DIN EN 15221-4:2011-12

In the European Standard EN 15221-1 facility management is defined as the integration of processes that support the primary business of an organisation. Facility management (FM) according to this definition envisages a business model that encourages an organisation to centrally organize and optimise its support services. The key focus is to improve the effectiveness of the primary activities of an organisation by streamlining the service provision and optimum interaction of the parties. Accessibility to the resources necessary to facilitate knowledge development, innovation and business improvement are particularly important in a global market where leading edge practices are maintaining or improving competitive advantage as key objectives of a successful business or governmental organisation. Taxonomy provides a framework within which knowledge is able to be identified and categorised for ease of access by practitioners. Based on various definitions, the most evident conclusion is that taxonomy is a classification system for improved information management. It helps the users to sustain and improve the operations of their business. The key concept relates to how the use of taxonomy will improve the operations of a business. In this regard, the structure of taxonomy should be closely aligned to business processes so that the user's access to information is intuitively driven. EN 15221-4 provides a taxonomy with a relationship model, a product/service structure and a classification system. These are essential contributions to the removal of barriers to harmonisation and, in particular, to cross border trade. This standard uses the term "product" in accordance with EN ISO 9000 which defines a product as the result of a process. In the context of FM, a product is a result of a process and the respective activities/facilities. The standardised (classified) facility products are a well-defined (commodified) and hierarchically organized set of facility services. They have been selected from the countless number of individual (customised) facility services to provide a basis for standardisation in the field of process definition, cost allocation, standardized tendering, etcetera. They have been selected from a client perspective and attempt to integrate different European customs and practices. Facility management covers and integrates a very broad scope of processes, products/services, activities and facilities. The FM approach of this standard is to consider the added value provided to the primary activities by adopting a product perspective as recognised by the primary processes or core business in the organisation. This standard therefore introduces the concept of standardised (classified) facility products. The scope of this standard is to provide taxonomy for FM which includes: - relevant interrelationships of elements and their structures in FM; - definitions of terms and contents to standardise facility products which provide a basis for cross border trade, data management, cost allocation and benchmarking; - a high level classification and hierarchical coding structure for the standardised facility products; - expanding the basic FM model given in EN 15221-1 by adding a time scale in the form of the quality cycle called PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act); - a linkage to existing cost and facilities structures; - alignment with the primary activities requirements. Additional benefits from this standard are: - introducing a client rather than a specifically asset-oriented view; - harmonisation of different existing national structures (for example, building cost codes) on an upper level relevant for the organisation and its primary activities.