Developing a facility plan After working in facility design for many years, you have become well-known in the industry. Your manager has asked you to create a short handout that new employees can refer to as they receive training through the company. This handout should walk new employees through the process of facility planning. Create a 350- to 700-word handout that summarizes the process of addressing facility planning needs. Include the following in your handout: Describe the steps of facility planning. Explain the importance of pre-design planning. Explain the rationale (or decision process) when determining whether to renovate or replace a health care facility.

The Importance of Pre-Design Planning

Pre-design is the phase of analysis that takes place after some form of funding is available and before design begins. During the pre-design phase, studies are done to examine space requirement issues, the constraints and opportunities of the decided site, and the cost versus the budget. The importance of pre-design planning includes project objective setting, project scope establishment, and constraint identification (Hyun et al., 2022). Objective setting is an essential key planning issue that has to be addressed during the pre-project planning. The objectives guide numerous decisions required throughout the project life cycle. Several problems exist in the objective setting environment. It ensures that the communication system between the users and developers of the app is clear and that the two-way communication channels are smooth. It ensures a suitable and accurate cost analysis. It leads to clarity of concepts and goals (Abobakr, 2018). Project scope helps to differentiate what is and is not used in the project and controls what is allowed or detached as it is executed. Scope management establishes control issues that can be used to address elements that result in changes during the project’s lifecycle. Pre-design planning helps identify limiting factors for your project that can impact quality, delivery, and overall project success.

The Rationale when Determining Whether to Renovate or Replace a Healthcare Facility

The decision whether to remodel or replace an aging facility turns on such factors as whether the existing building was designed for expansion and how well it has been maintained. The possibility of relocation should be considered with an expansion program even if a move isn’t seriously contemplated. It is essential to consider a facility’s condition and age before replacing or renovating it (Farahani et al., 2019). Some facilities may not be necessary to be replaced as they may be in a condition where renovation would be applied, which would save on resources, also, some facilities would require replacement as their age and condition would not allow them to be renovated as they may require much compared to replacement. The satisfaction of patients would also be essential to consider as a facility may be replaced and eventually lead to dissatisfaction of patients, but other facility renovations would be appropriate to meet the satisfaction of patients (Yuan et al., 2022). A healthcare facility works in a stable environment, thus, it would be essential to consider a stable environment when replacing or renovating a healthcare facility. The accessibility of the facility is essential to consider as a facility can be replaced by areas where it can be difficult for patients to access. It is essential to have knowledge of such factors to consider when determining whether to replace or renovate a healthcare facility.

Conclusion

Facility planning is a systematic procedure that innovative organizations use to ensure they have the facilities and related resources necessary to meet both their short-term and long-term goals and it determines how an activity’s tangible fixed assets best support achieving its objective. The facility planning process involves four steps: understanding, analyzing, planning, and acting, and it is vital to understand the steps as they enable a facility to run effectively. Pre-design is the phase of analysis that takes place after some form of funding is available and before design begins, and the importance of pre-design planning includes project objective setting, project scope establishment, and constraint identification. Pre-design planning helps identify limiting factors for your project that can impact quality, delivery, and overall project success. When determining whether to replace or renovate a healthcare facility, it is vital to consider factors such as accessibility for it to be easy and cheap for a patient to access services from the facility, it is also essential to focus on the surrounding environment as a health facility require a favourable environment.

References

Abobakr, A. (2018). Necessity of Cost Control Process (Pre & Post Contract Stage) in Construction Projects: Cost Control in Pre & Post Contract.