What are FMS:Workplace users saying about the software?

User friendly, powerful, well priced and great customer support!

Able to easily track our real estate portfolio and run reports in real time.

Pros

- Easy and intuitive to setup, use and maintain - Can be used out-of-the-box, no customization needed (unless you want something special) - Well priced (no hidden cost, unlike many of the big, enterprise systems) - Modular system, so you only pay for the modules you need - Very responsive (and effective!) customer support - FMS keeps adding new features - Provides self-host and hosted options

Cons

It is only compatible with AutoCAD or their own CAD software. We use a different CAD software and so we had to spend extra $ to get a compatible CAD software.

Space Management

With FMS Workplace Space Management, we have provided our decision makers and end users with direct access and insight into their space data for their respective. We have also streamlined our state reporting submission process making it more effective and efficient, and allows us to dedicate more time to other needs and areas of improvement.

Pros

Clean and simple user interface makes it easy to navigate. Native integration with AutoDesk makes the integration process with facility floor plans smart and seamless.

Cons

Would like to see integration expand and grow into site level plans that allow for the big picture to be displayed and visualized.

FM Systems

I really do like the system and all of the options that come with it.

Pros

I like all of the features that the product has.

Cons

The customer service when needing assistance with a request that it not system shutdown critical can take several days to receive help and depending on the request could take even longer.

FMS: Workplace, Space Management

Overall our experience with FM has been a positive one. As the administrator, implementation and subsequent upgrades have been frustrating at times; but that happens with all software products. Our end users have been pleased with the ease of use and have been exceedingly happy with the amount of data they are able to glean from the system. The system has been able to quickly provide data for LEAN initiatives, national surveys, state required reports, etc. that in the past has taken weeks to gather and format.

Pros

The most impactful thing about this software for our department, and the university as a whole, is the ability to quickly access floor plans for over 250 buildings, easily color code them according to different data points, and export them.

Cons

As the Administrator and the person who single-handedly set up our system, my continuing frustration has been the lack of documentation regarding the data fields that come with the system out of the box. I have spent hours setting up fields in various tables and connecting them to fields in other tables, only to find out later that those fields were already set up. I felt like I was flying blind without any documentation of the built in table fields and their relationships between tables.

Excellent product that has help us improve operational efficiencies.

Pros

Relatively easy to learn and use. Excellent and knowledgeable product support team. Easy to teach to others within our organization. Non-facility related groups have approach us to use the system to manage their asset inventories. That has worked well and they now connect assets with space.

Cons

Relationships between database tables can, at times, be challenging to manage especially if not experienced in the use of databases. Product has become more popular and, as a result, support personnel respond slower. Additional support personnel would be beneficial.

FM:Interact

Pros

When I first looked into it and was training in the system, I was overwhelmed with all the features. Then after a few weeks of training I realize how much it could do and how it can grown with our company. I knew I had found a tool that once you were trained on it, our company was in good hands to do space planning, asset management, move management and many other things that would be very beneficial to me. THE MOVE MANAGEMENT MODULE IS MY FAVORITE. I DO MOVES TODAY LIKE A KING!!!!!

Cons

When it comes to customization in some areas, it was challenging. Trying to customize my office maps with particular color, sizes or adding in particular notes for a certain area.

Be Ready to Build, Not Take Off

It can function incredibly well, but anticipate an investment period.

Pros

There is the ability to customize and add any fields conceived of. Can connect module upon module to support global data and interfacing.

Cons

If you're expecting an out-of-the-box solution, this won't automatically deliver industry standards. You build and decide what you want, which requires a specialized skillset.

Great Product

My overall experience has been great. I would definitely recommend this software to other companies

Pros

The software is easy to navigate through and get used to. I've been working with the software for 4 years now and there are many ways to keep your business on track and organized

Cons

Editing the sites can be difficult but the support team is great with helping

User, Implementer

We use FM Systems for space utilization, asset tracking and analytics.

Pros

How I can configure to meet needs, new viewer technology and future product roadmap. Love the support and family friendliness of FM:Systems

Cons

The user experience, software feels and looks old, good use major UI enhancements. Wish there was offline app capabilities

FM has always been leading edge, and always looking for ways to improve the user experience.

Pros

Usability and intuitiveness. Excellent software support. Highly visual yet packed with features that allow you to track any asset you required in the system.

Cons

New hotfix releases can sometimes create unintended bugs/issues, that the system didn't necessarily have before applying.

