How can we help
Please let us know what you need, and one of our team will get back to you promptly
Please let us know what you need, and one of our team will get back to you promptly
Case Studies
Brightwater Care Group is one of Western Australia’s most trusted aged care and disability support providers, with a community presence spanning more than 100 years.
Operating 9 residential aged care homes, a retirement village, 15 supported independent living sharehouses for people with complex disabilities, and a range of in-home care services, Brightwater is a cornerstone of care across the Perth metropolitan area. At the heart of everything they do is a commitment to helping clients thrive - with dignity, choice, and quality of life at the centre of every interaction.
Learn more at brightwatergroup.com.
Managing 28 aged care and disability properties spread across more than 100 kilometres of the Perth metropolitan area - from Mandurah in the south to Joondalup in the north - is no small feat, particularly with a Property Services team of just eight people. With properties this dispersed, physically visiting every site in a single day was simply not feasible. Paper-based processes, once sufficient, had become a significant constraint: central oversight was difficult, information was hard to locate quickly, and the risk of miscommunication or error grew alongside the demands placed on the team.
Adding to the complexity was a market of FM solutions that were largely designed for the mining sector - expensive, overly complex, and not suited to the realities of a care organisation. Brightwater’s Property Services team needed a platform that was robust enough to scale with them, but accessible enough to be adopted without the disruption and resource burden that typically accompanies an enterprise software rollout.
Brightwater Care Group first engaged FMI Works in the 1990s, drawn by the strength of the platform, a sensible price point, and an interface that their team could genuinely use without extensive technical overhead. The simplicity of the solution enabled broad deployment across the organisation - onboarding staff without the friction that so often derails new software implementations in time-pressured care environments.
What has distinguished this partnership over two decades is its collaborative nature. Brightwater’s Property Services team have worked closely with FMI Works’ in-house specialists to continuously evolve how the platform is used - expanding into new modules and features, contributing to the product roadmap, and ensuring the solution grows alongside the organisation’s strategic needs rather than stagnating after initial deployment.
"These discussions allow my team to think beyond the normal constraints, and consider the viewpoints of others who are experts in the field. They always bring your focus back to - how will this be managed into the future? - going back to structure, consistency, conformity, and relevance."
- Ray Breen, Property Services Team Leader, Brightwater Care Group
One of the most significant operational improvements has been in stakeholder reporting. With all work order data centralised and accessible in real time, the Property Services team can provide accurate, up-to-date information to leadership at any moment - eliminating the delays, guesswork, and risk of miscommunication that came with manual processes. Whether it’s a snapshot of active jobs, outstanding requests, or completed works, the information is available instantly and reliably.
"Real time information is imperative when it comes to reporting up the line, reducing the risk of miscommunication, and giving all parties the confidence the data is accurate, and up to date."
- Ray Breen, Property Services Team Leader, Brightwater Care Group
The time savings created by FMI Works have had a tangible impact beyond day-to-day operations. Resource that was previously consumed by manual data entry - up to two days per week - has been redirected to higher-value activities, expanding the team’s capacity to focus on strategic work. Equally, when it comes to budget planning, the comprehensive maintenance cost data now available through the platform means proposals are backed by evidence rather than estimates, giving leadership confidence in the recommendations put forward by the Property Services team.
"Where previously we might have had two days a week spent on data entry, that resource can now be utilised for more value-adding activities."
- Ray Breen, Property Services Team Leader, Brightwater Care Group
For Brightwater, the value of FMI Works has compounded over time. An ageing property portfolio, growing compliance demands, and the increasing complexity of the aged care sector have all shaped how the platform is used - and the team’s forward-thinking approach means they’re always finding new ways to extract value. Better project management capability now supports long-term asset planning, and the depth of data available continues to surface insights that would previously have gone unnoticed.
"Facilities management is going to continue to evolve - there’s no such thing as the pinnacle, it is forever changing, which is part of the appeal of the job."
- Ray Breen, Property Services Team Leader, Brightwater Care Group
See how facilities teams use the FMI platform to solve challenges and drive results.
If you like this story so much you'd like to share it with your friends, click the button below to access a take-home copy.
Schedule a free demo of FMI Works to discover how we can help you centralise and streamline your facilities management processes.
Explore latest industry insights, news and updates from the FMI Blog.
