A Preliminary Survey on Facilities Management Functions in Value Management Process in The Construction Stage

Generally, Facilities Management (FM) managers play an important role in providing their input and knowledge of operation and maintenance in the process of Value Management (VM). Accordingly, an extensive literature review was conducted by the current research, followed by (Isa, Kamaruzzaman, Mohamed, & Berawi, 2017) a preliminary survey that was aimed to confirm the FM functions obtained from the literature review phase. In the case of the present study, the preliminary survey or semi-structured interviews were carried out with a total of six experts due to their ability to confirm the factors. Meanwhile, descriptive statistics and content validity index (CVI) were adopted in the present study as the means of analysing the response data. In addition, a total of fifty items that belong to seven latent constructs managed to be developed from the literature review. More importantly, the results of the content validity analysis showed that the item-CVI values for six of the items were less than the cut-off value of 0.78 which was accompanied with a change of 50 to 44 items. Overall, it should be noted that the contribution of the current research is in the form of support to professionals and academicians which is believed to enhance their understanding on the importance of FM involvement in the VM process.


INTRODUCTION
Generally, the construction project involves several activities which are further categorised into three main stages, namely pre-construction, construction, and post-construction. Hence, the present study aims to conduct an in-depth investigation on the planning of construction projects with a particular focus on the preconstruction stage. According to Wood (2010), pre-construction can be clearly defined as "everything that takes place before the actual physical construction work on the site".
Regarding this matter, Nawi et al. (2014), Suhaimi (2014), and Tahir, Nawi, and Rajemi (2016) further suggest that VM can be used at any stage of project development. However, it has been widely used in the early stages of the construction project because it is able to offer the most benefits and may lead to a reduction of costs. A possible explanation for this may be due to the opportunities to make any changes considering that the cost of making such changes increases as the project progresses. Meanwhile, Hayles, Graham, and Fong (2010) pointed out that the VM application during pre-construction planning is able to reduce unnecessary costs without reducing the expected quality and performance at the early stage of a project, thus further attracting the interest of clients.
Traditionally, it is important to note that the project phase is segregated from the construction, operation, maintenance, and subsequent provision of services. In this case, Meng (2013) added that this segregation can lead to several issues in regard to the designed facilities which include the lack of constructability, operability, maintainability, and serviceability. Moreover, Ransley and Ingram (2001) postulated that the design tends to pose an effect on capital investment, efficiency, maintenance costs, sales, staffs, and profit.

NM Isa
Nevertheless, the FM team appointed for a particular project is often being immediately rebuked for any potential design flaws. Therefore, it is important to manage FM requirements and conduct a prior checking amid design approval in order to enable an organisation to accomplish its objectives better after occupying a newly built facility.
On another note, Jawdeh (2013) discovered that FM managers are not aware of any FM participation during the pre-construction stage because it is not considered as a common practice. In addition, it has been assumed that FM and design are two separate entities which cause FM to be often overlooked during the preconstruction stage. More importantly, it should be noted that there will be no feedback on the proposed design elements without the involvement of the FM managers during the initial stage of the project. In this case, it is crucial to understand that these problems are unable to be detected in advance; hence, they are unlikely to be resolved in the pre-construction stage. Furthermore, this will cause the designed facilities to be more difficult and expensive to operate, maintain, and manage after the project is handed over. Therefore, a preliminary survey to identify and confirm a list of FM functions in the VM study during the pre-construction stage in the Malaysian context is deemed necessary to fill the existing gaps in the literature.

Problem statement
A considerable amount of scholars have highlighted the lack of early FM involvement during the pre-construction stage (Meng,

Client Satisfaction (ClientS)
The term client can be broadly defined as a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable considerations. Meanwhile, satisfaction can be loosely described as a feeling gained from the outcome of a process of evaluating what has been received against the expected, purchase decision itself and/or fulfilment of the needs. On a similar note, the term 'client satisfaction' is defined as the extent to which an FM service exceeds the expectation of the clients (Lepkova & Jefimoviene, 2012

