Improving Operational Effectiveness in Facilities Management at Colleges and Universities with use of Big Data and Data Analytics

Abstract

This systematic review investigates current research in the studies of data collection and analytics on performance efficiency in facilities management departments at higher education institutions. This review will demonstrate that while research is limited it is clear that data collection and analysis will have a very important role and impact of the future on facilities management organizations. Thus, higher education institutions should move quickly to adopt data analytics in their everyday decision-making process. A systematic review was conducted with research papers being selected between the years of 2010 and 2021 for relevancy. The results in this systematic review indicate that big data and data analytics are the future and would be beneficial for use in facilities management. While higher education research in facilities management in general is limited, it is evident that higher education is behind in the use of data collection and data analysis. The findings concluded in this systematic review allow higher education institutions to make a well supported, evidence-based decision on why they should proceed with the use of data collection and analysis in facilities management. There was limited research on data analytics and its use in high education facilities management. The articles in the literature were authored by many of the same researchers. There is a need in higher education facilities management to incorporate data collection and analysis in the decision-making process.