Paperless Plans: Go Green, “Cancel”​ Paper Plans, and Go Digital

by Tammy Mitchell | | Phase 1: Hands-On Drawing Management

More and more people are starting to make the transition to a purely digital lifestyle. In turn, businesses are going digital in response to the environmental, social, as well as corporate governance (ESG) movement. This is essentially leading people to “cancel” businesses that fail to go paperless. Here, we will discuss the importance of paperless plans in your architectural drawings.

Some businesses tend to use more paper than others. Businesses such as building design, facilities, and construction management companies often rely on paper drawings as well as other paperwork to facilitate the completion of various projects. However, as the ESG movement continues to grow and businesses seek to remain relevant and efficient, switching to digital formats is crucial.

Getting rid of paper will make your business more sustainable. It can also empower your operations as you incorporate a reliable digital solution.

Why Paperless Plans are Important

From an environmental standpoint, paper is one of the most wasteful materials out there. In fact, 40% of all waste in the U.S. consists of paper waste. This translates to 71.6 million tons of the country’s annual paper waste. Many may argue that switching to recycled paper is ideal, as moving one million tons of virgin paper fiber to fully recycled paper would have the same environmental impact as removing 248,000 cars from the road. If businesses got rid of paper entirely and went digital, the environmental effects could be even more significant.

Like any other waste, paper waste contributes to water, energy, and human capital consumption while wasting time, producing greenhouse gases, as well as polluting the air and water. Eliminating paper would help minimize this waste and contribute to a far healthier environment.

Paper isn’t just wasteful for the environment, either. Businesses don’t have a use for most paper materials. Consider the fact that the average business document has 19 copies. Additionally, over 81 billion sheets of paper are copied every month. Yet out of every 10 pages, most people only ever consult one. Printing those pages is also needlessly expensive. Over $5 billion is spent every year on printed materials, many of which wind up becoming obsolete.

By making the change to digital paperless plans, businesses can ultimately help save the environment and cut down on the cost of printing, among many other advantages.

Group of architects and engineers in a conference room discussing the importance of paperless plans.

The Benefits of Switching to Digital Plans

For many businesses, paper remains an integral yet wasteful resource, but it doesn’t have to be. With a digital solution, companies can save money, time, and energy with organized and easily managed plans. Here, we will further illustrate the ways your business can thrive with the help of digital plans. Read on the following specific benefits of paperless plans.

More Sustainable Practices

By removing paper from the equation, your business will be able to contribute to the ESG. This will reflect well on your business with others. You can avoid producing waste that continues to harm the environment as you become an industry leader.

Saved Time on Locating Documents

Employees in general often spend way too much time on locating and organizing documents. One Nintex survey of 1,000 full-time employees in the U.S. found that 49% of people had a hard time locating documents. Additionally, 43% experienced issues with document sharing and approval requests, and 33% struggled with versioning. By switching to an entirely digital solution, you can avoid all of these headaches with a far more efficient organizational process. Using a reliable platform, you can instantly search for and find the documents you need without sifting through file after file.

Saved Money on Paper Storage and More

As mentioned, paper is generally costly. Businesses would not only need to spend on printed materials, but they’d also need to cover the costs of storing massive amounts of paper and having staff spend time locating the most up-to-date versions. The costs of storing and protecting paper documents alone can climb up to as much as $241,307 over a period of 25 years. That doesn’t account for the myriad other expenses around relying on paper. If you want to eliminate these expenses, moving to a digital platform can make your business infinitely more cost-effective.

Increased Overall Productivity

Using the ideal platform, you can also dramatically boost productivity with scanned plans. Your plans can be so well-organized that employees are able to meet urgent requests almost instantly. You’ll be able to minimize the potential for costly delays and make sure all documentation is easily accessed as needed.

High-Quality Data

Paper forms come with the increased risk of incorrect, inaccurate, or incomplete data entries when manually transcribing or entering them into multiple systems. Human error is a real problem that can culminate in missed data. Even poor handwriting could contribute to misunderstandings and incorrect transcriptions. Keeping all of your data digital can eliminate the possibility of human error and help ensure your data is of consistently higher quality.

Improved Workflows and Collaboration

Collaborations between employees, clients, as well as partners can be much more challenging when relying on paper plans. Digital platforms can help simplify collaboration, serving to generate new workflows, increase efficiency, and improve current processes. As a result, everyone on your team can make use of the features and services they need. This is with the ease of access to all necessary documentation.

Integrate a Digital Solution Today

To increase your business’s efficiency and avoid being “canceled” because of outdated practices, it’s best to make the transition to paperless plans as soon as possible. Through the implementation of a hands-on digital solution, you can effectively organize all of your plans, significantly cut costs, as well as enable your business to flourish.

Imagine having an organized drawing situation that everyone brags about. Imagine having your plans organized and knowing exactly where your most accurate drawings are in a digital format. Does this sound like the perfect setup? Contact us today!

echo vs Facility and Space Management Software

by Tammy Mitchell | | Phase 2: Drawing Management Software

We’re going to break down the differences between our drawing management software echo vs Facility and Space Management software.

It is a common misconception that DCM echo is comparable to other forms of Facility Management (FM) and Space Management Software currently on the market. In reality, FM Software and echo serve entirely different purposes. This has led to echo’s successful adoption by dozens of large-scale facilities across Canada, as well as our extremely high rate of customer retention and satisfaction.

DCM Inc. presents: echo vs Facility and Space Management software

What is a Facility Management System?

A Facility Management or FM System, is a piece of software designed to assist in tasks required of facility managers. These typically include:

  • Repair & maintenance scheduling
  • Parts & supply management
  • Task & personnel tracking
  • Payments & proposal tracking
  • Storage of as-built drawings, usually in one digital format
FM System software intertwines with CMMS – Computerized Maintenance Management Software. 

Examples of FM System software include FMX, eMaint and Snapfix.

What is a Space System?

A Space System is a variety of software that intends to improve supervision, and management of physical spaces within facilities. These software packages typically deal exclusively with floor plans, and provide features intended to assist with things such as occupancy & capacity management for any given portion of the facility.

Examples of Space System software include iOffice, Wisp and Spacewell.

What is echo?

Unlike any of the software packages discussed above, echo is a drawing management solution. echo seeks to capture and catalogue all of the current and historical blueprints, technical drawings and documentation stored in a given facility.

DCM audits documents and enters them into a version control system. This system is made accessible to staff via an easy-to-use web-based front end.

