location
• Market – Asset Value
• Image - Curb Appeal

10. Business Executive/
Finance Perspective
“The Facility as Business Asset”
• Business Value
• Operating Cost
• Workforce
Recruitment &
Retention
• Sustainability

11. Different Perspectives Often Emphasize Different
Dimensions of Facilities
The perspectives may
use different criteria
to evaluate a facility.
A plan helps alignment
or prioritization of
potentially conflicting
perspectives.
Size & Configuration
Occupant Satisfaction
System Efficiency/Reliability
Asset Value
Location
Sustainability
Image & Quality
Business Value
Facility Condition
Operating Cost
Operational Service Levels
Supporting Technology
Architectural
Engineering
Operations
RealEstate
Business

12. COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
How can our facilities best support the
organization’s mission?
StrategicFacilityGuide.com
Insight From Your Facility Data

13. Why Have Facilities?
• Facilities provide physical space for a
business purpose
– Size and location
– Suitable image & environment
– Budget and duration
• Increasingly displaced by virtual space
– Where physical presence not required, and
– Where technology can effectively support
remote-ness

14. How Can Your Facilities Provide
a Competitive Advantage?
• Location
– Market position
– Labor/recruiting
– Logistics
• Design
– Image
– Productivity: efficiency &
effectiveness by type of space
• Operation
– Service levels
– Risk management
• Cost effectiveness
– Capital (investment & asset)
– Operating costs
• Specific business value
– Sustainability
Understand Your
Current Facility
Assets
Understand Your
Organization’s
Competitive
Position
Capitalize on
the Value Each
Facility Asset
Contributes

15. STRATEGIC FACILITY THINKING
What is the value of a strategic facility plan?
StrategicFacilityGuide.com
Insight From Your Facility Data

16. Strategic Thinking is Always
Important for Facility Assets
• Facilities are expensive, and
often take a long time to put
in place or change.
• A strategic facility plan helps
to identify the highest value
facility actions and their
appropriate sequence.
A strategic facility plan helps properly
align your facilities with your needs.

17. Strategic Facility Plan
A strategic facility plan (SFP) is defined as a two-to-five
year facilities plan encompassing an entire portfolio of
owned and/or leased space that sets strategic facility
goals based on the organization’s strategic (business)
objectives. The strategic facilities goals, in turn,
determine short-term tactical plans, including
prioritization of, and funding for, annual facility related
projects.
- IFMA (International Facilities Management Association)

18. Simple Illustration
Office for
Business Admin
Business Plan
WHY?
Facility Plan
WHAT, WHEN?
Action Plan
HOW?
Retail for Local
Sales & Service
25,000 SF,
Baltimore, 2016
Refresh existing,
Per approved, $$
Data/Call Center
for Virtual/Online
Remote work
sites, 2018
Define roles and
touchdown space
Replace xx SF,
TBD, 2019
Capital plan
approval
Close...
Complete scoping
study by ABC
Rebrand...
Extend lease...
Find site...
8,000 SF,
North site, 2016
4,500 SF,
North site, 2016
5,000 SF,
North site, 2016
6,100 SF,
North site, 2016
5,000 SF,
North site, 2017

19. Why You Need a Plan
Better Cost/Investment Management
• Facilities typically are a large part of most organization’s budget/assets so
a plan is just good business.
• Provide guidance (not commitment) on investments and activities to fund.
• Minimize “mistimed” investments.
Better Asset Management
• Facilities cross all organization lines so a plan helps “visibly” coordinate
sometimes competing needs.
• Minimize waste (underutilized facilities).
• Maintain asset values.
Better Facility Operations
• Respond to changing business environment more easily.
• Improved alignment of SLA with organizational priorities.
• Improved awareness of facility criticality.

20. THE AGILE FACILITY PLAN
What to do when you don’t have a plan...

21. What is Agile?
Agile methodology is an alternative to
traditional project management, typically used
in software development. It helps teams
respond to unpredictability through
incremental, iterative work cadences, known
as sprints. Agile methodologies are an
alternative to waterfall, or traditional
sequential development.
- agilemethodology.org
See core agile principles at: http://agilemanifesto.org/ (2001)

22. Agile Principles Applicable
to Facilities Management
• Customer satisfaction
• Early and continuous delivery of useful facilities
(shorter schedules/cycles)
• Harness change for competitive advantage (be
nimble and adaptable to changing requirements)
• Collaboration between business and facilities
• Technical excellence, Simplicity
• Continuous improvement – regular review &
adjustment

23. When to Use an Agile Approach
• When you have no choice
– Do not have a “sanctioned” Strategic Facility Plan
– Need affordable plan or update
– Have to plan from “bottom up”
• When it is a better fit for you
– In a dynamically changing environment
– Need quick plan or update to current plan
Need a collaborative environment with the
business and some latitude for the team!

