Gordian’s FCA Options: Core Systems Assessments

Tracking all physical assets, including their current condition and performance, and communicating needs and deficiencies in a way all stakeholders understand can be a daunting task for organizational leaders. To help them gather and analyze all this data, these leaders often commission a facility condition assessment (FCA). All facilities have unique characteristics such as age, size, function or level of strategic importance that make the process of measuring and assessing conditions different for every project. Thus, conducting an FCA should not be a one-size-fits-all process. The key is getting the right level of detail to make the decisions you need to make. Different assessment types yield different levels of detail and can be strategically applied to different assets.

But how do you know what type of assessment you need? That depends on the level of detail you require and the time, budget and in-house expertise you have at your disposal.

Gordian offers several types of FCAs including Life Cycle Analysis, Core Systems Assessments, Detailed Assessments and Engineering Assessments. In this installment of an ongoing series, we’ll dive into Core Systems Assessments.

Core Systems Assessments: The Basics

It may help to think of the Core Systems Assessment like the typical checkup you’d get at the doctor. It allows you to chart general progress, note worsening conditions and reset the baseline for vital performance metrics.

As its name suggests, the Core Systems Assessment focuses data collection efforts on major building systems that must function well if an asset is to operate safely and reliably. Think HVAC, plumbing, gas piping, fire protection, sewer systems and the like. Our Core Systems Assessment is not an intensive, component-level FCA, but it still provides useful information for project prioritization and long-term capital planning.

When You Need a Core Systems Assessment

Often, leaders opt for the Core Systems Assessment to supplement outdated data from an existing FCA so they can level-set current conditions and gain quick insights into problem areas.

Unlike Gordian’s Engineering and Detailed Assessments, which require our experienced assessors to catalog facility data on-site, a Core Systems Assessment is performed by an organization’s in-house team. We provide survey tools loaded on tablets or mobile devices to assist internal staff with the assessment. These technologies automatically create maintenance requirements and estimate costs using our RSMeans Data construction cost database. Turning data collection duties over to in-house staff lowers costs, but those savings must be weighed against the expense of team bandwidth. That’s why most organizations limit the scope of a Core Systems Assessment to a specific facility or area.

Here are a few questions you can ask to determine if a Core Systems Assessment is the right FCA for a segment of your facilities portfolio:

• Has asset use changed since you last collected data?
• Has the volume of work orders increased since you last collected data?
• Does your staff have the time and the skills to assess the facility’s major systems?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, a Gordian Core Systems Assessment may be necessary.

Learn how you can decide which Gordian FCAs are right for managing your facilities portfolio by watching our on-demand webinar, “Building Your Insights Inventory: How to Develop a Facilities Assessment Strategy.”

What You Can Do With a Core Systems Assessment

An FCA of this kind is, in and of itself, a savvy move for organizations already engaged in planning efforts. These are multi-million-dollar decisions that impact long-term viability. To make them without analyzing current major systems data is negligent stewardship.

Further, a Core Systems Assessment helps prioritize needs. For example, if the HVAC system in a high-traffic building is likely to expire in three years, leaders can ensure they budget for and complete the project with limited user disruption. This would not require more data than a Core Systems Assessment offers.

Combining Gordian FCA Options for Better Decisions

A Core Systems Assessment is great for gathering high-level systems data at a relatively low cost. But a facilities portfolio contains more than major systems alone. That’s why it is wise to use a Core System Assessment as a complement to more granular FCA types like the Detailed Assessment and/or the Engineering Assessment. This assessment data, combined with our capital planning technology and expertise, gives you all the tools you need to make smart investments that position your organization for long-term success.