Why choose DCM Inc. echo vs Facility and Space Management software?

echo enables any staff member in the facility to locate the exact drawing they’re looking for within moments. It guarantees that the version of the drawing they find is the most up-to-date, and accurate version available.

Additionally, DCM offers support to echo through a wide array of engineering services, including:

  • echo can identify missing and outdated documents
  • DCM staff can assist in getting these drawings found or created
  • Damaged or low-quality drawings can be redrawn into brand new CAD drawings by engineers at DCM
  • Drawing conversion rates are vastly faster and cheaper than performing the same work in-house
  • Large numbers of as-built drawings can be converted into a concise, accurate and up-to-date set of Baseline master CAD drawings

echo provides massive returns on investments for clients who rely on blueprints and other technical documents. It does this by saving them valuable time and effort spent maintaining a centralized library of hard copy or digital drawings.

Clients search for the drawings that are required for an ongoing project, all the while echo ensures that all drawings being used are the most up-to-date drawings available at the facility.

echo has become a favorite among Facility Managers in Canada. Our uniqueness among document management software solutions, continues to create satisfied clients who could never imagine returning to their old methods of managing drawings.

See more information on echo here from DCM Inc

Digital Drawing Benefits – Understanding Scan Plans to Folder Structure Myths

by Tammy Mitchell | | Phase 1: Hands-On Drawing Management

One common myth that many believe is that scanning and putting all paper drawings into a folder structure is the best way to organize them. However, this simply isn’t true. There is a more efficient method of organization that doesn’t involve paper and the hassles that come with it. Here we’ll discuss why the “scan plans to folder” structure simply doesn’t work. Along with how you can benefit from a more streamlined digital drawing approach.

Critical Steps That Require More Time and Energy

One of the main issues with scanning paper drawings and putting them into a folder is the number of steps involved. The process consists of several critical steps that can become needlessly complicated. These steps include:

Audits

Scanning all extracted paper drawings is highly inefficient. Without the help of a Hands-On audit, you run the risk of scanning as many as 60% of irrelevant drawings. Additionally, you will need to manage 60% more digital files in the years ahead. This can be daunting and take up too much of your time and attention.

Scanning

Following an audit, you would need to scan drawings, which requires setting adjustments as well as variations per drawing set. Some potential factors that could require varying setting adjustments include:

  • Paper type
  • Clarity
  • Density
  • Condition

All of these factors plus large amounts of paper drawings can make the scanning process even more time-consuming. 

File Naming

Without the use of a search engine, developing a file naming convention is crucial. When determining these conventions, you will need to take into account items such as drawing numbers, drawing descriptions, year, architect or engineer, as well as the project name or number. This naming convention will be the standard for predicting all angles of reference for years to come.

Folder Structure

This will entail designing a folder structure based on either an individual or team’s current belief regarding the proper sorting method for drawings. Managers may determine folder structure based on the building, discipline, year, floor, architect or engineer, project name or number, or revision status. It’s also impossible to determine the correct tree structure. In addition, users and requirements for finding drawings will constantly change. 

Sustainability Issues That Contribute to More Inefficiencies

Another key issue seen with the outdated “scan plan to folder” organization structure is a general lack of sustainability. Using this method, you may see certain inefficiencies such as:

Duplication

One of the main problems with the “scan drawing” method is the duplication it creates. This is due to the fact that individual drawings may represent multiple floors across multiple disciplines. If you’re not duplicating the drawings into the different folder structures, then this may give the impression that you’re missing information in a given folder. For example, a single drawing may reference “Building G,” “Floor One,” and “Floor Two,” but might only be filed under the “Floor One” folder structure.

Grouping

It’s also necessary to file project sets separately to enable filing according to folder structure. Drawings are naturally grouped by project number and name, which groups a drawing set that reflects certain changes or additions to a particular site or area. 

Architects holding a tablet device with a scanned drawing plan, showing architectural blueprints in the background.

Versioning

Paper drawing scanning also leads to more versioning, with markups, edits, as well as copies that companies need to track and maintain.

Growth

Over time, users will need to add new files to the folder structure. This may make the folder more difficult to manage.

Deletion

Users may also remove or delete files either intentionally or inadvertently.

Accessibility

Companies also need to ensure that the right parties have access to documentation, requiring you to manually share access to contractors and others.

Experience Success with a Modern Digital Drawing Solution

All of the potential problems experienced with the “scan plans to folder” method are avoidable with the right strategy. At The Drawing Specialists, we understand how difficult it can be to deal with paper drawings and the entire organization process for them. If you’re wondering how to make the transition from paper to digital drawing, we offer a perfected process that can equip your staff with the necessary tools to bring your business into the digital age. We’re here to serve as your reliable partner in bringing your vision to fruition with flawless execution.

Through our innovative solution, you’ll be able to benefit from total transparency into your drawings, minimize your workload, save more time and money, as well as increase productivity. So, how does the process work?

1. Contact Our Drawing Specialists

To begin making the switch to digital drawing, reach out to the experts at The Drawing Specialists. Our team will work with you to understand your specific needs. Even if your existing system worked for you in the past, you might find that it’s time to make a change, or you may have inherited messy paperwork that you want to bring into the modern era. Regardless of your specific situation, we’ll help ease your burden as well as provide you with a centralized plan.

2. Transfer Your Drawings

After connecting with us, you can transfer your drawings to us for a Hands-On audit that entails sorting, categorizing, as well as reviewing each drawing to identify the most up-to-date version. Our drawing specialists will physically handle and process each drawing, sorting them based on their respective project name, number, and year. We then review drawings for revision status, the most recent date, and other factors. In the process, we sufficiently prepare each drawing for digitization.

3. Integrate a Modern Digital Drawing Approach

After scanning and properly cataloging and collecting details from each drawing into our echo drawing software, we can provide your team with your fully digitized collection of drawings. Using our echo system and a memory drive, we can digitally deliver indexing data and optimized files. We can also deliver hard copies, with the ability to index and crate drawings for storage, return and set up a drawing-room, or shred physical drawings.

Searching for outdated engineering drawings is no fun. The Drawing Specialists can help you set your team up for success with a modern digital drawing approach. If you would like to get started today and update your drawing plans, contact us today.

