Open Facility Management: A Successful Implementation in Public Administration

Citation

Waheed, Z. (2012), "Open Facility Management: A Successful Implementation in Public Administration", Facilities, Vol. 30 No. 5/6, pp. 262-262. https://doi.org/10.1108/02632771211208521

Now here is a novelty: a perfectly good book that is free to download and use! First published by IFMA Italia in 2007, the 2009 version is also available for free online. Copyright laws, of course, still apply.

The book is a fine introduction to the FM discipline and is detailed enough to be used as a supplementary text for an undergraduate course in FM principles. While the practical focus is mainly European, with special interest in the Italian FM market, the theory presented is universal and covers topics such as the service sector, definition of non‐core services, the organisational models for FM and FM contractual arrangements. Chapter two gives a fairly in‐depth description of the current state of affairs in the FM markets in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Although the Danish and Finnish FM markets have not been covered, the text provides ample material to cover the markets mentioned and provides an excellent point‐of‐reference when trying to understand the dynamics of these markets.

The book promotes what it calls the ‘Open Facility Management’ paradigm. This appears to be a similar concept to partnering that envisions an open and trust‐based relationship between end‐users, clients and suppliers. The authors state that it is fundamentally supported by flexible contracts, and a sharing of the performance measurement systems. Chapter 5 deals exclusively with this concept. Since the application of this concept especially in the public sector is being dealt with in the book, two case studies are later presented as well. The book ends with a list of important FM industrial and professional bodies, FM Journals and books and also explains which topics they each focus on. This list may especially be handy for undergraduates new to the discipline.

Although not a general book on FM principles, Open Facility Management: A Successful Implementation in Public Administration is nevertheless a good resource of information on some fundamental FM concepts and a great introductory text on several European FM markets. The new concept of ‘Open Facility Management’ presented by the book may have wider practical implications in the future and is worth discovering. All in all, it's a book worth downloading.