Asset Management BC
Roadmap Project
Asset Management
BC
PROJECT REPORT
MAY 2011
Asset Management BC
ROADMAP PROJECT
Report on the development of the
Asset Management BC Roadmap
Asset Management BC
PROJECT REPORT
May 2011
©
Opus International Consultants (Canada) Limited
2011
Asset Management Roadmap
i
Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 What is an Asset Management Roadmap? ........................................................................ 1
1.2 Project Terms of Reference ............................................................................................... 1
1.3 Scope and Understanding ................................................................................................. 2
1.4 Project Deliverables ........................................................................................................... 2
2 Context for Roadmap ............................................................................................................... 3
2.1 Sustainable Communities .................................................................................................. 3
2.2 Purpose of Asset Management .......................................................................................... 3
2.3 Purpose of the Roadmap ................................................................................................... 3
2.4 Links to Other Asset Management BC Tools ..................................................................... 4
2.5 Process for Implementing the Roadmap ............................................................................ 5
2.6 Frameworks, Guidelines and Manuals ............................................................................... 6
2.7 Connecting with Tangible Capital Asset Reporting ............................................................. 9
3 Asset Management Roadmap ................................................................................................ 10
3.1 Roadmap Chart and Information Sheets .......................................................................... 10
3.2 Roadmap Case Studies ................................................................................................... 10
4 Asset Management Practice: Free Thinking ......................................................................... 12
4.1 Overview.......................................................................................................................... 12
4.2 Where to Start?................................................................................................................ 12
4.3 How much do I need to know about the Assets?.............................................................. 12
4.4 How can a forecast of Renewal Costs help me? .............................................................. 13
4.5 Why bother documenting Decision-making? .................................................................... 13
4.6 The Role of Computer Systems ....................................................................................... 13
5 Improvement Plan ................................................................................................................... 14
5.1 Overview.......................................................................................................................... 14
5.2 Suggested Improvements ................................................................................................ 14
Asset Management Roadmap
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1 Introduction
1.1 What is an Asset Management Roadmap?
A Roadmap in its simplest form is something that helps to
guide you on a particular path or journey. Asset
management as it applies to any organization, is a business
model that provides tangible ways to demonstrate:
Good Asset Ownership;
Effective Management of Assets and Services;
Responsible Stewardship, and progress toward
Long Term Sustainability.
The business of Asset Management starts with a collation
and integration of existing management systems and data,
but it does not stop there. It goes much further, building on
existing processes and tools, complementing and
advancing current practice through a process of on-going
review and improvement actions.
Thus an Asset Management Roadmap represents a pathway guide to better business and
service delivery.
1.2 Project Terms of Reference
The following is a quotation from the Request for Proposal document for the Asset
Management Roadmap project. It sets out the overall context for the project and the intended
use of the deliverables.
Generic Asset Management Roadmap
“Asset Management BC will co-ordinate four (4) case studies to develop an asset
management roadmap. Using the four communities as representative of smaller BC
communities, the similarities and differences of each will be examined with respect to the
steps necessary to prepare an asset management strategy. A generic approach to a
roadmap will be prepared that will be available to any community and used to assist the
community in developing an asset management plan and strategy.”
Roadmaps are mechanisms
enabling local governments
to visualize the services they
provide and the physical
assets needed to deliver the
services, the relationships
between these; and the
skills, technologies,
competencies and capacities
needed to meet current and
future service requirements
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1.3 Scope and Understanding
The project required that a balance be found between:
delivering a customized outcome to meet the needs of each of the four participating
communities; and
delivering a generic asset management tool useful to any local government in BC;
and
maintaining a simplicity of approach that would encourage even the smallest
community to start implementing key asset management practices.
1.4 Project Deliverables
The outcomes of completing the project include:
An Asset Management Roadmap tool consisting of:
o Roadmap Diagram providing and overview and check sheet of key asset
management practices
o Roadmap Information Sheets providing general details for implementing 17 basic
asset management practice modules. Each sheet includes information on:
〉 What is this asset management practice module?;
〉 Why do I need to do implement this practice?;
〉 How do I implement this asset management practice?;
〉 What other comments and advice may be helpful?; and
〉 What are the standards required to achieve each level of asset management
competency i.e. basic, intermediate and advanced level of asset management?
Asset Management Services to each of the participating local governments:
o Status of Asset Management review;
o Gap Assessment between current and basic level asset management practice;
o Asset Management Strategy and advice;
o List of key actions for an Asset Management Improvement Plan.
