How SFG20 Benefits Facilities Managers

July 19th, 2021

Last updated: July 14th, 2022

One of the biggest challenges facing facilities managers is aligning maintenance information for all the various features and assets of the building, and creating an integrated system which provides the critical information exactly when you need it. These things tend to evolve over time and quite often can involve several different digital and hard copy sources which don’t necessarily all work in the same way, and can become confusing, conflicting and out of date.

SFG20 is a neat solution to this and has grown to become a vital tool to facilities managers, as a single source of information that is accurate, reliable and hugely beneficial.

What is SFG20?

First developed in 1990 by the Building Engineering Services Association, SFG20 is a software tool that is now widely accepted as the industry standard online tool for building maintenance compliance. The system is ever-expanding to ensure that facilities managers are working to the latest legislation and standard practices, and which therefore provides the right information on different maintenance tasks to enable decisions on what tasks need to be done, when they need to be done, how they need to be done and by whom they need to be done.

In practical terms, SFG20 breaks down 1200 maintenance tasks into 70 different equipment categories, including – amongst many more – building fabric, air conditioning, boilers, water chillers, electrics, fire alarm systems, lighting, pumps, sensors and switching devices and ventilation. Each task is defined in terms of:

• The type of maintenance required
• How critical the task is using a rating system
• How often the task is required
• What skills are required

This therefore allows the facilities manager to maintain an accurate log of maintenance tasks, with a detailed frequency and a breakdown of what personnel are required. This enables training requirements and resource availability to be addressed in good time.

Key Benefits of SFG20

The benefits of SFG20 are not just to the facilities manager, but to the business as a whole:

• Efficiency – Maintenance tasks are categorised according to what is statutory, mandatory or discretionary, making a maintenance schedule much easier to plan
• Compliance – Regular technical bulletins are issued making sure you never miss out on new legislative changes, and which ensures you are always working to best practice
• Cost savings – Bespoke maintenance schedules can be created for each client and hence you are cutting out waste and not scheduling non-mandatory tasks
• Accuracy – Up-to-date information allows you to offer better, more reliable feedback on timelines for maintenance jobs.

Other Features of the SFG20

These benefits alone make the SFG20 a key asset to an organisation and a critical tool to the facilities manager, but the transparency and better quality of information produced by the software doesn’t end there.

• Industry sectors – There are specialist functional sets for different industry sectors, such as retail, health, rail, schools and universities. There are also modules for healthcare and residential care homes
• Asset management – The software allows you to create a detailed itinerary of your assets and to link them to the correct maintenance schedule
• Resource modeller – You can use the software to estimate and quantify the cost of maintenance, which provides management with a better quality of information for budgeting and tendering
• Shutdown – You can also access detailed procedures and best practice for shutdown periods and re-opening the business, in terms of what maintenance is required to best manage assets and the building itself.

Try Out the SFG20 Tool

Speak to Robinsons Facilities Services about SFG20 and we can explain the many benefits and how they would suit your specific organisation, so get in touch today.

Working across Yorkshire, we cover North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, East Yorkshire and South Yorkshire and offer a fast, efficient response time to all breakdowns and repairs. Contact us today for all planned, reactive maintenance or emergency call out.