Asset Management Plan (Part 2 of 4): How to Meet Stakeholder Requirements with Your AMP

1. Meeting Primary Stakeholder Requirements 

1(A). Your Organisational Requirements (company strategic objectives)

Your organisational requirements should drive the reason why you are performing asset management, most commonly as a triple bottom line of People, Planet and Profit. 

1. Profit: Clearly there is a financial requirement (your organisational revenue/profits) 
2. People: Employee welfare, Community needs and Industry expectations 
3. Planet: Land use, Waste Management and Resource Consumption 

Take the time to read these objectives, see how they translate into organisational activities (and KPI’s). Doing so will enable your AMP to both meet and demonstrate connection with your organisational objectives. 

1(B). Your Contractual Requirements (If applicable)

If the Asset Management activities you are performing is for another external/internal organisation under a contractual or similar relationship, it is critical to ensure your asset activities meet their requirements.

Sometimes the contractual requirements will require activities to be performed that are in addition to or variation/modification of how your organisation functions. It is best to note this down as if many of your contracts will require activities in addition to your standard organisation practice, then your organisational model may need to be updated to ensure a standardised/coordinated approach across your organisation. 

The simplest way to achieve your contractual requirements is to either incorporate into a risk register or develop a separate register of these obligations from the contract, mapping: 

• how existing organisational activities meet the requirements 
• what additional activities need to occur to meet the contractual requirements. 

There is also the opportunity to use CRM platforms or Document Control tools to capture this if there is value in doing so. 

2. Meeting Industry Stakeholder Requirements

In the last 10 years, the industry standards relating to asset management has advanced in leaps and bounds surpassing the early days of PAS 55, the foundational standard for Asset Management. Internationally ISO55001 is the go-to standard for Asset Management followed by PAS 55, and the Global Forum on Maintenance & Asset Management (GFMAM). Within countries, state and federal governments may impose other standards, for instance, Asset Management Accountability Framework (AMAF) within Victoria Australia. 

Many of these standards can be overwhelming to understand let alone meet. However, if you look at these as different way the Asset Management activities are viewed and emphasised by these standards, it will set you on a helpful path of getting a firm mastery of how to apply them to you Asset Management Plan where applicable as there is a lot in common between the standards even though the approach, activities prescribed or terminology used as face value may not at first appear to.  

To achieve this let’s:  

1. Review Key Industry standards 
2. Map your Asset Management Framework to these Standards 

2(a). Review of key Industry Standards  

Let’s look at 3 standards as examples to briefly explore ISO55001, AMAF and GFMAM.

ISO55001 

Released in 2014, ISO55001 specifies the requirements for the establishment, implementation, maintenance and improvement of an asset management system. ISO55001 seeks to build on the same methodology of ISO9001 (e.g. policy, objective, planning, actions, competency, improvement) but with a specific focus to ensure the appropriate activities related to asset management take place. If building an asset management system, it can become cumbersome trying to shoehorn your current organisation asset management actives somewhat via a square peg/round hole approach. Taking this approach can cause disorganisation and anxiety in an organisation – the very opposite outcome ISO55001 seeks to achieve.  

The better alternative is to think about how does your organisation naturally do what it does best in terms of asset management, then formalise this. From this start point, it is about how many things you already do that meet the clauses of ISO55001 and identify the gaps. Depending on if you need to be certified, you may be comfortable with these gaps, but at least these are documented and where value exists to close these out, bring your company along this journey. Meanwhile, your practices are starting to be underpinned by an ISO55001 way of doing asset management. 

AMAF 

Since its inception, the Victorian Government Asset Management Accountability Framework (AMAF) has presented many agencies of the Victorian State Government a profound challenge, especially as the AMAF Attestation requirements for these Agencies increase. 

