Facilities Construction and Planning Department Capabilities

he Portolan Group, Inc is pleased to be expanding its services to schools and school districts to provide assessments of facilities construction and planning services.  In many small to medium-sized schools, districts or colleges, the facilities construction and planning service functions are outsourced to local providers. 

 

Large educational organizations may have groups within physical plant operations or separate departments providing these services in-house.  PGI will seek first to understand if the facilities construction and planning services are meeting the vision and mission that stakeholders have for these services.  There are many factors involved in this discovery.  PGI’s facilities department assessments include the analysis of: 

• The interaction between school sites, facilities and physical plant operations personnel 

• Compliance with regulatory agencies (State Statutes, Uniform Building Codes, NFPA, AIA, OSHA, etc) regarding contracting versus in-house projects

• Balance and appropriateness of in-house design, construction, engineering and architectural staff with outside purchased services based on size, growth, building condition, etc.

• Permitting practices

• Timeliness of service (design, project management, construction, building inspections, etc)

• Customer clarity regarding facilities versus physical plant operations functioning

• Project management practices and interaction with trades/outside contractors

• Software utilization/IT practices (CMMS, CAFM, integration with DWA, etc)

• Building Commissioning Practices/Methodologies/Warranty transference

• Practices related to identification and tracking of deferred, predictive, preventive maintenance and capital improvement needs

 

Depending on the scope of service requested, The Portolan Group will analyze and provide recommendations related to:

 

• Financial data inclusive of staffing and non-staff related expenditures along with their funding sources
• Department staffing and scheduling; either outsourced or in-house
• Organizational and cultural factors influencing performance
• Department budgets and financial accountability (in-house or outsourced)
• Comparison of in-house and outsourced operations options
• Policies and procedures 
• Training programs and curriculum
• Expenditure and resource balance analysis between purchased (contracted) services, staffing and materials/supplies
• Staffing interactions/interfacing with other departments
• Job descriptions

• Interviews with appropriate stakeholders including administration, staff, unions/associations and board members

• Organizational structures (the current organizational chart and staffing for administrative, staff and hourly employees)

• The use of technology and systems in the operation of the departments

• All past department reports and studies

• Procurement practices, including outside purchased services

• The culture of your school, district or college specifically as it relates to facilities departments

During the assessment, PGI will continue to work with the client until there is a complete understanding of the observations and recommendations and select strategies for improvement.  PGI will provide the client the information necessary for sound decision-making.  Its assessments involve analysis and recommendations that allow educational leadership to choose the correct timeframe and methodology for improvement/change strategies. 

 

After the analysis is complete, PGI will combine all this information into findings and options for departmental improvement.  PGI will provide you with the operational, financial and cultural implications of its recommendations.  If appropriate, PGI will provide strategies for change implementation including revision of facilities restructuring due to financial restraints.  Everything PGI does to assist a client will offer strategies for improvement that are practical and can be implemented in “the real K-20 world.”  PGI understands the different models of school, district and college facilities services.  It provides assessments that are based in both sound practices and innovative strategies.  PGI’s purpose will be to help you envision how utilizing improvement strategies and optional operational models “can be the best” option a client has to save money and/or improve its operations. 

 

If the client requests, PGI will also:

• Facilitate the decision-making process, acceptance and implementation of our recommendations.

• Train the staff in new methods of budget and operational analysis and in change management in a school, district or college culture. 

• Provide the capability/expertise to lead the school, district or college through the change/implementation process. 

 

Prior to beginning work, The Portolan Group will meet with administration and facilities staff to prepare a detailed plan to coordinate the work.  In addition, The Portolan Group will coordinate a detailed timetable of key dates and deadlines with administration.  Senior members of The Portolan Group engagement team will hold periodic meetings with staff to discuss the timetable, the progress of the engagement and any unusual circumstances or problems that might require modification of the plan.

 

PGI’s assessments are conducted in phases.  These phases are identified for project organization and may overlap.  The same or similar processes, methods and data may be analyzed in more than one phase.  The assessment may include the following:

 

• Data gathering, analysis and interpretation
• Field work and site visitation (administrative centers, school sites, etc)
• Staff interviews
• Report writing
• Presentation of findings including comments and data
• Presentation of recommendations/options for improvement
• Presentation of best practices
• Presentation of cost impact and implications
• Presentation of implementation assistance strategies
• Collaboration with staff to identify desired recommendations and improvement plans and the implementation of the same

 

Navigator:  The Program

 

The Portolan Group designed Navigator to provide schools with an affordable and flexible program of facilities construction and planning department assistance.  Navigator will be tailored to an individual school, district or college.  It is designed for those schools that do not need or cannot afford a major intervention.  It allows for significant assistance at a minimal cost. 

 

Navigator allows The Portolan Group to provide both on-site and off-site expertise.  PGI provides benchmarks, review, guidance and task-specific support.  PGI will provide this assistance to departments that are in-house or outsourced.

 

Examples of services that can be included in an individualized Navigator program:

 

• Site visits (as few as once a year, or as often as every month)
• Benchmarks for productivity and financial performance
• Staffing reviews
• Quality assurance tools/programs
• Electronic communications with PGI staff for on-going support
• Contract oversight and monitoring for outsourced programs
• RFP writing for outside purchased services/programs
• Technical assistance with specific needs/challenges
• Program evaluation
• Assistance with internal or external Audits

 

Navigator:  The Cost

 

Navigator is designed to provide a school, district or college with optimal flexibility and affordability.  The cost is determined on an individualized basis.  It may include minor assessment, on-going implementation assistance, contract monitoring, program review, etc.  Navigator provides the school, district or college with the ability to spread out costs.  It provides a predictable cost (budget) for the assistance.  PGI will work to put together a service and pricing structure that will enable any size school, district or college to benefit from its services.  The longer the contract term, the more the costs can be spread out.

