Data silos cost time, money, and trust. But when organizations apply the Insight-to-Impact Cycle by mapping data paths, creating KPI charters, launching 90-day pilots, automating dashboards, building digital threads, and using AI responsibly, they begin to see measurable transformation.

The examples below show how breaking down silos across departments leads to positive change, improving energy performance, asset management, safety, and ultimately the bottom line.

Enterprise Asset Management: Building the Digital Thread at Handoff

The Silo: Construction and operations data are often disconnected, forcing facility teams to recreate asset records from scratch after turnover.

The Solution: Arora and EDI developed a Building Information Modeling + Facilities Management + Enterprise Asset Management (BIM-FM-EAM) Asset Data Standard that integrates BIM, geospatial data, and asset attributes into MCI’s Maximo system. This gave Operations and Maintenance (O&M) teams accurate, geolocated asset data and preventive maintenance schedules from day one, while establishing a digital thread that carried information seamlessly from design and construction into operations.

The Impact: Maximo was seeded with clean, structured data from day one, enabling seamless preventive maintenance, inspections, and operations. MCI cut implementation costs by 50% compared to traditional asset management setups and avoided the typical 18+ month post-handover delay. The digital thread continues to deliver value by preserving lifecycle data, reducing risk, and giving O&M teams confidence that decisions are based on complete, connected information.

Energy Management: Energy Use Intensity as a Common Language

The Silo: Operations track energy bills, Sustainability reports on Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) goals, and Finance only sees costs.

The Solution: When stakeholders adopt Energy Use Intensity (EUI) as a common metric, then energy efficiency can be benchmarked consistently across the portfolio.

The Impact: Facilities can uncover inefficiencies and capture measurable savings, up to 30% with proven measures and benchmarking through EUI portfolio dashboards; while advancing ESG commitments.

Facility Condition Index: Aligning Finance & Facilities

The Silo: Finance and Facilities often track asset health differently — Facilities rely on work order histories, while Finance uses depreciation schedules. Without a shared definition, capital planning can become a slow, contentious process.

The Solution: Establish Facility Condition Index (FCI) as the single KPI for asset health. FCI expresses deferred maintenance as a percentage of total asset value (deferred maintenance ÷ replacement value), creating a simple, shared benchmark that both Finance and Facilities can trust.

The Impact: By adopting FCI as the common measure of asset health, Finance and Facilities can finally speak the same language. Capital planning requests move more quickly because they are grounded in a standardized, industry-recognized metric rather than competing reports. Projects also withstand executive and auditor scrutiny, since FCI clearly shows deferred maintenance as a percentage of asset value.

Safety Management: Proactive vs. Reactive

The Silo: The Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) team, Security, and Operations teams track safety incidents separately, often months after the fact.

The Solution: Adopt Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) as the leading indicator and automate alerts to flag patterns early rather than after an incident occurs.

The Impact: Early warnings enable targeted training, reducing incidents and insurance premiums while avoiding a share of the $167 billion in annual workplace injury costs.

AI & Digital Twins: Amplifying Clean Data

The Silo: Many organizations launch AI pilots on top of fragmented data, producing unreliable outputs.

The Solution: Our Startup Guide’s 90-day pilot framework can help leaders unify KPIs and build a digital thread, ensuring AI and digital twins can multiply value.

The Impact: Once fed clean, structured data, AI can deliver predictive maintenance insights that reduce downtime, optimize Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) schedules, and significantly decrease reactive work orders. AI multiplies the value of the Digital Thread; it does not replace it.

Breaking Down Silos = Better Decisions

Breaking down silos doesn’t just improve data, it improves decisions.

When teams share KPIs, align priorities, and connect data across an asset’s lifecycle, facilities shift from being managed as cost centers to becoming strategic assets.

Download our Startup Guide + Workbook to start building your own Digital Executive Playbook, and stay tuned for the next piece in our series where we will explore the future of Facilities Management and the impact of new technology like AI and digital twins.

The post Breaking Down Data Silos for Efficient Facility Management appeared first on Arora Engineers.

Now for the next question: what does it look like to put that playbook into action? How can leaders move from checklists to transformation, from isolated fixes to lasting lifecycle continuity?