Energy Efficiency (EnerE)
Efficient energy consumption or also known as energy efficiency is meant to reduce the amount of energy required to provide products and services (Geethanjali, Hansa, & Daniel, 2007). More importantly, this definition takes FM into account which becomes an important part of energy management due to the fact that energy costs are a part of the operating costs. Meanwhile, Tahir, Nawi, and Ibrahim (2016) described the main task of energy management which is to reduce the cost for energy provision in buildings and facilities without compromising the work processes. In other words, this clearly indicates that the service life and availability of equipment as well as the usage of facilities should remain the same. In this case, it is crucial to understand that all process involved in the project must be properly decided to ensure energy efficiency during its pre-construction phase. A clear explanation for this is that it will provide a significant effect on the overall construction project and most notably during the post-construction phase (operation and maintenance) (Cao, Song, & Wang, 2015; Goulden & Spence, 2015; PWD, 2017). Sapp (2009) adopts the term operation and maintenance to refer to operation and maintenance of facilities that cover all aspects of the services necessary in order to ensure that the built environment is able to perform the functions of the facilities based on its design. Specifically, operation and maintenance involve the daily activities that are required for the systems as well as the equipment needed to perform the intended functions. In most cases, operations and maintenance tend to be combined as one and commonly known as O&M considering that the facilities are unable to operate at maximum efficiency if it is not well maintained (Bascoul, 2017; Kalantari et al., 2017). Jawdeh (2013) pointed out that FM is faced with some operational issues which include access to a high level of lighting, chillers operation and maintenance, cleaning during occupancy, and coordination between floors due to the missing information about FM during the facilities design stage.

Space Management (SpaceM)
Space management is defined by Jackson (2015) as a physical space inventory of a company. Moreover, it should be understood that organisations require space management solutions for the purpose of automating the process of the facilities and ultimately reducing the costs of their occupancy. Consequently, they will be able to make the most out of their existing space which subsequently increases the overall productivity throughout their entire organisation.

Sustainability (Sust)
Generally, several definitions of sustainability have been proposed including the definition provided by IFMA (2017) which described sustainability as "a practice that will ensure the continued viability of a product or good practice into the future". However, the most commonly used definition comes from the 1983 United Nations Brundtland Commission that defines sustainability as a condition "which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Moreover, Hodges (2005)

Advantages of Fm Involvement in Vm Practice
In a more general sense, FM is considered as a fuel for VM studies which further suggests that both of them should be applied in the early stages of projects considering that they are able to increase the value of the building. Apart from that, the involvement of FM adds a touch of sophistication in modern buildings apart from their ability to reduce the complexity, improve the design output, enhance the design efficiency, and minimise abortive work during construction and operation (Tladi, 2012;Enoma, 2005).
Regarding this matter, Jensen (2009) pointed out that the involvement of FM will ensure a smooth taking over of facilities which subsequently reduces future operational expenditure. Furthermore, Jensen (2009) and Jawdeh (2013) NM Isa came to the conclusion that FM can generate proper FM requirements that will be able to fulfil the satisfaction of clients. In addition to these benefits, Tladi (2012) outlined several advantages of FM involvement considering that FM will be equipped with the knowledge about system preliminarily which allows better selection of equipment and materials. In this case, it is believed the advantages also include its potential to extend the accessibility to various equipment for maintenance and replacement (Kalantari et al., 2017). Other than that, FM involvement is also related to cost savings throughout the facility lifecycle (Tucker & Masuri, 2016; Islam et al., 2017).

Disadvantages of Non-Involvement of Fm in Vm Practice
Regarding  (2013) stated that the problems with fixtures as well as the fittings and troubles with the fabric of the buildings are also associated with the lack of FM involvement in VM studies.

Latent Constructs of Fm Functions in Vm Studies
The initial latent constructs that support the continuation of the current research to the following stage managed to be identified through the extensive literature review. Table 1 summarises the indicators for seven latent constructs and source references gathered from the literature review.

The Conceptual Framework of Fm Functions in Vm Study
The indicators identified from the literature review managed to provide the theoretical in developing the conceptual framework for the present study as shown in Figure 1.

Preliminary Survey: Semi-Structured Interviews
A preliminary survey was conducted based on the constructs and items selected from previous research for the purpose of developing the research instrument for the present study. Moreover, the findings from the literature review were utilised in this phase in order to confirm the identified FM functions. Meanwhile, it is important to note that the purpose of conducting the semi-structured interview was to develop an understanding of FM involvements in VM studies. However, this phase does not serve as the main data collection stage because it is only a preliminary phase that explored the FM functions in VM studies prior to rigorous research and comprehensive investigation.
Cavana, Delahaye, and Sekaran (2001) suggested that a qualitative approach such as interview can be adopted to gain familiarity with the phenomena as well as to generate further theories for empirical testing. The key aim of the semi-structured interview is to verify the literature review findings and confirm the functions discovered for the purpose of reflecting the concerns of the participants involved in the industry. More importantly, the process of determining these functions had been imperative and viewed as relevant and critical for VM studies. Furthermore, the semistructured interview sessions allow interviewees to provide their opinions and views on the functions of FM in VM studies.
In the case of the current research, a total of six FM and VM managers with experiences in FM and VM practices were interviewed. Regarding this matter, it should be noted that data saturation is reached when new information is unable to be uncovered by the participants and the information provided by them remain the same during the interview (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Bryman, 2012). In this research, no new themes were generated after the fourth interview during the preliminary survey. Therefore, this indicates that the data collection process had reached the saturation point. Furthermore, two additional interviews were conducted to ensure and confirm that no new themes were emerging; hence, the sixth interview successfully confirmed the saturation.

