Roles and Responsibilities
This topic includes a brief overview and position descriptions for:
Roles and responsibilities for asset management activities must be considered at two levels - general and specific.
The way an organization as a whole sees its role in asset management is a key factor in the success of the program.
Executive management must ensure that:
- All individuals and groups are aware of the role they play in the total life cycle of the assets
- The culture of the organization changes to reflect the needs and objectives of their service delivery role
- There is clear recognition of the overall ownership of the assets and the roles each business or work unit plays
- Business units with a "service delivery" role have the base responsibility for assets
- The performance of the groups are monitored and judged against the corporate objectives and key result areas for the assets.
The key points in defining the roles and responsibilities for asset management are:
- The need for a clear line of responsibility for asset management from the top of the organization to the lower levels, clearly stated in each position
- Coordination of asset management across the organization
- Responsibilities that are devolved must be supported with appropriate training, expert systems, and process advice
- Audit and review (performance monitoring) are accepted parts of the process.
The size of the organization and the complexity of the asset base will determine the number and scope of asset management positions. A number of key positions are outlined below.
Asset Management Coordinator (large organizations)
The Asset Management Coordinator will coordinate change in the organization's culture and attitudes to Asset Management functions and responsibilities.
Duties and responsibilities
- Formulate a broad maintenance strategy for cost effective achievement of the desired level of service from various facilities and asset groups
- Implement and control an asset management program
- Prepare budgets for maintenance, operation, and replacement / rehabilitation for the assets
- Monitor and report on facility / asset operating and maintenance expenditure against annual allocations, to review the effectiveness of programs and identify any cost benefit improvements
- Report on appropriate re-equipment programs to ensure cost effective utilization of plant, equipment and maintenance practices
- Coordinate and liaise with Asset Management colleagues
- Report on occupational health and safety and industrial relations, including the work relating to "multi-skilling" of the workforce
- Review and disseminate information on asset management
- Develop Asset Management Implementation Manual including:
- Policy decisions
- Numbering systems
- User advice and standard categories
- Standard procedures
- Hard copy plans and specialist attribute data or identification
- Current status of programs.
- Convene and coordinate asset management meetings at the corporate level, including any community consultations.
Experience
The Asset Management Coordinator must:
- Understand the total life cycle approach to Asset Management, and the benefits that can accrue to organizations through the application of these concepts and principles
- Understand Asset Management processes, and the way in which an asset management improvement program will bring about changes
- Have worked with each of the Asset Groups. to develop an inventory of each group's assets
- Have established corporate data needs and reporting requirements
- Be familiar with statutory by laws, other legislative requirements and current trends in asset management
- Have a minimum of 10 years experience in the above areas.
Qualifications
A degree in Civil, Electrical or Mechanical Engineering would be appropriate. Suitably experienced people without these qualifications could also be considered, ie. Technical Officers or Work Superintendents.
Asset Management Coordinator (small / medium organizations)
The Asset Management Coordinator will liaise within the organization and with external agencies, and provide expert AM advice at the corporate level.
Duties and responsibilities
The Asset Management Coordinator will develop and implement the Asset Management functions. Tasks include:
- Implement and control the organization's asset management program (with the assistance of consultants if required)
- Assist with preparing budgets for replacement / rehabilitation of assets
- Liaise with Asset Management colleagues
- Review and disseminate information on asset management
- Report on the progress of implementation of new systems and develop forward program for their effective completion
- Prepare manuals on the organization's approach to asset management practices and procedures, including training documents and programs to ensure that staff can operate the asset management systems effectively
- Coordinate data collection and ensure it is recorded and processed
- Review, optimize and refine asset management practices and policies to ensure the most efficient and effective methods are used
- Assist in the analysis of condition monitoring data, maintenance budgets and re-equipment program data as required
- Convene and coordinate asset management meetings.
Experience
It is essential to have some experience in operations and maintenance of building/infrastructure assets.
Familiarity with implementation and use of computer based asset management systems and a sound computing knowledge is desirable. Experience in the area of data collection for the purpose of preparing asset registers is also desirable.
