Capital programs and asset management are based on understanding current assets, current and future needs, budgets, costs, and finally, the ability to stretch financial resources to provide equitable solutions. In this first of a three-part series, we discuss how the digital capabilities offered by PlanSpend enables capital planners and asset managers to make informed, equitable spending decisions by gaining insight into current assets and their conditions, as well as current and future needs.
With inflation rising dramatically, households everywhere are challenged to do more with less. The same can be said for states, municipalities and other government agencies that have been working through similar financial scenarios for decades. With limited budgets and rising costs, these entities have long scrambled to stretch their capital budgets in the face of mounting infrastructure needs. PlanSpend, a new digital solution offered by AECOM, is transforming the planning and budgeting process, turning an inexact art into a data-driven science that helps provide equity across capital planning.
What do you have?
A solid grasp of your assets and their condition is a central part of capital planning and asset management. In the past, despite the best efforts of everyone involved, mapping asset condition and life cycle event data was an inexact science, accomplished through often disjointed field observation photography, spreadsheets and manually written reports. Digital software such as AECOM’s PlanSpend, a secure, cloud-based solution that aligns field condition assessments with calibrated engineering, provides capital planners and asset managers with a much more comprehensive vision of their assets.
An affordable and user-friendly platform, PlanSpend stands out in the digital marketplace by integrating four primary asset management functions: asset data assembly near-term tactical capital programming and project bundling; long-term strategic capital planning addressing the condition and performance impacts of under-funding; and user-designed tabular, graphical, and GIS reporting using the power of data analytics.
Designed to target spend where it will deliver better outcomes, PlanSpend consolidates and organizes data related to the condition of your assets. PlanSpend provides estimates for expected and remaining useful life, cost forecasts and quantifiable impacts – allowing you to compare and prioritize different types of projects so you can allocate funding and schedule delivery for your most important projects first. PlanSpend’s core integrates images, video and condition data captured from mobile tablets; examines deficiencies; and costs out maintenance and repairs. PlanSpend uses calibrated engineering looking at all aspects of assets, asset condition, costs and budgets to identify efficiencies, bundle projects and develop plans for repair or replacement as needed. This allows for more strategic near- and long-term capital planning.
What do you need?
Effective asset management and capital spending involves looking not only at current needs and repairs; it’s also about being proactive, considering your capital needs now and in the future and then fitting those future needs into a long-term capital program. A fire station’s roof, for example, may be in good condition for the next 20 years but will need replacement at some point after that. Fitting that replacement into a long-term capital plan helps manage the budget while also maintaining the station’s state of good repair. Viewing different long-term scenarios enables asset managers to develop a practical, cost-effective course of action. PlanSpend Optimizer, a state of good repair application, processes asset condition data to provide insight into alternative capital funding levels and prioritization approaches. The PlanSpend Optimizer includes customizable reports and compares the outcomes of alternative funding and prioritization strategies through the application of user-friendly dashboards.
With AECOM’s PlanSpend and the PlanSpend Optimizer, capital planners and asset managers are gaining new insights into the condition of their assets and current and future needs. And that’s just part of the picture. In part two of this series, PlanSpend: new insights on costs and budgets, we’ll discuss how integrating these first steps with an enhanced understanding of costs and budgeting advances asset management and capital plans. In part three, PlanSpend: getting the biggest bang for your buck, we address how to make the most of capital planning budgets.