FacPro Resource

FCA Program Kickoff Checklist

Use this checklist when your team is getting ready to launch, restart, or tighten up a facility condition assessment effort. It is designed to help avoid the classic problems: unclear scope, inconsistent scoring, missing stakeholders, and a report nobody fully trusts.

1. Confirm the purpose

• Document why the assessment is being performed now.
• Agree on the decisions the assessment needs to support.
• Clarify whether the output is operational, strategic, financial, or all three.

2. Review the current planning picture

• Review current capital plans and any active multi-year investment roadmap.
• Scan strategic plans so the assessment supports larger institutional goals.
• Look at open work orders and recurring maintenance issues before field work starts.
• Pull forward deferred maintenance backlogs, prior FCA findings, and known high-risk systems.
• Note any recent failures, emergency repairs, board commitments, or funding assumptions already in motion.

3. Define scope clearly

• List the facilities included in the first phase.
• Confirm asset/system categories to be evaluated.
• Decide what is out of scope so field teams are not improvising.

4. Prepare the team

• Assign assessors, reviewers, and internal points of contact.
• Review scoring standards and scoring-alignment expectations.
• Confirm photo, note-taking, and evidence requirements.

5. Align field logistics

• Confirm site access, escorts, safety requirements, and scheduling.
• Prepare floor plans, site maps, and existing facility records.
• Identify sensitive areas that need extra coordination.

6. Plan reporting before field work begins

• Agree on what the final audience needs to see.
• Define summary metrics, narrative sections, and priority outputs.
• Set expectations for quality review and report signoff.

7. Debrief and improve

• Capture lessons learned after the first few sites.
• Adjust scoring guidance if inconsistency appears.
• Update the kickoff checklist before the next cycle.