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What does CAFM stand for?
CAFM stands for Computer-Aided Facility Management, i.e. the computer-supported management of buildings, floor space, technical systems and building-related services across their entire lifecycle. CAFM software consolidates data on properties, rooms, maintenance contracts, cleaning and energy consumption in one system and makes it usable for planning, control and analysis. The term refers both to the software category and to the organisational discipline that supports operational and strategic facility management with digital tools.
What is the difference between CAFM and ERP?
CAFM focuses on the building and its use — floor space, technical systems, maintenance and building-related contracts — while an ERP system covers core business processes such as financial accounting, procurement, materials management and HR. CAFM therefore does not replace an ERP but touches it at several points, for example in fixed-asset accounting or the allocation of space-related costs to cost centres. In practice, the two systems are frequently coupled via an API or an integration layer to reconcile master data, purchase orders and cost data and to avoid duplicate maintenance.
What is the difference between CAFM and CMMS?
A CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System) concentrates on the maintenance and servicing of technical equipment, covering areas such as maintenance schedules, work orders, spare parts and inspection deadlines. CAFM is broader in scope and, beyond maintenance, also encompasses space and room management, contract and service-provider management, relocations, and energy and cost controlling. A CMMS is often included as a module or sub-function within a CAFM solution, so the two concepts overlap but are not identical.
What is GEFMA 444?
GEFMA 444 is the guideline of the German Facility Management Association (GEFMA) for the certification of CAFM software and defines a quality standard recognised across the industry. It is structured into thematic criteria catalogues, which have been expanded over the years from originally nine to now around 20 catalogues covering areas such as space management, maintenance, cleaning, energy and sustainability; some catalogues must be fulfilled for certification. GEFMA 444 certification demonstrates that a system actually delivers the audited functions and serves users as guidance when selecting a vendor.
What does implementing CAFM software cost?
The costs of a CAFM implementation vary widely depending on company size, the number and size of properties and the chosen functional scope, ranging from a few thousand euros per year for lean solutions up to six-figure sums for extensive implementations. In addition to the pure licence fees, there are one-off costs for implementation, data migration, interfaces and training, and the effort involved in initial data capture is regularly underestimated in CAFM projects. Common licence models charge per user or per module; specific prices should be calculated individually with the vendor based on your own portfolio of floor space and equipment.
Is CAFM also used by small companies?
Classic CAFM systems have traditionally targeted operators with larger property portfolios, since the effort required for data maintenance and implementation only pays off above a certain number of spaces and assets. For smaller companies, leaner maintenance modules directly within the ERP, a focused CMMS or cloud-based entry-level solutions limited to space and maintenance are often sufficient. As many vendors now offer modular and SaaS models, entry has become more accessible for smaller mid-sized companies as well, provided the requirements are clearly scoped in advance.
How are CAFM and BIM connected?
Building Information Modeling (BIM) provides a digital building model with geometry and component data that is created during the planning and construction phase, while CAFM makes this information usable during the much longer operational phase. Via open standards such as the IFC format or the industry interface CAFM-Connect, operationally relevant data on floor space, technical systems and documents can be transferred from the BIM model into the CAFM software. In practice, this seamless handover from construction to operation is not yet established everywhere, but it is regarded as a key lever for bringing as-built data into building operations without laborious re-capture.