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User Story: Financial Asset Management Dashboard

1. Problem Statement

The Asset Manager is responsible for the financial lifecycle of all utility assets, from budget allocation to replacement and disposal. However, they lack a consolidated view that connects financial performance to asset operations, making it difficult to control costs, optimize spending, and justify financial decisions.

Key Pain Points:

  • Siloed Financial Data: Financial information like CapEx, OpEx, and maintenance spend is tracked in separate systems from operational data, preventing a holistic view of asset performance.
  • Poor Cost Control: Difficulty in tracking budget vs. actual spend in real-time, leading to budget overruns and reactive financial management.
  • Hidden Cost Drivers: Inability to easily identify which specific assets or activities are incurring the highest maintenance costs or driving unplanned emergency repairs.
  • Ineffective Long-Term Planning: Struggling to forecast future financial needs for asset replacement without a clear view of assets approaching the end of their lifecycle and their associated costs.

Core Problem: The lack of a unified financial dashboard prevents the Asset Manager from proactively managing asset-related expenditures, optimizing the balance between capital and operational costs, and making data-driven financial plans that maximize the value of every dollar spent.

2. Who is the User Facing the Problem?

Primary User: Asset Manager

This individual is responsible for the financial stewardship of the utility's asset portfolio. Their duties include developing capital and operational budgets, controlling maintenance expenditures, analyzing lifecycle costs, and ensuring that financial resources are allocated efficiently to support asset reliability and strategic goals.

3. Jobs To Be Done

For the Asset Manager:

When I need to present our quarterly financial performance to the executive board,
But I have to manually consolidate data from accounting, maintenance, and operations systems to explain our spending,
Help me by creating a single dashboard that visualizes all key financial metrics—from high-level budget variance to specific high-cost assets,
So that I can clearly communicate our financial position, justify our spending decisions, and proactively plan for future costs.

4. Solution

The solution is a comprehensive Financial Dashboard tailored to the needs of the Asset Manager. This dashboard will provide a real-time, multi-faceted view of all financial aspects of the asset portfolio, enabling effective cost control, budget management, and strategic financial planning.

Key Capabilities:

  1. Financial Health Overview: Presents high-level financial KPIs at a glance: Total Asset Value, Budget Variance, Maintenance Spend, and Emergency Repair costs.
  2. Expenditure Tracking (CapEx vs. OpEx): Provides a clear breakdown of Capital and Operating Expenditures for the current period and year-to-date, with detailed sub-categories.
  3. Maintenance Cost Analysis: Offers a detailed breakdown of maintenance costs, including Planned vs. Unplanned spending and a "Maintenance % of Asset Value" metric to benchmark performance.
  4. Lifecycle & Efficiency Metrics: Visualizes long-term costs through "Asset Lifecycle Cost" and tracks key performance indicators like "Preventive vs. Reactive" maintenance and "Cost per Unit Treated."
  5. Budget vs. Actual Monitoring: Includes a dedicated chart to track CapEx and OpEx budget performance, immediately highlighting any over or under-spending.
  6. Actionable Cost Insights: Features watchlists for "High Maintenance Cost Assets" and "Assets Approaching Replacement" to proactively identify and manage major cost drivers.
  7. Asset Disposal Tracking: Monitors the financial value recovered from disposed assets, completing the financial lifecycle view.

5. Major Steps Involved (Asset Manager Workflow)

  1. Monthly Financial Review: The Asset Manager opens the Financial Dashboard to prepare for their monthly review meeting. They immediately see a positive Budget Variance of +8.5%, but also high Downtime Costs ($125K).
  2. Investigate Cost Drivers: They examine the OpEx breakdown and see that "Routine Maintenance" is a major component. The Maintenance Cost Breakdown shows that Unplanned spend ($89K) is a significant portion (31%) of the total.
  3. Identify Problem Assets: The manager looks at the "High Maintenance Cost Assets" list and sees that "Pump Station #4" is costing $12K per month. They click "Review" to flag this for the O&M Manager to investigate for a potential replacement or overhaul.
  4. Plan for Future Costs: They shift their focus to the "Assets Approaching Replacement" list. They see "Main Water Pump #1" needs replacement soon at a cost of $125K. They click "Plan Budget" to add this projected cost to the next fiscal year's CapEx forecast.
  5. Report on Performance: The manager uses the "Budget vs. Actual Spend" chart and the "Cost Efficiency Metrics" to build their report, concluding that while the overall budget is on track, a strategic investment in replacing Pump Station #4 could reduce unplanned costs and improve efficiency.