Provision of a comprehensive document that reports all aspects and outcomes of
the project. The project document is comprised of the following three parts:
o Project Report
o Asset Management Roadmap Guide
o Roadmap Case Study Reports (four documents)
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2 Context for Roadmap
2.1 Sustainable Communities
The overall objective of Asset Management is ‘Sustainability’.
In the context of local communities, ‘sustainability’ requires managing assets (public
infrastructure) in a way that provides agreed service levels now and into the future, as far as
we can reasonably predict.
A primary objective of implementing asset management practices is to provide good
information and promote detailed understanding about physical assets (infrastructure).
Connected to this objective is the support of informed decision-making through analysis of
asset data and development of decision procedures. Asset management practices are
therefore a vital platform for sustainability.
2.2 Purpose of Asset Management
Good asset management practice underpins service delivery, responsible stewardship and risk
management. Adopting long-term asset management as the way of doing business will help
organizations achieve:
Good corporate governance;
Sound long-term financial management;
Sustainable, equitable and affordable service delivery;
Effective risk management; and
Effective management of asset function, capacity, preservation.
2.3 Purpose of the Roadmap
Throughout the province there is growing awareness regarding the link between asset
management practices and the long term financial position for local communities. Many smaller
BC local governments have requested assistance in defining what an Asset Management Plan
should include and the steps to get there. The final product from this project, the ‘Roadmap’ is
intended to directly assist in this regard.
The Roadmap project is being co-ordinated through Asset Management BC (previously
LGAMWG – Local Government Asset Management Working Group).
The key project outcome, the Roadmap, is intended for wide use and distribution to assist any
local government or similar organization in BC, as they deem appropriate. The Asset
Management BC group (AMBC) expects to freely offer the Roadmap of guide for use by our
communities, as another part of the asset management tool chest that they provide for local
governments in the province.
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2.4 Links to Other Asset Management BC Tools
Asset Management BC (AMBC) have previously developed an asset management policy
document and an asset management self-assessment tool called AssetSmart. The Roadmap
has been designed to work in with these initiatives.
As currently envisioned the Roadmap is seen as the third tool in a suite of tools:
The Policy;
The AssetSmart tool;
The Roadmap.
2.4.1 Asset Management Policy
The Policy is the first tool developed by Asset
Management BC. It provides the go ahead to
staff to further develop asset management
practices in their organization.
The document includes an asset management
guide that outlines the principles and
components of an asset management policy as
well as an example policy document that can be
easily adapted and used by organizations.
2.4.2 AssetSmart
The second tool AssetSmart, provides a baseline from which staff can begin to develop
a strategy. It is a comprehensive self-assessment tool to review the organizations
readiness to implement asset management business practice and thereafter to monitor
progress of asset management implementation.
The AssetSmart tool considers an organization’s management capacity in the following
five core areas:
1. Awareness and Priorities;
2. Organizational Systems;
3. People;
4. Information; and
5. Financing
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2.4.3 Roadmap
The Roadmap is the third tool, and provides the next logical step in progressing asset
management. It provides sufficient detail on asset management practices, to assist staff
in identifying and prioritizing the actions required and development of a strategy to
implement asset management.
Staff can compare the basic asset management
practices in the Roadmap tool with what they
already have in place. They can then list the
activities and actions that are in the gap between
current and desired practice. This list can be
prioritized according to the needs of the
community and documented into an Asset
Management Strategy. Responsibility for each task
should be assigned to a person and they should
be scheduled in a program with set timeframes
and budget allocations.
This will then be an effective Asset Management
Implementation (and Improvement) Plan.
2.5 Process for Implementing the Roadmap
The recommended process flow, for implementing asset management in an organization, is
outlined in Figure 2.1 (refer below).
The key elements in this process that relate to the Roadmap are:
The actual Roadmap (Roadmap chart and associated information sheets);
The Improvement Plan (Strategy and Action Plan); and
The Implementation Plan.
The diagram also shows the relationship between the Roadmap tool and other asset
management guide documents, framework and manuals.
The Roadmap is intended to assist organizations to get started with asset management. It is
consistent with the National Asset Management Framework and it is a precursor to rather than
a replacement for manuals and detailed guidance documents.
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Figure 2.1: Asset Management Implementation Process
2.6 Frameworks, Guidelines and Manuals
There are a number of national and international documents, manuals and frameworks that
provide advice and guidance on aspects of Infrastructure Asset Management. Some are
focused primarily on production of an Asset Management Plan and all provide useful
information that can assist an organization to implement good business practices relating to
management of their assets (asset management practices).
