Asset data capture

If you own or manage a building portfolio, you are accountable for the maintenance budget, the renewal programme, the valuation in your accounts and the buildings staying open. Every one of those depends on knowing what you own, what condition it is in and what it will cost to maintain or replace.

Asset data capture is the physical audit of every maintainable asset within a site boundary you define. We locate, record, classify, label and condition rate each one, then deliver it in the import template of the asset management system it is going into.

Our trade-qualified auditors do the fieldwork for councils, health services, TAFEs and schools, aged care providers, facilities management contractors and industrial operators.

Interior atrium of a multi-level building, viewed from an upper floor

Designing your asset register

Before you can capture your assets, first you need to design your asset register. This includes strategic decisions around asset hierarchies, naming conventions, fields and validation rules. Or, if you’re working with an existing asset register, determining whether your existing structure is still suitable for your objectives.

We work through these decisions with you in an alignment workshop before any fieldwork, and build the capture to match whatever you settle on.

Defining your asset data capture scope

Once the register is designed, the capture itself breaks into six scope items. You can commission all six or only the ones your objectives need, and if you already have a scope of works, we price against it line by line.

Onsite asset verification

Every maintainable asset inside your boundary is located and recorded, along with whether it is operating and where it sits in the building. If you already hold a register, each record is checked against what is installed and the differences are logged. You know what was verified, what was added and what could not be found.

Existence and operating status
Discrepancies against your current records
Mandatory attributes
Functional location

Asset hierarchy and classification

Your assets are structured as parent and child records from system to subsystem to component, with one naming convention across every asset and functional location. Classification follows VBIS, Uniclass 2015 or your own framework, depending on what your system and your reporting need.

Hierarchy design
Naming conventions
VBIS
Uniclass 2015
Your own taxonomy

Asset labelling

If you want assets labelled, we supply and apply barcode or QR labels to your labelling standard, in the same position on each asset type. Every label ID is recorded against its asset in the register.

Label supply
Application to your standard
ID traceability

Condition assessment

If your register is going to feed capital planning, each asset also needs a condition rating. We rate on the scale you report against, IPWEA 1 to 5 or your own, and estimate remaining useful life from the rating and standard life tables. Every rated asset is photographed so you can see the basis for the rating.

Condition rating
Remaining useful life
Defect register
Photographic evidence
Immediate action reports

Data upload and reconciliation

Your data needs to land in your system, not in a spreadsheet beside it. We build your upload file in your system’s bulk import template and test it before the load. After the load, we reconcile the dataset with your system team for missing assets, duplicates, misclassifications and wrong functional locations.

Template preparation
Pre-upload validation
Post-upload reconciliation
Delivered into QFM, TechnologyOne, Urbanise and Maximo

Lifecycle modelling and reporting

If you need the data to drive a capital programme, condition, remaining life, criticality and replacement cost are modelled into ten or twenty year renewal forecasts. A costed defect programme and funding scenarios follow. A financial valuation to AASB 116 is delivered with a specialist valuation partner where you scope it in.

Renewal forecasts
Funding scenarios
Defect programme
Replacement cost and depreciation
AASB 116 valuation, with a valuation partner

Choosing your level of detail

The next decision is how deep to go. There are three levels, you can mix them across a portfolio, and we agree the level with you per asset class before site.

Building level

Each building or structure carries a single condition rating, remaining life and replacement cost with no components beneath it. This is enough for minor structures and low value buildings in a large portfolio.

Asset level

Each item of plant is one record with its own make, model, serial, install year, condition and remaining life. This is the level most building services portfolios need to feed a maintenance system.

Component level

Each part that can fail or be replaced separately becomes its own record, linked to its parent asset. You need this level where maintenance is planned by component or where AASB 116 requires components to be depreciated separately.

Reading room of a large public building, viewed from a balcony

Your 8-step asset data capture programme

With scope and level of detail settled, the programme runs in eight steps. You sign off at two assurance gates, the pilot and the load, so you approve the structure before the fieldwork and the dataset before the reporting.

Initiation

We complete your inductions and clearances and agree site access and progress reporting with you.
Alignment

We propose the hierarchy, attributes, naming conventions and condition methodology against your import template, and you sign them off.
Assurance gate
Pilot

We capture one representative building and you sign off the sample output before rollout.
Field capture

We propose the building sequence around your operations and submit each building’s data within five business days of finishing it.
Processing and QA

We check classification, hierarchy, labels, photographs and condition, with rework back to you within ten business days.
Assurance gate
Load and reconciliation

We deliver the upload file and reconcile the loaded dataset with your system team.
Reporting

We issue a draft report, you review it and we issue the final.
Close-out

Final QA, your acceptance of the dataset and a close-out review with you.

Throughout, you can open the progress dashboard at any time. It counts assets captured rather than floor area covered.

How your data is checked before you accept it

Before a dataset reaches you, it passes three checks. The fourth check is yours.

In the field

Audify, the capture platform we built and sell, runs validation rules while auditors are still on site. The rules flag assets missing their related equipment, condition ratings that do not fit the asset’s age and quantities or replacement costs outside the expected range.

At the desk

A QA team reviews the exception reports each week, opens every photograph and checks naming, hierarchy and mandatory fields. We run this to our 6C framework, six named steps from compiling your source data to committing the dataset to your system.

