Education Forum: Education Opportunity Highlights for SAVE Members

By Stephen J. Kirk, CVS Life, FSAVE, FAIA, LEED AP – Vice President Education, SAVE International

Education opportunities for SAVE International members are of paramount importance. As Vice President of Education, I am responsible for creating these opportunities in conjunction with the SAVE Board of Directors and the Certification Board. These educational opportunities will also support member continuing education for certification and Professional Development Hours (PDH).

Highlights of this year include:

  1. New VM Fundamentals I and II course educational material
  2. New knowledge nugget video on Facilitating Function Analysis
  3. Value Methodology Pocket Guide update
  4. New “University Challenge” initiative to encourage students to attend the SAVE Value Summit
  5. Keynote speakers at the SAVE Value Summit and other selected speakers videoed for SAVE’s e-learning website
  6. New Function Models Guide under development
  7. New VM Applications Guide by SAVE College of Fellows under development
  8. New Facilitation Guide under consideration
  9. New Value Enhancing Methods (VEM) Guide under consideration

A major undertaking this year included developing instructional materials for our new Value Methodology (VM) Fundamentals I and II courses. Both Steve Garrett, CVS, and I were tasked with this responsibility. These new courses address the core competencies identified by the SAVE Certification Board and Education Committee, and replace the old Module I and II courses. Each of the new courses is a minimum of 32 hours in length. These courses were rolled out at the 2017 Value Summit in Philadelphia last month. Current instructors attended a special session on the new material, and later in the week the first course was offered to SAVE members and non-members.

Facilitating a VM study was identified as a core competency for the value practitioner and is a part of the VM Fundamental courses. Ginger Adams, CVS Life, FSAVE, developed a new three-minute knowledge nugget video on Facilitating Function Analysis, and it was presented at this year’s SAVE Value Summit. Our next knowledge nugget video will address the overall benefits of using the VM for improvements to projects, products and processes.

The Miles Value Foundation (MVF), under the leadership of president Bruce Lenzer, CVS, FSAVE, gave a highly welcomed workshop on Function Analysis and its facilitation at the MVF Forum during the 2017 Value Summit. Dave Wilson, CVS Life, FSAVE, presented a pre-summit training session on facilitation which was also well received. Both of these sessions were videoed for placement in SAVE’s e-learning website.

The MVF is in the process of updating the Value Methodology Pocket Guide which is SAVE’s Body of Knowledge. This effort includes coordination on Function Analysis which is in the new SAVE Function Analysis Guide. MVF is also focusing on improvements to university VM course training materials.

Educating college students in the VM is also supported by SAVE. A new initiative this year was called the University Challenge. This challenge encouraged various universities that teach VM to submit their best student work for judging by SAVE. Selected students Monisa Manju Nagarajan Gomathi and Xiao Xiao Lyu from Arizona State University (ASU) were funded to attend the SAVE Value Summit and present their VM study. This VM semester course at ASU was a graduate course in the construction management program. Chris Kmetty, AVS, Geza Kmetty, PE, CVS-Life, and myself taught the course. Universities are encouraged by SAVE to offer VM semester courses.

Again this year, the keynote speakers at the SAVE Value Summit were videoed for our e-learning training library. Also selected pre-summit sessions and speakers at the SAVE Value Summit were videoed for SAVE’s e-learning website. This e-learning will help members earn PDH’s for continued certification.

A new education guide is under development which will offer various “Function Models” for use by SAVE members. These include:

  • Customer Function Model
  • Function Tree Model (heavily used in Europe)
  • Organization Function Model
  • Function-Cost-Worth Model
  • Others to be identified

The purpose of this Function Models Guide is to expand SAVE member techniques in Function Analysis.

The SAVE College of Fellows will begin work on identification of various applications of the VM. This would result in a new VM Applications Guide. Current application focuses on use during the design of a project. For manufacturing, it is applied to improve existing products or to improve new designs, and process improvements usually are focused on existing processes. Expansion of application in projects might include for example:

  • Predesign
    • Feasibility Studies
    • Master Planning
    • Standards & Criteria
    • Project Scoping
  • Post Design
    • During Construction
    • Existing Facilities
    • Renovations
    • Post Occupancy Evaluations

Product and process additional applications will also be explored.

Yet another education initiative is potentially a new Facilitation Guide. This would address the facilitation of the six phases of the VM. This is particularity important to those SAVE members that facilitate VM studies.

Also under consideration is a guide that would focus on how various value enhancing methods (VEM’s), such as Six Sigma, Lean, Risk, etc., could be used in conjunction with the VM. This would be called Value Enhancing Methods Guide. This is consistent with SAVE Board’s strategic plan.

These are some of the new SAVE educational opportunities for our members. The SAVE 2018 Value Summit in Austin, Texas will continue to expand on these opportunities and go beyond the fundamentals to a new mastery of the subject.