Integrated Facilities Management
Research Papers
The following are examples of research topics that masters students are exploring related to facility and property management.
Standard Building Condition Index for K-12 Educational Facilities
The idea of this thesis will be to show that school systems are fairly standard in their construction of facilities as far as systems/components. Based on that standardization, a building condition index can be developed that would aid in timesaving annual assessments of schools. From these assessments a school system?s short-term and long-term budget needs could be developed quickly, with valid backup documentation.
Adaptive Reuse
The intent of this thesis is to focus on feasibility studies as they relate to reuse projects as opposed to those conducted for new construction.
Corporate headquarters real estate site selection criteria for professional companies based in Atlanta, Georgia.
How do corporations choose a site for their corporate headquarters in Atlanta? The focus of this thesis will be on insurance companies that have leased or purchased more than 100,000 square feet of space.
Budgeting for Roof Replacement Over the Life Cycle of Buildings
Each year organizations/institutions face a budgeting dilemma over how much to allocate toward roof replacement for facilities. A few of the factors which impact the process are: organizational/institutional policy/strategy, facility use, type of roof, expected life of roof, size and complexity of the roof, climate, design costs, contract administration costs, and timing of bids. This thesis will isolate as many variables from the above list as possible to develop a formula to assist facility managers in the process.
Defining and comparing the perceived and actual contributions that select continuing education opportunities make with respect to professionalism in the field of property management in the metropolitan Atlanta commercial real estate community.
This thesis will suggest that there is some benefit to continuing education, and a subsequent goal of the thesis will be to begin the process of understanding (quantifying to some degree) what the benefits are, i.e., whether there is an actual effect on salaries, hiring decisions, executable skill levels, etc. Another goal will be to develop an understanding of who it is that perceives the benefit and who it is that receives the benefit. Hopefully, some general and more far-reaching conclusions may be able to be drawn, including how we create better continuing education opportunities and how to improve the marketing of continuing education opportunities
Technology in Teaching and University Systems
Researching a set of minimum standards for incorporating technology into classrooms/ offices and how that impacts building structures.
Work Force Characteristics of Robot Driven Society
This thesis will deal with entering automation into the field of construction. The study will focus on upgrading the blue-collar worker's knowledge on robotics and management as it pertains to construction. Funding for the education of the blue-collar workers will also be explored. Site changes at the construction site and the job office will be investigated.
Recreational Trail Accessibility and the Americans with Disabilities Act
This thesis will focus on an aspect of trails and trail systems within natural, recreational, and historical parks as related to legal and ethical considerations for disabled park visitors. Facility management practices will be applied typically relating to accessibility to architectural features and public use facilities, integrating the principals of the Universal Trail Assessment Process, a new standard proposed for inclusion in the Americans with Disabilities Act
Facilities Request Management
How can a facilities department be seen as adding more value to the company? Can everyday services and requests be automated to allow little or no human intervention? Is it possible to develop and implement a system that would allow the end-user, via the Internet, to submit a request for services? Would this allow the facilities management professional to focus on more value-added services and projects?
Smart Buildings and Their Impact on Tenant Retention
This thesis will involve conducting an analysis of ?smart buildings? within the commercial multi-tenant real estate market and determining if any positive relationship exists between the technologies within the facility and the retention rate of tenants. A criteria matrix for determining what constitutes a ?smart building? will be developed. What facility features are most desirable for tenants and what specific type of tenant, if any, is targeted will be explored.
Integration of Architectural Design and Facility Management
This thesis will explore how to better integrate design and facility management. Focus will be on how design decisions affect the ability to maintain the facility (long-term costs)
Indoor Air Quality Protocol
This thesis will suggest that there is a better way to investigate air quality complaints or allegations of sick building syndrome than those currently being used. This thesis will include writing a protocol for investigating air quality complaints and using case studies to show why this new protocol is better. Testing of the new protocol may be possible.
How to successfully implement value engineering processes in facility operation and maintenance programs.
How would this differ from value engineering processes in the design and construction program? What is the recommended level and methodology of function analyses and life cycle analyses in an O&M application of value engineering? Can the data gathered from value engineering processes be used as business performance measures?
Workplace Design
How can we have a flexible office that can cope with the future needs of expansion and new technology?
Create a reference book addressing fire protection issues specific to the concerns of Facility Managers and presented in their language.
A need for Facility Managers to have information on how to address reoccurring fire protection issues faced in the management and occupancy of buildings has appeared as an important issue recently. While there exists a wealth of directives and codes that provide information on fire protection systems and requirements, they are not specific to facility management issues and they are not written in facility management language.
Building Business Portals and their Impact
The quantifiable financial impact that property management companies and employers can affect on respective tenants and employees by delivering non-traditional benefits and services via ?building business portals? and corporate intranet sites will be examined in this thesis. Specifically the study will attempt to determine if business portals can be effectively used to aggregate tenants and employees into communities for the purposes of leveraging purchasing power to affect discounted purchases of services in an on-line (electronic) as well as traditional ?brick-and-mortar? environment using java cards and other secure account access devices.
Real Estate
Market analysis for commercial and residential properties in a metropolitan area, taking into consideration aspects such as location, regulatory issues, and city planning theory.
Building markets in Metro Atlanta, North side vs. South side
This thesis will take an in-depth look at how the North side of Metro Atlanta?s building market has enjoyed great growth in prosperity while the South side has lagged behind. Will this pendulum swing in the future? What will need to happen for this to occur? If so, how far into the future can it be predicted?
The architect?s impact on the facility maintenance of a building/facility through material selection.
Researching material durability and the maintenance costs associated with them will be studied in this thesis. Research will include both the interior and exterior components of the building as well as the impact of the application of the materials. The effects that the geographic location and climate will have on materials will be researched. What material, when and where to use it, and how the cost of maintenance of certain materials in certain applications can be kept to a minimum.
Redundant Buildings: Their Conversion and Adaptive Reuse
This subject area has been a particular challenge for owners and their advisors where economic development and sustainability is concerned. This thesis will examine the challenges (to be determined through in depth study) of redundant buildings and clarify the mystifying elements relative to economic development and their sustainability in growing communities.
Facility Management of Historical Buildings
This thesis will include research on historical buildings to find out if they can be operated in an efficient manner. Through research, improvements to this category of buildings that will most impact efficiency, are hoped to be discovered.
Impact of the Internet, specifically telecommuting, on facilities/property management.
Corporate Real Estate