Must-Have Building Management System Features

What are the must-have building management system features? From a high level, your BMS should provide at least the following:

• Monitoring and transparency. Your BMS should include fully transparent monitoring, allowing you to tap into a system to see what’s going on. From monitoring activity via CCTV to observing HVAC performance, you can understand what’s happening in your building at all times.
• Issue detection. A modern BMS should also offer fully automated issue detection, alerting you to anything that might go wrong within your building. If there’s a water leak, you’ll immediately know about it. If a fire breaks out, all of the alarms will be triggered. Even minor issues, like changes in your heating system’s performance, can trigger an alert.
• Automated operation. One of the greatest benefits of a BMS is its ability to automate what used to be manual work. Accordingly, your BMS should include at least some automation features. This leads to increased consistency, fewer errors, and reduced labor costs, so the more automation features you can use, the better.
• Mobile access. Most BMSs have at least one centralized control device that’s accessible to anyone with authorization. However, it’s also important to have mobile access. This way, you can pull up a mobile app to evaluate the performance of your building’s internal systems or address alerts.
• Communication logs. You’ll probably be using your BMS together with a team of people, so it’s important to have an internal communication feature, as well as logs to help you track these communications. You may even be able to assign tasks within the BMS itself.
• Secure access. If an unauthorized party gains access to your BMS, it could be a security disaster. That’s why it’s important for your BMS to also have advanced security features to keep your building and its occupants safe.
• Comprehensive analytics and reporting. Most BMSs come with advanced analytics and reporting features, allowing you to fully customize and automate records while giving you all the data transparency you’ve ever wanted.

These core functionalities should be applied to a wide variety of internal systems, such as:

• Lighting. From a single location, you can coordinate the lighting throughout the entire building. Lighting retrofits can help you save energy while making sure every location is properly illuminated.
• Fire alarms and firefighting systems. According to the National Fire Protection Association, structure fires cause more than $7 billion in direct damage every year. But with advanced fire alarms and proactive firefighting systems in place, you can mitigate the potential damage to your building.
• Security and CCTV systems. It’s important to have secure control of your building at all times, inside and out. That’s why most BMSs have CCTV footage, access to locking mechanisms, and many more advanced security features.
• Elevator controls. Your BMS may also be able to access and control elevators remotely.
• Water tanks, plumbing, and irrigation. You can monitor and control your entire plumbing system, including managing water tanks and getting alerts about leaks before they spiral out of control.
• HVAC systems. Using a BMS, you can maintain tight control of your building’s heating and cooling elements.
• Electrical usage. You should also be able to monitor and control electricity usage within the building.