Transitioning from one facility management software to another can be daunting, but with the expert guidance from AMS Workplace Technology, your migration from INSITE Net-FM and Visual-FM to FM:Systems becomes seamless.

What makes FM:Systems the right choice?  FM:Systems is a seasoned and proven Integrated Workplace Management System (IWMS) that has been around for almost 40 years.  It has been a leader in Space Management utilizing Postsecondary Education Facilities Inventory and Classification Manual (FICM) for colleges and universities with its Higher Education Survey module capturing all space classifications, floor plans, Principal Investigator (PI) assignments, and surveyed space use for research.

Combined, the Space & Higher Education Survey modules align perfectly to support all the areas that INSITE featured, including:

• Indirect Cost Recovery (ICR)
• Tracking & Allocating Grants
• Space Data Change Requests
• Floor Plan Realtime Visual Queries

Upgrade from INSITE Net-FM to FMS:Workplace

Keep Your Existing INSITE Data

You’ve made the commitment and investment over the years to manage and report on your college/university space, assets, and research data.  You don’t have to lose this as FM:Systems offers a direct path migration over to its database and platform, including floor plan views!  The platform can easily be configured (not customized) to have the same look and feel as your INSITE system for ease-of-use familiarity and better user adoption.

Furthermore, AMS has over 21 years of experience in the industry.  We understand the intricacies of how to migrate data into FM:Systems. Being a leader in FM:Systems integrations makes us uniquely positioned to ensure a hassle-free migration.  From the initial planning phase to post-migration checks, AMS is there every step of the way.

Finally, learning a new system can seem scary, but AMS is here to provide comprehensive training to ensure your staff gets the most out of the software.  Our commitment doesn’t end there. We offer ongoing support services to ensure your software runs smoothly for years to come.

Read – Higher Education Survey Module
Watch – Why Wayne State University Chose FM:Systems

Cloud-Based Software – No Installation

FM:Systems software is maintenance-free and hosted securely in the cloud as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).  In addition, no client software installation is required, even for viewing floor plans and running reports!

Your company has limited IT resources already committed to providing services and expertise to multiple business units supporting many different existing technologies. Hosting with FM:Systems can provide the break your IT staff needs to focus on mission critical projects and strategy without having to add additional resources or headcount.

Network performance and availability are guaranteed in a standard Service Level Agreement (SLA). Rest assured knowing that your data is safe and secure.  Specific features of our hosting include:

• 24/7 monitoring and upgrades at no extra charge
• Industry-leading Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform
• High availability systems on the latest operating systems and hardware
• Dedicated support staff

Customers enjoy this safe and secure, cloud-hosted platform with no-hassle migration from AMS Workplace Technology.

“The value of having the FMS:Workplace system throughout this whole process—I just can’t stress enough how valuable that resource was, for us to be able to pull up to start with the list of rooms and the capacities; then, as we went forward, to identify what we call extra spaces and the capacities we could have there as well. I’m not sure we could have even gotten it done without FMS:Workplace.”
– Cheryl Benningfield, Space Planning Manager

Ready to Transition?

Get in touch with our experts today and embark on a smooth transition journey from INSITE to FMS:Workplace.  We will take you through how FM:Systems software manages all the areas of INSITE that you need and more!

Learn More – INSITE Net-FM
Read – University of North Texas Case Study
Watch – On-Demand Product Overview

Request a Demo

The post INSITE Net-FM and Visual-FM Migration appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

• 3D Scan Capture + Floor Plan Creation with iGuide
• Certified ServiceNow Integration with FMS:Workplace
• Visual Asset Manager
• Drag and Drop File Uploader
• Grid Batch Printing
• Dynamix Home Page Manager

The post AMS solutions featured in the new FMS:Marketplace appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

• Is your FMS software ready for the hybrid workplace?
• Home Page Content Management (AMS Dynamix)
• Visual Asset Manager
• AMS Data Broker Web Services API
• Room Scheduling
• Hybrid Strategy Support
• ServiceNow Integration
• Security Badge Data Integration
• 3D Floor Plan Scanning
• Barcoding Solutions
• Batch Print and Uploading
• Sensor Technology

The post AMS Workplace Technology – 2022H2 Newsletter appeared first on AMS Workplace Technology.

In this new “Age of the Employee”, employees want choice. Companies planning to return to the office should look to shift to an employee-centric approach to empower employees with the ability to help decide what works best for them. That doesn’t necessarily mean a “work from anywhere, anytime” strategy. In fact, while that approach may work for some, it has several challenges for most job functions and the individuals who are given that much time management responsibility. But it does mean offering employees more options than just the traditional commuting to work in-office full-time at an assigned desk.

