Buyer resources

Facilities management SLAs and KPIs: a buyer's guide

An FM service-level agreement defines commitments; key performance indicators show how those commitments are performing. Distinguish acknowledgement, attendance, temporary restoration and final resolution. State how the clock starts, when it can pause and what evidence supports the result. A headline percentage without those definitions is difficult to compare.

Published by Pearl Lemon Facilities Management · Content reviewed

Translate the building problem into a service definition

Begin with consequences: heating loss in an occupied area, a blocked access point and a routine cleaning issue need different handling. Agree priorities with site users and record who can change a category. Labelling every fault an emergency weakens the information needed to allocate work.

For each category, describe the action and cover hours. Answering a call is different from a competent person arriving on site. Resolution may depend on access, diagnosis, parts or approved repairs. Record those dependencies and interim measures rather than reporting a telephone response as a completed fix.

  • Priority and consequence explained
  • Acknowledgement, attendance, restoration and resolution separated
  • Cover hours and reporting channels
  • Escalation contacts and temporary arrangements

Make the calculation reproducible

Specify the data source, reporting period, denominator and exclusions. For planned work, decide whether the measure counts tasks, assets or visits. A visit can finish while a task remains incomplete; the report should show the task status and supporting record.

An illustrative attendance measure is eligible faults attended within the agreed target divided by all eligible faults in the reporting period. Targets are contract-specific; this guide does not prescribe an industry SLA. Report excluded items with reasons and approvals so a rising percentage cannot hide a growing exceptions list.

  • Time stamps and eligibility rules
  • Approved pauses and exclusions
  • Work record supporting completion
  • Data corrections with an audit trail

Use a balanced performance view

Combine responsiveness with planned work, open defects, evidence quality and repeated failures. Closing more tickets is not necessarily an improvement if the same asset keeps failing. Review old unresolved items alongside the current month's work and the budget for remedial decisions.

Choose a manageable group of measures suited to the estate: completion of eligible tasks, overdue high-priority actions, repeat faults, rejected work records and quotations waiting for client approval. Keep cost changes visible without encouraging necessary work to be deferred merely to meet a savings measure.

  • Responsiveness and planned-task completion
  • Age and ownership of open actions
  • Repeat defects and unsuccessful repairs
  • Evidence acceptance and approved variations

Connect reporting to decisions

A review should produce an action, owner and due date. Ask whether a miss reflects poor delivery, an unclear boundary, unsuitable access or a client approval bottleneck. Follow the action through to acceptance rather than simply adding dashboard columns.

Test a proposed reporting pack with a sample fault and planned task before appointment. Ask to see the underlying record. Service credits, contractual remedies and incentives require explicit terms and suitable advice; this is a reporting framework, not a standard legal contract.

  • Task-to-dashboard trace demonstrated
  • Actions tracked until accepted
  • Change control for revised targets
  • Client and supplier dependencies reviewed together

Sources and editorial responsibility

This is company-published buyer guidance. Official sources support the context, not an endorsement, accreditation or a claim that we inspected your premises. Use competent advice for the specific building and work involved.

We have a commercial interest in FM enquiries. Read our editorial standards or send a correction.

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