Some of the more commonly referred documents include:
National Asset Management Framework (Canada)
Infraguide (developed in Canada for Canadian Municipalities);
International Infrastructure Management Manual (IIMM) (developed collaboratively
between New Zealand and Australia);
PAS 55 (developed in the UK).
Asset Management BC
Roadmap
Roadmap Diagram (Chart)
Information Sheets
AssetSmart self assessment tool
Corporate Documents
Strategic Planning
Sustainability Charter/Strategy
Policies & Directives
Financial Plans & Budgets
Operational Parameters
Contracts
Asset Management
Improvement
Plan
AM Strategy
AM Action Plan
(refer to Roadmap Case Studies Report)
AM Guideline / Framework Tools
(various tools are available for reference)
Asset Management Plan
(this documents AM practices & outcomes)
Policy
for asset management
Asset Management
Implementation Plan
Priority, Timeline and Budget set, and
Responsibility assigned for
completing each improvement task.
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The Roadmap detailed in this report and produced by this project does not seek to supersede
any of these available documents. The purpose of the roadmap is to provide organizations with
an overview and a starting point. The information sheets included with the roadmap do provide
advice and guidance, sufficient for achieving basic level asset management practice. However
they are deliberately general in nature and are not intended as a detailed step by step
instruction manual. Nor is the Roadmap intended to be used as a formal framework or
structure for asset management plan documents.
The Roadmap seeks to provide a bridge between current practice and the comprehensive
detail in documents such as those listed above. It seeks to simplify the process to make it
easier for organizations to get started on implementing asset management. It is particularly
suited to assist small local governments or similar entities with limited people resources. It
provides an opportunity for staff to understand the holistic view of how the components of asset
management fit together without having to get into a lot of detail at the very begining.
In the early stages of implementing asset management practice, there are usually many
unknowns and assumptions that need to be made in order to progress. It is appropriate
therefore to take a simple general approach at the beginning to get initial momentum and build
up basic levels of understanding, information and process. This initial work can then be refined,
customized and added to in depth of detail and complexity using reference to documents such
as those referred to above (or any other approach deemed appropriate or suitable).
The Roadmap neither promotes nor precludes an organization from making their own choice
whenever it is appropriate for them, to use or implement any asset management guideline,
framework, system or manual. The following sections provide a brief overview of each of the
more commonly referred documents mentioned above.
2.6.1 National Framework
The National Asset Management Governance Framework
identifies the “why, what and who‟ of asset management.
It is intended as a basis for asset management strategy
development at the local level in Canada. It also assists
organizations to identify the roles and responsibility plus the
inter-relationships of the various governance levels involved
including the users or stakeholders.
This Governance Framework however, specifically does not
identify or incorporate the “how‟ to carry out Asset Management
strategy development and implementation.
The Roadmap is consistent with this framework and follows on from it. The Roadmap has
information on the “how to” develop a strategy and it identifies what asset management
practices are needed to achieve basic level of asset management in the organization.
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2.6.2 InfraGuide
InfraGuide is both a national network of
experts and a collection of published best
practice documents and case studies. The
InfraGuide documents were written for both
municipal decision makers and technical
personnel in the public and private sectors.
The purpose of InfraGuide is to help
municipalities make informed decisions and
promote sustainable infrastructure investment.
InfraGuide has published over 50 Best
Practices to date. These documents provide
excellent advice on many areas of asset
management practice. Refer to
2.6.3 International Infrastructure Management Manual
The International Infrastructure Management Manual
(IIMM) is a comprehensive manual of asset
management practice. It includes basic level asset
management and advanced level asset management
with detailed guidance notes and explanation. In
addition to this manual there are several other
documents for specific discipline or practice areas.
These include:
Infrastructure Asset Valuation and
Depreciation Guidelines;
Developing Levels of Service and
Performance Measures;
Optimized Decision Making Guidelines;
and
NAMS Property which consists of a manual, interactive website
and a demonstration asset planning system.
The International Infrastructure Management Manual (IIMM) has recently been updated with
new international content including asset management practice in NZ, AUS, SA, UK and US;
The work completed under the Roadmap can be used with these detailed guides for
development of an Asset Management Plan or progressing to advanced asset management.
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2.6.4 PAS 55
PAS 55 is a Publicly Available Specification from the British
Standards Institution for optimized management of physical assets.