 

Navigator:  The Benefits

 

Not all educational institutions need or would benefit from a major assessment of their support services programs.  Navigator was created to allow PGI and the school to work together to provide incremental improvements to existing programs. 

 

Benefits realized from the Navigator Program include:

 

• Decreased Program Costs
• Improved Program Quality
• Easily Accessed Technical Support
• Better Integration of Facilities Services with Academic Programs
• Incremental Gains in Student Achievement
• A Safer, Cleaner Environment for Student Learning

 

Navigator Program Example

 

The Navigator Program may be designed to provide school, district or college with a specific set of services over a twelve month period of time.  For these services, the school, district or college will pay The Portolan Group and annual retainer of $12,000, paid at a rate of $1,000 a month.  

 

Within this Navigator Program example, PGI will provide the following services for $12,000 annually:

 

1.  Four on-site visits per year

 

2.  Benchmark efficiency of services-financial performance (provide metrics)

 

3.  Benchmark effectiveness of services-operational performance (provide metrics)

 

4.  Review staffing and scheduling

 

5.  Quality Assurance tool for the service will be provided (whether the service is provided in-house or outsourced)

 

6.  Unlimited electronic (phone and email) communications with PGI staff

 

Please Call, Email or Visit us on our Website.  PGI will work with schools to design a program that will specifically meet on-going facilities construction and planning needs.

Safe Harbor – A Tool for Self-Assessment of Construction and Architectural Services

 

The Portolan Group Inc. is proud to present a tool designed to enable a school, district or university to conduct a self-assessment of its facilities construction and planning services.

Safe Harbor is an assessment/quality assurance program that includes everything a school, district, college or university needs to review and monitor its facilities construction and planning operations on an on-going basis.  This is the same program The Portolan Group has been using for years to assess some of America’s largest school district facilities programs.  It is now available for an individual school, district, college or university to use on its own.

PGI’s Safe Harbor Program is an invaluable tool for department heads.  It should be used each year to measure and monitor improvements in department functioning.  Whether you are a new manager/director or have been the department’s leader for many years, this program can help you determine and improve your department’s performance.

Included in our Safe Harbor Program is our exclusive performance index (PI).  This valuable tool breaks down specific areas and functions in facilities programs that are routine, day-to-day operational tasks and show you which are under-performing as well as those that are performing well.

The facilities construction and planning performance index includes over 140 important items, rating each by item and category.  The PI is broken down by department and then categorized.  Below is a list of a sample of the categories:

• organization culture
• planning
• budgeting/funding
• project management
• design
• facility occupancy and evaluation
• leadership and staffing
• purchased service contracts management
• use of technology
• training

Each category is summarized with scores and ratings (1-unsatisfactory, 2-needs improvement, 3-acceptable, 4-target, 5-best practice) and ranked according to percentage of score achieved.  A scoring matrix is provided to assist with calculating scores.  Each score and rating summary is automatically calculated.  This gives the client a bird’s eye view of how each department is functioning.  It provides the client with an opportunity to specifically focus efforts on those areas that do not rate well.

Portolan Group staff is available to provide on and off-site assistance in the training, implementation and monitoring of the program.  PGI staff will also provide guidance in assessment methods and strategies.  This separates PGI’s program from any that are simply software-based.  PGI’s trained staff will work with clients to ensure that the indices are used in the manner that will provide the best results.  This on-site assistance is available as part of the program.

The Portolan Group recommends a client do an initial assessment using multiple raters.  This will establish baseline data for each department.  PGI advises clients to use the data to establish categories and areas in each department that are strong as well as those needing improvement.  Needed resources to help with the change strategies can then be identified and monitored.  This information should be shared with staff (both labor and management) to coordinate improvement efforts and strategies.  These efforts should be reviewed monthly by the management team. 

Assessments using the PI should then be repeated every six months.  These repeated ratings will provide information on improvement.  The information gained from these repeated assessments will enable management to determine re-allocation of, and additional resources needed to fuel the improvement process.  PGI recommends the creation and utilization of a task force and performance teams to implement improvements and change.

At any time in this effort, staff from The Portolan Group will be available to provide assistance.  All licensing programs include unlimited phone and email support for the life of the agreement. 

PGI’s Safe Harbor Program includes:

• A performance index for the department in electronic format
• Directions on how to use the performance indices
• On-site support from PGI staff for the initial training and monitoring of the program
• The license to utilize the index (license is valid for one year from the date of purchase)
• Unlimited phone/e-mail support for the duration of the license
• A reduced cost license renewal option for use and support of the program for future years

PGI has many options in the Safe Harbor program to assist a client’s department including:

• PGI staff completion of all components in the PIs.

• Providing detailed reports derived from the analysis of the PIs.  These reports include findings, conclusions and recommendations for improvement.

Everyone has heard the old saying, “You need the right tool for the right job.”  Well, you have just found the right tool to assess and help you improve your department’s performance.  The staff of The Portolan Group believes every student deserves a safe harbor in which to learn.  This program is one more effort on PGI’s part to make that destination a reality.

As an example, if you purchase the core Safe Harbor program, you receive: 

• A cd-rom with detailed items and rating scales for each service (soon to be a web-based program)
• Detailed instructions for the use of the program
• Instructions for how to use the program as a facilities construction and planning quality assurance program
• Free e-mail and telephone support for one year for use of the program

 

The facilities construction and planning services performance index is $750.00

To find out more, call us at 1-87-PORTOLAN (1-877-678-6526).  Every Student Deserves a Safe Harbor!