I had the pleasure of speaking at the annual APPA National Conference in New Orleans earlier this month in partnership with the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). We told the story of how USM has staged its asset management journey and leveraged the data that we provided to solve real-world on-campus Deferred Capital Renewal and Maintenance (DCRM) Backlog issues. 

The thing that surprised me the most about the presentations at this conference was just how many topics were focused on FCAs and the associated capital planning. There were at least four different presentations that were primarily about FCAs.

As someone who has been collaborating with institutions for nearly 30 years on FCAs and capital planning, it was great to see so much time dedicated to DCRM (now if we could just get everyone to stop saying ‘DM,’ it would be perfect!!) While there are still some institutions that we see taking their first steps in terms of understanding their DCRM backlog, more and more have a solid program that is driving real results for their campuses. 

The best part about this is that we have seen a growing number of organizations move beyond Capital Planning Excellence (see the IAM Venn diagram below) and start to focus on Operational Excellence by gathering Equipment Inventory information as well as adding Asset Tagging to their Asset Management program.

The worst part of this newfound interest in FCA and DCRM presentations is that I am going to have to step up my game with new topics to present at the various conferences we attend.  My best idea for next year’s APPA conference so far is “Not Another FCA Presentation”!!!  What do you think?!?