2.5.1 Drivers for Including Ancillary Assets

A number of factors might prompt an agency to modify its requirements, priorities, or procedures, which necessitate the collection of additional ancillary asset data. For instance, an agency might choose to:

• Make performance-based investment decisions for assets beyond pavements and bridges.
• Invest in new data collection technology enabling a more cost-effective alternative to past methods.
• Integrate and share information across business units, leading to a review of future data needs across multiple asset classes.
• Better understand the full cost of mobility including construction, maintenance, preservation, rehabilitation, and replacement of ancillary assets.
• Adopt risk-based management strategies to improve resiliency and avoid damage due to recurring events such as flooding, slope failures, safety incidents, and liability risk.
• Implement a more efficient process to address funding requests for expanded data collection efforts from various business units within the agency.

These, or other types of changes within an agency, typically prompt an evaluation of data needs to support decision-making for ancillary assets. Most agencies acknowledge the benefits of having comprehensive and accurate inventory and condition data for their assets. However, maintaining this information requires available resources, along with existing business processes and software tools to support analysis and reporting.

As shown in Figure 2.10, this strategic assessment of ancillary asset data needs is typically influenced by the risks the agency aims to manage, organizational or technical changes enabling new processes, or discrepancies between current and desired management practices. In its strategic review and decisions on expanding data collection efforts, the agency should consider its policies, budgets, resources, performance, legislated mandates, and available technology.