Factors affecting the success of building management system installations

It is widely reported that building management systems (BMS) are not fully utilized. The failure to exploit the potential of these systems leads to sub-optimal performance of building services plant in terms of both energy consumption and the maintenance of internal building conditions. In this paper the variation in BMS use, and the perceptions of BMS users are examined in a questionnaire survey of industry-based personnel. The results show that BMS are most successful in their role as plant control systems, with the more strategic functions remaining under-utilized. The significant factors associated with the success of BMS installations are user involvement in the specification, the user's perception of the performance of the BMS vendor, and satisfactory commissioning of the system.