Update Workbook Help

These instructions are intended to aid submitters of the BRG reserve study update Excel workbook. More specifically, these instructions describe how to submit expense information on the “Expenses” worksheet. Thank you in advance for using this tool which is intended to streamline the update process. By following these instructions, your update reserve study can be produced accurately and quickly. This workbook is designed for updating the immediate past fiscal year’s reserve study, so if there has been more than a year since the last study, this form may not be suitable.

Your task is to provide the actual current fiscal year expenses including all those still anticipated during the remainder of the current fiscal year. It is also your goal to tell us which current fiscal year component replacements will not take place. It is equally important for you to convey precisely what has/will be done as well as what won’t be done in the current fiscal year.

The worksheet permits data input in only the “Enter Actual ” and “Comments” columns. The other columns simply exist to help you identify components by providing basic component context such as description, life and cost. Provide the actual plus remaining anticipated total component expenditure for each component in the “Enter Actual ” column. If the there will be no expenditure for the component during , enter zero. Use the “Comments” column to indicate special circumstances such as change of scope, life, etc.

					From Most Recent Study		Enter
Component					Baseline	Projected	Actual
Major	Sub w/ Description	Cost	U/L	R/L				Comments

Helpful revision tips

• is the first year in the study. All expenses whether already completed or still anticipated belong in with a zero remaining life. Basically, if reserve funds are expended or will be expended in , those expenses must appear in . The next replacement will be scheduled automatically.
• When moving components, supply the actual fiscal year and avoid relative terms like “next”, “last”, “push”, “pull”, etc. Just to be safe, provide the fiscal year such as and not the remaining life such as 4. Using the explicit fiscal year avoids confusion.
• Provide current costs and not future costs (our system automatically handles inflation).
• If a component is due in and we are given no information affirmatively indicating that the component was replaced or will be replaced in , we’ll assume that the component is not being replaced during and default that component’s remaining life to .
• If component work is split, please describe what was completed including cost and general location/scope description. Also explain when (fiscal year) the remaining work is now anticipated to be performed. For instance, if only 400 linear feet of a 1,000 foot fence was replaced in , provide details for both what was done to the 400 linear feet and what to do with the remaining 600 linear feet.
• If we are supplied with cost or life ranges, we’ll use the higher cost and shorter life.
• If changing a component’s useful life, make sure to also change the remaining life if needed. For instance, if the old component’s useful and remaining lives were 15 years and and you reduce the useful life from 15 to 10 years, you should also indicate that the remaining life change from to . Changing the remaining life in conjunction with a useful life change is not always appropriate, so make sure to direct what should happen to the remaining life whenever the useful life is changed.
• If a new component needs to be added, please supply a location, description, current cost, estimated useful life in years such as 10 years and estimated remaining life as a explicit fiscal year such as . If known, provide the placed in service date and placed in service cost.
• Be aware of components that work in conjunction with other components. For instance, pavement repairs are generally performed in conjunction with seal coat cycles (when possible). This is generally the case with reroofing/gutter replacement, siding repair/painting, pool resurfacing/tile replacement, etc. So if component schedules are revised, be on the lookout for related components and adjust them accordingly.
• If you have a question such as why a particular cost or life, try forming your question as a suggestion or recommendation. For instance, perhaps you question a $35/lf fence estimate or 15 year useful life, so instead of simply just asking why the $35/lf fence or a 15 year useful life, supply your cost or life estimate and reasons why you believe your cost or life estimate is more appropriate.
• Be aware of “ONETIME ONLY” components. Onetime only components occasionally confuse because they appear as duplicates, but they are not duplicates. There is typically another component which provides for future ongoing replacement. Onetime only components are common in the first year of any study. Onetime only components handle out of cycle or unique scope/cost situations that are not expected to repeat in the future. Onetime only components are indicated with a treatment that is labeled as “nr:1” which indicates that this component repeats once. Onetime only components are generally numbered with odd sub-component numbers while ongoing components are generally numbered with even sub-components numbers. If there is a onetime only component paired with an ongoing component, the onetime only component is normally numbered one greater than the even numbered ongoing sub-component.  This numbering scheme is by convention, but it is not enforced by our software, so the numbering scheme may not always follow what I have described here. See the below onetime only example for furnishings in which the ongoing component is numbered 24000-900 with a 9 year remaining life and the related onetime only component is numbered 24000-901 with a 0 year remaining life: