SSP Downloads | Quick Guide
Getting GIS Data Work Properly Funded
How to create a successful case for capital funding, so the data work your utility already needs stops competing for O&M dollars it will never win.
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$100B
Annual O&M spend, US electric utilities
Source: Statista
27%
Of staff time lost fixing bad data
Source: Gartner
$12.9M
Average annual cost of poor data quality
Source: Gartner
THE PROBLEM
The line that decides everything
Every dollar a utility spends lands in one of two buckets: Operations and Maintenance or Capital. This single accounting line decides how GIS data work gets funded, or whether the work gets funded at all.
O&M expenses hit the rate base immediately. Regulators recover them dollar for dollar, and the utility earns no return. Capital works differently. Capital investment enters the rate base as an asset, recovers over the asset’s life through depreciation, and earns the utility an allowed rate of return.
Most GIS data work, asset validation, construction capture, data cleanup, and Utility Network alignment land in O&M by default. Not because the work belongs there.
Because nobody built the case for putting the work somewhere else.
WHAT’S INSIDE
A practical path from expense line to capital budget
1
The O&M vs Capital Line
Why GIS data work defaults to O&M, and what changes once you reclassify the work.
2
Four Capital-Eligible Project Types
Historical record validation, construction capture, Utility Network cleanup, and M&A data consolidation, with the funding case for each.
3
Two Ways to Flip the Funding
How to scope data capture directly to a physical asset’s work order, and how to capitalize data and software under ASC 350-40, ASU 2025-06, GASB 96, and GASB 51.
4
Two Field Use Cases
Pig launch and receiver installations, and sleeve installations, showing exactly how the data capture ties to the capital work order.
5
The Internal Playbook
Four questions to answer before the budget conversation, and the language finance and regulatory teams need to hear.
6
How SSP and PG Partners Help
The financial and regulatory expertise to build the case, paired with the operational capability to deliver the work at scale.
Who should read this guide
GIS Managers
IT Directors
Operations Leaders
Program Sponsors
Finance & Regulatory Partners
BUILT IN PARTNERSHIP
Two firms. One funding case.
PG PARTNERS
Build the Case
Decades of utility finance, regulatory, and capital program experience. PG Partners classifies data work against capital eligibility criteria, aligns treatment with your regulatory environment, and models the rate base and return impact for leadership.
SSP INNOVATIONS
Deliver at Scale
Among the most experienced Utility Network implementers in North America. SSP delivers the high-volume data capture, validation, and QA/QC that supports the case once it’s approved, in packages that fit the capital budget.
GET THE GUIDE
Get the Capital Funding Guide
Sixteen pages on moving GIS data work from a losing O&M argument to a fundable capital case, with the project types, the accounting mechanics, and the internal playbook for the conversation with finance.
- ✓Four capital-eligible project types, explained
- ✓The accounting standards that support reclassification
- ✓Two field use cases walked through in detail
- ✓The questions to ask before your next budget meeting