Many facilities and site managers are turning away from high maintenance and high cost systems of the past for the peace of mind of the next generation of Internet enabled BMS.

Manual inspection in buildings or on site has never been entirely reliable. Manual monitoring is open to human error, personnel’s differing judgement and potential for minor mistakes. It is also logistically and financially impossible to inspect every piece of equipment or building 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This is why the popularity of intelligent building management systems, which facilitate business management functions, providing accurate data on asset/building performance for critical analysis or routine building services maintenance reports, is increasing as, in a demanding market place, managers seek a reliable second pair of hands.

Today, Internet facilitated remote monitoring systems featuring control-programming capabilities are quickly becoming the facilities and building services managers ‘must have’ technology of the future.

Given the need to keep costs down, minimise machine downtime and reduce manpower while obtaining operational excellence and maximum return on investment through successful asset management, today’s facilities manager is beginning to rely, to a greater degree, on Internet remote monitoring systems.

The greatest benefit is prevention, avoiding problems before they occur identifying errors at the earliest stage and requesting action by engineers either on-site or remotely via the systems. Whether expressed in real pounds or the less tangible peace of mind, remote monitoring systems add significantly to the bottom line.

How does remote monitoring work?

Remote monitoring devices can track a wide variety of conditions such as temperature, pressure, security, volume, energy and flow. Significant technological advances are being made in remote monitoring systems, the latest example of this is t-mac, a versatile Internet based system which can monitor assets, systems, machinery and buildings. Communicating via the Internet, t-mac’s user-friendly web page based software can be fully programmed to process a series of logical tasks similar to a Programmable Logic Controller enabling the t-mac system to manage complex process control applications in addition to the standard monitoring requirements.

Internet based remote monitoring devices commonly work by being integrated within or installed close to the building’s HVAC&R equipment or other condition-critical assets, collecting data on asset conditions, via analogue or digital inputs. Temperature information for example, is then transmitted over the Internet via GPRS, Ethernet or a telephone line at regular intervals to a central server. Should temperature levels fluctuate outside pre-determined/desired limits, set by the users, the remote management system acts as an early warning device sending accurate, detailed information about the change requesting action to be taken. These alert notifications are sent via SMS and/or email to building or site managers as soon as a fault occurs. This enables decision makers to respond promptly, on many occasions even in advance of a hazard occurring or equipment failure. It is this kind of precise status information that allows executive decisions to be made about the exact nature of the fault and the appropriate response times required.

This standard of BMS allows information collected to be automatically sent to a secure web page for historic logging and reporting; and this data can then be accessed by users who are able to remotely change any of the settings on the unit which are, in turn, downloaded to the device. Facilities and site managers can view valuable management information of equipment, associated wastages, energy and asset inefficiencies and costs (via easy to read graphs and tables) through any Internet enabled PC.

Continuous data collection through t-mac provides accurate information on building condition trending and historic reports on faults, errors or condition fluctuations. Viewed and reviewed over the Internet by building services, facilities and site managers, t-mac assists with their analysis and production of valuable management information relating to equipment conditions, associated wastages, energy and asset inefficiencies and costs. This information can be displayed on the web page through graphs, tables and/or gauges as well as easily downloaded into CSV format.

As an example, a remote monitor device could help analyse effectiveness and efficiency of air conditioning units creating automatic reports on ambient temperatures to promote ongoing records demonstrating that equipment and buildings are operating within legislative ranges – a key requirement for public buildings, schools and work places. Also, 24/7 remote monitoring of heating and ventilation systems for example, can help avoid outbreaks of air borne diseases such as legionnaires, caused by faulty/damaged equipment.

Swipe card logging - a thing of the past

A remote monitoring and management system can also provide other benefits when adapted to facilitate cost-effective automated time and attendance reporting. Where on site identification of vehicles, people and moveable assets is required Active Radio Frequency Identification tags, linked to an intelligent remote monitoring system, can be an invaluable reporting and logging tool for this industry.

Instead of staff manually ‘clocking in’ or swiping a card Active RFID tags automatically track entry and exit. These tags only need to be within a certain range of the RFID receiver independent or attached to the remote monitoring system to authenticate and log details of the holder. Active RFID can also verify deliveries by automatically monitoring and recording vehicle access times, which is invaluable when site manager’s time may be restricted, or accurate delivery records are a must, as the tags will do the necessary logging for them.

These discrete tags are completely versatile and can be applied to most industrial applications where on site identification is required for personnel, access control, vehicle delivery monitoring, and asset and location monitoring. It is also an invaluable security device for lone workers as the employee can activate an optional integral alert button in the event of threat.

Once logged the remote monitoring system collects the data from the Active RFID tag and passes it by GPRS, Ethernet or telephone line via the Internet to a central server.

Having identified and logged a person, vehicle or other transportable asset (such as lap tops) these tags can be used to facilitate accurate collection of data for payroll and facilities service level agreements. Personnel hours, overtime, deliveries and out of office access can be calculated automatically and downloaded at the touch of a button. Live data reviews can then be displayed on screen in a number of formats including graphs or tables, or downloaded into Excel spreadsheet for analysis and billing.

Unlike most database enabled access and time/attendance logging systems, these tags can communicate with a remote monitoring system allowing users to remotely access data and reports from any Internet enabled PC. Users can compare and contrast data and reports from multiple sites for business critical analysis, service level agreement and management reporting functions.

All in all, technology is moving at a fast rate for building services and facilities managers and they are quickly playing catch-up with other industries by implementing technology, where possible, to replace laborious and costly tasks and become a highly beneficial system where constant monitoring and logging is required. By implementing a next generation Internet enabled remote monitoring system or even Active RFID tags, building and site managers will definitely see a difference in man-hours and ultimately improvements to the company’s bottom line.

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