Mission
”The Facility Data Standard Consortium (FDS) is dedicated to advancing global open standards for secure data transfer and integration in the facility ecosystem, developed by the industry subject matter experts, so that the benefits of electronic information technology are widely, quickly, and economically available to the industry.”
Why now?
The Facility ecosystem and the industries serving this ecosystem are at the edge of a technological transformation that will change the way people interact with the indoor environment they live in. The facility is no longer only the decor where a life story takes place but is an integral part of the story itself.
This technological paradigm shift, led mostly by the Internet of Things and connected buildings, enables the emergence of new amenities and services that were unimaginable until now. It’s providing an opportunity to unify previously isolated activities while stimulating business growth in harmony with our environment. Furthermore, technology will be the main tool addressing issues such as the rising demand for well maintained buildings, cleanliness, “the evidence of clean” and the increasing pressure on cost of staffing models. Finally, the technological evolution will help facility-related industries keep up with demand despite operating in an extremely fragmented market with multiple value chains and complex interactions between many stakeholders.
However, due to their complexity, high implementation costs and the requirement of highly skilled resources, these trends pose many difficulties for most organizations. A few large organizations have tried to innovate but have come across problems integrating local specific needs into a coherent value-adding solution. Small integration efforts between providers have shown encouraging results but are unable to scale up to offer a complete and comprehensive solution to the end user.
We witness technology integration into Smart buildings but without standards and interoperability, only the largest FMS companies will be able to take advantage. Unless there is a concerted effort to remove the communication and integration barriers, the industry risks to implode due to the misuse of the very same technology that is supposed to save it.
Therefore, we need an independent standard, so a variety of platforms can serve stakeholders of any size in the facility ecosystem industry. Adding value throughout the entire value chain, improving workforce planning, asset management, inventory management and uptime. We need a global industry standard to nurture and harvest the benefits of what technology can offer. We need to make it accessible to everyone while removing the complexity and cost related to communication, data exchange, and integration. An open standard is needed to preserve our diverse and fragmented industry. This is the only way we can have the right people doing the right things so that facility users can thrive in a better managed, more comfortable, cleaner, healthier, and safer environment.
Such a standard can only succeed if it is developed by the industry itself. Facility Data Standard (FDS) is a non-profit organization that will take the initiative and provide the environment with a chance to develop and advance these standards, and make the latest technologies available to this industry.