When it comes to the number of days per week employees and employers want workers to be working at the office, the numbers have been consistent. Employees generally prefer two days or less and employers want three days or more. Employers who design multiple options for employees with varying levels of in-office working are going to make their employees happier by allowing them to have a say in what is going to best suit them as individuals. Being inflexible and forcing employees to adopt a corporate-centric strategy will drive them to other companies (and possibly competitors) where they are given choice. Strict = Stress.

Finally, the workplace design and layout must change to support the hybrid way of working. I remember walking into one of my customer’s on-site meetings pre-COVID and being pleasantly surprised to see three separate and distinct styles of seating all put together in the same room: a soft seating couch arrangement, traditional meeting table & chairs, and bar-height seating. I appreciated so much being able to choose the way I wanted to meet and sit (or stand) based on my mood and preference. With more employees coming in on various days and expecting to do different kind of work, Activity-Based Working  (ABW) designs, like those available from Dancker, should better support the way employees need to use the workplace. This will help give more value to employees and more reasons to want to come to the workplace.

Using Workplace Personas

In order to create workplace choices for employees, companies must first identify worker types and their associated in-office needs. By studying this, groups such as Human Resources (HR) can help to bring into focus different personas that employees could potentially be associated with. These personas do not have to align specifically to a job title or role, but rather can be shaped by the research and employee feedback to align with varying levels of in-office days per week or month. Personas can then be defined with workplace expectations, requirements, guidelines, and can come with perks, stipends, and other benefits that allow each to have pros and cons. With these in place, employers can look to individual employees to select a persona with, among other things, it’s associated in-office versus at-home ratio, that works best for them.

Leveraging Technology

Workplace technology has a lot to offer to support return-to-office plans. While just about everyone has mastered virtual meetings from home, additional technology solutions will be needed when there is a hybrid in-office + virtual meeting taking place. Various solutions are coming out (some very expensive, some affordable) that will help to better bring together all meeting attendees as if they were all in the same room together. Outfitting a meeting room with tools such as the Meeting Owl Pro from Owl Labs or Samsung’s Huddle Room Solutions can help in this area of making hybrid meetings more of a seamless experience.

Next, the new hybrid workplace will need desk and meeting room reservation tools. Companies will likely have a combination of traditional assigned seating along with unassigned reservable desks in either an open plan or department neighborhood setting. These will need to easily be bookable both from a mobile phone and the computer. Desk booking solutions such as FM:Systems FMS:Employee enable employees to easily find, reserve, check-in, and release workspaces in a mobile app or using their browser. Employees will want to use these tools to find where their co-workers are going to be working for the day to foster collaboration. These tools can also be enhanced with sensor technology to release spaces that were reserved but not being used and provide important utilization data for analysis. By analyzing actual space use data, employers can best outfit their workplace with spaces that they see employees tend to use more.

Finally, a hybrid mix of employees who are splitting time working at home and in the workplace naturally requires excellent communication.  An emerging and popular tool now is essentially a “Concierge App” for your employees. Using “low-code/no-code” software such as Modo Labs WorkReady, an app can be created by non-developers and maintained with delegated roles to update employees about current facility news and policies, push a quick 1-2 question survey, schedule on-site workdays, and even put in service requests. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons can be placed in the facility to do a push notification letting employees know about changes made due to COVID-19 or new renovations/policies when they are in a certain area. The idea is to give employees a single Workplace App that gives them the tools and information they need to be successful in the new workplace.

Not OSFA

One important thing to always keep in mind is that there is no One-Size-Fits All (OSFA) strategy. Many factors go in to determining what works best for each company and their employees from the types of products and/or services the company provides to the nature of the job functions within. The return to office plan doesn’t have to be perfect out of the gate. You can learn and adjust as you find out what’s working (or not working) and analyze utilization data. Change management is also an important part of making the new workplace successful. By communicating with employees before and during the process you will make them feel more engaged and they will help to shape your new corporate culture instead of having it dictated to them.

Conclusion

Employees want choice, and employers must be flexible to design a return-to-office plan that allows employees to choose a persona aligned with a workplace strategy that works best for them. The workplace can best serve employees in a hybrid model with an activity-based working design that gives value to the workplace. Lastly, technology can assist in areas such as meeting rooms to better support hybrid meetings, desk reservation tools for in-office working, and a workplace app to better communicate with and engage employees as a one-stop-shop for their workplace needs.

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