Recently, Jim Wrenn, President and CEO of IT Works and Rebecca Vandall, Director of New Program Development and Strategic Partnerships at SRA International, held a seminar entitled Managing Re-charge Centers and Research Service Facilities. The next several blog posts will provide an outline of material that was covered during the seminar.

Understanding the Center

When discussing the recharge center and its overall role, it is important to remember that the recharge center is a business. According to recent statistics, businesses with fewer than twenty employees only have a 37% chance of surviving more than four years. Additionally, only four percent of businesses in the United States will gross above $1 million in revenue each year. That said, what is the main item separating the successful businesses from those that are unsuccessful?

Successful businesses have financial plans.

Other questions to keep in mind when thinking about recharge centers include:

• What goods and services are being provided?
• Who provides the service? (There are some self operating centers where people operate machines, but these people need to be trained, etc.)

Capital Equipment Needed

When discussing the type and quantity of equipment needed, the following items need to be taken into consideration:

• Risks to the research project (to people..safety issues, HIPAA, etc.)
• Seasonal (i.e. environmental labs, marine biology groups, etc.)
• Identifying Costs (in order to set billing rates)
• Production Costs (can be divided into time and materials)
• Time (i.e. equipment operation, identifying the steps, accurate time estimates, preparation, training, scheduling issues, etc.)
• Materials (i.e. supplies, losses, expiration, theft, non-billable work, etc.)

For more information about Facility/Re-Charge Center Management or for questions regarding this seminar, contact Rebecca at rvandall@srainternational.org or Jim Wrenn at wrennj@itworks-inc.com.