By Renee Hoekstra, CVS – President, SAVE International
So excited to say SAVE International is growing more collaborative relationships with other professional organizations that share common interests. You will recall that I mentioned we were working with the Society of Product Cost Engineering & Analytics (SPCEA) and it is now official, the cooperative agreement has been signed. Additionally, SAVE just signed a memorandum of understanding with the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). And, yes, there is one more – we have had an initial meeting with the global organization of the Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering (AACE) and will be finalizing that cooperative agreement in the very near future.
This is all amazing news for our organization for many reasons. These cooperative relationships give each organization an opportunity to continue to ensure that we share our language and technical approaches that support everything we do and to support consistency in our industry. This is one area where we have seen struggles for many years, the misconceptions and misunderstandings of what the Value Methodology (VM) is all about. We also get to focus on opportunities for access to supporting and developing new educational materials from each organization, networking, and expanding resources to our members. Now you can see why I am so excited. We will continue these efforts with other complimentary professional organizations.
One thing that will need to occur with all of these organizations is a plan forward. We will be working with each to determine the next steps including how to best share technical approaches. This might mean establishing a Technical Committee within SAVE. Every professional organization that I have been involved with has a standing Technical Committee. If this is of interest to you, please send an email to the SAVE business office at info@value-eng.org and let them know. Additionally, we will be working on our other existing committees such as Education, Conferences, etc. There are many opportunities for our members to engage with other professional organizations. Get involved and help to Spread the Word…and remember “the Word is VM.”
The 2021 Virtual Value Summit is fast approaching. Everyone should have received the registration announcement. This is going to be a unique opportunity for all of us across the world. We are a global organization and this is one way we can embrace and engage our international community. Don’t forget to get registered!
We’re also offering several pre- and post-Summit educational sessions to obtain Professional Development Units (PDUs) in addition to the Value Methodology Fundamentals 1 (VMF 1) and Value Methodology Fundamentals 2 (VMF 2) virtually.
This will also be my last opportunity to address the membership as your current President. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you, albeit it will be virtual. I am so looking forward to our in-person Value Summit in June of 2022. Start planning for joining me in Arizona for an amazing celebration!
We have received three proposals for our rebranding efforts for SAVE. We are reviewing these and will hopefully be able to finalize the approach and the contract with one of them. This means that you may be targeted to get involved with these efforts. This would include providing your thoughts about the organization. Stay tuned.
We know that we need to update much of the material that we currently use within SAVE to align with the new VM Guide. We agreed that the VM Guide is our official body of knowledge and we are diligently working to make these things happen. All of this work is being done by our volunteer members and so this is not moving as quickly as we had hoped. Please be patient as we all work towards these enhancements. With that said, we are still working on the changes with the VMF 1 course. We are working with a professional firm to develop an 8-hour, web-based VM course which will be integrated as part of the VMF 1. We are also updating the VMF 1 to align with the VM Guide. The Certification Board is also working on updating the Value Methodology Associate (VMA) exam to also match the new VMF 1 course. Until we have finalized all of this, keep using the current VMF 1 as your teaching materials.
As I look around home, nationally and globally, I notice that things are slowly moving back to a more normal way of life. It feels good and I’m excited what the future has to hold for SAVE and our members. I am also very proud that SAVE was and continues to be a driving force for the virtual approaches to delivering quality workshops and training. It seems that although we are getting back to what we are used to, virtual approaches will permanently remain a part of what we do. Let’s not get complacent, but continue to look for opportunities to share new approaches and technologies and share with our clients and peers ways to continue to be successful whether it be in-person, virtually or a combination of both. We know that we can do it, let’s continue to be LEADERS. Keep up the great work!
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