Bottle Necks

 

By Mike Harris, CAPP

I was fortunate enough to have experienced the IPMI conference in Ft. Worth and really enjoyed all it had to offer, and I can honestly say it offered a lot. On my way back home as I waited in the baggage claim area for what seemed like an eternity, it got me thinking about what was slowing down the process. In other words, what was the bottleneck?

Our industry is so diverse and has many areas of focus. Some of those areas include the planning process, construction process, and overall operations. These are specific in nature but also intertwined.

There are many bottlenecks in the areas listed above. Being able to identify them and having ways of mitigating them requires a lot of effort and ingenuity. Having a well-thought-out process and taking the time to identify the pitfalls that could slow down and or even stop your project is well worth the effort.

It is important that we as parking professionals make sure we get the key departments involved from the start. Those that should be at the table sooner rather than later are Legal, IT, and Risk.

They can help protect you and your organization in so many ways, such as reviewing contracts to avoid issues later. They can make sure the software is compatible. They can add language to mitigate risk and help avoid litigation. These are only a few examples of the importance of making sure key areas are addressed in ways to make sure your bottlenecks are few.

I want to give credit where it is due. The folks from Legal, IT, and Risk sometimes can slow your projects down and we all know how important it is to meet the deadlines established. However, by getting involved as soon as possible can provide the expertise to not only make sure you have a successful project, but it can also speed up the deliverables by addressing issues early. Now if only it could help luggage arrive faster.

Mike Harris, CAPP, is Director of University Services for SP+, and a member of the IPMI Accredited Parking Organization Working Group. He can be reached at gharris@spplus.com.