6. Flow Diagram

Asset Manager - Financial Review & Planning Flow

mermaid

Source

graph TD

A[Login & Open Financial Dashboard] --> B{Review High-Level KPIs <br> Budget Variance, Downtime Costs};

B --> C{Analyze OpEx & Maintenance Breakdowns};

C --> D[Identify High Unplanned Spend];

D --> E{Review 'High Maintenance Cost Assets'};

E -- Asset Identified --> F[Click 'Review' to Flag for Investigation];

F --> G{Review 'Assets Approaching Replacement'};

G -- Future Cost Identified --> H[Click 'Plan Budget' to Add to Forecast];

H --> I[Use Dashboard Data to Prepare Financial Report];


7. Business Rules

General Rules:Dashboard Business Rules

  • The

These dashboardrules defaultsapply to the currententire monthFinancial Dashboard.

  • Data Refresh Cadence: Financial data, especially actual spending, must be refreshed at least once every 24 hours from the source accounting and fiscalmaintenance year-to-date,systems. withA options"Last Updated" timestamp should be clearly visible.
  • Default View: On loading, the dashboard will default to filtershowing bydata differentfor periods.the Current Month and Fiscal Year-to-Date (YTD).
  • Currency Formatting: All currencymonetary values aremust be displayed in thousandsa summarized format (K)e.g., or$12.4M, millions (M)$284K) for readability. The full value should be visible on hover via a tooltip.
  • Interactivity: All widgets and KPI cards are interactive. Clicking on a segment (e.g., "CapEx - Year to Date," "High Maintenance Cost Assets") will filter the entire dashboard or navigate to a detailed report for that segment. A "Clear Filters" or "Reset View" button must be available.
  • Trend Indicators: Trend indicators (e.g., ↑, ↓) on KPIs like Budget Variance compare the current spendingperiod's performance against a baseline. For budget-related metrics, the comparison is against the planned budgetbudget. For cost metrics, it's against the previous equivalent period.
  • Hover & Tooltips: Hovering over any interactive element will change the cursor to a pointer and provide a visual cue. Every dynamic data element, especially financial metrics, will have a tooltip explaining its meaning and calculation.
  • Permissions: Access to this dashboard is restricted to users with financial oversight roles, such as "Asset Manager," "Financial Controller," and executive leadership.

Filter Options

The dashboard must provide the following filtering capabilities:

  1. Date Range Filter:
    • Functionality: Controls the time period for which all financial data is displayed.
    • Default Value: "Current Month."
    • Options:
      • Current Month
      • Last Month
      • Current Quarter
      • Last Quarter
      • Fiscal Year-to-Date (YTD)
      • Last Fiscal Year
      • Custom Range (with a start and end date picker).
    • Business Rule: All metrics, trends, and lists on the dashboard will recalculate based on the selected date range.
  2. Hierarchy Filter (Facilities, Systems, Networks):
    • Functionality: Allows the user to focus the financial view on a specific part of the asset portfolio.
    • Options: A multi-select dropdown to choose one or more Facilities, Systems, or Networks.
    • Business Rule: When a filter is applied (e.g., a specific Facility is selected), all financial metrics (CapEx, OpEx, Maintenance Spend, etc.) will recalculate to show data only for the period.assets within that selected hierarchy.

FormulasDetailed forBusiness KeyRules Metrics:by Dashboard Section

1. Top Navigation Tabs

  • Fields: Overview, Financial, O&M, Energy, Inventory, Compliance.
  • Business Rules:
    • The "Financial" tab is the currently selected view. It must be visually distinct from the other tabs.
    • Each tab navigates the user to a different dashboard focused on that specific domain.

2. Financial KPIs (Top Row)

This section provides a high-level summary of the portfolio's financial health.

