Assigning access rights to Architects, Interior designers & MEP designers for performing Statutory activities

As per the compilation of this author,56 is the number of statutory activities that have been identified as required to be performed by building designers out of 113 total statutory activities for a mid-size construction project.

·       By Architects=37 

·       By Interior designers =9

·       By MEP designers =10.

    Total=56

These 56 activities pertain to 5 key statutory processes as per details given in Chapter 1,2,3 of the handbook for each of 3 design functions

·       1. Meeting RERA compliances

·       2.Meeting statutory regulations & taxation obligations

·       3.Obtaining licenses, approvals & maintaining statutory records w.r.t. statutory Acts

·       4. Complying with IGST matters

·       5. Deducting TDS on Consulting Services

Of course, the number of statutory activities can be expanded by designers as required. The brief narration of each of the 113 activities can be found in annex 21B of this author’s handbook, wherein applicable statutory Act’s references are also provided 

This blog aims to provide essential insights into the process of assigning access rights to designers in ERP environments in  4 steps. This process necessitates clearly defining the following.

·       Function to be assigned

·       The team within the function proposed

·       The Employee Level

·       The team member position

Four steps

1. Building Segregation of duties (Abbreviated as S-O-D) concept to avoid role conflict

2. Developing profiles, also named authorisation profile

3. Understanding the concept of roles

4. Attaching Profiles to Roles

Step 1. Building SOD in the process

The concepts related to SOD are captured in my earlier blog dated 13^th July 2022 below & hence not being duplicated.

https://www.ethicalprocesses.com/blog_detail/Avoiding-conflicting-roles-amongst-Architects-Interior-and-MEP-designers

The “template design” of  the illustrations indeed facilitates achieving  SOD.

Step 2. Development of profiles /Authorisation profiles -for accessing statutory activities -2 illustrations in tabular form in the template

Each profile signifies what can be accomplished vis a vis five activities listed below authorization profiles as below for each statutory activity   

·       Create or initiate the statutory activity (col 2)

·       Edit or modify the above design activity (col 3)

·       Delete the above design activity (col 4)

·       View the above design activity (col 5)

·       Approve the above design activity (col 6)

Such development of profiles needs to be done vis a vis following based on business needs.

·       Above 56 Statutory activities (37 in Design of Architect, 9 in interior design, and 10 in MEP services. It means developing 280 authorization profiles (@5x56 statutory activities identified). The author proposes developing 2000 profiles for Statutory activities as several activities are performed by project teams as well as mentioned earlier. The profile numbering can be say starting from PS00001 to PS02000

Step 3. Understanding the concept of “Roles.”

Roles mean what a particular professional (here, a designer) is authorised to do per a few examples below.

·       Developing a sanctioned drawing for seeking statutory sanction is one simple role

·       Integration of developed sanction drawing with, say, MEP design is another role, which is a relatively complex role  

·       Obtaining sanction from statutory authorities is yet another example of the complex role

A complex role can have many simple profiles attached to it 

A role can have one or more combinations of profiles (e.g., out of 280 profiles for 56 statutory activities or 2000 expanded profiles) attached to it to be called a “Simple or complex Role.” 

Based on the above-tabulated illustrations, the configured “Authorisation Profiles” PS00001 to PS 00005 so developed can be attached by the Concerned HOD, in this case, Chief Architect here HOD of Architect function to  “Roles” (with the help of the IT/ERP team) depending on the roles planned at the granularity level.

·        Once all the 280 authorization profiles (for 56 statutory activities) have been developed (or expanded 2000 profiles as mentioned above), attachment of these profiles to various roles is proposed to be done in three stages as mentioned in step 4 below, mainly when the design organisation is operating in highly digitalized/ERP environments.  

Step 4. Attaching Profiles to Roles

·       Although the Number of profiles can run into hundreds or thousands, the number of designers in organisations is limited. Therefore, before the final attachment of profiles to roles, thorough testing is done to see that statutory design activities are carried out smoothly based on competency assessments at different hierarchical levels & positions by the persons who will perform such roles.

           The three stages are: 

§  Attach profile to roles in “Development computer server”

§  Test roles in “Test servers” by ERP teams and designers              

§  Upload roles to the “Production server” for implementation after approval of testing of roles

·       To ensure that no incompatible or conflicting authorization profiles get attached, the roles, post-testing, can be connected to the production server by following

P-D-C-A (plan-do-check-act) approach

·       The number of roles can run into tens or hundreds, which can get hundreds or thousands of profiles attached depending upon the following:

·       Size of team and complexity of the organization

·       the variety of Construction projects residential, commercial, educational, SEZ,

·       The skill level of designers

·       The multi-tasking role expectation of the organisation.

·       The technology of construction, design software,

·       The design organization structure and empowerment culture

·        The risk appetite of the company. 

·       Some highly reputed ERP developers, like SAP, offer profile-generating software solutions wherein authorization profiles can be developed and attached to architects, interior, and MEP designers for design development.

Advantage of attaching Profiles to Roles

These roles are assigned to different positions rather than individuals, as the process is independent of individual-named employees. 

Such profile assignments are to be done digitally but must be done diligently, and each role as each role will have a multitude of authorisation profiles attached to it.

Handbook of the author 

A template illustrating assigning access rights to statutory activities is included in chapter 11 (annex 27C) in the author's handbook and titled” ETHICS in the real estate and hospitality industry, Volume 1- Architectural, Interior design, and MEP services. “