Spotlight – Adam Muggleton, The Building Whisperer

by Tammy Mitchell | | Next-Gen Facility Manager

As part of our Spotlight series, we thought it was high time we sat down with our Advisor, Adam Muggleton, to get to know the workings behind his brilliant mind. Adam sees buildings in ways that many people often can’t, and shows them how to make their buildings work.

That’s why he’s in such high demand.

Adam Muggleton, otherwise known as The Building Whisperer, is a property industry philosopher and podcaster. His blog, aptly named after his moniker, is where Adam investigates, highlights, and suggests solutions for the absurdities in the property design and construction industry – of which he says there are many.

He has worked around the world, over 21 countries to be specific, and held leadership positions in various firms. Adam brings a unique skill set derived from property development, design team management, project management, and building commissioning.

Adam is very passionate about promoting the concept of Commissioning Management as an effective property management tool, to create buildings that work.

He thrives on disrupting the status quo, because zero defect, high-performance buildings are possible. Or as Adam aptly puts it, “The question is, “why are zero defect, high-performance buildings the exception and not business as usual?””

ADAM MUGGLETON – The Building Whisperer

Property Industry Philosopher / Podcaster

Tell us a bit about yourself 

I am a Chartered Project Management Surveyor (MRICS) and a certified building commissioning professional. I have been lucky enough to work on projects in 21 countries and with some amazing people. 

I work with firms and projects in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Assignments include project leadership, building commissioning, business development, marketing strategy and industry specific software advisory.

I travel a lot with work but due to the pandemic I now spend most of my time working from home in Canada. I relax from work by taking as many vacations as possible, keeping fit with long walks and kettlebell training.

When it comes to self-improvement do you prefer to read books, listen to podcasts or take a course?  

Take a course  

What is your favourite food? 

All Italian foods 

What are the three interesting facts about you?  

  • Dual nationality (British & Canadian) 
  • Don’t want to retire, just want to design the best possible lifestyle for growth, wellbeing and happiness. 
  • I am mildly dyslexic 

What’s your favourite drink? 

Coffee . 

What’s your dream car?  

Singer, retro mod, Porsche.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?  

“You are not a serf tied to the location of your birth. If you do not like your situation, it is on you to change it. No one owes you anything. There is a whole world out there and you can go and be successful anywhere. Just make sure you acquire skills and mastery that people will pay you for”.

This advice changed my life. 

What is your favourite quote?   

Discipline equals freedom – “Jocko Willink” 

How did you get started in the property industry?

  

Stumbled into the job center after I left school and got a job as a trainee commissioning technician.  

What are your career goals in the property industry? 

To be a thought leader and educator.  

Describe the biggest challenge you’ve faced when trying to reduce operational costs?  

Path dependency thinking. 

How would your co-workers describe you? 

Demanding 

Tell me how you organize, plan, and prioritize your work.  

I schedule time closely to maximize my output. I use Google calendar for scheduling and Microsoft OneNote for to do lists and workflow management.  

What software have you used in the property industry? 

How many years of experience in in the property industry do you have?  

40! Yes I am old.   

When people come to you for help, what do they usually want to help with?  

Selling their commissioning business. Technical questions on building commissioning and scheduling . Construction technology software development strategy. 

How would you describe a typical day in the property industry? 

In these times of COVID my typical day is:  

  • Coffee and 30 mins (max) on e-mails 9:00am to 9:30am 
  • Zoom calls to Middle East clients till 9:30 am to1:00pm 
  • Research and writing blogs and my book 2:00pm till 4:00pm 
  • Podcast interviews when required, normally in the afternoons. 
  • 12,000 step walk 4:00pm to 5:00pm listening to podcasts. 
  • Workout late afternoons 3 times each week. 

On days when Zoom calls are low I use the time to do project work or write.  

I tend to work 5 days a week with Fridays off due to Friday being the day off in the Middle East and Sundays off unless there is something specific. 

How has your education prepared you for your career?   

OK but not great. Post college / university training, experience and soft skills development are the real difference makers.  

The need for a great mentor and a focus on soft skills is what I wish I had known as a young man. 

How has our partnership changed your projects?   

Made me aware of how paper based most facilities manager are. I always now focus on a “digital first” approach, 

What’s the most recent example of how we have exceeded your expectations? 

 DCM’s commitment to kept improving their software plus its consistent industry communication via social media.  

We finish the interview and you step outside the office and find a lottery ticket that ends up winning $10 million. What would you do?  

A long family vacation to Australia and New Zealand.

To connect with Adam Muggleton visit:

Facilities Manager Spotlight: Interview with Yomi Agbenro

by Tammy Mitchell | | Next-Gen Facility Manager

In our Facilities Manager Spotlight series we get know the individuals who help make building operations, and facilities management look easy. It is a genuine joy to learn from them, find out more about how they got into the profession, and their personal goals. This week we catch up with Yomi Agbenro.

Yomi Agbenro

Business Support Services Manager

FACILITIES MANAGER SPOTLIGHT

Yomi Agbenro is the Business Support Services Manager at the Kingsway International Christian Center. His LinkedIn profile emphasizes his goal is to contribute positively towards organizational growth, and success through use of his personal attributes, skills, and competencies. He says his greatest strength is analyzing issues, identifying solutions and providing alternatives. Yomi has the ability to manage stress effectively with a positive can do attitude.

Tell us a bit about yourself

My name is Yomi Agbenro. Facilities Manager, HSE Officer, husband, son, brother, soccer, and basketball enthusiast. Avid reader, and life long learner.

When it comes to self-improvement do you prefer to read books, listen to podcasts or take a course?  

I will prefer to read and take a course. It’s always been my strength and how I have learnt best the most.

What are your career goals as a Facilities Manager?

Career goals is to work at the highest level of excellence, with integrity, honesty and capacity building to take on more challenging tasks.

Describe the biggest challenge you’ve faced when trying to reduce operational costs?

Greatest challenge when trying to reduce operational expenses is the need not to drop quality, in favour of the bottom line.

What advice do you have for Facilities Managers?

My advice for FMs is to stay teachable, adaptable, technology compliant, and data driven in this 21st century.

We finish the interview and you step outside the office and find a lottery ticket that ends up winning $10 million. What would you do?

If I saw the $10,000,000 dollars coupon, I would pay my tithe first as a Christian, buy my wife and Dad a house, give to my favorite charity and invest and save the rest of the money.

