Updates from the Leading Association for the Cleaning Industry Worldwide

CIMS Certification Opens At ISSA/INTERCLEAN In Orlando

ISSA opens Cleaning Industry Management Standard (CIMS) certification to the industry at large at ISSA/INTERCLEAN^® North America 2007, in Orlando, FL, October 23-26. The opening of certification follows a successful case study certification program that saw the majority of applicants achieve certification.

CIMS is a management framework that sets forth the processes, procedures and supporting documentation that are universally recognized as the hallmarks of a well-run, customer-focused cleaning organization. Building service contractors (BSCs) can use the Standard and certification to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, improve operations, and validate their commitment to customer satisfaction while in-house service providers (ISPs) can use the Standard to benchmark and set goals for internal improvement. In addition, CIMS is a powerful tool that distributors, manufacturers and others can use to better understand what it takes to manage a cleaning organization and appreciate the challenges faced by the facility service provider (FSP) community.

With certification being embraced by the facility management and purchasing communities — including having received an endorsement by the International Facility Management Association and having been mandated in the new RFP issued by the Port of Seattle for janitorial services at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport — BSCs and ISPs are encouraged to apply for certification as soon as possible. In fact, ISSA has been informed by numerous facility management professionals who desire an easy way to pre-qualify contractors and want assurance that their service provider is managed in a quality, customer-focused fashion that they will make CIMS certification a prerequisite to bidding on their facilities. To become certified, an organization must undergo a comprehensive assessment by an independent, accredited assessor that includes documentation review, management and employee interviews, and customer site visits.

Certification applications are accessible online, and copies will be available at ISSA/INTERCLEAN in Orlando at the ISSA Resource Center, Booth 2977.

Case study reports detailing the experiences of those organizations that achieved certification during the case study program will also be available at the ISSA Resource Center. Further, representatives of all CIMS-certified organizations, as well as all certified experts and accredited assessors, will be publicly recognized immediately prior to the convention’s keynote address on Thursday, October 25, in the Valencia Ballroom of Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center.

To prepare organizations for certification, ISSA has also certified nearly 100 individuals as ISSA Certification Experts (ICE), arming them with the tools necessary to provide training and/or consulting services to those interested in complying with and preparing to be certified to CIMS. The ICE program is primarily geared toward distributors, manufacturers, manufacturer representatives, consultants and others who wish to assist their FSP customers in achieving certification.

For more information on CIMS, ISSA/INTERCLEAN attendees will want to make sure to sit in on the Standard’s educational sessions held at this year’s convention, including panel discussions with representatives of CIMS-certified organizations on Tuesday, October 23, at 9:00 a.m. and Wednesday, October 24, at 1:30 p.m. (the latter at the ISSA Education Theatre on the tradeshow floor); and an intro-to-CIMS seminar on Friday, October 26, at 8:30 a.m. Come hear about the experiences of your peers, what it takes to go through the process, and the tremendous value of certification.

Visit this link for a current list of CIMS-certified organizations and experts. For more information on CIMS and certification, please contact Dan Wagner, director of CIMS, at 800-225-4772; e-mail.

ISSA.com is well on its way to setting a new user-session record in 2007. By July of this year, the association’s Web site had already racked up more than 1.1 million sessions, and it’s fast closing in on last year’s record total of 1.5 million. Plus, the average time visitors are spending on the site has increased, with this year’s average clocking in at more than five minutes per session — an average that’s likely to increase with the launch of the new, totally revamped ISSA.com in early October! Check it out.