The answer lies in two powerful shifts:

• Creating clarity today through shared KPIs; and
• Building the digital thread that ensures continuity tomorrow.

The digital thread for Facilities Management (FM) is essentially a connected data ecosystem that links information about facilities across the entire lifecycle, from planning and design, through construction, operations, and maintenance, to eventual renovation or decommissioning. The thread provides a single source of truth, enabling decision-makers to use real-time and historical data to manage facilities decisively.

Along the way, new skills and technologies, from the rise of the FM Analyst to the responsible use of AI, will separate facility managers who simply manage chaos from those who drive measurable results.

Building Clarity with Shared KPIs

Our Startup Guide encourages leaders to map the data path and create KPI charters. In practice, this means replacing vague reports with agreed-upon metrics that align across departments, such as:

• Facility Condition Index (FCI): When Finance and Facilities use the same definition of asset health, capital planning moves faster and withstands scrutiny.
• Energy Use Intensity (EUI): When Operations and Sustainability teams align on this benchmark, energy savings translate into measurable ROI and ESG progress.

This is the first step in Howard Shotz’s Insight-to-Impact Cycle. Without shared KPIs, leaders are stuck in “analysis paralysis.” With KPIs, leaders move decisively.

Empowering Translators: The FM Analyst

Even with strong KPIs, someone must bridge silos. Numerous presentations at IFMA’s World Workplace 2025 pointed to the emergence of the FM Analyst: professionals who combine data fluency, curiosity, and storytelling to translate metrics into executive-ready insights.

For example, an FM Analyst can pair occupancy and energy data to show how consolidating leases could cut millions in wasted spend. The numbers aren’t new, however framing them as a story that ties costs to business outcomes aids facility leaders in gaining executive support.

As AI becomes more prevalent in FM, the FM Analyst role becomes critical. Although AI can flag anomalies or forecast failures, only a human analyst can validate inputs, interpret outputs, and explain how they apply to the strategy. The FM Analyst ensures that AI is an accelerator, not a distraction.

Extending Clarity into Continuity with the Digital Thread

Shared KPIs create clarity today, but the bigger opportunity lies in ensuring continuity across the entire facility lifecycle through a digital thread. Research shows that ~95% of construction data is never captured or reused once operations begin (FMI), even though 60–80% of a building’s total lifecycle costs occur during operations (Autodesk-IFMA).

Disconnected data leaves Operations & Maintenance (O&M) teams scrambling as warranty recoveries, asset histories, and capital planning data vanish during handover and commissioning. By contrast, organizations that establish a digital thread — a structured flow of data from design through renewal — preserve critical information and avoid costly surprises.

One of our major airport clients has embedded asset data requirements into their construction contracts, saving millions in downstream maintenance by loading complete records directly into their Enterprise Asset Management system (EAM) during handover.
According to Autodesk-IFMA lifecycle research, four principles matter:

• Engaging stakeholders early;
• Adopting standards (ISO 55000/41001/19650);
• Building data literacy, and
• Deploying smart solutions like BIM, CMMS, IWMS, and digital twins.

Taken together, these four principles do not just connect data — they connect business intelligence that enables better-informed business decisions. The principles turn once fragmented and disposable information into a durable asset that reduces risk, cuts costs, and gives executives confidence that their facilities are managed with foresight.

Leveraging AI and Digital Twins Responsibly

With a digital thread in place, advanced technologies compound in value:

• Predictive maintenance: AI can forecast failures when it has access to accurate lifecycle and condition data.
• Energy management: AI can optimize HVAC and lighting schedules based on real-time occupancy and EUI benchmarks.
• Smart space planning: AI blends IoT sensor data with digital twin models to project utilization and reduce wasted square footage.

Without clean, structured data, AI and digital twins may amplify data chaos (noise) instead of reducing it. The takeaway: AI multiplies the value of the digital thread — it doesn’t replace it.

The Future-Ready FM

Leaders who will thrive are those who can move from Chaos to Clarity to Continuity. They combine FM Analyst skills with digital thread strategies to lead true data-driven transformation. They will:

• Use KPI charters from Article 2, Solving the Data Dilemma, to align stakeholders.
• Empower FM Analysts to translate insights.
• Build digital threads to connect data across an asset’s lifecycle.
• Deploy AI and digital twins as accelerators, not silver bullets.