24. Agile/Strategic Facility Process
• ROI
• Risk
• Goals
• Consensus
• Skills
• Scope
• Budget
• Schedule
• Steady State
• Linear Projection
• Evolution
• Wild Card
Future
• Facts
• Informed /
Professional
Opinion
• Opinion
Assess Forecast
PrioritizeExecute
STATUS QUO FUTURE NEEDS
DELIVERY ACTION PLAN
This is just a conceptual framework used to organize the presentation – free for unrestricted use (c) RAL Location Strategies 2016

25. Assess
• Opinion
• Informed
Opinion
• Professional
Opinion
STATUS QUO
Assess
Start with your
current facilities
(& operations)
and how well
they support the
current business
situation.
Tip: Consider the different
perspectives of facilities.

26. Assess
• What do you know?
– Facts: Size, type, cost
– Across the multiple dimensions of facilities
– Documented requirements, operations & SLA
• What do you believe?
– Assessments: condition, utilization...
(performance!)
– Complete missing info with best available opinions
• Tabletop review / assessment can be quick, efficient,
and probably effective enough

27. Suggestions
• Have a comprehensive, complete, and available
facility inventory.
– Define the facilities as intuitively as possible, based on
their functional purpose.
– Use an appropriate granularity for your quantity of
facilities.
• Draw on various data sources for economy of
effort and consistency; use meta-data to
understand data quality
– Define categories to quantify “soft” assessment
ratings.
• Start benchmarking/metrics immediately.

28. Forecast
• Steady State
• Linear Projection
• Evolution
• Wild Card
Future
FUTURE NEEDS
Forecast
Project how well
the current
facilities are
expected to
support the likely
future business
situation.
Tip: Consider how your facilities can
provide a competitive advantage.

29. Forecast
• What will the world look like in near future?
– How is this likely to effect your industry?
• Estimate the likely short-term business needs
– How can your facilities help provide a competitive
advantage?
• Estimate the likely short-term implications for
your current facilities:
– Continue status quo
– Need more information
– Ready for defined investments (projects)
– Need major changes

30. The Future is not Linear
• Ask What If?
– Much of the value of a
plan comes from being
ready when things don’t
go as expected
• Many forks in the road
can be forecast
– Define trigger points and
criteria for decisions
• Only do as much as time
allows
Image source: "Manual decision tree" by User:Gokul Jadhav - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons -
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manual_decision_tree.jpg#/media/File:Manual_decision_tree.jpg

31. Prioritize
ACTION PLAN
• ROI
• Risk
• Goals
• Consensus
Prioritize
List the “actions”
that logically follow
from the Assess and
Forecast.
Prioritize which are
most important or
valuable to do first.
Tip: Apply strategic thinking
about value and sequence.

32. Prioritize
• Create a list of potential actions:
– Study: Need more information or better assessment
– Projects: Make change to physical plant
– Initiative: Make change to operational practices
(i.e.. facility commissioning or occupant education)
• Classify each action by the reason and urgency.
– Reason/justification:
• Financially justified investments (payback)
• Risk reduction, regulatory
• Business value, improvement in operations or other goal
– Urgency can be simple: immediate - later
• Put placeholder budgets and schedules on each.

33. Who Should Be Involved?
• Key Executives
– Resource levels
– Organizational priorities
• Stakeholders (Business & facility occupants)
– Business priorities
– Impacts to the business
• Facility staff and service providers
– Resource requirements
– Project logic
• Decision making may need to be iterative for all
groups to understand implications
Decisions should be
based on consensus

34. Execute
DELIVERY
• Skills
• Scope
• Budget
• Schedule
Execute
Use good project
management to
implement the
selected actions
Tip: Use an Agile Project
Management approach.

35. Execute
• Reasonable but timely status reporting
• Use established organizational systems for
execution of selected actions
– Team structure is the biggest challenge for most
organizations in adopting agile approaches
– Follow agile principles for short cycles with
ongoing adjustments and evaluation
• Track and evaluate results
– Use to update assessments
– Use for frequent course corrections in plan *

36. RINSE, LATHER, REPEAT
Build better data and better plan each year...

37. Conclusion
• Different perspectives of our facilities both help
identify how they provide value and complicate
how we evaluate them.
• A strategic approach helps prioritize facility
investments and initiatives to realize their
competitive value for our organization.
• The “Agile Methodology” is an incremental,
iterative management approach that can be
useful for Facility Planning in a rapidly changing
environment as long as there is a good
relationship between the business and facilities
groups.
StrategicFacilityGuide.com
Insight From Your Facility Data

38. About the Presenter
StrategicFacilityGuide.com
Insight From Your Facility Data
Robert Lambe is the Principal & Founder
of RAL Location Strategies. He helps
companies use available information to
better understand their facilities assets
and facilities management operations,
in order to target investments that align
with business requirements.
His practice areas are agile/strategic
facility planning, facility benchmarking,
location analysis, and facilities software
implementation. Bob also serves as the
Planning and Economic Development
Coordinator for his home town of
Marcy NY.
www.linkedin.com/in/lambe
Connect with me!
Blog: http://strategicfacilityguide.com/resources/articles/