ERP Consultant for Facility Management

The facility management workflow, contract to cash

I map the FM workflow as a contract lifecycle, because that is how profit is made or lost:

1. Bid and pricing: site survey, scope, staffing plan, PPM effort, materials and subcontract allowances, pricing basis.
2. Award and mobilization: contract setup, sites and assets loaded, PPM schedules built, staff deployed, billing schedule agreed.
3. Service delivery: planned maintenance, reactive requests through a helpdesk, soft services rosters, specialist subcontracted services.
4. Cost capture: manpower, overtime, materials and subcontractor invoices charged to contract and site.
5. Billing: fixed monthly fees, manpower supply invoices based on attendance, chargeable reactive work and SLA deductions where they apply.
6. Review and renewal: contract profitability, SLA performance, scope changes and renewal pricing.

Two points on this map usually cause the most trouble: mobilization, where incomplete setup creates months of bad data, and cost capture, where manpower cost is spread by guesswork. My detailed guide to the functional areas, from asset registers to PPM, is in the article ERP for facility management. This page covers how I work with FM companies as a consultant.

Pain points in facility management businesses

FM directors and finance heads tend to describe the same set of problems:

• Contract profitability unknown: revenue is clear, but cost is only available at company or department level.
• Manpower cost misallocated: staff move between sites, overtime is recorded on paper, and payroll lands in one cost center.
• Operations and finance disagree: the CAFM shows completed jobs, the ERP shows invoices, and the two never reconcile.
• Chargeable work missed: reactive jobs outside the fixed scope are completed but not billed.
• Slow, error-prone billing: monthly invoices for large portfolios are built manually from attendance sheets and job lists.
• Mobilization chaos: each new contract is set up differently, so reports cannot compare contracts like for like.

These problems are rarely fixed by adding another module. They are fixed by agreeing one contract structure, one set of cost allocation rules and clear ownership between systems. I document those decisions as part of ERP business analysis, so that any platform you choose implements the same logic.

ERP vs CAFM: deciding what each system owns

The most important design decision for an FM business is the split between the ERP and operational tools. There is no universal answer, but there is a sound way to decide. I assess each data area against your size, service mix and existing tools:

Some businesses are best served by one ERP with maintenance and field service apps. Others keep a specialist CAFM and integrate it. I write down the reasoning so the decision holds up when someone suggests changing it halfway through. The integration itself is then specified through system integration work.

Facility management ERP implementation checklist

When I support an FM implementation, these are the items I make sure are settled and tested:

• Contract, site and service line structure agreed, with cost centers or analytic accounts that mirror it.
• Manpower allocation rules defined for shared staff, relief staff and overtime.
• Billing models configured and tested: fixed fee, manpower supply, chargeable reactive work, SLA deductions.
• Mobilization checklist built into the system, so a new contract cannot go live with missing setup.
• Asset and PPM data loaded with consistent naming and locations.
• Integration between CAFM or field service tool and ERP tested end to end, including failures and resubmission.
• A pilot contract taken live first, then rollout across the portfolio.
• Contract profitability report validated against a manual calculation for at least one month.

The pilot approach matters. Taking one representative contract live first exposes problems in billing and allocation before they affect every client. I plan this as part of go-live support, with clear criteria for moving to the next group of contracts.

Data migration, integrations and independent advice

FM migrations involve more operational data than most industries: asset registers with thousands of items, PPM schedules, live work orders, staff assignments and contract billing schedules. I recommend migrating only active assets and open work, with history kept accessible in the old system, and validating each contract's setup with its operations manager before cutover.

Common integrations include CAFM or field service tools, time-attendance and biometric systems, payroll, client portals and banking. The rule I apply is simple: each record has one owner, and other systems reference it. That prevents the slow drift where assets, contracts and staff lists exist in three versions.

As an independent consultant I have no stake in whether you keep your current CAFM or replace it. I can tell you when a specialist tool is worth integrating and when one ERP would be simpler. Many FM businesses also run installation work; if that applies to you, see ERP for MEP. If you manage buildings on behalf of owners, see ERP for property management. To discuss your contracts and systems, contact me.