Data, reporting & invoicing: the new drivers of facility management.

For a long time, facility management focused on day-to-day operations: managing spaces, maintaining equipment and ensuring the continuity of services. Today, expectations are changing. Property management, general services and workplace managers must now demonstrate performance, optimise costs and produce reliable metrics.

In this context, data, reporting and automated invoicing are becoming strategic levers for decision-making. We take a closer look in this article!

Facility management: why are traditional tools no longer enough?

What if the real problem with facility management today were not a lack of data, but its fragmentation? For years, teams have been working with tools designed for a simpler world: Excel, manual reporting and isolated business solutions. These are effective for monitoring activity, but far less so for managing environments that have become hybrid, flexible and multi-service.

Today, the questions are changing. How can we tell if offices are actually being used? Is the car park optimised or under-sized? Are the charging points suited to staff’s actual needs? And above all: how can we answer these questions without spending hours cross-referencing files and consolidating scattered data?

This is where the limitations of legacy tools become apparent. The information exists, but it is fragmented. It circulates between several systems, several teams, and sometimes several service providers. The result is a partial view, often out of date, and difficult to use for making quick decisions.

The real question today is rather: what does this data tell us about the actual use of spaces, and what does it enable us to anticipate for the future?

This is precisely where the paradigm shift is taking place. We are no longer just talking about reporting, but about continuous management. This shift is profoundly transforming the role of facility teams: they are moving from a management-focused approach to one of optimisation, where every piece of data becomes a tool for decision-making and improvement.

Data as the foundation of modern facility management.

If traditional tools are showing their limitations, it is not just a question of technology, but of data. Can we really manage spaces, services and usage without a detailed understanding of how they are utilised? Today, the answer is clearly no.

Data is becoming the starting point for all thinking in facility management. But be careful: it is not about measuring everything, nor about multiplying the number of dashboards. The real questions to ask are as follows: what data is actually useful for decision-making? And above all, is it reliable and comprehensible at an organisation-wide level?

In practice, the most relevant indicators often remain the same:

• • Office occupancy rates,
  • Actual car park usage,
  • Workstation turnover,
  • Usage of charging points,
  • Costs per site and per service.

Taken in isolation, these figures offer little value. But when put into context, they tell a much richer story: one of actual usage, potential imbalances and opportunities for optimisation.

In this way, data is no longer used merely for reporting purposes; it becomes a decision-making tool. Should a site’s capacity be adjusted? Should the allocation of spaces be rethought? Should car park access rules be adapted, or should the roll-out of new charging points be planned in advance?

In this context, certain solutions such as Sharvy act as unifying hubs. By centralising the management of offices, car parks and charging points, they enable usage patterns to be cross-referenced and transform scattered data into genuinely actionable indicators.

Reporting: turning data into real-time decisions.

Whilst data forms the foundation of facility management, it is still necessary to know how to make it usable on a day-to-day basis. This is precisely where reporting plays its part. Long seen as useful for the end of the month, it is now becoming a genuine tool for continuous management. 

After all, data, however reliable it may be, is only valuable if it is put into context and made clear at the right time. What is the point of knowing an occupancy rate or car park usage level if the information arrives too late to adjust operations?

In practical terms, this means that indicators are no longer merely consulted, but are used continuously to inform decision-making. A drop in office occupancy may lead to a review of space allocation. Regular car park saturation may trigger an adjustment to booking rules. Changes in the use of charging points can guide future investment.

In this context, the value no longer lies in producing dashboards, but in the ability to link real-time usage data to operational decisions. This is also where solutions such as Sharvy come into their own: by centralising data from offices, car parks and charging points, they provide a unified and immediately actionable overview.

As a result, the boundary between data and action is gradually blurring, enabling more agile management that is also better aligned with employees’ actual usage patterns.

Using data to improve billing: the evolution of facility management.

Having measured usage patterns and learnt to manage them through reporting, a new question naturally arises: how can this data be used to manage costs more effectively? For whilst knowing office occupancy rates, car park usage and the frequency of use of charging points is essential, this information can also be used to make billing fairer and more transparent.

For a long time, cost allocation in facility management relied on relatively simple models: flat rates and estimates based on theoretical capacities. But are these approaches still suitable for working environments where usage patterns are constantly fluctuating?

When an organisation understands the actual usage of its spaces and services, it can better understand where costs are concentrated, identify under-utilised resources and implement billing mechanisms that are more in line with the reality on the ground.

Take the example of car parks. In many companies, parking spaces represent a significant investment, but their usage remains difficult to measure.

• • How many spaces are actually occupied?
  • How many are reserved but left vacant?
  • Which departments benefit most from them?

Thanks to a solution such as Sharvy, this information becomes visible. The company can then monitor usage, identify unhonoured bookings and, if it wishes, introduce a charging scheme for unused spaces or more accurate cost allocation between different departments.

The same principle applies to charging points and other shared services. By directly linking observed usage to associated costs, facility management becomes more accurate, transparent and efficient. Manual processing is reduced, calculation errors are minimised, and budgetary decisions are based more on facts than on estimates.

Ultimately, the evolution of facility management is not just about collecting more data. Above all, it is about making better use of it.

The role of the facility manager: a rapidly evolving function.

 Long seen as the guardian of the smooth running of buildings and services for occupants, the facility manager is now seeing their role undergo a profound transformation. Beyond the operational management of spaces, they are now expected to address issues of performance, cost optimisation and improving the employee experience.

In a context where companies are seeking to make better use of their offices, car parks and even their charging infrastructure, decisions can no longer be based solely on intuition or on-the-ground experience.

Thanks to data, reporting and automation, facility managers now have a more accurate picture of actual usage and can base their actions on concrete indicators. They thus become true stewards of the workplace, capable of aligning operational, financial and property-related challenges with the company’s objectives.

In conclusion

Data now plays a central role in facility management. Whereas decisions were once based on estimates and ad hoc analyses, it is now possible to rely on precise indicators to better understand usage patterns, adjust resources and control costs.

This development paves the way for more agile management of spaces and services. Whether it concerns offices, company car parks or charging points, the ability to collect, analyse and utilise data is becoming a real advantage in adapting the working environment to employees’ actual needs.

For facility managers, the challenge is therefore no longer simply to manage what already exists, but to have the right tools to turn information into concrete actions. By centralising usage data and making it easier to analyse, solutions such as Sharvy help to make this management process simpler, more reliable and more efficient on a day-to-day basis.

Any questions? Check out the following FAQ!  

Why has data become a key issue in facility management?

Work environments have become more complex to manage with the rise of hybrid working, shared spaces and new employee services. Data enables decisions to be made objectively and resources to be tailored to actual needs rather than relying on assumptions.

Which metrics should you track to manage your workspaces effectively?

The key metrics to focus on depend on the company’s objectives. Among the most commonly used are occupancy rates, booking frequencies, peak periods, service usage levels, and certain indicators relating to the costs and profitability of resources.

How does the Sharvy app support facilities teams?

Sharvy centralises the management of offices, company car parks and charging points within a single platform. This provides teams with consolidated information to monitor usage, facilitate reporting and implement management rules tailored to the company’s needs.

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