IFMA Launches Online Benchmarking Exchange

By Evan Dick

The International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) has launched an online survey management system called BEX that will house the association’s benchmarking surveys and results. The new system makes it easier to participate in the surveys and to access results. It allows facility professionals to update, filter, and search data; make calculations based on common metrics; submit data from multiple buildings; and access real-time benchmarking results.

Metric and currency conversions are available. IFMA’s surveys gather data on a wide range of facility statistics, including occupancy costs, janitorial costs, and utility and maintenance costs. In 2012, IFMA will conduct a survey that focuses on energy management, the results of which could potentially help offset the loss of the 2007 and 2011 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) data (see “Key Energy Data Hit Hard by Federal Budget Cuts,”

EBN May 2011).

Participants will get free and unlimited access, and nonparticipants can purchase an annual subscription to gain access to surveys and results. For more information and to access BEX, see www.ifma.org/BEX.