Technology and the Art of Finding the Right KPIstest

By Laurie A. Gilmer, P.E.

November 2014

"Can you help us figure out what our KPIs should be?" The question came from a facility manager in a large organization who has a reasonably sophisticated operation under his care. The answer was, of course, "Yes!" He went on to talk about who would be looking at the data and the need to report it in a compelling package.

Coming up with a key performance indicator (KPI) is easy. But coming up with relevant metrics that you can truly deem KPIs? That takes work. And connecting the metrics in a meaningful way that links facility performance with organizational mission in a relevant, interesting way? That is art.

Maintenance and engineering managers spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to measure and monitor, and specifically what their KPIs should be. Consider the technologies at work in institutional and commercial facilities: building automation systems (BAS), energy management systems (EMS), computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS), power meters, accounting systems, and personnel data management systems, among them. All of these systems are data-intensive. Beyond that data, external information is available through utility companies, vendors, service providers, and even personal devices.

Often, we rely on the prepackaged metrics. This approach is understandable, but it leaves us with data and metrics that are not connected to our facilities mission and organizational values.