MetricField Name

Business Rules & Formula

BusinessData MeaningSource

Tooltip for Asset ManagerContent

Total Asset Value

Value ($12.4M): The current book value of all assets in the portfolio. <br> Formula: SUM(Asset Purchase Price - Asset Accumulated Depreciation) for all active assets. <br> Subtitle: "Current book value"

Financial module or Fixed Asset Register in the accounting system.

Title: Total Asset Value <br> Description: "The net book value of Assetall assets in the portfolio after accounting for depreciation." <br> Formula: Sum(Purchase Price - Accumulated Depreciation)

Replacement Value

Value ($18.8M): The currentestimated bookcost to replace all assets in the portfolio today. <br> Formula: SUM(Asset Replacement Cost) for all active assets. <br> Subtitle: "Current replacement cost"

The Replacement_Cost field in the master Asset Repository. This value ofneeds to be periodically updated to reflect market prices.

Title: Replacement Value <br> Description: "The total estimated cost to replace every asset in the entireportfolio assetat portfolio.today's prices." <br> Formula: Sum(Asset Replacement Cost)

Budget Variance

Value (+8.5%): The percentage difference between budgeted spend and actual spend for the period. <br> Formula: ((Total Budgeted Spend - Total Actual Spend) / Total Budgeted Spend) * 100 <br> Subtitle: "vs planned spending" <br> Visual Rule: Positive values (underspend) should be green. Negative values (overspend) should be red.

ABudgeting primarysystem indicator(for ofplanned spend) and Accounting/CMMS systems (for actual spend).

Title: Budget Variance <br> Description: "Measures financial control.performance against the budget. A positive value indicates under-spending.underspending, while a negative value indicates overspending." <br> Formula: ((Budget - Actual) / Budget) * 100

Maintenance % of Asset ValueSpend

Value ($284K): Total actual cost of all maintenance activities for the selected period. <br> Formula: SUM(Cost of all 'Maintenance' Work Orders) <br> Subtitle: "This month" (Totaldynamically changes with date filter).

CMMS, specifically the costs associated with all completed maintenance work orders (labor, materials, contractor costs).

Title: Maintenance Spend /<br> Description: "The total cost incurred for all maintenance activities (planned and unplanned) during the selected period."

Emergency Repairs

Value ($45K): The portion of maintenance spend that was for unplanned, emergency repairs. <br> Formula: SUM(Cost of Work Orders) WHERE Work_Order_Type = 'Emergency' OR 'Unplanned' <br> Subtitle: "Unplanned costs"

CMMS, filtering for costs from work orders classified as emergency or reactive.

Title: Emergency Repairs <br> Description: "The total cost of unplanned, reactive repairs. This is a key indicator of asset reliability and operational risk."

3. Annual Depreciation

This widget shows the total depreciation charge for the year and breaks it down.

  • Fields: Total Annual Depreciation, Breakdown by Asset Value)Category (e.g., Water Treatment Plants, Distribution Systems).
  • Business Rules:
    • Total Value ($1.3M): Represents the total depreciation expense for the current fiscal year.
      • Formula: SUM(Annual Depreciation Charge) for all assets.
    • Breakdown: The list below the total shows the sum of depreciation for the top 3-5 asset categories, providing insight into where asset value is decreasing the most.
    • The sum of the breakdown items should equal the total depreciation value shown.
  • Data Source: Financial module or Fixed Asset Register.
  • Tooltip Content: On hover over the total: "The total accounting depreciation expense for all assets for the current fiscal year." On hover over a category: "Total annual depreciation for all assets in the [Category Name] category."

4. Capital Expenditure (CapEx) & Operating Expenditure (OpEx)

These widgets provide a clear view of the two main types of spending.

Widget / Field

Business Rules & Formula

Data Source

Tooltip Content

Capital Expenditure (CapEx)

Current Period ($850K): SUM(CapEx) for the selected date range (e.g., "Current Month"). <br> Year to Date ($2.5M): SUM(CapEx) from the start of the fiscal year to the current date. <br> Breakdown: Lists the top 3 CapEx categories (e.g., Infrastructure Upgrades, New Equipment) and their respective sums for the YTD period.

Financial/Accounting system, specifically from the general ledger accounts coded as Capital Expenditure.

