OPERATIONS PHASE -for Interior Design Projects

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 Operations Phase is the final part of the Project Management. It is considered an important phase for complex projects such as large Buildings and Industrial plants. Project Designers though familiar with all aspects of the project, rarely bother to attend to it. Interior Designers, unlike other building designers, continue to provide their services, long after the projects have become functional. Their continuous involvement in managing a project does not let them clearly perceive an operation’s phase.

In real life conditions, owners or their managers (housekeeper, etc.) ‘manage’ the operations. However, complex Interior Design projects do require professional project operators or such services providers to attend to the project, efficiently and perpetually. The professional operators are highly competitive, but job-specific agencies. And when too many get involved, there are conflicts of interest, duplication of work and negligence of some key functions.

Some of the operations’ services required are, Fire, Disaster management (earthquake, hurricanes), Safety, Security, Health hazards, Police, Pollution, Environmental services (HVAC), Water Supply &amp, Drainage, House keeping, supplies, disposal, Guarantee & warrantee updating, Inspection and assurance.

Operations’ phase has many different facets.

1. It depends on who initially launches the project, such as the assigning client, the project organizer or the builder, and who will ultimately own the project, such as the owner or lessee users.
2. Projects relying on efficiency or productivity and involving life threatening situations require very exact operations procedures.
3. In case of high stack or public projects resultant and residual (historical) liabilities are huge and bear on the complexity and cost of operations’ phase.
4. Projects that are continuously improvised and rationalized, need a monitoring system of data Feed-forward and Feedback.

Projects have operations phase, either as an obvious supplement or a very in-distinctive and presumptive entity. In the first case, the estate developing agencies plan, design and execute the projects, and then deliver the product along with its operational mechanisms. Whereas in the later case, the project convener is the ultimate owner of the project, and so the operations phase may not be very distinct.

• Projects executed through ‘Design Specifications’ (the traditional method of creating Design drawings and specifications) have subsystems that are tested, guaranteed, warranted and formally delivered by the individual vendors. But often no comprehensive mechanism exists for the integrated working of all sub systems. In the absence of it, Planners, Designers and Executioners cannot transfer their responsibilities (and so liabilities) to the professional operators. Professional operators will not touch a project without a total assurance. 

• Projects contracted through ‘Performance Specifications’ (allowing a vendor to propose an entity for the set performance requirements and defined methods of its testing) invariably have many built in provisions for care of the main and subsystems during the emergent phase. The agency also operates the systems for few trials or a period, and than formally hands it over to the appointed operations agency.

Projects that are conceived in terms of results to be obtained, consistently over a long period of time, have a definite conceptual framework. Here the operation’s phase is an integrated approach of the project management. Projects that involve risks arising out of their sheer existence, or operations are planned, designed and executed with integral operational strategies.

Simple and projects of routine nature are distinctly delivered - handed over to a client or a user, according to a defined process and schedule. The client or user, then on their own, or through other agencies are expected to manage and operate the system. For such projects a feed back from the operations phase helps in optimization. But projects that are rare or unique, the feedback is not immediately useful. Where owners or conveners, are also the project operators, can utilize the feedback to conceive a better project next time. However, projects are handed over to outside operators, and the feedback may not be shared or efficiently used.

OPERATIONAL SPECIFICATIONS

Operations’ specifications have lesser bearing on how an item is created or procured, but relate to the working of a system. The operations’ scheme exploits the built-in capabilities, and is also sustained by planned external interventions. The actual strategies for intervention are formed by the operations agencies. The agencies also need clear definition of conditions that will require a response. Operational responses come from, both the occupants and professional agencies. They primarily need to know the lay of the site (building, plants, etc.).

Operations Specifications need following know-how:

1. Details of structure of main and sub systems of the installation,
2. Replaceable parts and their specifications,
3. Schedules and modalities for repairs and maintenance,
4. Required inputs and outputs of the system, Supply, Disposal methods, and Handling hazards,
5. Operative instructions
6. Hazards, risks, ways to make the systems safe or inoperative
7. Dismantling and disposing the installation or its parts.

Such specifications are compiled as Manuals, Charts or Booklets that are easy to access with all types of cross referencing facilities. These are placed at relevant locations across the estate. Often such manuals are multi lingual or graphical to obviate the language barrier. Many are in the form of signage, instructions or warning signals. Operations specifications also include methods of observance, supervision and feedback systems.