The design process of a post-occupancy decision toolkit (PODIT)

Post occupancy evaluation (POE) and associated processes have recently been highlighted as an important stage in a buildings' lifecycle. This stage is now well embedded in the Royal Institute of British Architects' (RIBA) plan of work. For educational institutions, buildings are important assets in providing good quality services and are subject to rigorous statutory requirements by governing authorities. The effective delivery, maintenance and operation of these assets throughout their lifecycle are therefore equally important. The post occupancy processes such as maintenance and improvement are often complicated as a result of the high number of stakeholders involved, the funding and responsibility hierarchy and the complexity of space functionality. Performance requirements as well as legal and liability-related issues and requirements also need to be taken into account. Preliminary research has shown that these complex and multi-layered processes can be improved by the support of an information and communication technology (ICT) toolkit. This toolkit should be of the same level of complexity or higher to be able to effectively assist in the daily operation of school sites, while providing decision makers with a real-time information support system. The aim is to promote a more direct, informed and feedback-based decision process among stakeholders and other interested parties. This paper presents partial outcomes of an on-going research project and sets out to describe the design principles for this toolkit. It starts with an overview of the stakeholders, their needs and workflow practices and the performance and legal requirements they have to comply with. It then investigates the relationships among stakeholders and what factors need to be prioritised within the system. The paper concludes by presenting an overview of the proposed toolkit based on these user-prioritised factors and the design principles that allow the toolkit to enhance, yet integrate with the established managerial and decision making practices, with the objective of low risk and seamless deployment.