This is what it looks like to operationalize the Startup Guide: start small, prove value in 90 days, and then expand across domains. Each step builds credibility, reduces costs, mitigates risks, and positions facilities as a strategic driver of business value.

From Chaos to Clarity to Continuity

The first two pieces in this series established the foundation: facility data is a powerful but underused asset, and a clear framework helps leaders start solving the overload. This blog moves the conversation forward — showing what it looks like to operationalize that playbook and build lasting impact.

Clarity comes from shared KPIs, translated by FM Analysts who bridge silos and make insights actionable. Continuity comes from creating a digital thread that carries structured data across the lifecycle. And with clean, trusted information in place, AI and digital twins can finally deliver on their promise — enabling predictive maintenance, optimized energy use, and smarter space planning.

The future-ready FM will know how to move from chaos to clarity to continuity, using each step to build credibility, cut costs, and reduce risk.

Start by mapping your data path with our Startup Guide + Workbook, and stay tuned for the next piece in our Digital Executive Playbook series illustrating how breaking down silos improves systems and drives measurable business value.

Further Reading:

FMI Study: 95% of All Data Captured Goes Unused in the EC Industry

WBDG: Life-Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA)

The post The Digital Thread Solution: Moving Facilities Beyond Data Chaos to Lifecycle Continuity appeared first on Arora Engineers.

Solving the Data Overload Dilemma: A Startup Guide & Workbook for Building Your Digital Executive Playbook

This practical guide and hands-on workbook walks you through five steps to start building your own playbook:

• Identify your top priority domain — Space, Energy, Safety, or Asset Management
• Map where your data lives, who owns it, and how it’s refreshed
• Create KPI charters that define success, accountability, and cadence
• Automate dashboards and alerts to eliminate data overload
• Pilot your approach in 90 days to prove measurable ROI and build momentum

Meet Us at IFMA World Workplace 2025 – Booth 728

Our team will be exhibiting at IFMA World Workplace next week, sharing how facility leaders can solve the data overload dilemma and begin building their Digital Executive Playbook. In addition to exhibiting, several members of our team will be speaking at sessions throughout the conference:

September 16, 7:30-12PM
Joe Mahaz, Founder & Senior Advisor
Enterprise Asset Management activities, insights, and best practices

September 19, 10:15-11:15
Howard Shotz, PMP, Vice President, Global Smart Infrastructure
Implementing an Asset Management and Operational Digital Twin at a Major Airport

Stay tuned, next in the series we’ll be publishing a new blog detailing emerging insights and strategies that are shaping the future of facility leadership.

The post Solving the Data Overload Dilemma: A Startup Guide appeared first on Arora Engineers.

Howard Shotz, Vice President of Global Smart Infrastructure explains “Most organizations have a lot of data, but they don’t have actionable information. The real value comes when you align Facilities, Real Estate, IT, Finance and HR on the same metrics and focus on the broad business imperatives using KPIs that matter most. That’s when data starts driving measurable results.”

Why do so many organizations fail to turn data into dollars? Because they lack a concise, cross-departmental approach to translating raw data into measurable business outcomes. Without it, facilities fall into four persistent traps:

• Fragmented Decision-Making: Facilities, Real Estate, IT, Finance and HR operate in silos with unclear ownership of processes, data, and results.
• Slow Execution: Workflow bottlenecks, unclear authority, and excessive handoffs delay both routine and strategic projects.
• Data Overload vs. Gaps: Leaders either drown in reports or lack agreement on the small set of critical data elements that truly drive outcomes.
• Lack of Executive Translation: Operational improvements fail to connect to top-level goals like growth, agility, and ROI.

“These issues aren’t solved by technology alone,” Shotz emphasizes. “They require a governance model, a common data dictionary, and a focus on a small set of high-value KPIs—like the Facility Condition Index (FCI) or Energy Use Intensity (EUI)—that the C-suite can act on.” 

