I run facilities for three mid-size sites: two offices and a small warehouse. About 180,000 square feet, give or take. I wear steel-toe boots, carry a tape measure, and drink my coffee black—when it doesn’t spill in the truck.
If you want the fuller play-by-play of my twelve-month sprint inside these tools, QuSoft’s own recap of the experience is worth a skim: I used CAFM software all year—here’s what actually helped.
This year I lived in CAFM tools. CAFM means computer-aided facilities management. It holds floor plans, tickets, assets, and who sits where. It’s like a digital twin of your buildings… but it only works if your data is clean. And that part stings.
You know what? When it works, your day gets a lot calmer.
Quick check: what counts as CAFM?
Think map + people + stuff + tasks. I used:
- Planon for move plans and space.
- FM:Systems for work orders and PM.
- Eptura (iOFFICE + SpaceIQ) for desk booking and sensors.
- Archibus for chargebacks and safety reports.
Maybe that sounds like too many tools. I thought I wanted one system to do it all. Turns out, I didn’t. Well, not at first. My team needed simple wins before a huge switch. If you want a quick primer on how different CAFM modules plug into a broader IWMS strategy, QuSoft has a solid breakdown that helped me frame the conversation with leadership. For a deeper dive into what a full integrated workplace management system can deliver, this walkthrough is worth bookmarking. Picking tools felt a bit like a round of speed dating—quick intros, sharp questions, trust your gut. If you’re ever in the San Gabriel Valley, you can watch that rapid-fire matchmaking style play out at events like Speed Dating Covina, where singles rotate tables to size up compatibility in minutes; checking out the format shows how structured, time-boxed conversations surface the best fits fast—exactly the mindset I used to narrow vendors before signing big contracts.
My real days in the tools
Planon: moving 120 people without tears
In January, we had a snow day and a team shuffle. Marketing had to move up a floor. IT needed a bigger lab. I used Planon’s floor plan view with seat tags.
- I dragged 120 names across two floors. Click, drag, save.
- I printed new labels from the system. No typos. No guessing.
- I shared the plan with HR and Fire Life Safety. Same map, same seats.
Watching those dots slide around the screen almost felt like I was in After Effects instead of a CAFM console—if you’re curious how designers think about making visuals move, check out this no-fluff review: my honest take on motion graphics software. If you’re weighing options yourself, this motion graphics tools compared guide lays the contenders side-by-side.
What went wrong? Our HR feed used “Jon” and “Jonathan” as two people. Imports blew up. I cleaned the CSV, ran it again, and we were fine. Next time, we set a rule: full legal name, one source of truth.
Time saved: two days of chaos turned into one calm evening. I made it home for tacos.
FM:Systems: work orders that don’t get lost
We built PM templates for air handlers, emergency lights, and dock doors. I set SLAs: urgent is 4 hours, normal is 2 days. My tech, Miguel, uses the mobile app with barcodes.
- Friday, 7:12 a.m.: leak near the break room.
- Photo in the ticket. Part number auto-filled from the asset tag.
- Vendor looped in, gate code sent, arrival time logged.
We used to average three days on non-urgent work. Now we close in about a day. The app did freeze once in the basement with bad cell. Lesson learned: we turned on offline mode and told folks to sync by noon and by 4.
Eptura: desks, rooms, and the mystery of the “ghost booking”
Hybrid weeks made everyone cranky. People hogged rooms and never showed. With Eptura, we used desk booking and a simple sensor rule: no check-in after 15 minutes? Auto-release.
- Book from phone. Scan a QR code at the desk.
- Sensors flag no-shows.
- A Slack bot nudges, “Still need this room?”
No more walking laps on Monday just to find a chair. It felt small, but morale jumped. One hiccup: the map layer loaded slow on older iPhones. We compressed floor images and it sped up.
Side note: once you rely on phones for booking, you also notice what else people do on those devices during breaks. Kik is a frequent flyer on our Wi-Fi logs, and the content can get spicy fast. If you want an unfiltered peek at how that platform is being used, this candid write-up on Kik nudes explains the app’s anonymity quirks, common risks, and the filters you should tighten to keep NSFW traffic off your corporate network.
Archibus: chargebacks and safety checklists
Our CFO wanted to bill teams for space. I built areas by department. Costs rolled up each month. No more “I think Legal has 10 seats.” Now we show 18, with square feet per head.
For safety, I logged fire extinguisher checks and egress paths. During a surprise drill, the report matched the walk-through. It wasn’t pretty UI, but it was right. Training took time. Once people learned where to click, it stuck.
A quick morning snapshot
I park at 6:55. Open dashboards. Red tiles mean hot tasks. Tanya texts me about a stuck roll-up door; a vendor is already on the way. I sip coffee, check the leak ticket, and tag Risk. Then I print a small map for the warehouse team. I keep it in a clear folder because someone always drops it in a puddle.
Little things matter. Paper still lives.
What I loved
- Floor plan views that match real life. Color by team. See badges light up.
- QR codes on gear. Scan, see history, avoid guesswork.
- Clear SLAs. The clock holds us honest.
- Simple reports I can hand to Finance or Fire Marshals without a long speech.
- Mobile that works with gloves. Big buttons, fewer taps.
What bugged me
- Add-on pricing. Every helpful module felt like one more fee.
- Jargon soup. IWMS here, CAFM there, CMMS on top. I had to map it out.
- Old maps load slow. Compress your CAD layers or be ready to wait.
- Imports are fussy. One bad field and you’re stuck. Clean data first.
Real tips from my messy notebook
- Start with one floor. Prove it, then roll it out.
- Fix your room numbers and seat IDs before you touch software.
- Pick one source of truth for people data. HR, not spreadsheets.
- Make naming rules. “Room-3E-Conf-A,” not “big room near plant.”
- Train your techs on the app, not a slide deck. Hands on, 30 minutes.
- Set two SLA tiers. More than that and folks game the system.
- Print small map cards for the front desk. They still help.
Who should get CAFM?
If you’ve got over 100 people, more than one site, or lots of moves, it’s time. If you’re tiny, a CMMS like Hippo or WebTMA plus a clean spreadsheet might carry you for a while. No shame in simple.
My short takes on each tool
- Planon: Great for moves and space logic. Imports can be touchy, but worth it.
- FM:Systems: Work orders and PM feel strong. Mobile is solid after offline is set.
- Eptura: Best for hybrid seating and friendly booking. Sensors help with no-shows.
- Archibus: Reports and chargebacks are powerful. UI feels old school, but it’s steady.
Would I buy them all again? Not all at once. I’d start with the pain you feel most. If moves and seating hurt, go Planon or Eptura first. If repairs lag, go FM:Systems. If Finance wants proof, bring in Archibus or use the space tools you already have and build good reports.
Honestly, CAFM didn’t change who we are. It just made our work visible. That calm dashboard at 7 a.m.? That’s worth a lot. And hey—getting home for tacos on move night? That’s priceless.