"By applying its proven research-based ROI methodology, Gantry Group created a custom ROI calculator for VFA, built on a foundation of actual customer experience with our solution," said Jerry Kokos, president and CEO of VFA. "The quantification of value delivered by our capital planning and asset management solution has confirmed what we long suspected – a very high tangible return."

VFA’s CPMS solution, deployed by hundreds of organizations across North America, enables customers to save cash by reducing costs associated with facilities and related systems, and avoiding lost revenue. Using Web-based technology, the hosted solution provides a single data repository containing up-to-date condition information on every building and major building system in an asset portfolio.

When an organization can view facility conditions across its entire real estate portfolio, it is able to effectively plan for facilities maintenance and capital renewal over a multi-year period rather than on a reactive, emergency basis. VFA’s integrated assessment services and technology solution provide a framework for strategic capital planning. This allows organizations to benefit from bulk purchasing discounts, more competitive bidding, and project bundling. Over-time costs and one-off purchases associated with responses to emergency failures are avoided. Enterprises deriving revenues from buildings (such as rental properties, franchises, banks) are especially eager to optimize facility conditions and find that VFA can help them increase revenues by maintaining building standards.

"VFA’s software has given us an instant edge in our budget planning processes," said David Naysmith, manager, planning and construction, City of Richmond, British Columbia. "Using the analysis capabilities in VFA’s software, we are better able to evaluate alternatives to resolving deferred maintenance projects, demonstrate the consequences of each action, and support our budget requests. We received an 80 percent increase in funding as a result."

VFA’s solution combines assessment services, Web-based software and consulting application services for ongoing strategic management of facilities. The "what-if" capability within the company’s software empowers facilities managers and financial executives to create optimal funding scenarios for facilities reinvestment in support of the organizational mission. Manual paper-based budget planning could take months, particularly for organizations spanning multiple geographies. By automating the entire capital planning process – from building condition assessments to budget forecasting and project planning – organizations can reduce administrative tasks from months to days.

"With access to current building information, Milwaukee County is better able to review and prioritize capital expenditures. We can also work with the data to perform "what-if" financial modeling," said customer Mike Zylka, public works manager, County of Milwaukee.

Dawna Paton, a managing partner at the Gantry Group, noted, "We interviewed customers representing a broad range of industries in both the public and private sectors. Without exception, these customers told us repeatedly of the savings that they now enjoy as a result of being able to see all their assets in a single portfolio view. The VFA solution has an immediate impact on the budget planning process and provides managers with actual data to support all their figures."

The Gantry ROI assessment of VFA’s solution included detailed interviews and ROI profiling of nine of VFA’s deployed customers. Each customer had been deployed for at least one year. Consistent interviews of customers in military, education, government, technology enterprises and banks provided a broad sample of "before" and "after" experiences with the VFA solution. Total cost of ownership was gathered along with key performance metrics that measure the changes in business processes that drive economic value. The ROI profile interviews also captured:

• the motivations for investing in the CPMS solution;
• how, and to what extent, the CPMS solution actually delivers value; and,
• the business justification for the CPMS investment.

"Our customers require demonstrated ROI in order to make large purchase decisions. This [ROI] tool substantiates the savings that result when capital budgeting and project planning are automated with VFA's solution," said Kokos.