Impact to Insight Cycle

The solution is not collecting more data—it’s turning existing data into business intelligence. Howard’s framework, the Insight-to-Impact Cycle, outlines how to move from information to results:

This simple but powerful process ensures the data facility teams track actually drive executive-level decisions. Instead of endless reporting, the focus shifts to a closed-loop system where data informs metrics, metrics create KPIs, KPIs shape decisions, and decisions trigger measurable action.

The Four Domains That Matter Most

While every facility is unique, research shows that four domains consistently drive the majority of costs, risks, and performance outcomes:

• Space Management – Underutilized or misaligned square footage drains budgets and lowers productivity. With real-time occupancy and utilization metrics, organizations can consolidate space, reduce leasing costs, and improve the workplace experience. (Density (Q1 2025); Colliers Insight (Jan 2025); Placer.ai / Business Insider (July 2025)
• Energy Management – Energy is the widely considered the second-highest controllable cost in facilities after Operations and Maintenance (O&M) labor. It often accounts for 20–30% of an organization’s operating costs, depending on the facility type. Monitoring Energy Use Intensity (EUI) creates a benchmark for efficiency. Many portfolios can capture 10–30% energy savings through proven measures—translating directly into bottom-line impact while advancing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments, helping leaders slash utility costs while meeting ESG commitments.
• Safety Management – OSHA and the National Safety Council estimate workplace incidents cost U.S. employers over $167 billion annually. By shifting from lagging indicators to proactive safety KPIs, facility teams can cut risk, avoid fines, and protect employees.
• Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) – With most costs tied up in operations, lifecycle asset data is critical. Every $1 of maintenance deferred today can create roughly $4–$5 in future capital liability, so using Facility Condition Index (FCI) and similar metrics to prioritize repairs and capital projects helps avoid emergencies and optimize total cost of ownership.

The Value for Executives

When facility leaders focus their data strategies on these domains, the results ripple across the enterprise:

• Financial Clarity – Normalized CAPEX and OPEX metrics allow leaders to compare sites, prioritize funding, and eliminate hidden spend.
• Risk Governance – Deferred maintenance and safety incidents turn into leading indicators, reducing exposure and surprises.
• Performance Acceleration – Closed-loop reporting ties operational KPIs directly to measurable ROI.
• Stakeholder Alignment – Facilities, Real Estate, Finance, IT, HR and ESG teams finally work from the same “data dictionary,” eliminating silos and accelerating decisions.

The Executive Imperative

Facility data isn’t just a technical challenge—it’s an executive imperative. By focusing on the right KPIs in the domains that matter most, leaders can cut costs, mitigate risks, and build facilities that deliver long-term value to the business.

The organizations that thrive will be those that build their own executive playbook, rooted in the Insight-to-Impact Cycle and aligned across all stakeholders.

This article is the first in our Digital Executive Playbook Series, where we’ll release a set of practical guides, tools, and insights designed to help facility executives transform data into measurable outcomes.

Stay tuned for the next item in this series, a hands-on start-up guide and workbook designed to help facility managers identify their biggest pain points and begin mapping their own data playbook. Sign up for our newsletter here!

The post Why Data is Your Greatest Asset: The Executive Case for Facility Managers appeared first on Arora Engineers.

Furthermore, facility managers can significantly enhance the efficiency of their efforts by choosing a mobile solution that integrates with ArcGIS Indoors.

By combining these powerful tools, facility managers can unlock a range of benefits that improve facility visualization, asset tracking, space management, work order efficiency, indoor navigation, and more. Facility managers who integrate Indoor GIS capabilities with their mobile EAM solution can save both time and costs while improving overall facility management outcomes.

Below, we outline five compelling reasons why investing in a mobile EAM solution that integrates with Indoor GIS will be a game-changer for your facility management operations.

1. Comprehensive Asset Management

Utilizing a mobile solution that integrates with ArcGIS Indoors enables facility managers to seamlessly manage both outdoor and indoor assets. By integrating asset data and location services, facility managers can achieve real-time asset tracking, monitoring, and maintenance. This integration eliminates the need for manual record-keeping and enables facility managers to access critical asset information on the go.

Facility managers can track asset movement, monitor maintenance schedules, and ensure timely repairs. By optimizing asset management processes, facility managers can minimize downtime, increase asset utilization, and reduce maintenance costs.