You can connect with Yomi Agbenro on Linkedin and Kicc.org.uk

A Day in the Life of a Facilities Manager

by Tammy Mitchell | | Next-Gen Facility Manager

Before we dive into a day in the life of a Facilities Manager, let’s talk about what a Facilities Manager actually is. The International Facility Management Association (IFMA), defines Facilities Management as a “a profession that encompasses multiple disciplines to ensure functionality, comfort, safety and efficiency of the built environment by integrating people, place, process and technology.”

Simply put, a Facilities Manager is responsible for making sure your building or facility runs smoothly, and safely. Like Guardians of the Galaxy, they’re the guardians of your building. A Facilities Manager’s role often differs however, depending on the industry they work in, the size of the building, or the amount of staff they oversee. Their responsibilities are vast and their knowledge extensive. 

One thing we can say for certain, a day in the life of a Facilities Manager is anything but ordinary.

We asked Facilities Managers to take us through a day in the life of a Facilities Manager. From their responsibilities, to challenges they may face, and even some memorable highlights.

 

AN AVERAGE DAY

Most people go to work with an idea of how their day is going to go. We finish our tasks, take a lunch, have staff meeting and go home. Facilities Managers come to work and it’s like walking into a new, yet familiar environment every day.

“Is there an average day?! You start off with a great “To-Do” list and maybe you cross one item off before your day goes sideways! Staff arrive and suddenly the temperature needs adjusting. There’s a strange odour coming from the vent. My desk won’t raise anymore. The power flickers. Questions come in from HR about who’s accessed a particular area of the office or what time staff have arrived. Health and Safety concerns come forward. We want to move this person to this desk but it’s not in our area – can you help? “I found this bug at my desk, what do I do”? This is my favourite because this is where I step on it or squish it with a kleenex and say “problem solved”. I spend a fair amount of time working with procurement and approving work and invoices. Managing janitorial contracts to printing contracts. New staff coming on, and they need access and a tour. “

–  Danielle Paquette, Facilities Manager

“There is no single typical day, but there is a cycle to the work that makes sense. We work with our staff (that’s two of us) and consultants to update all of the information to prepare the list of projects that we will undertake over a three-year period on a yearly basis. In essence unless something fails or the budget gets more money, we are looking at adding year three projects each year and confirming if anything in years one and two has to move. Design for most projects occurs early in the fall so that one the budget is approved we can tender early in the new year.“

– Lewis Morgulis, Managing Partner, Planning

THE FIRST TO ARRIVE

Chances are, your Facilities Manager is there before anyone else. If you got into your building easily, your access card worked, the toilets are flushing, the heat is on, and you’re not near the construction going on in other departments, chances are, that’s the magic of your Facilities Manager.

“Arrived prior to everyone else. Review logs and work orders from the previous day. Make sure Life Safety Systems are operational and ready, if needed. Meet the arriving crew (if there is a second shift, meet them when they arrive). Brief discussion of previous work and follow-up needed. Assign work and get people moving. Visit departments to follow up on how we responded to their service requests. Evaluate expenses and budget allowances. Various meetings. Follow up on space needs and determine the best fit. During the day, follow up with the crew to make sure they are okay and working safely. Meet and talk to contractors to make sure they are on point. Most importantly – make sure the crew knows their work is appreciated.”                                 

– Michael Walton, Facilities Manager

In an average day in the life of a Facility Manager is the definition of “Wears many hats.”

Their responsibilities run from the smallest to the biggest facility operations issues, including:

  1. Building maintenance.
  2. Contract management.
  3. Operation management.
  4. Fire safety
  5. Pest control.
  6. Landscaping and gardening services.
  7. Plant and machinery maintenance.
  8. Plumbing work and repairs.
  9. Electrical works and maintenance.
  10. Cleaning and janitorial services.
  11. Project management.
  12. Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning.

– Yomi Agbenro, Business Support Services Manager

PROJECTS ALL THE TIME

Throughout the year, renovations and construction projects often take place in buildings. Updating facilities as the building ages, new additions to accommodate staff and employees, and repairs as needed, never stop. Even when you’re not working, your Facilities Manager is.

“We look to see which projects are summer based and then ensure that each school knows what is going on and when construction will start. We cancel permits or summer school if a school is impacted by too much work and we will stage work so that two contractors are not in the same place at the same time.

With 65 projects going on at the 50 sites in any given year, we meet weekly to review all projects and go daily to sites where we have issues that have to be ironed out by the owner.  Any project that is not meeting its schedule is visited more often and we work together with the architect, GC and local authorities to remove any obstacles.“

– Lewis Morgulis

HIGHLIGHTS

While still being conscious of safety and health issues that affect staff, it’s important to recognize the highlights from the daily work, as well as the care and effort that is put into helping everyone overall. Little things often add up to big things. Facilities Mangers do their best to keep people happy and safe, and staff very much appreciates it. Even when things are not always easy.

“Highlights are being able to provide a service that makes it easier for the end user. Currently in COVID times staff are run off their feet out in the community so a simple thing in getting items together for them to do a curbside pickup means so much. Having a system in place so you can provide information when asked. Responsibilities are varied. You will most likely be responsible for a sizeable budget, you need to understand leases because your organization will come to you throughout the term with different questions. Health and Safety is a large responsibility, even though it typically resides with HR.

The Facility Manager is typically the one that will have to implement and figure out the best solution. You tend to be the one everyone comes to even though it may have absolutely nothing to do with you. I always give new employees my name and extension and tell them they can reach out for anything. I let them know I may not have the answer but I’ll be one of the quickest resources to get you where you need in order to get the answer.“

– Danielle Paquette

“One highlight I can share is when we completed a learning commons renovation at Notre Dame SS. I was in on the first day of school and students had wandered into the new space. I asked them what they thought, the Notre Dame students were amazed at how we had taken a space that they thought was dull and dingy and had made it so new and exciting. They loved the furniture, the new teaching areas, the spin bikes, the new shelves and all the light in the space. Two other students were there from the other high school that is attached and they were awe struck that we would do this for our students. “Can you do that for our library?” the one student asked, and it struck me that maybe we were doing this differently than other Boards did. ”

– Lewis Morgulis

“Safety programs I developed were adopted by the insurance carriers as model programs.  I was a panelist for a Business Continuity Discussion. Won the Flik Hospitality President’s Award. 4,000+ employees in our division. I developed the Death of a Guest procedure and never expected to use it.  Unfortunately, I had to use it a few times.  Very sad!“

– Michael Walton

MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES

No matter how big or small, a memorable experience for a Facilities Manager, differs from one to another.

