Water News & Insights

5 Elements of Effective Asset Management Programs

In response to COVID-19, many clients have re-prioritized asset management programs to become more efficient and proactive with their infrastructure planning process. While there are myriad strategies and approaches to develop and implement asset management programs, these five elements can help your program succeed:

1. Strategy Development

At its foundation, strategy is simple. What do we have and what condition is it in? When should we replace/rehabilitate? What will it cost? How do we prioritize assets from different systems? How do we sustain the program?

A maturity assessment is a great place for any organization to start by comparing the organization’s business processes against a specific framework. This assessment facilitates the development of an implementation roadmap, identifying short-, medium-, and long-term goals.

2. Business Planning

Asset management requires careful planning at the people-systems-processes level. An implementation roadmap would help identify these needs, which may include organizational alignment, roles and responsibilities, levels of service, systems requirements analysis, standard operating procedures, and risk profiling. While strategy development and business planning relate to the development of asset management programs, the remaining topic areas focus on implementation.

3. Infrastructure Planning and Evaluation

Although it’s not the only asset in an asset management program, physical infrastructure is the primary focus of most organization’s programs. A robust program considers the data needs (asset attributes), management tools (GIS/CMMS), and collection methods (inspections) necessary to support Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operating Expenditure (OPEX) decisions.

4. Decision Support

Implementing decision support tools and procedures provides clarity and reinforcement to investment allocations. Whether an organization is looking to establish funding requirements or optimize return on investment, the ability to score, prioritize, and model various scenarios is one of the most powerful aspects of an asset management program.

5. Business Intelligence and Performance Reporting

Business intelligence applications simplify the processing and reporting of data. The ability to analyze data from multiple sources that were previously siloed allows for an endless number of applications and creates a communication tool equipped to meet the needs of any organization.

While most asset management programs address these five elements, every project and process is unique. Asset management is a long-term goal, and each of these topics builds off the next to create a robust program.

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