IFMA and OSCRE join to support industry-wide workplace standards.

The Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate (OSCRE) announced that the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the world's leading association for professional facility managers, has joined OSCRE as an Executive Member--the highest level of partnership with the organization. IFMA will support OSCRE's efforts to develop workplace standards and improve the efficiency, consistency and transparency of data used in the corporate supply chain.

Facility management (FM) is a profession that encompasses many disciplines and integrates people, place, process and technology to ensure functionality of the built environment.

As the world's largest and most distinguished association for facility management professionals, IFMA represents thousands of members in countries around the world. IFMA members have a total combined purchasing power of $100 billion and manage more than 37 billion square feet of space.

"Technology is the newest facility management competency and it is revolutionizing how real property assets are managed and how fast critical information can be shared," said David J. Brady, IFMA president and chief executive officer. "Previous to OSCRE's initiatives, FM software used different platforms and there were no information exchange standards. Custom interfaces were necessary or time was wasted by manually re-keying information. Data standards enable facility professionals to readily share information with architects, designers, contractors, government officials and other stakeholders."

As an Executive Member, IFMA will play a strategic part in establishing OSCRE's roadmap for future development. The Executive Committee meets regularly to set OSCRE policy, including the priorities for the maintenance and development of standards.

The committee also advises the board of directors on its business plan and provides resources to support the organization's workgroups.

IFMA joins prominent executive OSCRE members such as the U.S. General Services Administration, Cisco Systems, Prudential Financial, CB Richard Ellis, Cushman & Wakefield, the National Association of Realtors, the U.S. Department of Defense and others.

"As an IFMA member since 1993, I'm extremely pleased to have all of my long-time industry friends associated with OSCRE," said OSCRE Chief Executive Officer Andy Fuhrman. "My ability to lead OSCRE has a lot to do with the collaboration and exchange of ideas enabled by my participation in IFMA, and I am excited about the huge benefits OSCRE will provide IFMA members via our interoperable data standards. A standardized vocabulary for the facility management industry is long overdue."

OSCRE Americas, Inc., exists to establish a common business language for the Real Property industry that enables stakeholders throughout the supply chain to quickly, easily and cost effectively receive and send electronic business information regardless of the technology operating system or applications they use. Data standards are being developed to greatly reduce the cost companies currently incur for customized integrations, data scrubbing, manual data entry and re-entry.

IFMA is the world's largest and most widely recognized international association for professional facility managers, supporting more than 18,500 members in 60 countries. The association's members are represented in 125 chapters and 15 councils worldwide. Formed in 1980, IFMA certifies facility managers, conducts research, provides educational programs, recognizes facility management degree and certificate programs and produces World Workplace, the world's largest facility management conference and exposition.