“Career highs and lows are too numerous to mention,but a memorable experience is when for two years back to back we experienced seamless operations in my organization without any interruptions. “

– Yomi Agbenro

Hurricane Isabel came through our area.  My entire crew volunteered to stay and make sure the resort was safe.  Some employees worked with me for 20+ years.

– Michael Walton

A day in the life of a Facilities Manager is unlike most professions. But that those that wear that responsibility wear it well. So the next time you see your Facilities Manager at your building, ask them how their day is going, and perhaps what they do at your facility. Their answers may surprise you.

Special thanks to the following Facilities Management Professionals who helped us with this article:

DCM Echo vs Microsoft SharePoint

by Tammy Mitchell | | Phase 2: Drawing Management Software

Are you using Microsoft SharePoint to store your engineering drawings? You need to switch to echo. Why? We’ll break down the differences between DCM Incs’ digital software echo vs Microsoft SharePoint. You can see for yourself how echo has the advantage over these two different forms of document management software.

Drawing Management Software, not just document management software

SharePoint is a general document management software, produced to handle a variety of corporate documentation. But echo is a drawing management software .

Echo stores, maintains and improves the client’s blueprints and technical drawings. It offers peripheral supporting documentation such as equipment manuals, warranties and reports.

This has many implications with regards to how the software operates, which features are available to the user, as well as the support that is available to the user through the provider of the software. 

While Microsoft’s support team may or may not know anything about technical drawings or blueprints, here at DCM, we are The Drawing Specialists. 

DCM staff are well-versed in how blueprints and other technical documents work. We understand the procedures related to their utilization and storage, and have a thorough understanding of the process of bringing all the contents of a drawing room into a software solution.

And there is often a lot of content that builds up over the years, in those drawing rooms. 

Echo vs Microsoft SharePoint

Implementation & Customization

One of the largest differences between implementing a software solution like SharePoint instead of echo is that, when implementing SharePoint, you are on your own. It is the client’s job to get the documents that they currently possess into the system. This includes:

  • Scanning any hardcopy documents into a digital format.
  • Ensuring that they are using the most current version of the documents they possess.
  • Capturing information currently on the document, into a format which is accessible to the software’s searching features.
  • Customizing the system such that it meets the needs of the client’s, staff, etc.

Whether performed in-house or by a third party, these operations require a large amount of expertise, and can become quite expensive. This is not a concern at DCM. Our processes are specifically tailored towards a smooth implementation of our echo software for facility managers.

DCM is ready to do the work for our clients, such as:

  • Uploading digital drawings with their associated information
  • Scanning, optimizing and uploading hardcopy drawings in a digital format.
  • Ensuring that different versions of the same document are entered into the version control system, instead of as separate documents.
  • Customizing the echo system to meet the stated needs of the clients.
  • Providing infrastructure to store the documents

When sourcing this work from current employees or a third party, this can be costly and time-consuming. DCM benefits from the economy of scale—we process millions of documents for a multitude of facilities, and we have the processes laid out to do it accurately, quickly and efficiently.

Testimonials

According to a report conducted by AIIM Research, 40% of SharePoint customers do not consider their implementation of SharePoint to be a success. The same report shows that, although 35% of customers with an Office 365 subscription utilize SharePoint, only 2% of their staff were actually using it.

DCM services a smaller number of clients in a smaller subset of industries. As a result, we are able to invest much more into the business relationship that DCM has with our clients and ensure that everybody is receiving a system that meets their needs.

DCM CLIENT TESTIMONIALS

Here are some of our clients’ testimonials regarding their experiences with DCM and echo:

“Implementing echo was seamless! Our workflow has improved. DCM delivers on the promises they make. I highly recommend their product and services.”

Nancy Bishop – Brant Community Healthcare

“echo is easy to learn, quick to administer, and provides a comprehensive revision history for each drawing.”

Danica Johnston – BGIS

AutoCAD

On the whole, SharePoint does not support AutoCAD documents in any significant way. As AutoCAD is a proprietary software, it is difficult to integrate support for DWG, DWF and Xref files into any software not created by Autodesk.

That being the case, DCM has written their own proprietary software tools intended to interface with files created by Autodesk. This allows Echo to support them to a greater extent than other softwares such as SharePoint.

A comparison of Microsoft SharePoint and DCM Inc's echo

Searching

For customers using SharePoint, searching is one of their most common gripes. Many customers consider it to be unintuitive and difficult to customize. Often time they feel it is slower than simply looking for the document themselves.

Echo offers a fully customizable searching system with a variety of options for how individual users wish to search for their documents.

It guarantees that our search system will integrate with the way that our clients intuitively desire to look for their documents.

Document Services

Technical documents don’t just need to be stored properly, they need to be maintained. Construction, policy changes and evolving circumstances such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, often lead to structural changes. These changes then require updates to blueprints, procedures and other technical documentation.

Using a service like SharePoint, this maintenance will either need to be performed in-house or by a third party. With DCM echo, our drawing and software experts are capable of performing this maintenance on the client’s behalf, including:

  •  Adding new documents to the system.
  • Updating existing documents with their newer versions.
  • Redrawing old or low-quality documents.
  • Creating CAD versions of non-CAD documents.
  • Our Baseline Drawing services.

These services can all be performed by DCM at a rate which is faster, and less costly than performing them in-house.

Baseline Services

One of the unique aspects of implementing echo into your workplace is access to our suite of DCM Baseline features. Baseline is a feature wherein DCM can create a set of Master CAD documents. These documents integrate all of the relevant information from the client’s current set of masters.

This process can greatly reduce the quantity of documents through which the average staff member must search to find what they’re looking for, and unifies all of the client’s master drawings into a small set of modern, up-to-date CAD drawings.

Version Control

Blueprints and other technical drawings often come with large lists of revisions. But which is the most recent? What drawings are duplicates of each other? Which are superseded versions of newer documents? When implementing a software like SharePoint, these are questions which must be resolved by the client.

Echo, by the use of software-based auditing tools and the expertise of our staff, is able to condense our client’s documents. This ensures that duplicates are not entered into the system. After that, superseded versions of newer documents are attached to the newest version via our Version Control System.

Revisions to documents occur without the creation of new documents, allowing clients to easily find the master file, at all times.

Using our Version Control System, the user always knows that what they’re viewing is the newest, most up-to-date version of the document that is in our client’s possession.

