Every community relies on an efficient infrastructure asset management system being in place. Here’s how to establish one that works.
Effective asset management is about ensuring the provision of services that the community values today – and delivering certainty for the generations of tomorrow.
This involves much more than the fundamentals of acquisition, operation, maintenance, renewal and/or disposal of physical assets – it requires ongoing analysis of costs, risks and performance trade-offs when making decisions regarding community-owned infrastructure assets.
As defined in IPWEA’s International Infrastructure Management Manual (IIMM), the aim of an asset manager is: “To meet a required level of service, in the most cost-effective manner, through the management of assets for present and future customers.”
Put simply, it’s about creating maximum value for the community through effective service delivery to meet community needs at an affordable cost.
The importance of community asset management
Asset management is most effective when the process involves multi-discipline practitioners – engineers, accountants, community and environmental planners – who each have a role to play in answering key questions, such as:
Good asset management is even more critical for local governments that have high asset values relative to total organisation value, or annual revenue.
Such asset-intensive organisations face financial challenges from high depreciation and increasing lifecycle costs. Poor management leads to higher expenses, inequitable charging between present and future users and unexpected financial shocks.
Building an asset management system
Begin by completing the internationally-recognised ‘Professional Certificate in Asset Management Planning’ delivered by IPWEA – a seven-module online course delivered over eight weeks – which steps you through creating your organisation’s AM plan, inputting your own data, using NAMS+.
Supported by leading professionals, you’ll gain a better understanding of data requirements, future asset renewal costs and the trade-offs between risk, cost and levels of service.
For more information visit www.ipwea.org/certificate, or email admin@ipwea.org
