Sightlines Rolls Out COST Forecaster, New Tool to Help Colleges Predict All Expenses Associated With Adding or Eliminating Buildings

GUILFORD, Conn., Jan. 27, 2016 -- Sightlines, a leader in helping academic institutions better manage their facilities and capital investment strategies, today announced the launch of COST (Capital and Operations Space Tool) Forecaster, an interactive data tool that enables college executives to project the fiscal impact of new construction or demolition of campus buildings.

“More than $20 billion has been invested in new space on the campuses of American colleges and universities since 2010, with no signs of that trend slowing,” said Mark Schiff, president of Sightlines. “Unfortunately, many Higher Ed executives are discovering initial construction costs are just the beginning of a financial commitment an institution is undertaking. Construction of new buildings – or for that matter, demolition of existing buildings – has a wide-ranging impact on operating budgets as well as future capital renewal requirements.”

Sightlines’ COST Forecaster is available exclusively to Sightlines member institutions and is powered by the Sightlines ROPA+ database, the largest verified database of Higher Ed campus facilities metrics in the U.S. Users enter details about their planned construction or demolition project, and the tool pulls information unique to the campus from the database to create different financial scenarios within three primary areas:

• Space Profile
• Operations (maintenance, custodial and energy)
• Ongoing Capital Renewal

The financial models can then be exported to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet or other formats and integrated into executive presentations, budget forecasts and other formal documents.

“College facilities executives who fail to make the case for adequate funding ahead of time are often forced to stretch existing resources, which leads to reduced customer service and increased deferred maintenance on campus,” said Ted Kail, senior director of product management at Sightlines. “Sightlines’ COST Forecaster helps college and university administrators make the case for capital and operating funding associated with a changing campus. This is the only tool of its kind available to Higher Ed executives.”

For more information and to view a video demonstration of Sightlines’ COST Forecaster, please go to http://www.sightlines.com/working-with-us/member-portal/cost-forecaster/.

About Sightlines

Founded in 2000, Sightlines is a division of The Gordian Group. Sightlines gives colleges and universities the independent data and perspective they need to make critical decisions about their most valuable assets – their facilities.  Sightlines stewards the industry’s most extensive verified database, allowing more than 450 institutions across the U.S. and Canada to benchmark an institution’s facilities against universities and colleges across the nation. Sightlines’ flagship offering for members is ROPA+, a fully integrated solution for facilities intelligence that leads members through a comprehensive process of discovery, prediction and performance measurement. Other Sightlines solutions provide higher ed executives with insights to assist with capital planning, space management and campus sustainability initiatives. For more information, please call 203.682.4952, go to http://www.sightlines.com or email [email protected].

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