ELFI Process

ELFI DIFFERENTIATORS WITH EVERY PHASE ~ OPTIMIZING RESPONSIBLY SINCE 2002

ELFI’s pre-fabricated, custom-engineered exterior wall and roofing panels offer an authentic “green and sustainable” alternative with verifiable financial returns and qualitative benefits that leave traditional wood-frame, CMU block construction and pseudo-green technologies where they belong – back in the 20^th century. Energy-efficient construction does not have to be complex or expensive. We’ve proven that in a multitude of projects for nearly two decades.

LARGER SCALE

When customers seek integrative systems, total systems integration, large scale development planning, to La Fleur ELFI, this is as exciting as it gets!  The most important and operative words in these beautiful enquiries are “PLANNING and OPTIMIZATION”.

Importance of Strategic “Planning”, the First Integrative Phase of a Successful Engagement:

Planning refers to the process of deciding what to do and how to do it. Planning occurs at many levels, from day-to-day decisions made by individuals and families, to complex decisions made by businesses and governments. ALL are necessary influencers and MUST be considered, when defining an equitable and feasible approach to effective strategy and development efficiencies.

ELFI professionals facilitate decision-making. ELFI does not make decisions themselves; rather, we advise, coordinate and support decision-makers (customers themselves, managers, public officials, citizen-leadership) by coordinating information and activities. ELFI’s role is to create a logical, feasible and equitable, systematic decision-making process that results in the best actions.

Although grounded in the micro to macro “details”, ELFI helps nurture a community’s deepest aspirations, such as unity, compassion, hope and beauty. ELFI translates theoretical goals into specific actions. Planning is an art as well as a science. It requires judgment, sensitivity and creativity. Planning often deals with “in-between” issues and so requires perception of what the Cambridge Dictionary defines as “between two clear or accepted stages or states, and therefore difficult to describe or know exactly”. For example, architects are concerned with building designs, while ELFI is concerned with all aspects of the gestalt of for entire project, including ventilation and all efficiency and health related factors. Similarly, ELFI could be responsible for integrating various transport system components (walkways, parking facilities, driveways, roads, terminals, ports, etc.), creating connections between different agencies, sectors and jurisdictions. As a result, as ELFI is a Business Ecosystem in and of itself, ELFI must collaborate with diverse interest groups, utilizing its Strategic Partnerships when and where applicable.

ELFI facilitates change, and so must overcome entrenched practices and interests. We often encounter resistance from people who assume that what they consider normal must be good, that is, people who look back to the past rather than forward to the future. For example, efforts to improve transport system efficiency by encouraging use of alternative modes often face resistance from people accustomed to automobile travel. “I just want to be able to drive where I want,” they argue, implying that such a demand is reasonable, even if accommodating additional vehicle traffic is increasingly costly, in every sense of the word “costly”.

In ELFI’s role as an objective negotiator, we are often in the middle of conflicts. We often have the most knowledge about a project and its likely impacts of a particular decision, and so we are often responsible for anticipating unintended consequences and representing the interests of people who are under-represented in the decision-making process, such as children, elderly, the poor, and future generations.  Here too, ELFI, as a Business Ecosystem, with our Strategic Partnerships, is of the utmost importance to facilitate positive sustainable outcomes.

Planning Principals:

Good planning requires a methodical process that clearly defines the steps that lead to optimal solutions. This process should reflect the following principles:

• Comprehensive – all significant options and impacts are considered
• Efficient – the process should not waste time or money
• Inclusive – people affected by the plan have opportunities to be involved
• Informative – results are understood by stakeholders (people affected by a decision)
• Integrated – individual, short-term decisions should support strategic, long-term goals
• Logical – each step leads to the next
• Transparent – everybody involved understands how the process operates
• Cultural – cultural and institutional integrity respected
• Socio-economic – tangible and intangible; education and other influences

As ELFI customizes, systemizes and optimizes everything (Approach, Processes, Methods, Systems) pursuant to each engagement, a “front-end engagement sketch” will be facilitated to answer questions and provide an understanding of our mutual-expectations and the manner that we will operate to expeditiously bring projects and programs forward, through implementation.  Programs, projects and/or initiatives are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and everything that we do is customized-systemized for the greatest effectiveness and efficiency, equitability and inclusiveness, without compromising the integrity of the initiative, while protecting, enhancing and optimizing stakeholder interests. 

High-performance, high-impact, sustainable developments with optimized socio-economic outcomes and impact are at the forefront of our areas of expertise, optimized through our cross-cultural management methodology and cross-sector experience. (NOTE: ELFI as a Business Ecosystem.)  It is important to understand that although our approach, process, method-system may seem extraordinarily detailed, and that is because it is extraordinary.  However, that does not mean that it is time and cost prohibitive.  Empirically, the overall time saved by intense attention to detail up-front, and within the concept stages of engagement, eliminates delays and reduces the time and cost, through implementation and execution.  Our system eliminates the gaps and voids that usually occur in the typical heuristic development approach, as ours is a holistic and gestaltic system.  Our system may seem complex to those who maintain twentieth century thinking, however for us it is a common-sense integrated and blending of efficiency. 

Another unique feature of our system is that we further enhance our optimization process with having communication, feedback and evaluation mechanisms built-in, which continuously strengthens the initiative from the beginning, through the post-implementation of initiative. 

Given this is an overview, only, our early stage/phase engagement for assessment, evaluation, development and optimization is to innovatively ensure the quickest path to implementation and sustainable and successful outcomes.

No project given a template strategy from one entity to another entity to simply implement will optimally succeed in any sustainable program.  Steps, stages, phases and teams vary by/with composition and timeframe. Thoughtful, comprehensive and collaborative concept development and crystallization of all components (known, or previously unknown) first, will eventually result in an optimized plan, that is both actionable and operational.

Sustainability Planning:

Sustainability emphasizes the integrated nature of human activities and therefore the need to balance economic, social and environmental objectives. Interest in sustainability can be considered a reaction to overly specialized decision-making focused on easily measured goals and impacts, while ignoring those that are indirect or more difficult to measure. Sustainability planning requires comprehensive analysis that accounts for all significant impacts, including those distant in space and time. It strives for development (increased quality) rather than growth (increased quantity), and recognizes resource constraints and ecological risks such as fossil fuel over-utilization, habitat loss and climate change. Conventional planning asks, “Does it work?” Proper sustainability planning asks, “Is it sustainable and equitable, now and for the future?” That is, whether individual decisions are accountable to overall long-term goals.