Capital Planning

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• Capital Planning Overview
• Capital Planning Selection Criteria
• CSU Five-Year Plan

SJSU Capital and Physical Planning

Capital Planning at San José State University involves the systematic approach to identifying, prioritizing, and documenting projects relative to the physical environment to support the university's mission and goals. This process is iterative with updates typically happening annually, and as needed, as opportunities arise. This process and its implementation is what is required for the university to achieve the goals and projects set forth in the Campus Master Plan. The full process includes a combination of strategic planning, needs assessment, financial analysis, and decision-making to ensure that the university creates a plan that is strategic to meet its evolving needs. The following is a general description of the capital planning process

1. Strategic Vision and Planning (Biannual) 

The process begins with revisiting and aligning capital projects with the university's long-term mission, goals, and strategies. This includes considering future student enrollment, academic program changes and growth, technological advancement, strategic investment, sustainability, and other university or system initiatives. The foundation of this part of the planning process is the Campus Master Plan, but regular updates (typically biannually) are necessary to make sure that the campus maintains focus on achieving its highest priorities.

2. Campus Engagement & Outreach (Annual)

• Facility Conditions Assessment (FCA): Facilities Development & Operations (FD&O) maintains and regularly updates a campuswide FCA database. This database allows the university to track where systems investments may be needed next and to help advise where investments may be most necessary.  
• Stakeholder Input & Engagement: Each year, FD&O reaches out to each of the Campus Divisions to solicit feedback/information on their capital planning priorities for the following five year horizon. These meetings typically begin near the start of the fiscal year (August) to allow sufficient time to fully assess the proposal prior to the following fiscal year. This may include follow-up input from various campus departments, including academic, administrative, and student services, as information is gathered to ensure that all university needs are considered.

3. Project Identification and Prioritization

• Project Proposals: Based on the Campus Engagement & Outreach phase, a comprehensive list of potential capital projects will be developed and refined, these projects will include all major capital projects ranging from new buildings and renovations to infrastructure upgrades.
• Prioritization: Projects will then be prioritized based on factors such as urgency due to life safety, access or other concerns, cost, impact on the university's mission, return on investment, and alignment with strategic goals. Depending on the identified funding source, further detail and/or criteria may be applied that might influence the prioritization. 

4. Detailed Analysis

Near term projects (years 1 - 3) will engage in a detailed study to fully articulate the purpose, scope and need for the project studied. The type of study may vary based on the category, but may include a market demand analysis, feasibility study, programming study, or other analysis as required. This analysis will be managed as a partnership between FD&O and the sponsoring division.  

5. Financial Planning

• Budget Development: For each proposed project, detailed cost estimates are created. This includes initial construction costs, operating and maintenance costs, and the potential for revenue generation (e.g., through auxiliary services).
• Funding Sources: The university will consider various funding options for capital projects. These may include bonds, grants, philanthropy, state funding, or strategic partnerships.
• Cash Flow and Debt Management: Financial models are developed to assess the cash flow implications of funding the projects, as well as any debt incurred. Universities typically have limited budgets and must ensure projects are sustainable within their financial capacity.

6. Approval and Governance

Once prioritized projects and financial plans are developed, the proposals are reviewed and approved by senior leadership and ultimately by the CSU Board of Trustees.

7. Continuous Review and Updating 

The capital planning process is purposefully cyclical and iterative, with continuous assessments and opportunities for further refinement. The university should be focused on priorities but flexible enough to consider new developments as they arise, such as with sudden changes in system funding priorities, student demographics or expectations or external economic factors. 

Capital Planning Selection Criteria 

The demand for capital investment is regularly expected to well exceed the availability of actual capital available to complete the work.  In order to prioritize projects, the following criteria were identified to help the campus to focus investment in areas of greatest potential need/impact. While the final decision is ultimately the responsibility of university leadership (the President and their cabinet), the following criteria will be utilized to provide an initial ranking of where a project may be prioritized.

• Support of Campus Priorities: How well does the scenario support the goals of Transformation 2030? (Engage and Educate, Excel and Lead, Grow and Thrive, Connect and Contribute, Rebuild and Renew)
• Urgency: How urgent is the project to meet campus goals and/or avoid disruption?  
• Improved Efficiency: How might the project help to achieve efficiency through reductions in cost, either through reduced energy use or reductions in reactive labor costs?
• Campus Transformation: How much will the project transform the campus, building and/or organization? This may be organizationally, operationally, or physically.
• Community Impact: How positively will the project impact those beyond the campus community, including those neighborhoods directly adjacent to the campus or those that regularly visit the campus for university-sponsored events.
• Supplemental Funding Availability: How might the project better position the university to be able to attract supplementary funding sources and/or partnerships to help stretch dollars invested.

The Five-Year Plan

Each year, the Office of the Chancellor sends out a “Call Letter” requesting information regarding each of the 23 universities' respective “Five-Year Plans”. Each university's plan is described in a series of prescriptively formatted and organized documents that the Capital Planning, Design and Construction (CPDC) of the Office of Chancellor uses to aggregate information for the purposes of communicating the information to the Board of Trustees (BOT), state Department of Finance (DOF), and Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). The document does represent a broad list of projects, but typically well exceeds the potential for available funds, and may be strategically organized by CPDC to use in communicating systemwide needs for funding. The CSU Five-Year Plan should be based on each universities' annually-developed Capital and Physical Plan, but may be adjusted to satisfy systemwide needs.