CIMS Certification
CIMS – Cleaning Industry Management Standard
What Is CIMS Certification?
CIMS applies to management, operations, performance systems, and processes. Compliance with the Standard demonstrates an organization is structured to deliver consistent, quality services that are designed to meet the customer’s needs and expectations. It sets forth processes, procedures, and supporting documentation proven to be characteristic of customer-driven organizations. CIMS is non-prescriptive and each individual organization has the flexibility to choose the most effective ways in which to meet its requirements.
The Standard is divided into six areas of management best practices:
- Quality systems
- Service delivery
- Human resources
- Health, safety, and environmental stewardship
- Management commitment
- Green Building (GB)
CIMS applies to an organization in its entirety, rather than to a specific individual, process or product, and without respect to the size of the organization.
Saving Money
Ultimately, the CIMS program is all about saving money. By implementing an effective management framework and green cleaning program, organizations are positioned to improve operational efficiency and better serve their customers, which naturally leads to cost savings.
How to Get CIMS Certified (Continued Below)
To achieve CIMS certification, a facility service provider organization must submit written documentation supporting their compliance with the requirements described in the five key sections of the Standard. To achieve certification, an organization must meet 100 percent of the mandatory elements and 60 percent of the recommended elements, per section.
An ISSA-accredited third party assessor then conducts an on-site review of the applicant’s systems, processes and documentation to ensure compliance, as well as visit individual customer accounts or locations to ensure that the organization’s activities are consistent with the documented systems and processes.
Why Should My Organization Pursue CIMS Certification?
In general, CIMS Certification should lead to improved efficiency, greater customer satisfaction, and an overall better quality of service regardless of whether your organization performs cleaning in-house or is a building service contractor.
Building Service Contractors: CIMS presents a terrific opportunity for a building service contractor to validate its commitment to quality and customer satisfaction. Only a CIMS-certified organization can say that an independent third party has actually performed an assessment of their systems, processes, and policies and agreed that they have instituted the management framework required by CIMS and demanded by those individuals responsible for selecting a cleaning service provider.
CIMS has received an official endorsement from the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), who has recognized the program as a powerful tool their members can use to pre-qualify contractors. As a result, more and more facility managers, purchasing professionals and others are citing CIMS in their requests for proposal and cleaning specifications, including the Air National Guard Readiness Center at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, State Farm Insurance, and others who have made the decision that only CIMS certified organizations are eligible to be awarded a cleaning service contract.
Created By the Industry, For the Industry
The Standard was created through a true consensus-based process that brought together representatives of the cleaning, facilities management, and purchasing communities. In total, more than 100,000 constituents were represented in the process, which included full peer review, and was administered by ISSA and the American Institute for Cleaning Sciences (AICS).
As of today there are only 72 cleaning organizations that have become certified to the Standard in North America.