AMAF seeks to achieve the same outcome as ISO55001 in terms seeking to realise full value from assets in delivering their service delivery objectives via a realisation in the balancing of costs, risks, opportunities and performance benefits related to assets and the asset management activities by focusing key Principles: 

1. Service Delivery 
2. Integrated into planning frameworks 
3. A whole of lifecycle approach 
4. Informed decision making 
5. Responsible and accountable 
6. Considerate of government policies and priorities 

Looking at the above Principles, AMAF builds on ISO55001 in terms it is somewhat a combination of the ISO5500 series (ISO55000 – Terminology, ISO55001 – Requirements, ISO55002 – Guideline) plus ISO15288 (Systems Engineering) with its clearly defined Asset Lifecycle. 

GFMAM Asset Management Landscape

The Global Forum on Maintenance & Asset Management (GFMAM) publication of the “Asset Management Landscape” takes a more comprehensive, descriptive and prescriptive approach to Asset Management. It enables comparison, contrasting and alignment of different asset frameworks (e.g. yours, ISO55001 and AMAF). At the core of GFMAM is the 39 Subjects grouped into the following headings: 

• Strategy and Planning 
• Asset Management Decision Making 
• Lifecycle Delivery 
• Asset Information 
• Organisation and People 
• Risk and review 

2(b). Map your Asset framework to Industry Standards 

The best way to map your AMS framework to industry standards is to start with your framework, then assess how many of the elements and activities within your framework meet the standard. It’s not going to be an exact map but a good rule of thumb is to think about the concept, or intent, of more specifically with ISO55001 the ‘shall’ statements.

Here is a sample AMS framework:

As you can see, starting with the way your organisation is already achieving these standards is the best approach. Where there are gaps between what the standards require and what your organisation does, that requires decision making if or how this will happen. 

4. Adapt Your Asset Management Framework to Meet Changing Requirements

As Living Asset Management Maturity states (pg. 38, 2020), the reason for adaptability is so, “In the face of disruptive and significant uncertainty in its markets and social environment, organisations and Asset Management Systems must be capable of sensing and responding to those uncertainties, and in an appropriate timeframe”. 

Essentially your organisation needs to have its ear to the ground, while a finger in the wind and feet ready to move swiftly. Without these characteristics evident, your AMS will become obsolete in terms of not being able to deliver organisational value. 

5. Update Your AMP(s) to Meet Stakeholder Requirements

Depending on the complexity of the assets you are maintaining you may need a suite of asset Plans. 

Let’s unpack three industry example Rail, Water and Facilities Management. 

Rail

Rail is a complex and safety critical industry. For maintenance this is broken generally into three sections: 

1. Rolling Stock (trains, trams, locomotives, carriages) 
2. Infrastructure (Power, signals, rail, infrastructure, facilities) 
3. Operational Systems (ICT, Scada, communications) 

Depending on the complexity of similarity of the assets in each section, you may break down your Asset Management Plan(s) in just three sections, or by subsections as well.

Water 

Water is also a complex and safety critical industry organised generally by 4 high-level asset classes: 

1. Fresh water
   • Source (dams, aquifers)
   • Treatment
   • Network (piping, pumping, metering)
2. Sewer
   • Network
   • Treatment
3. Non-potable (recycled) water
   • Network
   • Treatment
4. Land and buildings

Depending on the complexity of similarity of the assets in each section, you may break down your Asset Management Plan(s) in just four sections, or again further by subsections as well.  

Facilities Management

In Facilities Management, you typically maintain a fixed asset (or suite of similar fixed assets), so the best approach is to take a holistic approach. The recent Virtual Building Information System (VBIS) is a helpful tool for this industry in that it organises the assets by disciplines such as: 

1. Administration
2. Fire Detection
3. Refrigeration
4. Acoustics
5. Fire Resistance
6. Safety Equipment
7. BMS
8. Fire Suppression
9. Sound & Vision
10. Communications
11. Hydraulics
12. Vertical Transportation
13. Electrical Lighting
14. Mechanical
15. Waste
16. Electrical Power
17. Medical Gases

Though you may have one Asset Management Plan, it may incorporate a suite of asset strategies that are standardised according to each discipline in terms of the applied: 

1. Preventative maintenance 
2. Inspection and monitoring 
3. Lifecycle plans 

This approach though is not customised, it gives a good company-wide standardised method to how your AMP(s) are written, incorporating the key elements we covered in Part 1.