Asset Management Coordinators should be able to:
- Read engineering plans
- Assemble the record information in an organized manner
- Organize different groups of data collection tasks
- Prioritize required activities to effectively manage available resources.
Qualifications
A degree in civil, electrical or mechanical engineering is desirable. Suitably experienced people without these qualifications could also be considered, ie. technical officers or work superintendents.
Risk Engineer / Manager
The risk engineer provides specialist expert advice on the risk associated with the organization's assets and decisions taken about them.
Duties and responsibilities
- Coordinate the to risk management activities relating to asset management
- Liaise with other key players in the life cycle issues:
- Finance accounting
- Infrastructure economist
- Designers
- Rehabilitation experts
- Asset management engineer (life cycle)
- Operations and maintenance staff
- Maintenance analysts
- Regional asset managers
- Other divisions of the organization.
- Prepare risk management manuals for use by all asset management staff
- Assist in developing and refining a computerized risk assessment module to be part of the organization's asset management information system
- Complete risk assessments for individual assets, facilities and systems including:
- Identify failure modes
- Develop event trees
- Determine the consequences of each failure including direct and ancillary costs
- Estimate the economic cost of these consequences
- Determine applicable probabilities of failure
- Determine current and predicted risk costs.
- Assist in determining appropriate levels of risk to be carried by the organization and by the organization's insurance policies
- Develop information databases on probability of events covering all typical assets and activities
- Complete necessary hazard operability studies (HAZOP) and risk analysis assessments (HAZAN)
- Determine the data acquisition necessary to complete adequate (cost effective) risk analysis, and overview its maintenance
- Determine appropriate values for asset failures in conjunction with customer services, service costings (accounts)
- Participate in the development of risk cost inputs to optimized renewal decision making processes or computer modules
- Assist operations and maintenance staff to develop Failure Management Plans for those assets in which failure cannot be cost-effectively prevented
- Assist in the identification of critical assets for works prioritization.
Experience
Experience is desirable in all of the above activities relating to fixed asset groups including civil (passive), mechanical and electrical assets.
A minimum of 6 years experience in Risk Engineering or Management and computerized systems (computer literacy) is desirable.
Qualifications
A specialist degree or tertiary course in risk engineering / management, or, a degree in engineering in either discipline - civil, mechanical or electrical - together with a specialist qualification of a post graduate degree or diploma in risk management, or other suitable tertiary qualifications with extensive experience in the field of the life cycle of infrastructure type assets.
Maintenance Engineer (Analyst)
The role of the maintenance (analyst) engineer is to provide expert advice to the organization's asset managers in maintenance analysis, planning and management.
Duties and responsibilities
- Develop detailed maintenance plans using Failure Mode Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) techniques that take into account:
- Efficiencies available
- Economic viability to the business.
- Coordinate activities with other officers such as:
- Finance accounting
- Asset management engineer (life cycle)
- Infrastructure economist
- Designers
- Rehabilitation experts
- Risk manager
- Operations and maintenance staff
- Maintenance analysts
- Regional asset managers
- Other divisions of the organization.
- Develop cost effective methods of condition monitoring of assets
- Coordinate and assess the effectiveness of maintenance across all regions
- Complete reliability analysis and improve maintenance plan where cost effective
- Assess the impacts of new technology and techniques on the maintenance practices and disseminate this information throughout the organization
- Review and monitor maintenance budgets to fit the overall objectives of the organization including rationalization targets
- Introduce configuration management (asset component logistics/interfaces) throughout the organization
- Develop reliability, availability and maintainability criteria for all design or asset creation activities
- Determine and prescribe maintenance philosophy and policy for organization
- Set maintenance quality parameters and performance indicators
- Define policy and procedures for establishing maintenance plans for all assets
- Prescribe policy and procedures for contracting maintenance
- Develop maintenance management skills in regional supervisors
- Define maintenance performance criteria and their measurement
- Organize and control maintenance management reviews and improvement programs.