Title: Capital Expenditure (CapEx) <br> Description: "Spending on acquiring, upgrading, or extending the life of physical assets. Click to see a detailed breakdown."

Operating Expenditure (OpEx)

Current Period ($650K): SUM(OpEx) for the selected date range. <br> Year to Date ($4.2M): SUM(OpEx) from the start of the fiscal year to the current date. <br> Breakdown: Lists the top 3 OpEx categories (e.g., Routine Maintenance, Operations, Utilities) and their respective sums for the YTD period.

Financial/Accounting system and CMMS, from general ledger accounts coded as Operating Expenditure.

Title: Operating Expenditure (OpEx) <br> Description: "Day-to-day expenses incurred to run the assets and business. Click to see a detailed breakdown."

5. Cost Efficiency Metrics

This section displays key performance indicators related to financial efficiency.

Field Name

Business Rules & Formula

Data Source

Tooltip Content

Preventive vs Reactive

Value (72%): The percentage of maintenance work that is proactive (planned). <br> Formula: (COUNT(Planned Work Orders) / COUNT(Total Maintenance Work Orders)) * 100

ACMMS benchmarkwork metricorder todata, assesscategorized ifby Work_Order_Type (e.g., 'Preventive', 'Planned' vs 'Reactive', 'Emergency').

Title: Preventive vs Reactive Maintenance <br> Description: "The percentage of maintenance spendingwork that is appropriateproactive for(planned). theA portfolio'shigher value.percentage indicates better operational control and lower costs."

AssetCost Lifecycleper CostUnit Treated

Value ($2.45): The total operational cost to produce one unit of output (e.g., one megaliter of water). <br> Formula: SUM(Initial Cost +Total Operating CostsExpenditure +/ MaintenanceTotal CostsVolume -of DisposalUnits Value)Produced

Financial system (for OpEx) and SCADA/Operational systems (for production volume).

Title: Cost per Unit Treated <br> Description: "The totalaverage operational cost to produce a single unit of owningservice an(e.g., asset,treat usedone megaliter of water). A key benchmark for long-termproduction financial planning and asset selection.efficiency."

PreventiveEnergy vs. ReactiveEfficiency

Value (89%): A measure of how efficiently energy is being used. <br> Formula: (PlannedIdeal MaintenanceEnergy Work OrdersConsumption / TotalActual MaintenanceEnergy Work Orders)Consumption) * 100

ASCADA/Energy keyManagement efficiencySystems. metric.Requires defined energy consumption targets for assets/processes.

Title: Energy Efficiency <br> Description: "Measures how close actual energy consumption is to the ideal or benchmarked target. A higher percentage indicatesis more proactive and cost-effective maintenance.better."

6. High Maintenance Cost Assets & Assets Approaching Replacement

These are actionable watchlists that drive cost-saving activities.

Widget / Field

Business Rules & Formula

Data Source

Tooltip Content

High Maintenance Cost Assets

Functionality: A list of the top 5 assets with the highest accumulated maintenance costs in the selected period. <br> Business Rules: Displays Asset Name and Monthly Cost. A trend icon indicates if the cost is increasing (red) or decreasing (green) compared to the previous period. The "Review" button should flag the asset for investigation or navigate to its detailed financial page. The "View All" button navigates to a full, sortable report of all assets by maintenance cost.

CMMS, by summing all maintenance costs (labor, parts) and grouping by asset for the selected period.

Title: High Maintenance Cost Asset <br> Description: "This asset is one of the top drivers of maintenance spending. Click 'Review' to investigate the root cause of its high cost."

Assets Approaching Replacement

Functionality: A prioritized list of assets nearing the end of their useful life or flagged for replacement. <br> Business Rules: Displays Asset Name, Replacement Cost, and Target Replacement Date. A priority tag (High, Medium, Low) is assigned based on the asset's risk and the urgency of replacement. The "Schedule" button should initiate a workflow for capital planning or project creation. The "Plan Budget" button opens a view to add these costs to future budget forecasts.

Master Asset Repository (RUL, Replacement_Cost) and Risk Register (Risk_Score). The list is filtered for assets where RUL is less than a threshold (e.g., < 2 years) and sorted by priority.

