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The FMO Maturity Model

In “FM Notes from the Field“, industry veteran Jim Turner focuses on the Facilities Management Organization (FMO) maturity model and IWMS. This week his focus is on the model itself.

Our host here at IWMSNews.com, Steven Hanks, has put together a graphic illustration of the FMO Maturity Model that you can now use a reference for these blog posts.  This week, I thought we might take a moment to review what we’ve covered so far during the first six posts of the series.

Over the last 15 years of so, I worked as a management consultant to real estate and facilities management organizations with and completed more than 60 engagements.  As I mentioned in the first post, some projects were oriented purely towards cost reduction, some were about the challenges new leadership faced or performance improvements, and others were about developing high-level real estate and facilities strategies – it would be hard to say there was a common element to the challenges my clients faced.  

Maturity Model

Some colleagues and I began to think of a “maturity model” concept, drawing inspiration from the Project Management Institute and other organizations, which use a similar building block for their disciplines.  The FMO maturity model was formed around 11 competencies, organized into five steps, highlighting key management questions that the FMO could focus on during each progressive stage of its development.

These questions are at the heart of the framework:

• (Level 1) What assets am I responsible for managing?
• (Level 2) How can I access the management information I need?
• (Level 3) What improvements should I be focused on now (short-term improvements)?
• (Level 4) What is the best allocation of my budget?
• (Level 5) How can I justify a request for a budget increase (long-term improvements)?

At each successive step, the model identifies two or three competencies as the focus of improvement efforts.  There are eleven competencies in all:  organization, policy, inventory, processes, systems, metrics, assessments, short-term planning, performance improvements, mission validation, and long-term planning.   Of these, so far the blog has covered the first five, which comprise the Level 1 and Level 2 competencies.

Next week

Next week, we’ll be taking a week off from the blog.  In the following week, we will begin by addressing the metrics competency in Level 3.
Thanks for reading the FM Notes from the Field blog, and thanks again to Steven and IWMSNews.com for hosting it.  Meanwhile, if you would like more details on the references mentioned in any of the posts, drop a note to me at jim.turner@iwmsnews.com and I will send a reading list.  Best regards and see you in a couple of weeks!