Talk:Collateral management

Architecture, engineering or construction industry term

This may also be considered a title in the A/E/C industry as the person who coordinates multiple firms and government agencies in a project. This should not be confused by the financial definition in any sense of the meaning although its meaning is still derived from the definition of the dictionary's adjective definition of Collateral:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/collateral

1. descended from the same stock, but in a different line; not lineal: A cousin is a collateral relative.
2. pertaining to those so descended.
3. situated at the side: a collateral wing of a house.
4. situated or running side by side; parallel: collateral ridges of mountains.

So this is managing all of the information and requirements from the sides. This orientation of direction is derived from the numerous amount of disciplines and organizations in the government that need to be adhered to prior to getting the design approved for a building permit or the equivalent in any industry.

Once the architect gets the project then all of these entities have input. I have listed a few of many specifications below for the A/E/C industry as it pertains to building construction.

Building Departments Zoning Committees Fire Marshals Engineering Codes Architectural Codes ANSI Standards Local Building Codes NFPA Codes ADA Codes Water Management

This often means more than one firm is working on the same project because of their expertise and licenses which are required in order to make the design eligible for construction. There Civil, Electrical, Mechanical and other engineers are hired for their expertise which all need to be incorporated properly into each set.

Please keep in mind this does not account for the multiple ways of breaking all of these down I was trying to simplify it. There are Federal, State, County and City versions of these requirements. In the United States the most strict definition of these codes are used according to a project's location to construct the building. So if the Federal codes are not as specific or as strict as the local code than the local code is used.

After getting the documents to the government agencies this person needs to address all of the comments and resubmit it after getting all of the comments and new information from every other firm involved in the project because they will have to update their information also. This will happen multiple times through out the development of a building design depending on the time and type of submittal it is. This is the process of getting all for the permits and approval of the government where the contractors can get Bid packages. There will be changes again for RFIs (also known as requests for information), change orders and the rest of the things that happen through out this process. Sometimes this person might have to do even more after the construction process starts like order materials, coordinate deliveries of materials, and project management. There are other times some of these responsibilities are passed on to another person such as a super superintendent or a general contractor to manage at this stage of the project. It all depends on the companies and their hierarchy.

This is a unique position where the "Collateral Manager" is responsible to give the client the desired end result with in the specified documentations. This still all has to keep the approval of the client and government agencies for an A/E/C firm. This position is not to be confused with a project manager or a person who goes out into the field like a superintendent or a contractor. It is more of a position that heavily involves coordinating several other firms and agencies like building departments to produce the documents for a client which is overseen by the person responsible for signing the design documents. These people also tend to do many other functions with in an A/E/C firm depending on the size of the firm.