The document provides a 28-point requirements checklist of good
practices for an optimized, whole-of-life management system for all
types of physical assets.
It is similar to the International Infrastructure Management Manual mentioned
above although the level of detail and the way the documents are intended to
be used are different. Both PAS 55 and the IIMM manual are internationally
recognized tools for implementation of asset management.
The work completed under the Roadmap can be used with this standard for development of an
Asset Management Plan or progressing to advanced asset management.
2.7 Connecting with Tangible Capital Asset Reporting
Tangible Capital Assets (TCA) Reporting is required by the Public Sector Accounting Board
under PSAB 3150. This process has for many local authorities provided the initial boost to
generate or collate their asset data. As a result most local authorities have a basic asset
inventory for their main asset groups.
This is an excellent foundation from which the
Roadmap forward in implementing asset
management practice.
The two fundamental asset management
practice modules that have to be implemented
before any others are directly related to and
build on from the TCA work for PSAB 3150.
These are:
Know your assets; and
Know your financial position.
2.0 Know Your
Financial Situation
1.0 Know Your
Assets
2.1_Current Asset
Investment
a) Replacement
Value
b) Depreciated
V
alue
1.1_Basic Asset
Inventory
a) Asset Type
b) Location
c) Quantity & Size
d) Material
e) Useful Life
f) Install Date & Age
g) Remaining Life
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3 Asset Management Roadmap
The complete asset management roadmap is provided in the document “Asset Management
BC Roadmap (May 2011)” available on the Asset Management BC website
(www.assetmanagementbc.ca). Four Case Study documents are also available on the Asset
Management BC website. These documents provide examples of how to use the Roadmap to
develop an Asset Management Strategy.
3.1 Roadmap Chart and Information Sheets
The Roadmap document consists of a chart or diagram that gives an overview of key asset
management practices, in a modular format. Each module identifies an asset management
practice to be implemented. Associated with each practice module is an information sheet.
Each information sheet provides detail on:
〉 What is this asset management practice module?;
〉 Why do I need to do implement this practice?;
〉 How do I implement this asset management practice?;
〉 What other comments and advice may be helpful?; and
〉 What are the standards required to achieve each level of asset management
competency i.e. basic, intermediate and advanced level of asset management?
3.2 Roadmap Case Studies
Each case study document includes four key elements. These were:
Status of Asset Management Review
Gap Assessment of Asset Management Practice
Proposed Asset Management Strategy
Recommended Action Plan
Following on from the case study reports, it is expected that each organization would then
develop an Asset Management Implementation plan for their organization.
3.2.1 Asset Management Review and Gap Assessment
This is a process to identify the current asset management practices already complete
or in progress within an organization. Then to compare the current practices with the
desired level of asset management practice identified in the Roadmap. The gap
between current and desired practice is then documented. This identifies the work
required to reach the desired level of asset management practice.
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3.2.2 Asset Management Strategy
This is a planning document that sets out how the organization is going to progress
implementation of asset management practices from current to a future desired status.
3.2.3 Asset Management Action Plan
This is a list of tasks to be done to implement the asset management practices in
accordance with the Asset Management Strategy. The strategy and action plan
together form the improvement plan. This identifies what needs to be done and why.
The action that must come after the improvement plan is the implementation plan.
3.2.4 Asset Management Implementation Plan
This is the actual work program for completing the improvement tasks. Many similar
organizations may have similar improvement plans, but their communities can have
different priorities and different capacity to pay. Therefore the implementation plan has
to be customized to each community and this will include to:
〉 Prioritize the tasks identified in the Improvement Plan;
〉 Assign responsibility for completion of each task to specific people; and
〉 Set completion dates and provide funding to complete the tasks.
The implementation plan would be developed from the Action Plan (refer 3.2.3) and in
the context of the Strategy (refer 3.2.2), but takes into account budget and timelines to
set up a specific program and assign responsibility for completing the work as
scheduled.
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4 Asset Management Practice: Free Thinking
4.1 Overview
This section is intended to be a commentary of general issues, experiences and opinion on
Asset Management and related topics.
The word Asset Management is becoming more common, but there is confusion about what it
actually means and what the purpose of Asset Management is. Why should we do it?
The answer is that the goal of any asset management principle or practice is sustainability.
Asset Management has been accurately described as being a business model that is
particularly suited to organizations that use assets to provide services. Asset Management
practices are particular tasks or procedures that assist an organization to make better
decisions so that the provision of their services will be sustainable long term.