Criteria for Selecting The Respondents
The present study employed purposive sampling in which the interviewees were intentionally selected by the researcher. i. Designated at a professional level in the organisation as an FM or VM manager. e.g.; Senior Officer -Grade 44 and above (public sector), Senior manager -(private sector). ii.
Possess extensive knowledge with a working experience of more than five years in FM practice, specifically in performing FM tasks. iii.
Have experience of more than three times than the participants in VM labs, specifically for FM projects. iv.
Currently working in the FM or VM division.

RESULT
In the semi-structured interview of the present study, a total of seven constructs consisting 50 items were carried forward from the literature review phase to the confirmation phase with the aim of verifying the literature findings as well as confirming the functions discovered from the interviews with FM and VM experts. The semistructured interview session began with questions regarding their brief background (Section A), followed by their opinions on the FM functions in VM studies (Section B). Moreover, it is important to note that each interview was audio-recorded after being NM Isa permitted and acknowledged by interviewees prior to conducting the session.

Section A: About The Respondent
In the case of the current research, each interviewee was assigned with an identification label (A, B, C, D, E, and F) in order to ensure the anonymity and confidentiality of the interviewees' results as shown in Table 2, particularly regarding the background of the interviewees. Apart from that, the interviewees were given the opportunity to propose other relevant FM functions that are applicable in VM studies. The mean score and SD showed (mean=17.5 years, SD=11.06 years) in Table 2 conclude that the experts possess vast experience in FM and VM professions and fit the selection criteria of participants.

Section B: About Fm Functions in Vm Studies
This section provides a detailed discussion on FM functions in VM studies which were confirmed from the preliminary interviews carried out with FM and VM managers who are experienced in VM studies. The interviews managed to validate the findings from the literature review and successfully identified important issues based on the views of the interviewees. In addition, this interview was intended to refine the conceptual framework underpinning the current research by establishing a list of FM functions in VM studies. Therefore, the findings of the current research can be used to further develop the questionnaire survey to the next phase of the study. Table 3 summarises the content validity analysis results of the interviews as well as the items of FM functions and VM study that managed to be obtained from the preliminary interviews with the expert panels. However, no new items were proposed by the panel. Nevertheless, the findings from this study serve as a stimulus for the next phase of the research.  Overall, it can be clearly concluded that a total of six items did not fit the criteria which caused them to be discarded from the measurement items. According to the summary presented in Table 3, ClientS5 was not validated by Expert A, C, and D, EnerE4 was not approved by expert A, C, and D, EnerE5 was not validated by expert A and D, OpeM2 was not validated by Expert A and B, Sust5 was not validated by Expert E and F, whereas DisAdv3 was only confirmed by Expert E and F despite the fact that all of these items were reported in the literature. Therefore, only 44 items under the sub-groups of client's satisfaction, energy efficiency, operation and maintenance, space management, sustainability, and VM study were relevant and best fit the initial development of the integration of FM in VM studies. As a matter of fact, these 44 items were proposed and modified based on the opinions of the experts.

CONCLUSION
Overall, the present study concluded that VM ought to be connected with all of the project stages. However, an earlier start is always a great decision to minimise the obliged investments in executing any adjustments as well as the need to save money, efforts, and achieve the best quality and ideal solution for emerging issues. Moreover, it should be noted that the main goal of an FM manager is to ensure the functionality of the built environment by taking into consideration the aspects of people, place, process, and technology. Therefore, it should be applied throughout the whole life cycle of the building starting from the pre-construction phase with the aim of achieving optimum results, avoiding unnecessary problems as well as a means of saving time, effort, and money.
On another note, the findings of the qualitative data can be used to confirm the functions needed in ensuring that FM managers are regularly involved in VM studies. More importantly, this data will become the basis for future research to proceed with a quantitative strategy, particularly in establishing an FM-VM integration framework. In other words, the findings from this preliminary phase of research can be employed to assist further development of the questionnaire survey which includes summarising the profiles of individual interview participants as well as interpreting the meaning of the discussion. On a final note, it should be understood that the purpose of individual interviews is to qualitatively confirm the issues that are grounded in the theory obtained from the intensive literature review.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The current research benefited from a grant provided by the University of Malaya under FRGS Project No. FP025-2014B. The authors would like to express their deepest gratitude towards the anonymous referees for their help and constructive comments.