Facility assessment software exists to turn a walk round a building into a number a finance committee will act on. The walk produces deficiencies. Pricing them produces a backlog. Setting the backlog against what the building would cost to replace produces the condition index. Most of the value in that chain is arithmetic rather than software, which is why a facility condition assessment template does most of the job and why the software has to be judged on what it adds beyond one.
What the software must produce, not just collect
Collecting deficiencies on a phone is the easy half. The output that matters is the backlog broken down by building system, so that a roof problem and an electrical problem can be argued for separately, and the index derived from the total. If the product collects findings but cannot produce those two, it has automated the clipboard and left the argument exactly where it was.
Where a template is genuinely enough
For one building assessed once a year, a facility condition assessment template plus a spreadsheet is a complete answer, and treating it as one saves both money and a rollout. The template holds the systems, the deficiencies and the prices; the arithmetic is three divisions. Software earns its place across many buildings, or where several people are collecting findings at once and the versions would otherwise diverge.
The figure everything hangs on
Current replacement value is the denominator of the index and the least examined number in the exercise. It is what it would cost to rebuild the building to current standards, not what it is insured for and not its book value. Getting it roughly right and using the same basis every year matters far more than getting it exactly right once, because the index is only meaningful as a trend.
Questions people ask about facility assessment software
What counts as a deficiency?
Work needed to return an asset or element to doing what it already does. Improvements and changes of use belong in a capital project, and mixing them into the backlog makes the index unreadable and easy to dismiss.
How precise do the prices need to be?
Honest and consistent. Note where a figure is an order of magnitude rather than a quote, and apply the same basis each year so the trend is real even where individual lines are rough.
Does the free worksheet do this?
Yes. It takes the backlog by system, the replacement value and the floor area and works the index, the backlog per square foot and the years to clear at this year's renewal rate, on the page, from your own figures.