Gordian’s FCA Options: Detailed Assessments

For facility leaders, keeping track of all assets, including their current condition and performance, then communicating those needs and deficiencies in a way all stakeholders understand, can be a daunting task. To help them gather and analyze all this data, 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 for the decisions you are making. 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 blog, we’ll dive into Detailed Assessments, what they include, how they’re performed and when you might need one. We’ll discuss the others in subsequent posts.

When You Need a Detailed Assessment

When your organization needs to take inventory of its systems and get a visual assessment of individual building components, but does not quite need an intensive component-level assessment yielded by a full Engineering Assessment, it might be best to conduct a Detailed Assessment. This type of FCA can provide the level of detail leadership needs to make informed capital decisions about facilities while saving the additional time, money and resources needed to perform an Engineering Assessment.

Compared to a Life Cycle Analysis or a Core Systems Assessment, which can be conducted remotely using existing data about your facilities or by internal staff, a Detailed Assessment involves onsite inspection of buildings and their components. At this level, getting eyes on your facilities can help build out a more detailed look at how they are operating and their true condition.

Detailed Assessments are the second most time- and resource-intensive assessment type Gordian offers. They are appropriate for situations when you need a third-party expert to visually confirm and update your asset-level data. There are a few questions you can ask yourself to find out if a Detailed Assessment is what you need:

• Do I need support creating an estimate of major system capital renewal events?
• Do I need to gather an accurate picture of my facility age and current conditions?
• Do I need additional validation of the quantity and condition data that I currently have on record?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, a Detailed Assessment might be appropriate for your organization.

Find answers to some of the most commonly asked FCA questions in this blog.

What You Can Do With a Detailed Assessment

A Detailed Assessment can help you estimate major capital renewals and focus on building out a multi-year capital program. Because it can help you get an accurate picture of the age and condition of your facilities, the insights that Gordian’s experts can produce while conducting a Detailed Assessment can give you a better idea of how different funding scenarios could impact your facilities’ needs and deficiencies. Having expert validation of conditions can help support your in-house multi-year capital planning efforts and help you build a case for additional funding from your organization’s leadership.

Find out how conducting an FCA can help you make confident capital plans.

How Gordian Performs a Detailed Assessment

Detailed Assessments are performed by Gordian’s experienced assessors, who will come to your location and gather information about the conditions of your physical assets in-person. Having our experts walk your grounds, collecting the data that you need to get an idea of the health and functionality of your facilities, can help you make well-informed decisions that improve the experience for your community.

Learn how you can decide which level of detail is right for you by watching our on-demand webinar, Building Your Insights Inventory: How to Develop a Facilities Assessment Strategy.

Better Decisions Through Data

When you need expert eyes on your facilities, on-location, it’s a good option to have Gordian conduct a Detailed Assessment. But no matter what type of Gordian assessment you need, your organization will benefit from having the insights, technology and expertise needed to successfully identify risks, generate strategy and communicate needs. By taking a strategic approach to conducting assessments, you can ensure that your organization is strategically prioritizing the right level of detail to make informed decisions about investments in your facilities portfolio.