practical steps towards mature asset management · nchrp report 632 (national ... practical steps...

Practical Steps Towards

Mature Asset Management

Blake Langland

What is Transportation Asset

Management?

“Transportation Asset Management is a strategic and systematic process of

operating, maintaining, upgrading, and expanding physical assets effectively

throughout their lifecycle. It focuses on business and engineering practices for

resource allocation and utilization, with the objective of better decision

making based upon quality information and well defined objectives.”

NCHRP Report 632 (National Cooperative Highway Research Program, 2009)

Practical Steps Towards Mature Asset Management

Why is Asset Management Important?

We need to meet a certain required level of service for the public, while balancing this against costs and available resources

We need to justify and demonstrate the value of the operations and maintenance budget to the organization, decision makers, politicians, and general public

Organizations face increasing pressure to reduce operational expenditures

Supports informed operation and maintenance decisions

Ability to help make improvements with regard to efficiency, safety, and reliability

Required by funding agencies and prudent for legal reasons

Justify and improve competiveness for limited funds

Provides greater accountability in the effective use of federal, state and local funds

Enables planning for future growth, forecasting, and budgeting


TAM Maturity Scale Initial – No effective support from strategy,

processes, or tools. There can be lack of motivation

to improve. E.g. Mandated data are collected but

not used for internal management or for

communication with stakeholders.

Awakening – Recognition of a need and basic data

collection. There is often reliance on heroic effort

of individuals. E.g. Off-the-shelf asset management

software may be in use. Data collection beyond

that which is mandated is only for purposes of

answering narrowly-defined management

questions.

Structured – Shared understanding, motivation, and

coordination. Development of processes and tools.

E.g. Information helps to form a nucleus of

cooperative activity. Decision makers are aware of

performance expectations and receive basic

information about performance. Data are

processed into performance measures for upward

communication and objectives flow downward.

Best Practice – Asset management strategies,

processes and tools are routinely evaluated and

improved. E.g. Performance information is used to

regulate ongoing activities, especially for resource

allocation and cost control. Predictive modeling is

used to forecast the outcomes of alternative

courses of action. Forecasts and performance

measures are communicated with stakeholders as a

means of obtaining funding.

US Department of Transportation

Federal Highway Administration

Key Step - Setting Goals and Objectives Where are we as an organization now? Can we answer these questions?

What assets do we own? How many of which type?

Where are these assets located?

What does it cost us to maintain and operate these assets?

How much will we need to invest over time to replace aging critical assets?

How responsive are we as an organization in closing trouble tickets and responding to customer complaints?

Where do we want to be?

Ability to track assets, know their current condition, determine useful lifetimes of asset types, etc.

Ability to make informed decisions about purchases, repairs, replacements, etc.

Ability to estimate budgets and conduct forecasting

Move from reactive management to planned management to precise management

Tactical and Operational Plans

What do we need to do in the short-term to start moving forward?

What is the order in which we need to accomplish the tasks and what personnel do we need?

What are the longer-term plans and processes necessary in order to accomplish the goals and objectives?


Outcomes Organization has established a set of goals and objectives

and has buy-in from stakeholders and employees

Organization has a general understanding of where it is and has an actionable plan to take the organization to where it needs to be

Organizations may choose to adopt or prioritize certain aspects of an asset management system over others – especially true when starting out

Identified any low hanging fruit

Understand where improvements can be quickly made and which ones will have a big impact or will likely provide a significant return on investment

Identified targets for levels of service sought, etc.

The level of maturity sought by each organization for their asset management system will vary between organizations and likely will change over time for an organization

Dependent on knowledge and skill sets, team experience, political environment, available resources, etc.


Key Step – It’s all about the Assets

Regardless of the feature set

or level of maturity required,

the underlying asset

management system should

focus on the asset as the

foundation

This critical phase builds the

foundation upon which you will

capitalize and legitimize your

asset management program


Key Step – It’s all about the Assets

What data do we need to capture?

Ties back to goals and objectives that were

established in first step

Do you understand what data is necessary for the

decision making processes?

Thought needs to be given to metadata and typing

system

At a minimum we need information such as

location/GIS, quantity, type, condition, and

installation date

Thought should be given to this step, but don’t let

this to lead to “analysis paralysis”

Over time, the types of information captured will

likely grow. Ideally, asset systems should be

flexible and extensible to grow with changing

organization and changing technology


Key Step – It’s all about the Assets Are there ancillary documents that could

be useful to tie to locations and/or

equipment

Signal plans

Studies

Right-of-Way documents

Timing Documents

Counts

Maintenance agreements

Images of intersection approaches or

equipment


Asset Data Collection Approaches

Are there high-value assets that

should be barcoded at this time? Are

there serial numbers for certain

devices that should be captured?

Importing data from existing sources

Data quality issues. What is the

quality of the data you have?

Is the data captured electronically? If

so it may be possible to use ETL tools

to quickly populate an asset

management system.

Do you have consistency of data and is

it validated? Does it need to be

scrubbed?

Possibly need to translate data from

old formats to new format


Asset Data Collection Approaches

Do you already have GIS data

for your assets?

If not how will you get this

data (reverse geocoding,

approximations from publicly

available mapping tools, hand-

held GPS units, etc.

