Life Care is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1950, which has met the changing care needs of older South Australians for over six decades. Life Care believes that ageing "is not a disability or a policy problem to be solved, rather it is a natural part of life that should be celebrated". It offers a variety of aged care accommodation at ten different locations across South Australia, ranging from retirement villages to assisted living and respite care.
The challenge: needing more financial insight
Life Care has always taken pride in making sure its facilities are the best for the people it serves. AssetFuture has been a trusted partner since 2016, enabling better asset management so Life Care can offer the optimal care to its residents.
With the aged care population increasing, Life Care has been expanding, building two new, state-of-the-art facilities. This growth, while welcome, has also created more complexity over financial planning and forecasting. Life Care wanted to get better insight into its investments and saw AssetFuture as a key way to do this.
"We’ve worked with AssetFuture for a number of years and over that time we’ve grown our use of its capabilities. As we build new sites, we want more confidence around all our CAPEX spend. AssetFuture has the ability to give this," says Greg Maughan, Project Director, Life Care.
The solution: Lifecycle Cost Modelling
Life Care decided to use AssetFuture to get clear insight into CAPEX investments needed over the next 12 months and beyond. They used its asset degradation models, and overlaid these with criticality for prioritisation. The AssetCapture app was used to efficiently and accurately record data for any major new purchases.
AssetFuture enables insights through its use of Asset Intelligence. This is the merging of data, information and technology to forecast the lifecycle of built assets. Starting from data acquisition, the platform provides transparency with intelligent classification, virtualisation, and predictive modelling of asset lifecycle: Lifecycle Cost Modelling. Life Care has over 30,000 assets managed in AssetFuture, from furnishings to major plant equipment.
"A major benefit of the AssetFuture platform is that it keeps humans at the centre, creating data visualisations that are much more accessible and easy to get insights from. It has given us a much clearer picture of the overall condition and associated costs of our assets, from individual equipment to the entire infrastructure of existing and planned buildings," says Maughan.
The outcome: getting a clear line of sight
Using AssetFuture’s Lifecycle Cost Modelling, Life Care has been able to forecast CAPEX spend with much more confidence. There is now an annual process of review for the Asset Management Plan and budget, with alignment of expenditure forecast to future planning.
Life Care is able to analyse and view data at both a site level and an asset level for purchasing decisions and prioritisation, and can scale as new buildings come online.
"What’s most important about the insight AssetFuture gives us is that it enables us to provide optimal care for people. There are easy-to-use and read dashboards, and production of Asset Management Plans is also easy and actionable. We know when facilities need to be upgraded, or when we need to buy new assets, ensuring our residents are cared for in the best possible way."
For Life Care, AssetFuture is a key financial planning tool that ensures it meets its commitments to caring for people at the highest standards.
Another benefit is enabling better compliance with new standards and regulations coming out of the Royal Commission. These are changes that Life Care very much welcomes. The company has always pioneered best practice and been ahead of the curve when it comes to standards.
“At Life Care we’re encouraged to see the wider industry being held to the higher standards that we’ve always set for ourselves. While Asset Management Plans haven’t been compulsory, we believe they are an important step in the right direction. We note that Victoria has mandated AMPs and we expect other states will likely follow suit in future. Thanks to AssetFuture, we’re ready for any such changes," says Maughan.
"AssetFuture really creates transparency and simplicity for Life Care rather than drowning us in complexity. We can much more easily control maintenance costs, plan capital spending, and develop future asset strategy, which is critical given the rapid expansion in the aged care sector and the higher standards and regulations we face."
To find our more about Life Care’s facilities, click here.
To read more about how legislation has changed for Retirement Living, click here.
All image sourced from lifecare.org.au