4.1 This practice can be applied to the requirements for facility serviceability of many functional occupant groups, provided that an appropriate set of requirement classifications for each type has been established.

4.2 This practice can be applied to rating the facility serviceability of a building or building-related facility.

4.3 This practice can be used to ascertain the requirements of a group or organization at the time when the group (1) needs to ascertain the serviceability of the facility it occupies; (2) is contemplating a move and needs to assess the relative capability of several existing facilities to perform as required, before deciding to rent, lease, or buy; (3) needs to compare its requirements to the serviceability of a facility that is being planned, or is designed but is not yet built; (4) is planning to remodel or rehabilitate the space it occupies and needs to establish the required level of serviceability that the remodeled or rehabilitated facility will have to meet.

4.4 This practice is not affected by the complexity of the requirement for serviceability.

4.5 This practice can be used by any individual with sufficient organizational, functional, and technical knowledge of buildings to act as an informed facilitator. The individual charged with the task of leading the process of establishing the functional requirements of an occupant group or organization needs basic facilitation and interviewing skills. The individual charged with rating the serviceability of a building needs sufficient knowledge of buildings to identify the features that are present.

4.6 This practice provides a means of setting typical required serviceability levels for any serviceability topic, and of comparing the required levels of functionality for one occupant group or organization against levels set by others.

4.7 This practice provides a means for organizations to set a profile of functional requirements for each type of occupant group within that organization.

4.7.1 This practice provides a means for organizations to identify and validate exceptional needs of their occupants rapidly.

4.7.2 This practice provides a means of comparing the requirement levels of various occupant groups within an organization.

4.8 This practice provides a method for comparing how well an occupant's functional requirements match the capabilities of different buildings or facilities, despite differences such as location, structure, mechanical systems, age, and building shape.

4.9 This practice provides a framework that allows design professionals and facility managers to select the most cost-effective means of providing a facility that will best provide the required levels of serviceability.

4.10 This practice helps the occupants to understand how various functional requirements interact and impact on the overall serviceability of a building or building-related facility and on its level of serviceability for each topic.

4.11 By providing a direct link between the features of a facility and its level of serviceability on any topic, the descriptions of each level clarify how various subsystems and materials used in a facility interact to provide that level of serviceability.

4.12 Examples of Potential Applications: 

4.12.1 Project Feasibility-When the owner of an older building considers remodeling it into apartments, or needs to rehabilitate it to bring it up to current market demand.

4.12.2 Select Option Before Leasing-A corporate real estate and facility manager compares ratings of several office facilities before selecting which to lease.

4.12.3 Compare Serviceability of Design Options-An architect rates various designs to select the most effective way of achieving design objectives within a fixed construction budget.

4.12.4 Marketing-An owner rates a building for several potential uses to identify target markets that would find the building most serviceable in its present condition, or when remodeled for another use.

4.12.5 Suitability of Existing or Proposed Use-A potential buyer assesses the suitability of a facility for multi-tenant office use.

4.12.6 Cost Reduction-The owner rates various design options to select the most cost-effective means for achieving a target serviceability profile.

4.12.7 Financial Analysis-The owner or potential buyer assesses likely benefits of a proposed remodel and conversion from a warehouse to a highly technical manufacturing building.

4.12.8 Energy and Water Conservation-The owner or potential buyer compares the likely relative levels of energy or water consumption of a facility, or the likely cost-effectiveness of options to reduce energy and water consumption, or improve indoor air quality.

4.13 This practice is not intended for, and is not suitable for, use for regulatory purposes, nor for fire hazard assessment, nor for fire risk assessment.