Sightlines Reports Record Adoption of Its Facilities Solutions by U.S. Colleges and Universities in 2014

GUILFORD, CT--(Marketwired - Jan 29, 2015) - Sightlines, a leader in helping academic institutions better manage their facilities and capital investment strategies, today reported a record year for usage of the company's solutions by higher education executives seeking to optimize their facilities resources and manage investment risks.

Sightlines announced that member upgrades to ROPA+, a proprietary service offering that helps colleges and universities transform their approach to facilities management, far exceeded expectations with more than 85 upgrades from current members and 50 new institutions. Sightlines now serves more than 450 colleges and universities annually with more than 150 ROPA+ members.

"The tremendous adoption of our core services last year demonstrates that we're delivering significant value to our members through the facilities management and business information solutions we provide," said Mark Schiff, president and chief executive officer of Sightlines.

ROPA+ is a next-generation service that is an evolution of Sightlines' proprietary Return-On-Physical-Assets (ROPA) planning model, which helps colleges and universities define their strategic decision making around campus planning and investments. This unique service allows members to optimize their campus investments and contribute to the mission and long-term financial health of their institutions.

"With ROPA+, we bring the concepts of financial management tools -- portfolio balance, diversification and risk management -- to the facilities management world," explained Schiff. "Our extraordinary upgrade rate this year confirms that it has quickly become a highly valuable business planning tool for colleges and universities of all sizes."

Sightlines also reported a 50 percent increase in adoption of its Strategic Facilities Solutions by U.S. colleges and universities in 2014. These services help members take facility asset management to a higher level by building on the foundation of ROPA+ and drilling into specific areas of physical plant policy. Equipped with data from more than 25,000 campus buildings from across the U.S. and Canada, Sightlines helps institutions plan, prioritize and manage facilities maintenance and upgrades so they can get the most mileage out of limited funds.

"Our vision for 2015 is to build upon our ROPA+ service as the foundation for helping our members get the most out of their facilities data by delivering a variety of strategic facilities solutions," said Schiff. "This includes our Building Portfolio Solutions, Space Utilization Solutions and Sustainability Solutions. These offerings work together to help our members better meet their facilities management goals, mitigate the risks for potential facility expenses and expand their environmental stewardship."

About Sightlines
Founded in 2000, Sightlines now covers more than 380 campuses across 290+ institutions in 41 states, the District of Columbia and Canada. The company stewards the nation's largest database of information related to campus operations, which represents more than 1.2 billion gross square feet. Sightlines' flagship offering for members is ROPA+, a fully integrated service for facilities benchmarking and analysis that leads members through a comprehensive process of discovery, prediction and performance. Other Sightlines services provide higher ed executives with insights to assist with capital planning, space management and campus sustainability initiatives. For more information, please call 203.682.4952, go to http://www.sightlines.com or email insights@sightlines.com.