Gathering some or all data in

the field

Utilize existing staff over a

period of time, possibly years

Utilize Summer interns or

temporary staffing

Contracting to service

providers


Outcomes There is a plan in place to

periodically audit, update, and

possibly add to the asset data

over time

By assigning costs and estimated

lifetimes to equipment, budget

estimates and forecasts can be

created for the replacement of

aged and critical equipment

Because asset condition and

location has been captured work

orders and preventative

maintenance inspections can be

prioritized to make the best use

of resources and money


Key Step – Incorporation of Operations

and Maintenance Regularly planned preventative maintenance

increases the longevity of assets, reducing overall costs, and maximizing the value obtained from the asset over the life of the asset

Establish organization-wide standard work practices by consensus around one usable system

Maintenance activities are recorded by organization in a consistent way

Preventative maintenance inspections are regularly scheduled and completed

A process for reporting and correcting deficiencies has been implemented

Activities related to the operations of systems are recorded

Time and materials utilized for completing work are recorded

Organization wide training to support the transition to the new system and reinforced use of new standard work practices has been completed


Outcomes

Work order processes are handled electronically and can be scheduled improving efficiency and reducing processing errors

The ability to tie time and costs to specific repairs and actions provides the true cost of ownership

Recorded maintenance activities can be mined and used to forecast resource needs as well as justify the need for additional personnel and or capital investments

Management has increased visibility into maintenance and operations and can study what work is being performed and why


Key Step - Lifecycle and Warehousing Activities Addition of Cradle-To-Grave analytics for

some or all equipment

Ability to add metrics such as utilization, up-time and down-time, more accurately project costs and prevent theft

Enable tracking of individual pieces of equipment and their current operational state

Available – purchased, stored in warehouse

Reserved – available but set aside for a specific project

In transit - on vehicle or truck

In-Operation – functioning at location

Repair – returned to manufacturer

Disposal – salvaged, destroyed, exceeded useful life

Enable the user to view historical data and maintenance records from the perspective of the asset

Asset may have been deployed to a series of locations, warehouses, service trucks, etc. during its lifetime

Enable the user to view historical data, maintenance, repairs, etc. from the location’s perspective


Outcomes

Ability to track specific assets reveals the actual lifecycle of equipment by type and manufacturer

Improves financial planning by accurately forecasting when you will have to repair or replace critical assets

Accurately predict MTBF by category, type, or specific piece of equipment

Ability to determine when its best to dispose and replace equipment vs. repair

Ability to track utilization of equipment (up-time vs. down-time)

Ability to understand and accurately project required inventory-on-hand by equipment type


Key Step - Analysis and Reporting Capabilities

Goals or objectives need to have quantified performance measures

We must be able to measure progress and performance in order to determine if we have achieved the objectives and goals

Measure response time to incidents and for repairs

Track number and severity of accidents

Track vehicle throughput and travel time

Need ability to allow key stakeholders and upper management to view data and trends against key performance indicators

Ability to visualize what type of work is being performed and where it is being performed

Incorporate predictive analytics – knowing what is going to fail and how to mitigate that risk

If the collected data is not used internally then the quality of data will be suspect – Users should understand why we are collecting this data and we must have a closed feedback loop


Metric 2 Years Ago 1 Year Ago YTD

Avg. In-Flash

Response Time 6 hours 2 hours 1 hour

Total Accidents 623 405 387

Avg. Travel Time

from A to B 50 mins 45 mins 35 mins

Outcomes Stakeholders can readily correlate the amount of federal,

state, or local funding with performance metrics such as:

Reduced traffic congestion and travel time

Increased system efficiency and reduced outage reports

Increased safety through reductions in accidents

Allows performance to be regularly monitored so managers can adjust tactics to adapt to changing circumstances

Ability to defend budgeting requirements and justify costs to improve performance of the system (maintenance and operation costs vs performance)

Reduce the time necessary to collect vital information for award submissions

Permits the compilation of relevant business data that supports strategic decision making

Management can perform Analysis of Alternatives such as cost of replacing equipment vs maintenance costs to repair

Provides a framework for an organization to continuously learn and improve processes and tactics over the long-term


Systems and Software Architecture Concerns

A mature enterprise-wide asset management system, can and will likely include a heterogeneous suite of tools which are populated with data specific to their domain.

Identify what data sources are already available within your organization that may be utilized

Do you have instrumentation deployed in the field that provides useful information?

Do you have financial systems in-house, or other data sources that might provide additional information?

Software Integration is key – closed software solutions that cannot readily exchange information and data with other systems are of limited use. Data that cannot be accessed programmatically is of limited use.

SOA - helps create a more agile and responsive enterprise by utilizing the latest strategic technology to promote platform independent and data agnostic software service solutions

Are mobile in-the-field solutions important to your organization?

Do you need to permit third party contractors and service providers access to the system?


A Mature Asset Management System A mature asset management system can deliver significant benefits to your organization

Better understand the condition of your assets and improve the integrity of your asset data

It takes a holistic, organization-wide, multi-discipline view of all assets (stakeholders, dispatchers, planners and schedulers, engineers, field crews, etc.)

Builds stronger maintenance strategies and practices

Improves process efficiency, workflows, practices, and services

Develops performance measures that promote continuous improvement

Focuses on strategic asset management allowing the organization to move from a reactive, to a planned, to a precise asset management program, making sound, data-driven business decisions

Reactive Domain - wait until something breaks to repair it, patch and continue maintenance strategies, can be costly, stressful, inefficient, and prevent long-term strategic planning

Planned Domain – ability to anticipate repairs and therefore schedule inspections and maintenance before critical equipment breaks, improved usage of available resources and infrastructure, strategic planning

Precision Domain – Ability to analyze and find the root causes of the outages or downtime and eliminate the problem, improved credibility and accountability for decisions and necessary expenditures

Develops growth and forecasting strategies based on reliable work, asset, and performance data

Communicates with stakeholders by providing them with a comprehensive view into the assets of the organization and providing justification for current or future budget requests


Contact Information

Blake Langland

Design Information Technology

www.designinfotech.com

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 803-748-1243


http://www.designinfotech.com/

mailto:[email protected]