At acceptance

You review a sample before the dataset is finalised. Where a record is wrong or missing, we resolve it, usually from the site photographs. Where that needs a return visit and one is practical, we return. Every rating records the auditor, the date and the photograph behind it.

Keeping your sites running during capture

Your sites stay open during capture. What that takes depends on the site, so the arrangements are agreed with you before anyone arrives.

Any site

We confirm arrival 48 and 24 hours before each visit, and auditors carry photo identification. The day’s areas are agreed with your facility manager each day, and high-traffic areas are captured off-peak.

Secure facilities

Every field employee holds a current police check and Working with Children Check and is onboarded to your contractor management system before the first visit. On site, auditors work to your escort, sign-in and tool register rules. We have delivered in prisons, hospitals, nuclear and defence facilities under those rules.

Production and clinical areas

These are captured in weekend, shutdown or after-hours windows you set. Photographs are reviewed before auditors leave site to exclude sensitive content. When access falls through, auditors move to fallback areas agreed with you in advance.

Who does the work on your sites

You are dealing with our employees throughout. Auditors with trade backgrounds in HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire do the fieldwork, and none of it is subcontracted. A project manager runs your scheduling and site coordination and a data QA team checks every dataset before it reaches you.

The developers who build Audify are on staff. The one subcontracted service is financial valuation to AASB 116, delivered with a specialist valuation partner and managed by us.

What you receive at handover

At handover you receive your verified asset register in Excel and in your system’s upload file, with condition ratings, remaining useful life and label IDs integrated into it. The hierarchy mapping comes in Excel and PDF, and photographs come as JPEGs in a folder per building.

Alongside the register you receive a defect register with costs and priorities and a QA report by asset class. Where lifecycle modelling is in scope, the lifecycle report comes in Word and Excel with the calculations behind it.

Asset data capture pricing and timeframes

Four questions on price and timing.

What it costs

The price is a lump sum by stage, with a schedule of rates for variations. The stages are mobilisation, field audit, project management, disbursements and data QA and reporting.

What sets the lump sum

The number and size of your sites, the level of detail, whether condition is in scope and site access. Building fabric is priced by capture depth, from room-by-room down to plant and equipment only.

What moves the price after signing

A variation arises from a change to the agreed scope or a site condition not known at pricing. Assets found beyond the expected count are reported against the estimate as the programme runs, and no work outside the agreed scope proceeds without your written approval.

How long it takes

The pilot lands in the first weeks. Each building’s data arrives within five business days of that building finishing, so you see usable output during the engagement.

Questions about asset data capture

Which asset classes are in scope?

Building services are captured as standard: mechanical and HVAC, electrical including emergency and exit lighting, fire detection and suppression, hydraulics and hot water plant, refrigeration and vertical transport. So are security and building management systems, fall arrest and roof access systems and building fabric, fixtures and finishes. Site infrastructure such as paths, roads and external lighting is included where it sits inside your boundary.

We leave out furniture and loose equipment, IT and audiovisual equipment, vehicles, mobile plant and grounds unless you scope them in. Any of them can be captured where your register needs them.

Which inspections and tests are outside the scope?

Findings are from visual and functional observation. There is no destructive or intrusive testing, no removal of panels, linings or ceilings, no confined space entry and no guarantee on elements concealed or obstructed on the day. Remaining useful life estimates are based on industry benchmarks and typical lifespan ranges.

We do not carry out rectification or make-safe works, statutory compliance certification for electrical, structural or fire services, NATA-accredited testing, thermographic scanning, switchboard certification or hazardous materials testing. Where the inspection finds a material risk, the report recommends the specialist investigation it needs.

What do you need from us?

A site list with addresses and contacts, your existing register if you have one and floor plans and manuals where they exist. Your hierarchy and field requirements, or your system’s import template.

On site, we need access arrangements for keys, escorts, inductions and permits. Facility staff need to be available to operate equipment where required. One person on your side needs to be able to answer a hierarchy question when it comes up.

What happens to our existing register?

We review it before site and use it to cross-check the capture. Assets found on site keep their identifier and history, and assets not found are flagged rather than deleted. You receive a reconciliation of what was verified, added and could not be located.

Whose condition methodology do you use?

Your criteria, or IPWEA 1 to 5 where you have none. The pilot output is signed off against them before rollout.

What prequalification evidence can you provide?

Public liability insurance of $20 million, professional indemnity insurance of $5 million per event and $10 million aggregate and WorkCover registration. Safe work method statements cover auditing, roof inspections and working alone, and the OHS management system and incident procedures are documented.

A documented quality management system, and Working with Children Checks and police checks for all field employees. We publish a modern slavery statement and an employment and social procurement statement.

Where is our data held?

On Australian servers, encrypted in transit and at rest. Photographs are removed from devices once synced, and once you confirm the dataset in your system, we delete our copy.

Can you capture essential safety measures in the same visit?

Yes. The same auditors carry out essential safety measures inspections, National Construction Code audits and disability access assessments to AS 1428 in the same pass. One mobilisation produces an asset register and a compliance register that agree with each other.

Are valuations included?

Not by default. A financial valuation to AASB 116 is scoped separately and delivered with a specialist valuation partner.

Contact Us To Find Out More

It’s never too early to understand how precision data capture can enhance the effectiveness of your asset management strategy. Complete the form below and we’ll be in touch as soon as possible.