Ease of Use and Training

As much as two thirds (66%) of SharePoint customers blame their low adoption rates of the software on the difficulty of use, as well as lack of proper training received by Microsoft. Conversely, echo is a far simpler system. It is aiming at users who are not necessarily IT & programming professionals.

Echo features a wealth of training resources. Its knowledge base contains articles about every aspect of the system. As well as including a live support line that can put users in touch with software experts at DCM Inc.

DCM also offer training courses to teach key staff members about how to use the software as effectively as possible. We make our software adoption process as easy as possible. Our software tools assist our clients staff, rather than impede them.

echo vs Microsoft SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint is a document management system used by a wide variety of businesses.

But echo by DCM Inc is a drawing management system for facility managers.

By pursuing a niche market, we have created the best software solution for facility managers to store their technical drawings and documentation.

Our software has numerous features that support and target the specific needs of our clients, as well as a team of Specialists who understand our client’s needs.

They know how to help them improve their drawing management situation so dramatically, that they could never imagine returning to the way things used to be done.

The key characteristics of a Facilities Manager – some may surprise you!

by Tammy Mitchell | | Next-Gen Facility Manager

If you work in an office or building of any kind, chances are you don’t think about why your access card works everyday, why the grass is always watered, or even that your toilets flush properly. All of these may seem like small things but Facilities Managers everywhere, are often the unsung heroes of why a building operates as smoothly as it does. What are the key characteristics of a Facilities Manager that makes their work feel effortless? They think about all the things, so you don’t have to.

Because we all know, it’s not effortless. It’s planning, exceptional organizational skills, and the ability to both communicate the issues at hand, while listening to the needs of others.

As part of our ongoing Facilities Managers Series, we get the chance to speak to Facilities Managers everywhere, to find out in their own words, their thoughts on everything from their jobs, to the future of the profession. 

We asked them their thoughts on the key characteristics of Facilities Manager, as well as experiences, that help them excel at their job. 

Needless to say, their answers had a lot of things in common, and some may surprise you.

What are the Key Characteristics of a successful Facilities Manager?

Problem Solving

Facilities Managers are excellent problem solvers,. partially because their days are so varied. They’re often on their feet, and have to think fast, both to prevent problems from happening, as well as to solve them if they do occur.

“You can have standard solutions to a lot of issues but quite often you’re thrown a curve ball and you need to be able to act and act wisely so you’re not creating other issues, especially health and safety concerns.”

–  Danielle Paquette, Facilities Manager

Patience

More often than not, people are impatient. When they want something done, they often want to wave a magic wand and have that happen. Real life is anything but that. Having patience and flexibility with budgets and people’s expectations, are a very important characteristic of a Facilities Manager.

“When I took over my role, we had not spent money on the parking lots for years. With budget cuts it was an easy thing to cut. Five years after the first cuts the driveways and parking lots looked appalling. We made a multi-year plan to fix the problem using a consistent standard for all sites. The patience part came in when we had to prioritize the work and explain that while a number of sites were awful, we had money to fix only a handful properly. It’s hard to say no, and it’s harder to stick with the plan when people are asking you to compromise, cut corners, not be as effective.” 

– Lewis Morgulis, Managing Partner, Planning

Organization 

Being organized is important, but Facilities Management organization, is top tier level organization. Why? Because they oversee a great deal of health and safety matters, and one thing going badly, could spell a big disaster.

“You will always be juggling multiple projects and priorities and not having strong organization skills will kill you.”

– Danielle Paquette

Facilities Managers – more than just Technical know how

Integrity, Trust and Listening Skills

We often think of a Facilities Manager as a technical role. But a great deal of decisions that fall under the responsibilities of a Facilities Manager are actually soft skills, such as listening, communication and adaptability. 

Ensuring that the individuals who lean on Facilities Managers, believe they are doing the best possible job, is imperative. Whether that’s their team, building visitors or contractors. Handling matters with tact and sensitivity, while meeting everyone’s needs, involves a great deal of trust and listening skills. 

“Build a team of trusted people.  If you do not know something, talk with your team and seek the answers.  If you act like you know it all it will diminish the respect your team has for you. Diversity is important to all work environments. Working with people who have different opinions and views helps creativity and operations.”

– Michael Walton, Facilities Manager

Saying yes more often

“Small or large requests that force us to rethink our beliefs are a great opportunity to change the world. We had an agency looking for a spare classroom to run programs for families. We had always charged groups like childcares to rent the space, but this group had no fees and only a small budget to run its programs. We said yes here because it brought new families into the school, it added a vital link to the community, it changed how we saw our neighbours … it changed our paradigm, all from a simple yes.”

– Lewis Morgulis 

“You need to be able to listen. If you’re going to solve or help solve the problem you need to take the time to listen and understand it. Also, leadership skills. You’re not usually fixing the problem on your own, you have a team plus you have customers, and to make it all work efficiently you need to bring that all together.”

– Danielle Paquette

Constant Learning and Education

The best Facilities Managers in their field, never stop learning. Whether that’s technological advancement, changes in the industry they work in, learning new skills is a must. Many Facilities Managers attend conferences, seminars, read books and take courses to keep their skill set updated.

“Never stop learning. My advice for FMs is to stay teachable, adaptable, technology compliant and data driven in this 21st century. With the advance of modern technology, FMs need to stay abreast of emerging technology to further enhance productivity, reduce costs and Improve efficiency in the workplace or any other physical spaces they manage for people.”

– Yomi Agbenro, Business Support Services Manager

“Enter this field to help others. Be a lifelong learner.  Contractors can take advantage of people who are not familiar with building systems. Hire people who are smart in their field, and learn from them instead of attempting to teach them. Mistakes are a part of learning.  It is silly to hire smart people and hold them back.”

– Michael Walton

Optimism and Celebrating Successes

Finally, a very important key characteristics of a Facilities Manager, is to look forward to the future.  Enjoy the positive impact that their work has done for others, and celebrating the successes.

“Some character traits that I think are important are to be optimistic, and to have an open mind. You will not be able to influence change or get people to buy into something if you’re negative. If you’re closed minded you will never move forward.”

– Danielle Paquette

“I love it when we get things done and we make changes that staff and students love. We track the number of completed capital projects, and the total amount spent, and we publish it for our public to see. To me, it’s important that communities see that every school is being looked after for its building and program needs. I also love it when our staff can take a pet peeve off their list. The leaky roof, the crappy doors, windows that won’t shut or open all eventually come up for replacement. Once the new component works, it’s nice to celebrate the fact that the school is better.”

