Facility lifecycle tracking and planning

[BarryAndreasen]

I have been the local Building Rep for about a year now and several decades ago was the stake PFR and before that worked closely with the area FM group as a HCer with responsibility related to facility construction and property acquisition (the Stake President was the agent SP for the area). Lately, we are seeing a growing number of FIR tickets being reported that all seem to be related to failing systems in the building due to their age (roof leaks on 40+ year old shingles, smoke detector failures on 20+ yr old detectors, failing/cracking walkways, HVAC equipment, etc.). When I served as the stake PFR, the FM group used to track the expected end-of-life on major building components like this, but our current FM Group contact says this is no longer done (they defer to an outside vendor - CBRE - to do major repairs).
The specific ward building (in the NorthEast) that I am responsible for was built in phases (between 1965 and 1984) and most of the failures seem to be occurring with components that were part of these constructions projects and have not been updated since. For the past year, most of the FIR tickets related to these systems are being handled one at a time and only to address the specific FIR ticket (e.g. patch one area of the roof that is leaking, a couple of months later patch another, etc.).
As I've asked about 'future project' planning related to these (and other) needs, I've been told by our local FM Group contact that they don't know what is outdated and are unable to pro-actively plan future projects based on EOL data. In addition, some FIR tickets are getting 'Cancelled' (without repair) because proper repairs cannot be performed within some time window allotted before the FM Group gets penalized for having unresolved tickets (e.g. concrete walkway repairs reported in the winter, etc.). Our current Stake PFR is also new and does not have any information or training to offer on these, so I'm reaching out to a broader audience.
* Is there somewhere in the FM leadership chain that is responsible for monitoring systems that are exceeding their expected lifespan? What is the proper way to get this information to local FM Groups for planning?
* What is the mechanism for getting details on future building FM plans so that local leaders can provide input and coordinate these with the ward membership/organizations?
* Is there a recommended mechanism for Ward Building Reps to keep track of larger projects and requests?
* How do you retain information regarding 'Cancelled' FIR tickets in order to re-enter them at a future date as appropriate?

Appreciate any insight that may be offered.
-b

[BrianEdwards]

That's a great set of questions, and it's always worth seeing if there's any Forum participants who might have good insight or suggestions. When I was required to do yearly facility walkthroughs of our unit building with the Stake PFR and FM rep, our building was fairly new (10 or so years old), so we never encountered EOL type of issues. I don't know what type of tracking system our FM Group used, but it did seem the FM rep was actively noting each of the issues I described as we discussed and looked at each area inside and outside the building. Our big issue was the gate system into our parking lot (it was an inner-city location), which regularly failed and was "fixed" and then failed again later on. So every year I'd point this out to the FM rep, and although it always was working at the time of the visit, he still included it in his notes.

Assuming the FM Group does yearly walkthroughs in your area, even if the FM Group only records the issues you bring up during their visits, that at least gets 'known items' officially on record and might be helpful when issues then occur during the year. There's much that is out of our control, but at least this might be one thing that you make sure is done to get known issues on the record.

[BarryAndreasen]

Thanks for the reply. When I was called I asked about the yearly walk-through ( I also thought it was a ‘required’ part of the process - it was when I was stake PFR), but no one here knew about it or had done one ever. Admittedly, the FM group was fairly new and the stake was also newer with lots of immigrant members that might not have any history to draw on. Anyway I asked and got one and then the bishop asked for another after reading my report to the ward council (I send a written report every month).
Part of my query is because I am not sure that the EOL issues are getting managed, even with these walk-throughs. I just returned from the building and had to log new FIR tickets - at least one is EOL related
-b