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Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Facility Assessment Teams,
The time has come to prepare for your Assembly Hall Facility Assessment, which has been assigned by the branch
Local Design & Construction department (LDC).
Here is the schedule for the Orangeburg Assembly Hall Facility Assessment at:
184 Assembly Hall Way
Orangeburg, SC 29115-8241
Monday, March 30, 2015. To prepare you for the assignment, training sessions using the Internet have been
scheduled for 6:00pm and 7:30pm. These can be attended from anywhere you have access to a computer or
tablet and an internet connection. All volunteers on the roster will receive an email inviting them to a webinar at
one of the times indicated. If you have not received an invitation, please contact Rick Gerlach immediately at
[email protected].
Saturday and Sunday, April 4-5, 2015. This is Phase 1. All assessors and data collection volunteers are needed
from each team. This is a preliminary counting and measuring work. Breakfast and morning worship starts at
7:00am, and we plan on working until 8:00pm each day if needed. Time adjustments may occur as work is
completed. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided.
Thursday, April 16, 2015. All RBC Committee members and assistants are requested to attend a walk-through of
the property and site with the FACT Team and AH Operations Overseer. Walk-through at 5pm, dinner at 7pm.
Friday - Saturday, April 17-18, 2015. This is Phase 2, the actual assessment itself. Breakfast and morning worship
starts at 7:00am, and we plan on working until 8:00pm each day if needed. Time adjustments may occur as work
is completed. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided.
The above information and more is available at our help website at: http://help.jw-ah.org. There you will find a
team training letter for this assessment (also attached to this email), videos explaining how to use the assessment
website, and if you are an assessor, PDF files containing instructions specific to your discipline.
Each of you will be assigned to a specific role on an assessment team. An assessment team is made up of an
assessor, two data collection volunteers and a navigator.
Assessor
If you are an RBC department overseer skilled in a specific trade like Plumbing, Electrical, HVAC, Sound, etc. you
will be assigned as an assessor. The assessor’s job is to look at the pieces of the building associated with a
particular discipline and identify, count, then assign a specific time of replacement and a cost to those items.
Navigator
If you are an RBC Committee brother or a committee assistant, you will be assigned as a navigator. Your job is to
use the site and room maps provided to keep the team moving in a systematic way through the property. This job
allows you to also become familiar with how the teams assess the property.
Data Collection
If you are not assigned as an assessor or a navigator, then you are working as a data collection volunteer. Your
job is to record the information conveyed to you by the assessor onto data entry sheets and then input that
information into our web application.
Facility Assessment
Training
There will be an online training session using web conferencing software for the teams involved in Phase 1 of the
assessment. You will receive an email invitation if you are invited.
Data Collection
The assessment is scheduled in two phases. The first phase will be a preliminary measuring and counting effort
performed by an assessor skilled in a particular trade and data collection persons to enter the data that is
collected into our website.
A team of approximately 100 people will work at the assembly hall. Assessment teams consisting of one assessor
and two data entry persons per team will go through the site, and all rooms in all buildings on the site.
Assessment
Phase 2 is the main assessment effort. The dates are listed above. Breakfast will be served at 7:00am, and training
will start at 8:00am. This effort will conclude on Sunday, with just the Committees possibly returning on Sunday.
Typical days go from 7am to 8pm.
Here are some answers to Frequently Asked Questions:
1. How should we dress?
Dress as you would for an RBC project for Phase 1 and Phase 2.
As reminder, please make sure that your clothing is modest while working in any position, as we will be going
throughout the building looking at all the rooms, measuring them, training and taking pictures.
2. What will I need to bring with me for this assignment?
Assessor – measuring tape or laser measuring tool. Screwdriver or other tools needed to open panels,
inspection hatches, etc. If required for the type of roof, fall protection gear for roof team. If you are in Civil or
Landscaping, please bring a long tape or wheel to measure off large areas on the site.
Navigator - A clipboard, and pencils or pens for writing things down.
Data Collection - A clipboard, and pencils or pens for writing things down.
In addition, for data collection, you will need to bring a Windows or Mac laptop. Please make sure that
your laptop is virus-free and functioning properly before bringing it with you, we will not have time to
troubleshoot computer issues during the assessment.
Preparing your laptop
Please download antivirus or operating system updates before coming to the assembly hall so your
computer is ready to go right away.
No special software is needed other than an up to date web browser. On Macs, we prefer that you use
Mozilla Firefox instead of Safari, so please install that ahead of time.
Wireless access will be limited, our preference is that you use a laptop that can be connected to a
network cable.
That said, the assembly hall property website works fine on most tablets, although the dropdown lists will
look slightly different.
During the assessment, please bring a digital camera if you have one. If a cable is needed to transfer
photos to a computer, please bring that also.
Data collection teams work in groups of two with at least one computer per team. So if you don’t have
one you will be paired with someone who does.
3. How long will we be on-site?
Plan on 7:00am to 8:00pm each day.
4. Where is the meeting location for the work?
See the beginning of this letter.
5. What exactly will we be doing?
For the Data Collection, small assessment teams plus a photo team will go to the assembly hall and will do the
following:
1. Label all the rooms using the room numbers on the provided room map. This is usually done with 2”
blue painter’s tape and pre-printed labels.
2. The architectural teams will take measurements of the Length, Height and Width of all rooms.
3. A photo team has been assigned to take pictures of the site, buildings and all rooms in all buildings.
4. The architectural teams will identify, measure and record all the architectural finishes in each room
and quantify all architectural fixtures – get dimensions of attached countertops, cabinets. Count toilet
and urinal partitions, etc.
5. The Civil and Landscape teams will work outside to measure the perimeter fence lengths and types,
paving areas, the area of landscape beds and plantings, and capture the square foot area of the
various types of irrigation systems in use.
6. All other teams will count the items in their disciplines – electrical will count light fixtures,
transformers, branch circuit panels, light poles, etc. HVAC will count grills, registers, count & identify
rooftop & package units, chillers and so on.
During the main assessment, your job as assessment teams will be to:
1. Evaluate and rate all assets, room by room in the assembly hall. Record on a worksheet all of their
ratings.
2. Data collection will take pictures of items the assessors evaluate as needing replacement within 1
year.
3. Data collection will take all the data mentioned above and enter it into a database using a web
browser.
4. Train for future assessments by your RBC.
6. What can I do to prepare ahead of time?
We have prepared training videos to assist you in understanding how data entry and the assessment process
works. You can view the videos here:
http://help.jw-ah.org
We will have the videos available on-site for those who missed them, but if at all possible, please view the
videos at home before you come to work, as they lay the groundwork for the training you will receive on
Friday of the assessment.
At first glance, all this may sound overwhelming, but we assure you it will not be. We will train you and work with
you to answer any questions that you may have.
We want you to enjoy this assignment. It will give you time to work with your brothers and sisters in an important
task. We are doing work that will require some diligence but we will do it in a refreshing and lighthearted way. A
highlight of our time together will be spiritual programs that will take place each day.
The Facility Assessment Consulting Team, working in behalf of the US Branch, thanks you for your kind and willing
support. We look forward to meeting and working with you.
Your brother,
Rick Gerlach
Facility Assessment Consulting Team
[email protected]
650-619-7569