The Austin IFMA Newsletter
May 2003
By Priscilla Dannemiller

2003 Austin IFMA Golf Tournament
Thanks to the many volunteers from our membership and those who signed up and played. We had a great turnout of over 100 players and 20 volunteers who drove beverage carts, laughed at bad golf swings, and helped make sure everyone had a great time.

The winning team shot a remarkable 18 under par. Don't look for any of the pros to shoot 18 under par in the Kinkos tournament next week.

IFMA Austin will make a very nice contribution to Meals on Wheels and More after the final accounting and approval from the Board and the executive session.

Watch for some very interesting pictures of the tournament to get passed around the room at our next general meeting. Marilyn Davis with Technion caught more than one of our golfers in "colorful" moments.

--Charles Dixon

*The Austin IFMA Chapter would like to send an enormous THANK YOU out to Charles Dixon for all the hard work, long hours and dedication it took to pull together the 2003 golf tournament. Your efforts were greatly appreciated and enjoyed by everyone.

Upcoming May Meeting

Our next meeting will be held at the Embassy Suites on May 8th. Please be sure to RSVP. by May 5th.   If you have a guest that will be attending, please make sure you indicate so on your reservation.  The topic for May will be Understanding Audio Visual Integration in Facilities by David Stana.

April Meeting

Pat Conroy with Micro Main Corporation was our April speaker who provided a presentation about Asset Management/Inventory. He attended UT Austin and currently works with facility management programs and software. Micro Main Corporation has been in business since 1991.

There are two main types of facility management programs available, CMMS-Computer Maintenance Management System and CAFM-Computer Aided Facility Management. Pat asked the audience if facility management and maintenance management are the same. Some people consider facility management more like space planning and maintenance management more like equipment upkeep and repairs.

The type of asset life cycle management you may need will depend upon your type of facility. There are three main types of assets: equipment, areas and vehicles. Examples of types of assets can be HVAC equipment, machinery, or any other equipment that that requires maintenance tracking. Under each piece of equipment you can track when maintenance is scheduled, completed, if any problems arose, parts that are replaced, the company or vendor that performs the maintenance, etc. An example of tracking for an area would be to record paint type and color, carpet type and maintenance, furniture, etc. for a particular room.

Another interesting way of using the asset management system is to track inventory. Bar code scanning is available. This may be particularly useful when trying to keep track of furniture locations.

Asset management programs also allow external documents, such as Word or Excel, to be linked to different items within the system. For example: You are tracking all information for FCU #1. You could link a copy of your service agreement in Word to FCU #1 in the asset management system. If you are reviewing the maintenance history for FCU #1 and need to refer to your service agreement, it would be readily available.

Asset management programs are fairly flexible and can be customized to fit most company's needs. One question posed was, "can data be imported from manufacturers or does it all have to be input manually?" Yes, it can be imported, but the problem you may run into is that not all manufacturers will provide you with the information because they often want the service contract versus you going elsewhere or repairing it in house.

Before we closed the meeting, we held another table topic discussion covering conservation methods currently being used and security issues. We hope you found the information helpful and thank you to everyone who participated. If you would like to see these type of discussions continue, please send your comments and suggested topics to Mary Starr.

IFMA Social Event May 15th

You'll be happy to hear that you will soon have another opportunity to get out and "PARTY" with your IFMA friends for another fun filled "Social Event"! These gatherings are becoming more and more popular and our turnouts have been very successful. After all, this group definitely knows how to have a good time!

Plan to meet us for some fun, food & snacks this May 15th, a Thursday evening starting at 5:30 PM. The chapter will provide some light food n' snacks, if you'll pick up your drink tab! Hope to see you there!!!!!

Feel free to bring along a friend or new potential member!

Location: BB Rovers Cafe & Pub
12636 Research Blvd.

Directions: This Pub faces Jollyville Rd., located between the Krispy Kreme &
Spicewood Springs Rd. Call 335-9504 if you need directions.

RSVP Request:

Please Email me if you're able to come!
Julie Sheaffer

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ACP Conference

The Capital of Texas Chapter of the Association of Contingency Planners (ACP) will be hosting a conference entitled "Bridging the Gap" on the afternoon of June 4 at the Thompson Conference Center on the UT Campus.

It is not contingency planning or disaster recovery alone that will save our businesses. It takes an overall knowledge base, which includes Emergency Management, Disaster Recovery, Security Information and Business Continuity Planning! This conference will have sessions that focus on each of these areas.

For more information, visit the ACP website at http://www.acp-centraltexas.com and look for "Bridging the Gap". The ACP offers continuing education credits for attendance.

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Who's who in Austin IFMA?

Ray Magill		Katarzyna Priebe
Mike Negro		Peter Varga

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Welcome to our Newest Members!

Wayne R. Jemmott
Senior Account Manager
Visual Innovations

Caesar Andreas
Commercial Relocation Consultant
Berger Transfer & Storage

John Jankowski
President
JanCom Technologies

 

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IFMA & AFE Unite World Workplace and Facilities America Conferences Creates largest gathering ever of FMs (from Facilities Design & Management website www.fdm.com) The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) and the Association for Facilities Engineering (AFE) announced an agreement to hold their World Workplace and Facilities America 2003 conferences together Oct. 19-21, 2003 in Dallas, Texas. "Our members have so many common interests that this is a great opportunity for the two organizations to share their strengths," says David Brady, president and CEO. "We are delighted to have such a complementary partnership, and the combined effort has potential for creating the largest ever gathering of facility management professionals." "Combining the two conferences offers both associations the chance to capitalize on networking opportunities and possibly to forge a stronger bond for future collaborations," says Gerald Hagen, president, AFE. "The benefits for both groups are magnified by this relationship." The agreement calls for AFE to contribute two Facilities America 2003 tracks to the World Workplace educational offerings. Attendees from both organizations will hear the opening and closing keynote addresses and have common access to the welcome reception, networking events, educational tracks and the exposition hall. AFE has served as a network for the facility, maintenance, and plant operations professions since 1945. Its 6,000 international members advance the field and their careers using the most complete range of technical information, education, best practices and sharing of common professional experiences. For more information, visit the AFE Web site at www.afe.org. IFMA is the professional association for facility management with approximately 17,500 members worldwide in more than 50 countries. The organization offers networking opportunities through its 130 regional chapters and 11 councils, provides certification and educational programs, conducts research, spots trends, lobbies and assists facility managers in developing skills and strategies to manage the human, structural and real estate assets of an organization. The combined purchasing power of IFMA's North American members is $64 billion (U.S.) annually. For more information, visit the Association's website at www.ifma.org.

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