As a consultant to the OSFC, Rii’s Technology Division collaborated with OSFC staff to identify the business needs, then designed and developed an interactive, secure Web site and backing database, set up to enable the small OSFC staff to manage the entire life cycle of school facilities in more than 600 school districts throughout the State of Ohio. Numerous stakeholders authenticate with the system in order to contribute to the process via workflow designed in such a way as to minimize bottlenecks.

From first outreach to the school district, the OSFC staff starts making use of the system. A facility assessment team inspects the facilities in the district, suggesting work that needs to be done in order to renovate the facility, inclusive of any career technical spaces therein. An environmental hazards expert clarifies any dangers to the environment. Parallel to these activities, an educational planner conducts interviews and research in order to project the student population over the next ten years. Next, the planners and career technical consultants take all these data, and work with the district to establish a master plan to ensure that the district has the facilities it needs and will need soon. Once a plan is selected and approved by the district and its constituents, the renovation and construction process can begin. The architect designs facilities in accordance with the Ohio School Design Manual, and any variances they wish to request go through the variance request system. Bids on construction work are posted through the bid announcement system, which will feed bidder and, ultimately, contract information into the construction progress tracking. During the construction process, operations and maintenance documents and details are tracked, and feed the facility maintenance planning process. A Maintenance Plan Advisor applies these data and their expertise to develop a maintenance business plan, so the district can be equipped to show good stewardship of their renovated and new facilities. All of this goes through the expert system that Rii designed and developed, and thanks to this software, tasks that were complex and difficult to perform by hand on a district with just three buildings have been managed successfully on districts with 150 buildings.