Visualising the Intelligent Management of Assets (VIMA)

Up to thirty percent of the average organisation’s annual capital outlay is spent on facilities and related infrastructure. How can an organisation ensure it is most effectively leveraging this investment to support operations today and meet the needs of the future? Optimally managing capital assets requires that everyone involved — whether a facility manager, capital planner, financial executive or organisational leader — can answer such questions as:

• What is the physical and functional condition of our facilities? 
• Where are the greatest risks to business continuity? 
• What will each planned improvement programme cost?
• How are capital projects prioritised to align with strategic goals? 
• How can we quickly evaluate potential changes to our portfolio? 
• Are we spending according to our plan? 
• How are we progressing towards our goals?

Answering these questions requires defensible information about the condition of an organisation’s facilities and major building systems. Each facility or department must use consistent methods for documenting building requirements and estimating associated costs. Capital projects must be prioritised using consistent criteria. And the various stake- holders in the capital planning and management process must be able to see the long-term impact of different investment decisions.

People

PI: Michael Pitt

R :  Amir Nabi

Output

The output from said research will be the visualisation of multi-billion pound portfolio which will aid in future CapEx allocations across a multi-faceted facilities environment. The tool will visualise and inform key stakeholders as to their weakest and strongest assets (through the metric of Facilties Condition Index). 

Impact

In an industry still maturing, the impact of said research will take steps toward ensuring that capital expenditure decisions around assets owned and maintained by private finance are better informed. Often, strategic business decisions are based on Executive Summaries by financial experts as opposed to technical experts. The tool will aim to provide a graphic visualisation of asset condition on a portfolio wide scale. 

Links

For further information please contact: Michael Pitt