Insights → Operations

Hey friends, 

Before starting Nexus Labs, I spent eight years applying and integrating analytics software into building operations. In a word, I was obsessed. 

Now, in 2023, I think it’s even more critical. Here’s why, building owners have growing problems that analytics can uniquely solve: 

• The building operator talent drain means O&M teams must do more with less (and often do it remotely!)
• Occupant IAQ and comfort expectations continue to rise 
• Decarbonization and electrification make HVAC system performance even more complicated (and vital) 

Here’s the problem, though: analytics ≠ results. 90% of intelligent building software applications produce “insights”... so what? 

Yes… analytics software is a potent tool for building owners.

Yes… it can revolutionize how buildings are managed and operated.

No… it’s not capable of producing results on its own.

Most smart building software applications are human-in-the-loop tools. They help explore data and find needles in the haystack, but they require regular use by a well-resourced team to fully convert data → information → insights → action → verified results. 

The practical application of analytics software requires integrating ongoing activities into the organization’s routine operating procedures. I call this the “path to action”. The creation of operational processes requires thinking through how the team will:

• Review the software for improvement opportunities
• Take action to implement the improvements
• Determine what coordination or authorizations are needed
• Verify the improvements were successful
• Communicate the results to key stakeholders

Even the software requires regular maintenance and improvements to remain optimized, just like the underlying systems it monitors.

Today, we’re kicking off a new monthly Nexus Labs column called Insights → Operations. We’ll explore best practices with leading building owners and our fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) category partners. 

For this first installment in the column, let’s summarize our past work on this vital topic: 

Analytics 101

If you’re just starting with analytics, Pro member Dennis Krieger presented a great workshop on Analytics 101 (Pro members only). Dennis walked us through the lifecycle of a fault, from integration to data modeling to fancy math to prioritizing FM tasks. 

White paper: What the FDD product needs to do

Product selection is vital to your analytics strategy. This white paper walks through how different types of analytics tools (alarms, fault detection, and fault detection & diagnostics) perform compared to each other. You can get results with alarms and FD-only tools, but that requires too much manual effort, overwhelms the O&M teams, and delays the path to action and real results.

How analytics teams can build a scalable product

For those that liked the white paper, this is a great follow-on guide for product teams creating analytics software that can go mainstream. To cross the chasm, analytics products must move beyond “Analytics 1.0”. In Analytics 1.0, “insights” are riddled with data issues and false positives, which damages the trust of end-users. The worst detection-only products flood users with too many unprioritized and unimportant issues—which are essentially alarms on abnormal measurements not too far outside of what their existing systems could do.

In order to realize the customer’s compelling value proposition, these products need to be packaged with “man-analytics” services to investigate, prioritize, and diagnose faults. Again, this is a product problem, and it’s a massive barrier to scale. This piece walks through how to create an analytics product that can scale. 

Rethinking operational processes

On the Nexus podcast, we’ve been circling around the Insights → Operations topic for many years! We’ve discussed using FDD to transform service contracts, how AMP capital created a data-driven maintenance program, making analytics a painkiller instead of a vitamin, using analytics to manage buildings remotely, the role of the analytics super user, and the value of using analytics even before the operations phase. 

In summary, I’ve been thinking about integrating insights into operations for a long time! 

But there’s still so much work to do. 

Here’s the roadmap for this column over the next 12 months: 

• What is FDD, and what are all the use cases it enables for building owners?  
• What are the best practices for integrating FDD into operations processes?
• Case studies on massive analytics rollouts and how to scale up after pilot projects 
• Research on the cutting-edge technology innovations in this category 
• Setting organizational standards to enable FDD 
• Do you want to help create this content with us? Apply to become a Partner here. 

—James Dice, Founder and CEO of Nexus Labs

P.S. There’s just one week left to enroll in Cohort 6 of our Foundations course. 

The Insights → Operations column is produced courtesy of our Partner Program. Partner categories mentioned in this installment: FDD. Partners in the FDD category include: Clockworks Analytics and Bueno.

👋 That's all for this week. See you next Tuesday!

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