System Requirements for Viewing this Course

INSTRUCTOR: Eric Bill

Purpose and Background

While engineers excel at technically-oriented analysis, the basis of that analysis lie in the field of engineering; however, another technical analysis that engineers sometimes struggle with is financial and economic analysis - an essential element in how one makes the case for their project or design. A growing number of infrastructure owners demand performance data including projected financial, economic, social, and environmental returns on investment to sustainable design. Projections need to be based on credible, objective, and transparent economic assessment to determine the viability of a business case in support of design decisions. Engineers are turning to consultants or in-house economists to conduct economic assessments, including life cycle cost analysis, cost benefit analysis, and triple bottom line cost benefit analysis to determine the value of design features. This webinar engages engineers to build capacity in order to be conversant in the language of finance and economics to support project design, prioritize competing alternatives, garner funding and persuade decision makers, as well as support stakeholder and community outreach.

Primary Discussion Topics

• Expose participants to business cases for sustainable and resilient design improvements from actual sustainable infrastructure projects across a range of types
• Expose participants to the concept of business case analysis including the different types of assessment commonly used to craft objective, transparent and comparable cases
• Economic and financial modeling best-practices
• How to identify and use appropriate ecosystem service valuation approaches

Learning Outcomes

• Prepare an outline of a business case for sustainable infrastructure
• Understand and be able to leverage the resources that can be called upon to complete the assessments
• Apply a working knowledge of the types of assessment that can be used to determine returns on investment from sustainable and resilient features in sustainable infrastructure
• Understand ecosystem service impacts and how these are valued
• Describe the processes used to create a business case for sustainable and resilient infrastructure

Webinar Benefits

• Make the case for your project
• Mitigate value engineering impacts
• Better understand how financial and economic analysis is developed
• Gain knowledge on how social and environmental impacts are included in a business case
• Learn new business case development skills
• Understand how co-benefits in sustainable and resilient are valued
• Communicate more confidently as to the merits of your project/design

Intended Audience

• Project managers
• Program managers
• Planners
• Project engineers
• Public agency project managers
• CIP team

Webinar Outline

• Impact Infrastructure proposes to offer the following course series to civil engineers engaged in designing and supporting projects
• How to build the business case for your sustainable and resilient project for triple bottom line outcomes
• o Financial
• o Social
• o Environmental
• Learn to be conversant in the language of finance and economics to support project design, prioritize competing alternatives, garner funding and persuade decision makers, as well as support stakeholder and community outreach