LEED Online V3 Executive Status Update

This session featured three big-wigs at the USGBC providing glimpse into the successes and failures of the new LEED-Online version 3 system and where the system is heading in the near future. Interestingly, the overall tone was very apologetic and they really worked to emphasize the continuous improvement taking place behind the scenes. Amazingly, the questions from the crowd were the most complimentary and cordial that I've seen. The crowd really seemed to feel that most of the big problems are behind us. I actually haven't gotten into a v3 project yet, and am curious to hear your thoughts.

These guys care... is what I heard about 20 times during this session

History

The first LEED-Online system was produced in about 6 months with 10 people on the team to respond to a urgent demand for an online certification system. "We consider LEED-Online 2 to be a success story because it met the mandate for an online system" on a shoestring budget in a very short period of time.

LEEDv2 wasn't scalable, and from the beginning the USGBC knew it would have to be replaced entirely. To date, about $7 million and 100,000 man-hours have been invested in the recently released current system, LEED-Online v3, and it's designed to scale based on LEED growth and allow flexibility for future improvements. 1956 projects are currently registered under v3 with three complete certifications to date. There were also additional features in the new system, including smart forms that automatically populate common figures (e.g. occupancy and square footage figures) and a rating system selection guide for new users... You've heard all this before though, so let's get to the update on how the new system is performing:

Problems

"The complaints started rolling in in July and August... I just want to acknowledge that we're not happy with the feedback and the way the system was performing... Thanks to the feedback received, [read: complaints] we're in a much better place today than we were early in the Summer." The number one complaint according to their tracking revolves around form problems and incorrect calculations that result. There were multiple comments requesting feedback, so your complaints do get heard! The feedback button seems to be the primary means of complaints, though the hotlines account for over 500 complaints so far.

Improvements

There was a great slide about the problems they've faced (I'll see if I can get that posted here), showing a number of problems since the launch that have been resolved (mac access, login problems, a full size credit review page, SOME form calculation errors, etc.) I did get the impression from the panel that the USGBC is really pushing to resolve these problems, and they've spent 64,000 man hours since the launch working on problems. According to their own figures, out of 2336 known issues with the system, all but 154 have been resolved.

The Form Issues

Most issues are resolved through release updates that occur over the weekend to minimize disruptions, but for some credits, notably the EAp2 form for energy efficiency compliance, they have resorted to project by project updates as requested by project teams. They're now going through a process that updates problematic credit forms based on those that have the most impact (i.e. are used by all or most project teams). If a form has not been used yet (i.e. no information has been uploaded), it will be upgraded automatically. If information has been loaded, the USGBC leaves it up to you to decide to upgrade the form, and strongly recommends that you do so. At that point, the USGBC will update it for you over a few days wth no data re-entry required.

Through 2010

The main vision outlined by the USGBC for the near future involves improved usability and performance (including ongoing maintenance), robust help content including integration with LEEDuser (note: LEEDuser is a sponsor of this site, but I promise I would have mentioned it anyway!), and project reporting and metric features that weren't well described. Before opening it up to questions, Mike Opitz declared "I stand before you today with a strong sense of humility and a strong sense of hope."

The Questions

"What's the deal with the lack of offline form work?" The reasoning behind removing that ability largely focuses around how the forms are much more linked to the overall system than in the old system, but they are looking into ways reinstate this functionality in the future. No timeline was offered.

"What guidance are you giving to the review teams about what's appropriate in the mid-review communications and what should be submitted in the formal CIR process?" The response here basically stated that they're not terribly certain about this, and are working on it as they go. I'd suggest just asking whatever you can and let them either answer or reject it.

Dates for LEED 2009 Releases Announced at Greenbuild

Full disclosure - I'm not at Greenbuild right now, but I am taking advantage of the live streaming seminars on greenbuild365.org.  While 95% of the presentation was rehasing info that's been available for months, there was about a minute near the end that provided some extremely useful info!  Full disclosure number 2, I report the following as someone who watched a presentation that was frequently losing audio with no view of slides... as a result, I may have missed some info, and you should consider the following unconfirmed reports when it comes to dates.  I will be editing this post as I confirm the information.

Release Dates

Again... these are largely unconfirmed, but I'll change the post when I found out more certain information.

• The LEED 2009 reference guides will be available in February
• Registrations for LEED 2009 projects go live in May as well.  There is no word yet that I've seen as to when the last day for registrations will occur.

LEED-Online Improvements

On the LEED-Online front, he metioned that the 2009 rollout is built to handle a MILLION users! Hopefully the result is that staggering delays and slowness will soon be a thing of the past.

Favorite Quote

While discussing the future 2 year revision cycle for new LEED systems, Brandon mentioned that people are going to be relieved that the "USGBC has stopped acting like an organization that is so easily distracted by shiny objects." This was a perfect image of how the USGBC has acted in the past, adding rating systems in an inconsistent fashion and failing to really tackle the mundane but important logistical issues once a system is released.  I hope this marks the beginning of a new focus towards usability that will benefit everyone working on these projects.

Surprise (to me anyway) Announcement

There was mention that there is going to be a requirement to submit building performance data to the USGBC for all LEED certified buildings. Looks like I need to read through the final rating system draft to see how this is worked out. Expect an update soon.

RealLifeLEED's Greenbuild Wishlist - LEED-Online

With GreenBuild a mere eight days away, I'm excited and hopeful for the new improvements and announcements that few days will bring. In some ways it's like LEED Christmas, and I've decided it might be fun to write a letter to Santa! I started writing this and determined I wish for too much for one post, so I've been forced to split my into many parts, so there's more to come. I've been good this year, so I'm hoping for at least a few of my wishes to come true by the new year!

Add some holly and that there logo is a Christmas wreath!

Part 1 - LEED-Online

Since the letter from R.Fed about LEED 2009 mentioned "significant enhancements to LEED Online", I figured I'd start with my wish list for LEED-Online improvements:

1. No more superslow servers!
2. Move the "Enter" button far away from the "Remove Access" button on the project selector page... I could tell you how many times I've accidentally removed my self from projects I'm working on, but that would be embarrasing.
3. List the project number and access code on the project selector page for the "Project Administrators" and "Project Managers"
4. Fix the error where loading multiple supporting documents doesn't work.  I've had to upload one document, browse away from the credit page and then back to upload a second document more than a few times.
5. Get rid of the "Expand all credit categories" button and just list everything on the main page.  Why add steps?
6. Stop requiring that ALL project summary information must be loaded in order to edit ANY information.   A lot of times we only have partial information, and are forced to load incorrect info just to save a few correct portions.  
7. Stop requiring every little edit to require the page to reload.  When assigning roles the first time around the page has to reload for every single credit!  This wouldn't be as big a deal if it didn't take 30 seconds to a minute for the page to reload.  Why not just have an update button at the bottom so we can make a bunch of changes at once before reloading?
8. Allow me to pre-assign roles to people I invite to join the project.  It's an uneccesary step to invite them, wait for them to join, and then assign them a credit... It also means that they can't start working until I take the time to assign them a role. 

That's it for LEED-Online recommendations that I can think of right now. In future posts I'll tackle an LEED education, membership, and customer service! Is there something you're wishing for that I missed? Leave a comment and share with all of us!