– Lewis Morgulis

And always remember to enjoy the moment

“No matter how tough times get, we have time to laugh and goof around with the team.  One night we were on snow duty and it just happened to be Super Bowl Sunday.  The plow truck was parked while my assistant watched the game.  Afterwards, he told everyone, I knew Michael would find me. And after he did, I had to shovel snow the rest of the night.”

– Michael Walton

Special thanks to the following Facilities Management Professionals who helped us with this article:

Facilities Manager Spotlight: Interview with Michael Walton

by Tammy Mitchell | | Next-Gen Facility Manager

We began this Facilities Manager Spotlight series to get to know the people behind emerald curtains. There’s a reason we call Facilities Managers Wizards. They do everything for company from making sure your air conditioning is turned on, that your access card works, to saving the day when there’s a serious emergency. After all, they manage all of the engineering drawings and that’s no small feat.

Michael Walton

Facilities Manager – Firefighter – EMT – CBCP – Emergency Manager

FACILITIES MANAGER SPOTLIGHT

Michael Walton is a Director of Facilities, leadership style encourages people learn, grow, develop, reach their potential, so they can satisfy their own personal goals. Safety programs that Michael has developed, have been recognized by insurance companies as model programs.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I am a facilities management professional and enjoy every segment of my work.  My specialties include: maintenance and operations, organizing maintenance departments, safety, emergency preparedness, emergency management, and business continuity.

Hobbies include carpentry projects, herb gardening, vegetable gardening. I am the Training Officer at the local fire department and a life member of the local rescue squad.

How did you get started as a Facilities Manager?

My Facilities Management journey started when I was very young.  My grandfather was a machinist, a neighbor was a carpenter, and a police officer was a handyman on the side.  These men took time to teach me their trades and help me to succeed in whatever I did. They also shared life’s lessons.

When I started working in maintenance, the owner (another great man) encouraged me to keep pushing.  He covered the cost of my classes and stopped by to check on my progress and always provided positive reinforcement.  I was the first person in our company to have a computer and he visited to see how I was using it.

I was very successful in HVAC, appliance servicing, electricity, plumbing, electronics, etc. Always growing and learning new skills.  For 20+ years I completed a class every semester.

I was introduced to emergency services and emergency planning by a wonderful mentor. She pushed me in directions I did not realize I would enjoy, but she saw it in me. I developed an Emergency Response Team, Emergency Response Team Manual, Manager on Duty program, conducted training, managed security efforts and more.  I really enjoyed this work. Completed the Emergency Medical Technician and Firefighter 1 classes to support my programs.

As I developed and expanded into more departments my position changed from supervisor to director.  She pushed me to move into Facilities Management and supported my classes with BOMI. My career continued to develop, always more exciting.

Joined a local Fire Department and Rescue Squad. When I worked at Telos Wireless, the Board of Directors asked me to develop Business Continuity plans for the company.  I jumped at the opportunity and the more I learned about Business Continuity the more I realized this is what I was doing all along.  Business Continuity allowed me to work with all departments, get to know how the departments worked and the inter-dependencies between departments.  I developed programs that were adopted by our insurance carrier.  They wanted to use them as model plans.

My journey towards Facilities Management led me to IFMA and their Core Competencies which includes Safety, Business Continuity, and Emergency Management. 

I continue to work on the IFMA core competencies to perfect my skills and stay up with all the latest trends and technologies.

What are your career goals as a facilities manager?

My goal is to be a complete facilities manager and earn the respect through servant leadership.  When I retire, I want to help people entering the facilities management field or help those struggling to find direction.

I have a great family with two children and three grandchildren.  Enjoy all the time I can get with them. My wife is amazing and has stuck by my crazy lifestyle of teaching, running fire calls and a rescue squad.

What is your favorite food?

We eat very healthy and I do not necessarily have a favorite food, but I do have favorite elements of cooking – great flavor, low sodium, low fat, high fiber, fresh herbs and garlic. 

What is the best place you’ve ever traveled to?     

My wife and I went to Wales to seek her heritage.  I met a Fire Department Battalion Chief online and he met us in Wales.  He kept us very busy for hours.

What is your favorite quote?  

Albert Einstein – Do not keep anything in your head you can find in a book in under 15 minutes.

How would your co-workers describe you?

Based on my past experience: they find me fair, honest, loyal, dedicated, and focused on the employees. 

When people come to you for help, what do they usually want to help with?

Develop a new skill.

We finish the interview and you step outside the office and find a lottery ticket that ends up winning $10 million. What would you do?

I would take care of my family first.  Then secure retirement but continue to help people in facilities management, and emergency services.  

Thank you Michael, for taking the time to be in our Facilities Manager Spotlight series!

You can connect with Michael Walton on LinkedIn.

Michael W. Walton
Facilities Manager – Firefighter – EMT – CBCP – Emergency Manager
Michael@walton-professionals.com


	


	

			






	

		
			

			
Blueprint Storage: The Real Cost of Outdated Storage
			

				 by Tammy Mitchell |  | Phase 1: Hands-On Drawing Management			

		
			



	

		

On the surface, storing paper blueprints doesn’t seem terribly costly. You spend a few bucks on paper, spend a few more to print it out, and shove it in a box in the dusty blueprint dungeon until it needs to be retrieved. But what if we told you those thin little pieces of trees could be costing your business hundreds of thousands of dollars each year? Sounds crazy, right? Get ready. We’re about to dive into the real costs of outdated blueprint storage.





This post isn’t filled with hyperbole, conjecture, or guesswork. We’re busting out the research, flexing our science muscles, and digging deep into the wild and terrifying world of paper blueprint storage. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.





A Few Bins of Blueprints, An Old Storage Room, and Thousands of Dollars in Wasted Revenue





We can condense blueprint-related costs down into three simple buckets:





  • Storage
  • Productivity
  • Security





For now, we’re going to cover these three simple buckets. But it’s important to note most businesses also have intangible costs (e.g., tribal knowledge, etc.) that we aren’t including in this guide. But they’re still costs. They’re simply harder for us to discuss with science.





