Asset management concepts

Below is a list of key asset management concepts.

Asset management: A formalized and integrated approach to planning and budgeting for municipal infrastructure needs, which considers a wide variety of data from across an organization with the long-term vision of the community in mind.

Asset inventory: A list of assets owned and the attributes of the assets. Basic inventory data includes attributes such as size, material, location and installation date. Expanded inventory data includes additional information such as location (coordinates), criticality, and supplementary information that is relevant for the asset class (such as type, make, model, and design capacity).

Asset management (AM) plan: A detailed plan that outlines how assets will be managed in one or more service areas. An asset management plan identifies how assets will be maintained and renewed, and the cost, level of service and risk considerations in each service area.

Asset management (AM) policy: Outlines a municipality’s commitment and mandated requirements for asset management. A policy is linked to the municipality’s strategic objectives and is shaped by its values and priorities.

Asset management (AM) program: The set of policies, people, practices and processes that make up a municipality’s formal approach to asset management.

Asset management (AM) roadmap: A step-by-step plan outlining the actions, responsibilities, resources and time scales needed to implement and deliver asset management objectives.

Asset management (AM) strategy: A document that lays out the direction, framework and approach for implementing the community’s asset management policy.

Capital plan: A plan for facility and infrastructure investments, including cost and timing information on asset renewal, decommissioning, disposal and investments in new assets.

Critical assets: Assets that provide extremely important functions in service delivery, especially those for which there is no available redundancy or substitution. The consequences of failure of critical assets are serious.

Cross-functional team (asset management team): A team that works across departments or disciplines to ensure that decisions integrate all relevant perspectives and priorities.

Financial information: Information about the costs of acquiring, operating, maintaining and replacing the asset.

Levels of service: The parameters, or combination of parameters, that reflect the social, political, environmental and economic outcomes that the organization delivers. The parameters can include safety, customer satisfaction, quality, quantity, capacity, reliability, responsiveness, environmental acceptability, cost and availability. (Source: ISO 55000:2014)

Long-term financial plan: A plan that balances the required costs and funding sources to meet infrastructure and service needs, over a minimum of 10 years.

Risk: The product of the likelihood and consequence of an undesirable event or circumstance. Risk includes both asset risks (e.g. a pipe failing) and strategic risks (e.g. insufficient funds for renewal of critical assets).