Rich McEvoy

I found XMind to be particularly helpful, recently, in discussing a project with a new staff member.  We needed to create a project plan but had to sort out a number of elements to know where to begin.

The tool allow me to easily assemble my thoughts and goals.  What seemed overwhelming at first was quickly brought under control using the tool.   The new staff member was very appreciative of the approach and was able to grasp the problem and is working towards an effective plan.

Thanks Colleen – I also had never notice the ruler, very clever.  Thanks for sharing.  I may have to watch the YouTube that Phil referenced!

Thanks, Phil.  This is a great synopsis.  I use my Email & Calendar (Outlook 365) in combination with a notebook to manage key tasks at work.   I sometimes capture personal ideas/ tasks on my mobile phone for future reference.  Is there a app within Microsoft that brings it all together that you would recommend?

Hi Robin,

I asked our Projects & Construction Manager and she replied:

Policy at Fanshawe for construction over $100k is to post publicly.

We complete Request for Supplier Qualification every 3 years to create a VOR list (see attached), construction is maximum $20M to use VOR list, others will be posted publicly.

Contracts are awarded on price, Not subjective criteria. Bid documents are either Fanshawe internal short form or run with Prime

Consultant as CCDC2 or CCDC5B bid with full specifications.

Hi Ahmed,

It’s been awhile but I recall that there were a number of key fields that were not available in the module to support an intuitive workflow.  Also, reconciling the project invoices between Archibus and our financial system was complicated.

Good Morning Colleen.

Fanshawe attempted the Projects module several years ago and even had a functioning data feed with Colleague to transfer financials.  Unfortunately, it didn’t meet the needs of our Project Team so it never got off the ground.

I believe Humber has done a fair amount of work with Projects – you may consider following up with Suzanne Hardcastle or Spencer Wood.

…Rich

Hi Brian
I can’t speak to the overall capital project prioritization but can share how we look at the deferred maintenance component which may help as I’m sure there are similarities.
We look at 3 levels: 1. Building/ 2. Assets & Systems/ 3. Recommendations
1. Buildings are assessed for usage type which have been assigned scores (Academic 100; Admin 50; Residential 50; Other 30; Site 20)
– essentially, Academic buildings have higher priority

2. Assets/ Systems are assigned multiple scores for each uniformat code;
a) Condition (Critical 5,…., Excellent 1) Note: These are assigned at the time of the building condition assessment
b) Consequence of Failure (Life Safety 100; Campus Shutdown 100…. , Occupant Discomfort 10, Minor Concern 10)
c) Severity (Serious 100 …. Minor 40)
d) Accessibility (Will improve 100; Not likely to improve 1)
e) Level of Green Improvement (Significant Green Energy & Carbon Reduction 100; Significant Green Energy 80; Significant Carbon Reduction 80;… No improvement 1)

3. Recommendations (in SLAM, from Building Assessments)
– scores are assigned to individual recommendations by our internal Committee to break ties. If 2 competing recommendations have similar scores from the previous calculations, our cross-functional group can usually discern which has the higher priority and assigns a score accordingly.

Scores are assigned automatically for 1) and 2). Our committee assigns scores for 3) during monthly review meetings as required. All scores are recorded in SLAM for transparency. The higher the collective score, the higher the priority.

I hope this helps.

…Rich