Great solution for centralizing all facets of the Facilities world into a single, robust platform

Pros

As an IT Administrator of the tool, we are able to easily configure the application to support the different Facilities processes. The general model of the tool revolves around the few key concepts of Facilities Management and everything can be built out from there (space, maintenance, real estate, etc.) allowing for customized processes while still keeping the data centralized. This allows for reporting and analysis at a detailed level (perfect for engineers, space planners, property administrators, etc.) as well as at higher levels for Facilities Managers and Executives. FM Systems, as a company, provides various tools for IT admins to manage and create in the tool including an amazing customer portal with all documentation, blogs, forums, and webinars that allow for constant learning and communication with both the company and other FM Systems users. In addition, when customer support is needed, the team is knowledgeable, friendly, and easy to contact. I also like how the user experience can be tailored to accommodate different skill sets and job descriptions. There are many functional components that most software packages would require an IT skill set to be able to execute. With FM:Interact, things like customizing a view, writing/scheduling/running reports, etc. are easy enough that, with a little training, we are able to empower the business to make the solution their own. We are also able to "turn these things off" for users that don't need them.

Cons

Our implementation is currently hosted on-premise. While the IT overhead of hosting the software is not high (especially compared to other solutions), I do want to explore the option of FM hosting to further reduce that overhead. This will allow us to take advantage of the updates faster and get the latest-and-greatest features into the business' hands.

FM:Systems Review - 2021

Overall, I have had a good experience with FMS and have very little to be negative about.

Pros

The reporting capabilities are the largest and most critical function I want to comment on. The ability to filter the data you want similar to Excel and then export the exact/specific data you want to Excel in just a few clicks is fantastic. Creating ad hoc reports for a specific request or question is very easy.

Cons

As is norm with any 3rd party vendor / software, the sales team promises the world and says every feature is available and possible. Only to find out that it is in the future roadmap and not yet released. There's also the issue of customizable and configurable - lots of things we want were possible but defined in a way that it would cost money to implement.

FM:Interact as a Space Management Facilitator

Overall, FM:Interact has been a power player in providing mission-critical space data for the University. It's been a game changer in accuracy and accountability.

Pros

The space management tool is most impact for our organization. It is critical to know the amount of space, the ownership of the space (university, foundations, leased), the responsible stewards of the space (college/school/MBU), and the occupants of the space (employee, student, visitor). The data acquired provides a real-time snapshot of the amount and location of our total facility inventory,

Cons

We we receive a very high volume of revit files, replacing autocad files, as project deliverables. However, to upload and publish revit files in FM:Interact is a challenge at best (often unsuccessful). As more projects are designed in a revit environment, It would be exciting to see FM:Systems to meet this challenge.

JLL Occupancy Planning

Better reporting and graphic views than Archibus

Pros

Web based. Graphic views. Occupancy Zones. Scenario Planning.

Cons

1) Scenario Planning Block & Stack needs to be able to sync (refresh) with live production data of occupied buildings during scenario planning duration. Live space assignments (New hires and departures) are not updated in the scenario, so accurate planning based upon open/occupied seats is not possible without keeping track manually in separate system. Should also be able to ONLY promote moves for actual people, and not have to include Open position seat assignments in the move planner as new hires, when the people do not exist yet? 2) Cannot move people in and out of Occupancy Zones or Locker Asset module using Move Planner Module. I believe move people in and out of Occupancy Zones using Move Planner Module (posted moves) will be coming this year. Would be great if locker assignment (associated with zone assignments) could somehow be connected to Move Planner module as option. 3) Portfolio Summary report should include vacant Occupancy (Mobile) Zone physical desk counts. This way client can get easy accurate total physical occupied and vacant desk counts of vacant (room) desks and vacant desks assigned to an Occupancy zone, without the zone ratio factored in?

FMS:Workplace review

Pros

Being able to track everything is important to our organization, so being able to search and make reports is a great function of this software. It always has the potential to improve and evolve so things like the app for technicians or the analytics solution are nice to see a company develop.

Cons

The cost of this software poses some difficulty with our organization and it seems like if you want anything extra or custom, you will need to pay on top of the annual subscription. It has also been a challenge to connect our HR software for the employee list to the FMS:Workplace software.

I have been a client for over 6 years we use it for space planning , asset management and facility

Because of the ease of use we were able to role this out to a larger user group , which help decentralize some of Facility Managements work load . Move Coordinators for each department can submit move requests that just need approval from Facilities the data is all input buy the user. Seating plans are easily viewed on line and employee directories all employees to find an employees location easily .