Title: Asset Approaching Replacement <br> Description: "This asset is nearing its planned end-of-life and will require capital investment. Priority is based on risk and urgency."


8. Sample Data

Asset Name

Monthly Cost

Type

Status

Replacement Cost

Pump Station #4

$12K

High Maintenance

Review

$250,000

Main Water Pump #1

$2K

Approaching Replacement

High Priority

$125,000

Treatment Plant #2

$9K

High Maintenance

Review

$5,000,000

Backup Generator #3

$1K

Approaching Replacement

Medium Priority

$85,000

9. Acceptance Criteria

  1. The system must display the Total Asset Value based on the current book value.
  2. The system must calculate and display the Budget Variance as a percentage.
  3. The system must show separate totals for CapEx and OpEx for the current period and year-to-date.
  4. The system must break down Maintenance Cost into Planned and Unplanned spending.
  5. The system must calculate and display the "Maintenance % of Asset Value."
  6. The "Budget vs Actual Spend" chart must accurately visualize spending against the allocated budget for both CapEx and OpEx.
  7. The system must display the total Asset Disposal Value for the current period and year-to-date.
  8. The system must display the three "Cost Efficiency Metrics": Preventive vs Reactive, Cost per Unit Treated, and Energy Efficiency.
  9. The "High Maintenance Cost Assets" list must display the top 5 assets ranked by monthly maintenance spend.
  10. The "Assets Approaching Replacement" list must display assets with a defined replacement date within the next 18 months, prioritized by cost and date.
  11. The "Review" button on a high-cost asset must open a detailed view or flag the asset for follow-up.
  12. The "Plan Budget" button must open a workflow to add a projected cost to a future budget cycle.
  13. All financial KPIs must have a tooltip explaining how they are calculated.
  14. The dashboard must load completely within 5 seconds.
  15. All interactive elements must provide a visual cue on hover.

10. Process Changes

From (Current Process)

To (New Process)

Impact Analysis

Reviewing financial performance from static, month-end accounting reports.

Monitoring financial performance in near real-time through an interactive dashboard.

Enables proactive cost control and reduces the risk of budget overruns by identifying issues mid-cycle instead of after the fact.

Unplanned maintenance costs are accepted as a cost of doing business.

Unplanned costs are actively tracked and linked back to specific "High Maintenance Cost Assets."

Shifts focus to root cause analysis, justifying strategic replacement (CapEx) to reduce long-term operational costs (OpEx).

Budget planning for replacements is based on asset age and general estimates.

Budget planning is driven by a specific list of "Assets Approaching Replacement" with defined costs and timelines.

Improves the accuracy of capital forecasting by 20-30% and ensures funds are allocated for known future needs.

11. Impact from Solving This Problem

Metric

How it Improves

✅ Cost Control & Budget Adherence

Real-time visibility into spending and variance allows for immediate corrective action, improving budget adherence.

✅ Reduced Operational Costs

By identifying and addressing high-cost assets, the manager can lower unplanned maintenance and downtime costs by an estimated 15-20%.

✅ Optimized CapEx/OpEx Balance

The dashboard provides the data needed to make strategic decisions, such as investing in new assets (CapEx) to lower long-term maintenance (OpEx).

✅ Improved Financial Forecasting

The "Assets Approaching Replacement" watchlist provides a clear pipeline of future capital needs, leading to more accurate and defensible long-range financial plans.

12. User Behavior Tracking

Question to Answer

Event to Track

Properties

Is the manager actively monitoring budget performance?

Budget_Chart_Viewed

timestamp, date_filter_range

What are the biggest areas of financial concern?

Cost_Widget_Interacted

widget_name ('High Maintenance Cost', 'Assets Approaching Replacement')

Is the manager taking action on high-cost assets?

Asset_Action_Clicked

action_type ('Review', 'Plan Budget'), asset_id, asset_cost

Are the efficiency metrics being used to gauge performance?

Efficiency_Metric_Hovered

metric_name ('Preventive vs Reactive')

What is the primary focus: short-term spend or long-term planning?

Expenditure_Drilldown

expenditure_type ('CapEx', 'OpEx'), timeframe ('Current Period', 'YTD')

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