2. Enhanced Spatial Understanding

ArcGIS Indoors’ detailed indoor mapping and spatial analytics capabilities provide facility managers with enhanced spatial understanding. By integrating this indoor GIS with a mobile solution, facility managers can utilize the detailed and interactive indoor mapping capabilities to visualize their buildings and facilities accurately and gain insights into asset locations, movement patterns, and spatial relationships. These insights improve decision-making, operational efficiency, and resource allocation.

Facility managers can visualize assets in their exact locations, understand spatial constraints, and identify optimal asset placement. By utilizing spatial analytics, they can identify patterns of asset usage, identify potential bottlenecks, and optimize workflows. This integration empowers facility managers to make data-driven decisions, streamline operations, and enhance productivity.

3. Indoor Navigation

An EAM mobile solution that integrates with ArcGIS Indoors offers intuitive and interactive indoor navigation capabilities. The integration provides users with turn-by-turn directions and wayfinding assistance within complex indoor environments. This ensures efficient navigation to desired destinations within buildings, reducing time wastage and enhancing user experience.

Facility managers can easily guide maintenance personnel or visitors to specific areas, assets, or facilities. This integration simplifies navigation within large buildings, multi-building complexes, or campuses, enhancing operational efficiency and reducing confusion.

4. Streamlined Work Order Management

Integrating an EAM mobile solution with ArcGIS Indoors significantly enhances work order management. Facility managers can view and assign work orders directly on their mobile devices, leveraging the spatial information provided by Indoor Maps.

With a clear visualization of maintenance tasks’ exact locations, facility managers can assign technicians promptly, track work order progress in real time, and ensure timely resolution of issues.

This integration streamlines the work order lifecycle, leading to improved response times, increased productivity, and enhanced customer satisfaction.

5. Multi-Floor Navigation & Point of Interest Guidance

Integrating ArcGIS Indoors with an EAM mobile solution enables facility managers to assist users in locating specific points of interest and seamlessly navigate between different floors or levels within multi-level buildings. Users can easily find rooms, departments, amenities, or facility features by following step-by-step directions provided by the mobile solution.

The solution highlights optimal paths with instructions on floor transitions, staircases, escalators, or elevators, ensuring smooth vertical navigation and reducing time spent searching for specific locations.

This feature is particularly beneficial for new employees, visitors, or maintenance personnel who may be unfamiliar with the building layout. By providing accurate and efficient guidance, facility managers can enhance user experience, improve productivity, and streamline operations.

Facility managers can guide maintenance personnel to specific floors or assets efficiently, reducing time wastage and optimizing resource allocation. By enabling users to navigate indoor environments with ease, facility managers improve operational efficiency and overall productivity.

Integrating an EAM mobile solution with ArcGIS Indoors offers numerous advantages for facility managers seeking to optimize their operations. From comprehensive facility visualization and real-time asset tracking to enhanced space management, streamlined work order processes, and improved indoor navigation, this integration empowers facility managers to make data-driven decisions, increase operational efficiency, and deliver better facility experiences.

By harnessing the power of these integrated solutions, facility managers can elevate their facility management practices to new heights, ensuring optimal resource utilization, improved maintenance outcomes, and enhanced occupant satisfaction.

To learn more about how you can streamline and enhance your facility management, check out ATLAS Indoor Maps.

The post Five Reasons You Need a Maximo Mobile Solution that Integrates with Indoor GIS appeared first on Arora Engineers.

Check out our infographic below:

The post Infographic: Integrating ArcGIS Indoors with Maximo® using Arora ATLAS® appeared first on Arora Engineers.

Arora ATLAS®, an enterprise-level suite of mobile products that integrates with IBM’s Maximo® Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) software, has taken a significant leap forward by introducing innovative new functionality. Now seamlessly integrated with ESRI’s Indoor GIS, ATLAS Indoor Maps is a powerful solution to simplify asset management and revolutionize facility maintenance workflows.

The integration enables organizations to effectively manage both outdoor and indoor assets while providing users with intuitive wayfinding and turn-by-turn navigation within complex indoor environments. The solution enhances operational efficiency, improves asset utilization, and facilitates informed decision-making.