The Cost of Blueprint Storage





How much could it possibly cost to shove some paper blueprints into a small room? More than you think. For the purposes of this post, let’s assume you run a smaller facility and only need a 10′ x 30′ blueprint storage space. That’s about the size of a master bedroom. Before we even dive into the costs of setting this space up with the right equipment, we need to discuss the costs of this room even existing. Here’s a quick breakdown of how much that room is costing you:





Utilities





Storing paper blueprints requires specific heating and cooling conditions. If the room gets too cold, you risk overspending on utilities. If the room gets too hot, it can damage your blueprints. So, let’s say you keep it at a comfy 73 degrees. The average cost of heating and cooling a commercial building is roughly $2.10 per sq foot. That works out to around $650 per year. Of course, this is hyper-area-dependent. Urban areas in Toronto will likely have higher utility costs than suburban areas.





Safety





Around 40 to 60 percent of businesses that experience a disaster go out of business. So, letting a fire run loose in your blueprint storage room is obviously off the menu. You can expect to pay $2 to $7 per square foot for sprinkler systems. That’s another $2,000.





Security





While most of the security costs of this room are already covered in your facility security costs, you’ll likely need additional wiring and hardware. So, you can assume at least $300 to set up this room for physical security.





Maintenance





The average cost of maintenance is around $1.85 per square foot of business space. That’s around $550.





Rent





The average rent in Toronto is $23.62 per square foot. That’s roughly $7,000 per year for this space. Obviously, this cost differs by area, so you’ll need to self-calculate these totals based on your total rent.





It’s More than Just Storage Space





These costs are simply for space itself. Now we get to talk about costs associated with retrofitting this space to store blueprints. First, you’ll need shelving and racks. A simple shelf costs around $400. You’ll need at least 5 of these. That’s another $2,000. You’ll also need some racks, bins, and boxes. You can estimate around $1,500 for these. But wait! Who is going to organize these blueprints and ensure that they’re retrieved and returned in a timely manner? You’ll need someone on watch.





The average file manager has a salary of around $62,641. Of course, you could attempt to forgo a file manager in favor of an ad-hoc system, but you’ll add significant costs to the productivity bucket (which we’ll discuss next).





And we can’t forget about the cost of paper. There are two costs associated with blueprint paper. The paper itself (which can be expensive depending on the quality of print used and the size of the paper), as well as the cost of using paper from a customer perspective. Eighty-eight percent of consumers are more loyal to environmentally-friendly brands, and 87 percent will purchase products from brands with an environmentally-conscious workplace. We won’t actually include these costs (they’re hyper-intangible), but they’re something to keep in mind. We’ll also skip any guilt talk over the environment. But remember, paper comes from trees. And each piece of paper you store contributes to deforestation and carbonization. For now, let’s assume you spend $4,000 on printing your blueprints. Given the cost of blueprint-quality paper, printing services, and the number of blueprints the average facility stores, that’s a fair (actually, more than fair) assumption.





What You Could Do with the Space





Finally, you have the cost of lost opportunity. What could you be doing with that space instead? That space could be generating revenue, used for R&D, or leveraged for growth initiatives. Again, this cost isn’t even calculated into our total. But it’s certainly important to consider.





If we add these costs together, the space you store your blueprints in costs you around ~$78,000 per year. Yeah! That’s significant. But buckle up; because space is actually the smallest cost associated with blueprint storage. It gets worse.





Team of architects and engineers discussing about a company blueprint.





The Cost of Productivity





Trying to quantify the cost of lost productivity isn’t easy. But we’re going to give it a shot. The average employee spends 2.5 hours per day searching for files and paper documents. To make things worse, they’ll only find those documents 56 percent of the time. According to IDC, paper documents like blueprints cost your company a 20 percent loss in total productivity. That’s terrifying, right? It’s hard to quantify just how insanely expensive this is for facilities. We’re not talking about thousands of dollars here; we’re talking about hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars. Of course, blueprints only make up a small percentage of your total paper load, but you can assume blueprints are costing you at least a hundred thousand in productivity each year.





How is this possible?





Well, just take a look at our post about the lifecycle of a paper blueprint. You’ll start to see how lost documents and tribal knowledge slowly consume productivity. Here’s a little hint: 7.5 percent of paper documents get lost and 3 percent are misfiled. Imagine the amount of time employees spend searching for non-existent blueprints. It’s maddening.





So, already paper documents like blueprints cost you 20 percent of your business’s overall productivity and incur hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs due to lost productivity. That’s massive. But it gets worse. Paper documents aren’t just a pain; they’re life-sapping. Eighty-five percent of employees are unhappy. And why wouldn’t they be? Ninety percent of them spend the majority of their long, arduous days with repetitive, mind-numbing, and boring-as-heck tasks. Here’s the big secret: unhappiness can destroy your profits. Happy employees make 37 percent more sales, create 21 percent higher profits, and take 10 times fewer sick days each year. In fact, disengagement costs businesses billions a year.





So, those teeny-tiny paper blueprints bleed hundreds of thousands in productivity, happiness, and lost sales. Yeah. And, to make things a little spookier, we still haven’t hit the biggest cost. Buckle up.





The Cost of Security





Facility blueprints are one of the most precious resources at your disposal. And losing blueprints to threat actors compromises your security, safety, and facility health. According to research, a breach impacting customer records costs the average business nearly $4 million to rectify. There is a good chance facility-related breaches will cost you even more. You may need to completely rewire security systems, deal with regulatory fines, reputation damage, and the ever-looming risk of employee safety hazards. Unfortunately, security is a major reason some businesses avoid digitizing. They fear the risks of cloud solutions. Here’s the problem: 21 percent of security incidents involve paper, and 61 percent of security attacks on mid-market facilities are paper-based. In other words, digital cloud storage backed by billions of dollars in R&D and security isn’t the worrying risk vector. Those easy-to-access pieces of paper in a dungy basement are far riskier.





You may be thinking “we have world-class physical security, those paper documents aren’t going anywhere.” Think again. Forty-seven percent of business leaders say their last hack was due to the accidental loss of a document by an employee — not a masked bandit. Misplacing a single blueprint can compromise your facility. It’s a major problem — especially when threat actors attack every 39 seconds on average.





In other words, security may not cost you today. But it will eventually. And a single breach can cost you millions.





Are You Ready to Digitize and Evolve Your Blueprint Ecosystem?





Tired of throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars into the shredder each year? It’s time to evolve. At DCM, we provide a world-class blueprint digitization and organization platform for facility managers looking to maximize the value of their facility ecosystem. Contact us to learn how we can save you money, time, and headaches with your blueprint storage challenges!