Experience
Demonstrated practical experience in:
- Reliability centered maintenance or FMECA
- Configuration management
- Computer systems management and use (literacy)
- Risk/criticality analysis
- Reliability availability and maintainability theory
- Maintenance planning
- Maintenance control
- Contract maintenance.
Qualifications
The basic qualification required is a degree in one of the Engineering disciplines, Civil, Mechanical or Electrical. (Alternatively, extensive experience in the activity of maintenance analysis and planning as part of a trade activity may be satisfactory).
The position could also justify specialist qualifications that could include Post Graduate qualifications in asset management, terotechnology, risk management, MBA or maintenance analysis.
Other suitable tertiary qualifications with extensive experience in the field of the life cycle of infrastructure type assets.
Contract Administrator / Project Manager
The contract administrator/project manager provides expert advice in the management of major renewal and replacement projects and general contract administration.
Duties and responsibilities
To manage or coordinate major renewal projects including:
- Estimation programming/planning phases:
- Cost control
- Design documentation phase
- Tendering / procurement
- Contract administration
- Construction supervision
- Project review phase
- Regular project reports.
- Coordinate and liaise with other key players in the life cycle issues:
- Finance accounting
- Infrastructure economist
- Asset management engineer (life cycle)
- Designers
- Rehabilitation experts
- Risk manager
- Operations and maintenance staff
- Maintenance analysts
- Regional asset managers
- Other divisions of the organization
- Operations programming staff
- Complete Technical/Financial reports on all projects
- Complete and maintain a Project Management Manual for renewal projects
- Assist regional groups to produce documentation to control contracted maintenance and minor renewal works
- Determine a suitable process (or refine existing) for the:
- Definition of minor and major works
- Supervision of in-house and contracted programs
- Determine quality control procedures for all phases of the projects
- Coordinate industrial relations, safety and health issues related to the projects
- Develop service agreements suitable for in-house work groups
- Develop "handover" procedures for the completion of all renewal, creation or replacement works.
Experience
The position requires a minimum of 10 years experience in the field of contract administration and management of projects involving multi disciplinary work groups and projects.
Experience in working with rehabilitation or replacement works in passive (civil) infrastructure would be an advantage.
Qualifications
A degree in any discipline of engineering plus postgraduate or other specialized course qualifications in project management and contract law. Experience with computer systems and their usage (computer literacy) is essential.
Asset Management Maintenance Supervisor
Responsible to the regional manager for the effective management of all asset related maintenance and renewal activities.
Duties and responsibilities
- Coordinate management of all infrastructure (civil/ mechanical/electrical) assets within the region
- Liaise with other staff involved in the process, including support personnel and regional operations and maintenance staff
- Liaise and cooperate with business units on policy and guidelines for asset management activities and techniques
- Management of all maintenance and minor renewal activities including:
- Planning
- Cost estimating
- Scheduling / prioritizing
- Coordinating
- Controlling
- Reporting
- Recording
- Reviewing
- Resource planning, prioritization and coordination
- Failure/Defect recording, reporting, investigation and review
- Raise awareness of maintenance technology and maintenance management in operations and maintenance staff
- Develop and implement asset management plans
- Coordinate the loading of the MMS and other AM computer systems within the Region
- Operate the asset management information system
- Organize and supervise contract maintenance to conform with policy
- Assess in-house service performance and review effectiveness against private (contracted) services
- Determine contractible activities and the overall management of these contracts with the contract administrator
- Help develop a competitive contract environment for all contractible (non core) services
- Coordinate with supervisory staff involved in contract compliance (inspectors/ supervisors)
- Help cultivate and maintain a "partnering" environment with contractors.
Experience
- Maintenance planning and scheduling
- Planned maintenance systems
- Technical administration of a maintenance operation
- Maintenance supervision
- Quality management in maintenance
- Asset and maintenance information systems (computer literacy).
It would be an advantage to have some knowledge/understanding of:
- Reliability theory
- Failure modes effects and criticality analysis theory
- Life cycle asset management principles.
