People + operations
Define users, workflows, decision points, and operational constraints.
How we work
Start with the work people need to do.
Finish with proof.
The DCHTC audiovisual consulting method begins with owner requirements, user workflows, and the realities of the room. Product selection follows that understanding, while the level of design, coordination, and verification adapts to the delivery model.
Waukesha County Courthouse · Waukesha, Wisconsin
Owner-firstWorkflow-ledIndependent consulting
01Working premise
The workflow comes first.
Technology is useful only when it supports the people relying on it. Before defining products, DCHTC works to understand who will use the environment, what they need to accomplish, where decisions and handoffs occur, and what must remain dependable when conditions are less than ideal.
The room is part of that system. Sightlines, acoustics, camera geometry, lighting, infrastructure, networks, controls, and user behavior have to work together.
The product is a response to the requirement, not the starting point.
Space + infrastructure
Consider architecture, pathways, power, data, acoustics, and lighting together.
Performance + proof
Set success criteria early enough to document and evaluate them later.
02From definition through delivery
One project path.
A role that adapts.
The delivery model can change who develops the details and where responsibility sits. The essential questions remain.
01
What must work
Define
Establish the owner-facing foundation: user needs, workflows, priorities, approved approaches or manufacturers, constraints, budget context, and success criteria. This becomes the basis-of-design narrative that later decisions can trace back to.
02
How it should work
Develop
Translate the approved foundation into performance criteria, system concepts, design decisions, and documentation at the level the project and delivery model require.
03
How it fits
Coordinate
Resolve how technology interfaces with architecture, acoustics, lighting, power, pathways, data, IT, operations, and other scopes. Clarify responsibilities before gaps reach the field.
04
Protect the intent
Support
Review developing work, contractor information, submittals, field questions, and proposed changes. Resolve issues while keeping decisions tied to approved requirements.
05
Prove it works
Verify
Observe installed work, perform applicable functional and performance checks, document deficiencies, and track corrective actions against owner workflows and defined criteria.
Not every engagement begins at Define or includes all five stages. DCHTC may lead the full arc, advise at selected decision points, review specific portions independently, or enter when one technical problem needs attention.
A continuous discipline
Coordination does not happen once.
The Coordinate stage makes interface resolution visible, but the work begins during definition and continues through verification.
- People + workflows
- Room + architecture
- Systems + infrastructure
- Scope + accountability
03Adapting the method
The project path stays clear, even when responsibility changes.
Project delivery determines who develops the detail and when contractors join. The owner’s requirements and definition of success remain.
Consultant-led / design, bid, build
DCHTC can carry approved requirements through coordinated drawings and specifications, support bidding and construction, observe installed work, and verify performance.
Design-assist
DCHTC keeps owner requirements and performance criteria visible while the project team evaluates system options, cost, constructability, and coordination together.
Delegated design
DCHTC defines the required outcomes, interfaces, documentation, responsibility boundaries, and acceptance criteria while the delegated party develops the detailed solution.
Focused engagements
Owner-side advisory, independent peer review, and focused technical intervention are engagement types, not delivery models. The method scales to the decision without implying responsibility beyond the agreed scope.
Explore ways to engage04What the process can produce
Documentation scaled to the decision.
Deliverables follow the engagement and delivery model. When they are required, they create a traceable path from owner need to field evidence.
01Owner requirements + basis of design
An owner-facing narrative that defines the need before solutions are locked in.
Owner requirements + basis of design
An owner-facing narrative that defines the need before solutions are locked in.
It can capture users, workflows, priorities, constraints, applicable standards or manufacturers, major concepts, budget context, performance requirements, and success criteria. Later drawings and contractor-facing specifications develop and enforce that intent.
02Coordinated technology drawings
A visual record of scope, location, interfaces, and system relationships.
Coordinated technology drawings
A visual record of scope, location, interfaces, and system relationships.
General information
Cover sheet, index, legends, symbols, abbreviations, general notes, schedules, and responsibility information.
Technology plans
Device locations and coordination with ceilings, furniture, pathways, power, data, and room references.
Room elevations
Displays, loudspeakers, cameras, equipment, mounting heights, sightlines, and architectural relationships.
Typical details
Repeatable mounting, installation, integration, and infrastructure conditions.
Functional diagrams
Audio, video, control, network, transport, and other system relationships and interfaces.
03Written contractor requirements
Specifications that translate approved intent into enforceable scope and performance.
Written contractor requirements
Specifications that translate approved intent into enforceable scope and performance.
Project specifications may address products and performance, installation, programming, submittals, testing, training, warranty, record documentation, and closeout. Drawings show location and relationships; specifications define what must be furnished, executed, documented, and demonstrated.
04Review + field records
Decision and field records showing how the intent was evaluated and protected.
Review + field records
Decision and field records showing how the intent was evaluated and protected.
These may include peer-review memoranda, annotated reviews, submittal and contractor-question responses, site-observation reports, deficiency logs, corrective-action records, testing records, and acceptance recommendations when included in scope.
Start a conversation
Start a conversation Start with the decision in front of you.
Whether the project is at concept, in design, or active in the field, share the decision or condition that needs attention.