Users will benefit from features like interactive indoor navigation, point of interest guidance, accessibility support, location-based services, and multi-floor navigation. This integrated solution streamlines workflows, optimizes facilities management, and empowers organizations with valuable insights for continuous improvement.

Indoor Navigation

Arora ATLAS Indoor Maps revolutionizes indoor navigation by providing users with interactive and intuitive wayfinding solutions within complex indoor environments.

Leveraging the power of indoor mapping and location-based services, users can seamlessly navigate through buildings, finding the most efficient routes to their desired destinations.

Facility managers can empower employees, visitors, and technicians with turn-by-turn navigation, ensuring they can easily locate rooms, departments, amenities, or facility features. This not only saves time but enhances the overall experience within the facility.

Comprehensive Asset Management

ATLAS Indoor Maps empowers facility managers to seamlessly manage both outdoor and indoor assets by integrating asset data and location services.

With real-time tracking, monitoring, and maintenance capabilities, facility managers can efficiently oversee their asset inventory, identify asset locations, and proactively schedule maintenance activities.

By centralizing asset management and providing a holistic view of asset performance, this integrated solution enhances operational efficiency and reduces costly downtime.

Enhanced Spatial Understanding

The integration of Arora ATLAS and ESRI’s ArcGIS Indoors brings detailed indoor mapping and spatial analytics capabilities to facility managers and technicians.

With advanced tools and visualizations, ATLAS Indoor Maps will allow your organization to gain valuable insights into asset locations, movement patterns, and spatial relationships. This enhanced spatial understanding enables informed decision-making, improves operational efficiency, and optimizes resource allocation.

By leveraging these insights, facility managers can identify areas for improvement, streamline workflows, and enhance the overall efficiency of their operations.

Point of Interest Guidance

Locating specific points of interest within large buildings can often be a challenging task.

Arora ATLAS Indoor Maps addresses this issue by offering users step-by-step directions and highlighting optimal paths to their desired points of interest.

Whether it’s finding a specific room, department, or amenity, users can rely on the integrated solution to guide them efficiently. This feature improves productivity, reduces confusion, and enables users to make the most of their time within the facility.

Multi-Floor Navigation

For multi-level buildings, knowing exactly what level the asset or workorder is located in and allowing for seamless navigation between different floors is essential to understanding the best way to locate said asset/workorder. Arora ATLAS Indoor Maps simplifies multi-modal floor-aware turn-by-turn navigation through places like staircases, escalators, or elevators.

Users can effortlessly move between floors, ensuring smooth vertical navigation. This functionality is particularly valuable in large office buildings, hospitals, shopping malls, and other complex facilities. By eliminating navigation barriers, facility managers can enhance accessibility, improve operational efficiency, and provide a seamless experience to users.

ATLAS Indoor Maps: A Comprehensive Asset Management Solution

ATLAS Indoor Maps, the result of the seamless integration of Arora ATLAS with ESRI’s Indoor GIS, revolutionizes asset management and indoor navigation for facility managers. By harnessing the power of comprehensive asset management, enhanced spatial understanding, intuitive indoor navigation, point of interest guidance, and multi-floor navigation, ATLAS Indoor Maps streamlines workflows, optimizes facilities management, and empowers organizations with valuable insights for continuous improvement.

The result is improved operational efficiency, optimized facilities management, and valuable insights for continuous improvement. Facility managers who implement Arora ATLAS Indoor Maps can expect substantial time and cost savings while elevating the overall experience within their facilities. Embrace the power of Arora ATLAS Indoor Maps and revolutionize your asset management and indoor navigation practices today.

Contact our team today to learn more!

The post Streamlining Asset Management and Indoor Navigation with Arora ATLAS® Indoor Maps appeared first on Arora Engineers.

Unlike a traditional outdoor Global Positioning System (GPS), Indoor navigation relies on an indoor positioning system (IPS) which detects real-time locations to accurately determine the coordinates of assets or people inside a facility.

