Here’s what a Strata Condo KnowledgeBase does
A KnowledgeBase should underpin a Strata Corporation’s engagement and cooperation with their Strata Manager / Property Manager / Property Assessor / Depreciation Report Producer.
HOW does the Condo Components Association work?
Standard By-laws of the BC Societies Act determine how the Association must be managed.
As a BC-registered Not For Profit Member Funded Society, participants in this collaboration must be paid-up members of the Association in good standing.
The official purposes of the Association are
To provide a common-interest venue for volunteer members of condominium Strata Councils or their Owners or nominees so they can share knowledge and techniques for collecting, storing and maintaining details, documents and notations about their condominium strata common property components & assets, a knowledge-base to assist with condition assessments, planning, budgeting and funding options for necessary forthcoming maintenance, repairs or replacements of relevant capital assets as informed by their Strata’s official Depreciation Reports.
The main elements and activities of the collective are
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- Members sharing processes and tools for collection of details, status and notations about condo strata common property components.
- Individual websites and specialised digital toolsets for participating condo strata knowledgebases.
- Development of curated, secure, shareable digital KnowledgeBases for each participating strata condo property.
- Online Forum and Support for members developing / curating their condo strata components KnowledgeBase.
- A dynamic, continually work-in-progress, member-directed collaboration.
What we cover and what we don't cover at CondoComponents
| We Cover | We Don't Cover |
| Inventorying all the physical components, elements, assets, documentation of a strata condo property | By-laws complaints about nuisance behaviors / transgressions |
| Knowledge creation, storing, curating, sharing of effective practices in managing the operation, maintenance / upkeep of physical property components | Contract / agreement disputes with suppliers or strata managers |
| In-unit fixtures, fittings & appliances responsibilities & operation | Financial accounting, strata fees setting, strata management fees, legal matters & fees, insurances |
| Continuous disclosure communications about components issues with owners – “no surprises” practices | Strata Councils Meetings, Annual General Meetings, Special General Meetings conduct, proceedings, minutes |
We provide toolset templates to so that a Councillor(s) or nominee(s) can take a tour of the strata property (all areas - building external & internal and grounds) and list what physical components & elements are there, taking pics of items to compile a gallery folder.
If a Depreciation Report or Property Assessment is available, use it as a guide to check off all required entries.
Then descriptions, details, images, notations and other upkeep documentation of components can be filed at an individual website. A searchable, shareable, secure, backed-up digital repository.
WHO does what in the CondoComponents collaboration?
The best way for owners or their Council to organize the resources to instigate a KnowledgeBase project is to appoint a “Committee” of even just 1 person (who does not even need to be a Councillor, or an Owner, nor even a resident. Just someone trusted by Council to be given an “access all areas” pass).
The ‘Committee’ of course has to be given a simple Charter from Council which spells out the project objectives, permissions, and reporting required.
Attributes, skills, proficiencies, experience should also be taken into consideration.
CondoComponents collaboration can provide personalised guidance with this exercise.
Considerations might also be given to suitability attributes such as a person’s time availability and interests (e.g. retired?, an educational project?, preserve their forever home?, estate value appreciation?), etc.
WHERE are CondoComponents KnowledgeBase management activities conducted?
Every major aspect of a strata condo’s physical property has to be identified, documented, assessed and curated, so data gathering activities take place in all common property spaces.
Categorisation, entry and digital filing of KnowledgeBase information is usually carried out on the ‘Committee’s” device where and when they have the inclination to do so.
WHEN do particular activities have to be done to establish and maintain a CondoComponents KnowledgeBase?
KnowledgeBase entries can be curated and updated whenever time & inclination permit.
There is no real need for setting hard deadlines.