Pros

Easy to use , can be configured to your business, ASP is reliable , you only buy the modules you need . FM Systems provides great customer support services I have had great experiences

Cons

We have been very happy with the product the new product releases have really improved usability and performance . The only con is making multiple entries is very cumbersome you can only make one change at a time. For example when entering an asset there is no copy feature when adding multiple or when editing space type you need to edit each record form. It would be nice to use a spread sheet view in addition to a form view to enter records . For large changes FM Systems support services can do batch uploads .

Space Management

Overall we're able to manage space for over 5,000+ employees in multiple locations with ease using the system. Even though we use it for basic functions, it fits our needs.

Pros

We primarily use Space Management and Move Management and I enjoy how easy it is to use. It was easy to learn, is simple and straight-forward. Hardly any issues with implementation.

Cons

I feel that everyone in the organization says that creating reports is extremely easy however I find it fairly difficult, even after taking courses in FM: University. Some of the functions involve a little more steps than I feel necessary but are okay once you get used to them.

CAFM plus!

I worked with FM Systems 10 years ago as a co-op when it was just a software program. Fast forward to today I am working with the web enabled version where a lot of changes and enhancements have been added. There are a lot of good people who work for this company.

Pros

The only CAFM program out there where your space reporting, facilities maintenance and move management are tied to your floor plans -- and you can do live updates. Very configurable and customizable to your companies needs.

Cons

Learning curve is a little tough if you are an admin or if you want to learn how to build your own reports. Facilities Maintenance module could be more robust but that doesn't mean it isn't good for simple work order management. Getting the program customized to your needs will require much patience and hiring a 2nd party to help with the setup.

FM - a path forward

FM allowed us to move away from spread sheets and hardcopy building plans to provide tracking and reporting of building allocations and a method to track move projects and employees.

Pros

I like the fact it's browser based and with a quick click have access to my all my facilities. It's easy to use and quickly provides information for and about employees and buildings.

Cons

least liked features are browser related, not all features work well totally on Chrome or IE for all end users. FM assumes that end users are using the latest browsers and operating systems therefore their latest releases work well for everyone. Case in point FM will not work with IE when the browser is in compatibility mode.

International customer

Have found FM:Interact to be flexible in meeting our specific needs. As an international customer with a local partner, sometimes have found support issues that need to go back to FM:Systems are not dealt with very quickly.

Pros

Highly configurable, and also relatively easily customisable. If it doesn't do what you want out of the box, you can make it do what you need with either configuration or customisation. So far our experience is that it upgrades well, even with customisations.

Cons

Have ongoing trouble with dates being in US format (we're in Australia), also some issues with using metric instead of imperial (mostly with floor plans and graphic views). Doesn't do some cascading that I would expect out of the box: eg if change a room number, does not cascade that change to associated/child tables.

Good CAFM system

We have purchased several modules and use them fairly well. It is excellent for our company of 20,000+ employees. A lot of details included. Fairly easy to learn as an every day user and also for 'newbies' who use it every so often. A tiny bit clunky on the interface - some customization could be added to make it more seamless. Overall this is the 5th CAFM software I have trained and used (in my career). I appreciate the amount of information that comes straight out of the box to be used almost immediately.

Pros

Pretty robust software, helps with all the details we are requiring for our many sites/SF.

Cons

It can be a bit clunky with different modules. Not always seamless interface.

fms review

this system helped me get a handle on my maintenance planning and budgeting

Pros

the ease of use and the accuracy of the system for maintenance compltions

Cons

The overall cost of the system in comparison to other systems that are around

Our experienced has been one of great success once the software customizations were completed.

A great means to track your maintenance and real estate portfolio.

Pros

The cost of the product fits our business. It is not complicated to use and the technicians like it. Their customer service is second to none.

Cons

The out of the box functionality is limited, thus requiring a lot of customization. Be prepared to assign a full time administrator to the implementation team, someone who can work directly with the customer support team to customize the software to meet your business needs.

FIMS improves my daily work efficiency

Pros

FIMS enables us to centralize all Facilities work orders across the university-wide. It absolutely helps improve the efficiency of receiving and processing work requests.

Cons

It doesn't look fancy on both Admin and User interface, but you will get used to it soon. Functionality is more important after all!

FMSystems Space Management

Positive overall. It helps our organization achieve our goals in space management.

Pros

Space definition, usage, funding, drawings, photos and reports are pragmatic and accurate. Integration with existing systems depends on how the system is used for primarily. Generally it's not easy but doable.

Cons

Customer supports sometimes are sketchy and inconsistency.