| Author |
Message |
Margaret G. Chewning FCSI CCS
Senior Member
Username: presbspec
Post Number: 240
Registered: 01-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - 03:31 pm: |    |
I need some research help! I was reminded today that I had "volunteered" to do a chapter program next month. The topic I've been given is "How to Reduce Cost and Errors w/ CSI Certification".
I know this to be true from my own work and believe it to be true in A/E firms, however have no research/facts to back up my assumptions/belief. Do you have any articles or statistics that I can use to establish my position on this? At least point me in the right direction?
Any help you can give me will be great!
Thanks
Margaret
Margaret G. Chewning FCSI CCS CCCA
SpexResources, LLC |
Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEED® AP SCIP Affiliate
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski
Post Number: 1742
Registered: 07-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - 04:21 pm: | |
One university client I'm currently working with now advises that an "experienced specifications writer" be used. (It is recommended that an experienced dedicated specifications writer be employed to write specifications on [Owners] projects.)
They further require that CSI formats be used, and cite many CSI mantras: "Contractor shall" is prohibited language, for example, and issues are to be addressed only once (say it once in the correct place).
And they are holding my feet to the fire; I'm responsible for the formatting and proofreading of consultant specs.
They clearly understand the value of a certified spec writer, although they don't use that word.
Does this help? |
George A. Everding, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA
Senior Member
Username: geverding
Post Number: 704
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 14, 2014 - 04:53 pm: | |
Hi Margaret-
Ujjval Vyas did a presentation at the North Central Region conference in Minneapolis last year. I believe he was involved with an ongoing CSI study into the very question you raise. You can probably look up his contact info on the CSI website.
George A. Everding AIA CSI CCS CCCA
Allegion PLC (formerly Ingersoll Rand)
St. Louis, MO |
Chris Grimm, CSI, CCS, SCIP, LEED AP BD+C, MAI, RLA
Senior Member
Username: tsugaguy
Post Number: 319
Registered: 06-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 12:52 pm: | |
See Ron's article at link here, pg 41: http://discus.4specs.com/discus/messages/23/6268.html?1345059603 |
Sheldon Wolfe
Senior Member
Username: sheldon_wolfe
Post Number: 706
Registered: 01-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 02:23 pm: | |
Just as an architectural license does not mean the architect knows what to do or how to do it, a CSI certification doesn't mean the certified person will reduce cost or errors when compared with a non-certified person. These are things we like to believe, and hope are true, but I doubt there is any statistical evidence to support them. If you have it, please pass it on! Absent such information, all we can say is that it's likely a certified person can leap tall buildings.
I recently saw a disclaimer at the end of one chapter's advertisement for certification classes, stating that passing the exam does not guarantee anything. I suppose that's a smart move in today's world, but it doesn't instill confidence. |
Lynn Javoroski FCSI CCS LEED® AP SCIP Affiliate
Senior Member
Username: lynn_javoroski
Post Number: 1744
Registered: 07-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 02:25 pm: | |
I beg to differ: passing the exam does guarantee a passing grade on the exam. |
Sheldon Wolfe
Senior Member
Username: sheldon_wolfe
Post Number: 707
Registered: 01-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 03:03 pm: | |
Well, there is that. |
George A. Everding, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA
Senior Member
Username: geverding
Post Number: 708
Registered: 11-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, January 15, 2014 - 03:50 pm: | |
As some of you may be aware, CSI’s Certification Committee was partitioned in FY13 into two groups, the Certification Strategic Group (CSG), which I chair, and the Certification Maintenance Group (CMG), chaired by Ann Baker. Ann’s group, CMG, is charged with the fundamental and ongoing task of maintaining the item banks of test questions, compiling the four exams twice every year, and analyzing the results of each exam to assure that the quality of the program is consistent. The CSG will focus on evaluating how well our programs relate to industry standards for credentialing, and recommending improvements to keep our programs relevant in the future. This fundamental change in the Certification Committee has been long overdue, in my opinion, and will be beneficial in streamlining the committee’s future workload.
It shouldn’t surprise this experienced group of specifiers that there exist standards, and standard agencies, for test writing and credentialing. The Institute for Credentialing Excellence (ICE) has some interesting things to say about what certification means. For example, “…certificate programs have some functions in common with professional or personnel certification, namely, identifying and evaluating the knowledge, skills, and competencies requisite to effectively performing occupational and professional roles.” So while I have to agree with Sheldon that a person’s passing our certification doesn’t guarantee anything, I also need to expand on Lynn’s counter-point. A CSI certification designates that you have “…demonstrated the requisite knowledge, skills, or competencies …required for competent performance of an occupational or professional role or specific work-related tasks and responsibilities.”
So for example, everybody can write a specification, and maybe some non-certified individuals are better at it than some CCS’s. But only those who have passed the CCS exam have demonstrated their specifying skills against a consistently applied, professionally administered, and psychometrically valid assessment. CCS is the best measure that an individual is qualified to practice the profession of construction specifying – however it says nothing about whether that individual chooses to practice competently. (Ditto for CCCA and CCPR)
George A. Everding AIA CSI CCS CCCA
Allegion PLC (formerly Ingersoll Rand)
St. Louis, MO |
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