4.2 Where to Start?
It can be hard to know where to start? How do you decide what procedures or tools are
essential for now and what can be implemented in stages or developed over time?
The Roadmap provides good guidance on these issues. However it is still necessary to
consider the needs of your own organization and community when establishing priorities.
Generally however there are ‘Four First Things’ that will provide a solid foundation for
implementing Asset Management. These are;
1. Know you assets;
2. Know your financial position;
3. Understand how you make decisions;
4. Implement an improvement process.
For each of these essential items, there is a starting point or a basic level to be attained and
there are things that can be improved over time to progress your Asset Management business
model to an advance level.
4.3 How much do I need to know about the Assets?
There is a point at which the cost of determining or locating missing information out-weighs the
benefit of knowing that information. For this reason it is recommended to put time and effort
into establishing a field reporting system as early as possible. The procedure should not be
onerous and in most cases will be served adequately by minor changes to current filed sheets
and some training. The purpose is to capture field observations and update inventory data
Asset Management Roadmap
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accordingly. There is no better check on what diameter and material a pipe is than to have the
person who has just done work on it, report what they have seen.
Other specific data capture or investigation projects can supplement the field observations if
there are a lot of gaps in the asset data that need to be known.
4.4 How can a forecast of Renewal Costs help me?
Without at least an initial ‘best guess graph’ of forecast renewal costs it is difficult to identify the
long term impact of the decisions you are making today. You cannot know with if the current
way of doing business is sustainable as the assets age.
It is very important to get an understanding as quickly as possible of the order of magnitude of
renewal costs and the amount of time you have available to plan, prepare and save for these
expenditures. Therefore even a first best guess graph has value. The financial predictions and
timing of works can be improved upon as more information becomes available.
In addition to the big picture view and the funding issues, a forecast of renewal costs will also
indicate where to spend your money on condition research. The assets that are most likely to
need replacement should be inspected to assess their remaining life more accurately. Assets
that still have a significant remaining life need not be inspected until a later date.
4.5 Why bother documenting Decision-making?
The first benefit in documenting decision-making is the process of considering these issues.
Often it is not until such considerations occur that gaps in the decision process are identified.
Many times relatively small changes can be made to greatly increase the quality and
robustness of decision processes. An organization may be collecting all the desired information
but one department may not be aware of the information available in another department.
The second benefit is in understanding clearly what information is important and what is not.
The third benefit is in having a structured process that is repeatable, defendable and captures
the corporate knowledge. The decision process is therefore unaffected by staff changes.
4.6 The Role of Computer Systems
Computer software systems are tools to assist Asset Management along with a wide range of
other tools in the form of strategies, procedures, assessments and documents. However it is
recommended that you understand your decision processes and what data you need for
decision-making, before you commit to purchase of systems.
Experience has shown that organizations that start their asset management journey with a
review of information needs based on what they need to make decisions are able to progress
quickly to tangible outcomes. However some organizations that start with purchase of a
software tool become data focused and take longer before they impact decision-making.
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5 Improvement Plan
5.1 Overview
Asset management is an on-going process of improvement and refinement as tasks are
completed and knowledge increases. For this reason it is important to have a review and
update process.
The needs of users of the Roadmap will change as they progressively implement asset
management practices. The Roadmap in its current form has been tailored to the organizations
that are at the early stages of understanding asset management. When the majority of these
organizations reach a basic level of asset management practice, they will need more
information than the current Roadmap provides.
The following section provides some suggestions on progressive improvements for the
Roadmap. The purpose of these improvements is to provide for the changing needs of users.
5.2 Suggested Improvements
The following actions are listed in the proposed order of completion:
1. The Roadmap is to be presented at an interactive workshop at the CNAM Conference
in May 2011. Feedback from participants of this workshop should be reviewed to
determine if any changes to the Roadmap would be beneficial to users.
2. During the first 6 months after launch of the Roadmap, work should progress on
preparing the information sheets for the intermediate practice modules. This is the next
level of asset management practice and users will be looking for this advice as they
near completion of all the basic level modules.
3. Consultation with users should be planned to obtain feedback and submissions for
change requests. This consultation could include a combination of:
Posting a message on the website requesting feedback;
Contacting randomly selected organizations to ask if they have used the
Roadmap and whether they have any changes they would like to see; and
Announcing proposed updates and requesting submissions on the proposal.
4. Annually review whether the Roadmap is still providing the assistance needed and
action any recommended improvements.