Qualifications
An appropriate trade qualification with minimum 10 years experience in the fields of the activities shown above. Completion of a course in reliability centered maintenance or similar would be highly desirable.
Contract Administrator
This position is responsible to the regional manager through the Asset Management/ Maintenance Supervisor, for the effective administration and control of all contract works related to operations, maintenance or renewal activities.
Duties and responsibilities
- Manage contracted works for all civil / mechanical / electrical assets
- Liaise with other staff about policy and guidelines on contract management activities and techniques
- Manage all contract administration activities including:
- Planning - cash flows
- Cost coding
- Budget control
- Authorization
- Payment approvals
- Contract / project reconciliation
- Contract justification
- Contract review.
- Raise awareness of contract administration roles and responsibilities
- Operate the asset management information system; record all works against the assets involved
- Complete regular assessments of in-house service performance and review effectiveness against private (contracted) services
- Determine general policy on the most efficient method of completing typical works
- Coordinate and liaise with other staff involved in the process including support personnel and regional operations and maintenance staff
- Liaise with supervisors involved in contract compliance (inspectors/ supervisors)
- Help cultivate and maintain a "partnering" environment with contractors
- Assess and justify all variations to contracts
- Report on contractor performance and suggest areas of improvement if identified.
Experience
- Contract administration in an adversary relationship.
- Financial computer costing systems.
Advantage to have some knowledge/understanding of:
- Accounting procedures
- Contract law
- Project management.
Qualifications
- Appropriate tertiary or trade qualification
- Minimum 10 year experience in the fields of the activities shown above
- Completion of approved course in contract administration or other such course would be highly desirable.
Individual Asset Group Coordinator
The Individual Asset Group Coordinator is responsible for the collection of data and other activities related to their asset group.
Duties and responsibilities
The coordinators for the various asset groups are responsible to the Asset Management Coordinator, and thence to the Asset Management Team or Committee for the implementation of the corporate guidelines and policies.
In addition, the Asset Group Coordinator coordinates the collection of additional attribute data that is required for their particular asset group.
The Asset Group Coordinator should:
- Be aware of the organization's overall approach to Asset Management
- Ensure that the part that they play fits into the corporate principles and concepts.
The Asset Group Coordinator is responsible for administering and monitoring the program of data collection and inputting for his/her asset group, and reports to the Asset Management Coordinator on issues or problems that arise.
The Asset Group Coordinator is responsible for:
- Project management
- Records of procedures (manuals)
- Overall integration, etc.
It is expected that he/she plays an integrating role by assisting other departments with similar assets to record their assets.
Experience
Should have practical experience in:
- Maintenance and operations of the particular asset group
- Knowledge of asset performance / requirements.
Qualifications
- Appropriate trade qualifications.
- Minimum 5 years experience in the field activities.
Asset Management Engineer (Lifecycle)
The life cycle asset management engineer provides expert advice to the organization through the managers of the individual units, in all aspects of life cycle asset management.
Duties and responsibilities
- Coordinate the asset management activities in the business unit
- Coordinate and liaise with other key players in the life cycle issues in the organization:
- Finance accounting
- Infrastructure economist
- Designers
- Rehabilitation experts
- Risk manager
- Operations and maintenance staff
- Maintenance analysts
- Regional asset managers
- Other divisions of the organization.
- Formulate broad asset management strategies (Plans) for cost effective achievement of the organization's desired level of service from various facilities, assets and systems
- Strategy development, implementation and control of an asset management program that may include:
- Asset identification, classification and valuation
- Condition assessments
- Condition predictions
- Risk assessments
- Failure management plans
- Information system development and management
- Maintenance analysis
- Optimized renewal strategies.