What is an Indoor Positioning System (IPS)?
An IPS is a network of devices used to locate people or objects where GPS and other satellite technologies lack precision or fail entirely, such as inside multistory buildings, airports, alleys, parking garages, and underground locations. There are a variety of indoor positioning technologies that can be used, including beacons, smartphones, and/or Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas. The location data is then collected and processed, allowing for real-time analytics.

IPS allows for accurate tracking of indoor locations and provides valuable insights into the movements of people and assets within a facility. By utilizing IPS, facility managers can streamline their operations, gain actionable insights into their operations, and enhance customer experience.

By tracking the movement of people and assets, facility managers can identify areas where inefficiencies exist and work to address them. For example, if a particular area of a facility is consistently congested, IPS data can be used to identify the root cause and develop solutions to alleviate the congestion. With an IPS, facility managers are also able to identify which areas of the facility are most frequently used, which areas are underutilized, and which areas may be causing bottlenecks or inefficiencies.

The IPS Gold Standard
ESRI’s ArcGIS IPS is a powerful tool that allows facility managers to track the location of people and assets within a building in real-time. Similar to GPS, it puts a blue dot on indoor maps and uses location services to help you navigate to any point of interest or destination. Real-time indoor navigation, location sharing, and location tracking empower customers, visitors, and contractors. Indoor data collection provides a smooth workflow for mobile workers and analytics that can help your organization increase efficiency and improve customer service.

What components does ArcGIS IPS include?
ESRI’s mobile solutions include the ArcGIS IPS Setup app which allows users to plan and perform survey recordings inside facilities to collect the location data needed to enable IPS. According to Esri, the ArcGIS IPS Setup includes the following components:

Map list— View map details, set favorites, open maps, and access the recordings list and profile menu.

Map mode— Visualize floor plans, switch between floors in a facility, and access Survey and Test modes.

Survey mode— Collect radio reference data at an indoor site to build a record of trajectories, survey points, and locations, along with their corresponding geocoordinates during survey or quality recordings. Before conducting a survey, you can plan the survey path in one of the following ways:

• Create a survey path in IPS Setup using Plan mode—Sketch paths and add survey points to build a survey route before recording.
• Create a survey path in ArcGIS Pro and include it in the web map—Use existing paths to run planned or surveyed recording paths.

Test mode—Test a positioning file after processing survey data with the Generate Indoor Positioning File tool in ArcGIS Pro.

Why does your organization need an IPS?

• Boost Indoor Location Awareness
  • Use ArcGIS IPS to allow employees, contractors, and visitors to better orient themselves inside their facilities and navigate to people, assets, and places in real time. Empower mobile workers with tools to continue doing their job effectively as they switch from the field to an indoor environment. The blue dot transitions seamlessly on the map as the user enters or exits the building or switches between floor levels.
  • With real-time data on the location of people and assets within a building, facility managers can easily track the movement of staff and equipment, improving overall visibility and control. This can be particularly useful in large or complex buildings, such as hospitals or airports, where the ability to quickly locate people and assets can be critical.
• Streamline Operations
  • Indoor operations such as maintenance work require excellent coordination and workforce management. Enable indoor location sharing and tracking for your employees and mobile workers to facilitate collaboration and monitor operations with complete transparency and visibility.
  • By tracking the movement of people and assets within a building, facility managers can identify potential bottlenecks or inefficiencies in their operations. Effectively coordinate and dispatch the right resources to do the right job at the right place inside the building.

• Get Actionable Insights
  • By tracking the movement of customers within a building, facility managers can identify areas where customers are spending the most time or experiencing the most congestion. This information can then be used to optimize the layout of the building or the placement of products or services, improving overall customer satisfaction.
  • Get insights into activities inside your organization’s facility by analyzing foot traffic patterns, dwell times, and frequencies and visualizing them on a dashboard. Make better-informed, data-driven decisions to optimize indoor operations and space utilization.
• Enhance Custom Apps
  • ArcGIS IPS is available with ArcGIS Indoors, ArcGIS Maps SDKs, and ArcGIS Field Maps. Activate the indoor blue dot inside your ArcGIS Indoors or ArcGIS Field Maps mobile app or add the indoor positioning system to your custom-built mobile app via ArcGIS Maps SDKs for native apps (such as, Arora ATLAS®).