- Review and disseminate information on life cycle asset management throughout the organization
- Report on the progress of implementation of the computer and other systems and put forward programs for their effective implementation and completion
- Prepare operations manuals for Advanced Asset Management systems, training documents and programs
- Produce Policy and Guidelines for Asset Management for other operating staff
- Optimize and refine the organization's practices and policies to ensure the most efficient and effective operations
- Overview the collection of update data and ensure it is recorded and processed to enable up to date decisions to be made, including age profiles of the asset bases, identifying those assets due for replacement or rehabilitation
- Oversee the condition monitoring (asset status) assessments for all of the assets and determine the relativity on a consequence of failure (risk management) basis; especially those assets at risk
- Report on the distribution of maintenance and renewal budgets between the various asset groups and determine the relationship between maintenance and replacement programs to give the lowest effective life cycle cost to the organization
- Develop the principles, concepts, aims and objectives for the Asset Management Information Systems and in conjunction with other stakeholders prioritize the program on a benefit cost basis.
Experience
Experience desirable in all of the above activities relating to fixed asset groups including civil (passive), mechanical and electrical type assets.
A minimum of 6 years experience in life cycle asset management (or associated) field and the use of computerized AM systems is desirable.
Qualifications
The basic qualification is a degree in one of the engineering disciplines, Civil, Mechanical or Electrical.
Specialist or Post Graduate qualifications in asset management, terotechnology, risk management, maintenance analysis, MBA or economics would be an advantage.
Other suitable tertiary qualifications with extensive experience in the field of the life cycle of assets.
Infrastructure Economist
The infrastructure economist provides information through the business unit managers, to assist in determining asset priorities and business decisions.
The role of the infrastructure economist is to develop measures, indicators and logic models that:
- Financially assess the technical complexity of asset management options
- Express the consequences of asset related decisions in terms of business outcomes (benefits costs).
Duties and responsibilities
- Develop and monitor the corporate asset management plan, based on the business plan and service strategy
- Asset definition, classification, valuation and capitalization rules. Develop the range of options (advantages and disadvantages) for the particular asset classes
- Coordinate and liaise with other key players in the life cycle issues:
- Finance accounting
- Designers
- Rehabilitation experts
- Risk manager
- Operations and maintenance staff
- Maintenance analysts
- Regional asset managers
- Other divisions.
- Cost benefit analysis of proposed asset creation, acquisitions, rehabilitation, replacement or asset disposal:
- Taking into account the full range of rectification options
- Analyzing the consequences of the decision on:
- Other elements of the infrastructure
- The business as a whole
- The future options.
- Analyze the economic impact of private sector participation, leasing, hiring or contracting out of assets or asset related services
- Economic modeling of life cycle costs and consequences, combining technical life cycle evaluations and scenarios covering future needs options and financial cash flows
- Evaluate the treatment of asset costs in existing and proposed costing systems to assess the impact on the future viability of the business
- Analyze the financial and economic consequences of ageing asset systems
- Asset performance monitoring - setting guidelines, parameters, measures
- Assist the life cycle asset manager to develop strategies and policies to achieve optimized renewal decisions
- Evaluate the asset registers for centralized and decentralized asset information systems to:
- Determine whether the information is conducive to the financial (short term) viability, and economic (long term) viability
- Develop models which utilize limited information in imaginative ways
- Select the most important parameters to be measured and to determine the efficient cut-off point beyond which information collection is not effective
- Advise on which information should be collected regularly and which on an ad hoc or "as and when needed' basis
- Develop ways in which important information can be monitored and stored
- Select the elements that need to be routinely checked and brought to the attention of senior management, either "as is" or on a "by exception" basis
- Assess ancillary treatment options, such as demand management, that is, the development and analysis of cost effective alternatives to asset creation, including pricing, energy conservation etc.
- Determine and measure the organization's community service obligations
- Assist in the formation of "handover procedures" for all renewal, replacement or the creation of new assets
- Assess the economic impact of different risk management strategies for assets (i.e. insurance, self insurance, or changed management practices).
Experience
Experience is desirable in all of the above activities relating to fixed asset groups including civil, mechanical and electrical type assets.
A minimum of 6 years economics experience is desirable.
Qualifications
The position requires economic qualifications that could include:
- Bachelor of economics
- Post graduate management / economics qualifications
- Other suitable tertiary qualifications with extensive experience in the field of economic assessments for assets.