To get the most out of ESRI’s IPS, it is essential to work with a trusted partner with the expertise and experience needed to implement the system effectively. With the right partner, facility managers can maximize the value of their investment in ESRI’s IPS, enhancing their operations and improving overall efficiency and productivity.

Arora’s Geospatial Practice provides a full range of products and services to help our clients leverage geospatial data and technologies to lower the cost and maximize the effectiveness of their planning, design, operations, and maintenance activities. As an approved Esri ArcGIS Indoors Specialty partner, Arora Engineers has the expertise and capacity to quickly transform your indoor floor plans into a digital format that is then used to create configurable map services that fuel web map and mobile solutions that can be distributed via a kiosk, through desktop computers, and/or iOS or Android device. Learn more today!

The post What is an Indoor Positioning System and Why Do You Need One? appeared first on Arora Engineers.

Check out our tips to help your organizations accelerate digital transformations and optimize operations:

1. Start with an audit of the data you are already collecting. Organizations should look to see if your organization utilizes robust enterprise asset management (EAM) software and/or collect geographic information system (GIS)/building information model (BIM)/asset data. To leverage the technologies necessary to optimize your operations and asset management, you need to start with an accurate, complete virtual representation of your physical facilities and systems.

2. Establish clear operational and reliability goals. Make clear what the priorities of the functions are you are trying to optimize, such as public safety, customer satisfaction, cost per take-off, etc. It is also key to define which critical systems have the greatest effect on those measures (airfield, baggage handling, HVAC, etc. By establishing these goals, you can lay the foundation and prioritize a roadmap for what you need to get in place for both immediate impact and continuous improvement.

3. Invest in your foundational data. Save time and money by establishing data interoperability standards that de-silo your data in the capital development phase. This will allow it to be used and deployed by multiple departments and advanced enterprise systems (enterprise resource planning, building management system, EAM, GIS, digital twin, predictive maintenance, augmented reality/virtual reality, etc). From there, you can carry these data standards throughout the lifecycle of your facility to ensure the technologies achieve the desired outcomes.

4. Maximize the value and efficiency of your assets by implementing an easy-to-use mobile solution like Arora ATLAS. This is an excellent tool for your technicians who are in the field performing and recording critical maintenance activities and inspections on the go. This data helps reduce operational expenses, streamline a single business process across all departments and improve the experience of technicians and airport guests alike.

Arora’s Enterprise Solutions Group specializes in business process consulting, the most essential element of any innovative technology deployment, to help its clients figure out how they will use the new technology and data collected to improve passenger experience outcomes. Contact us today to learn more!

To read the full article, click here.

The post Top Considerations to Accelerate Digital Transformation and Optimize Operations appeared first on Arora Engineers.

The purpose of an EAM system is to allow an organization to plan, execute, optimize, and track any needed maintenance activities with the associated priorities, skills, materials, tools and information. Airports can implement these EAM systems to compile and synthesize all of the disparate smart data they are collecting to optimize their operations. EAM systems can also connect and provide a true feedback loop between a building’s Digital Twin and IoT building systems.

Brian Benedict, Development Director, Enterprise Solutions at Arora Technology Group, LLC, goes on to explain how these systems help Airports establish maintenance best practices while also reducing maintenance costs, ensuring regulatory compliance with FAA requirements, managing safety systems, and increasing sustainability through improved asset energy utilization and conservation. “EAM systems have become popular, powerful tools for airports seeking to streamline their operations. These solutions often exist in the cloud and combine the systems, software and services used to maintain the physical assets of an organization throughout each asset’s lifecycle,” Benedict said.

The right EAM system captures IoT data and uses it to direct Facilities Maintenance operations both at the leadership and the technician level through an advanced mobile work order management system. With an integrated asset management system, aviation facility managers are able to coordinate and optimize management. Steve Bisch, Vice President, Enterprise Solutions, goes on to list the other benefits airports will see when implementing an EAM system. These benefits include implementing effective equipment-based maintenance schedules to reduce downtime, managing work order processes to ensure on-time delivery, improving the overall warehouse and inventory management, enhancing customer satisfaction from improved performance and control of product or service delivery to the required standards, and more.

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