Our group attended and presented at the New Jersey Water Environment Association conference the other day during the GIS and Asset Management track. It was an informative session with presentations ranging from mobile applications, asset management, GIS-integrated hydraulic modeling, and more. There were several consulting firms teamed with utilities showcasing their custom data collection applications that integrated with their GIS and asset management system. In some cases, these utilities were able to cut the data collection time in half - which is terrific on multiple levels. But what struck me was that there did not seem to be a best practice collecting this information (i.e., what data to collect, which field types to use, which programming application to use , how to sync the data back to the server, etc.) and it did not seem to be a standard ‘asset management' solution.
There was a very practical and helpful presentation on the free asset management tools that the EPA offers (http://www.epa.gov/OWM/assetmanage/index.htm), but when the question was asked on which utilities are actually using these guides and tools there were not many mentioned. During another presentation, there were only a handful of people raising their hands when asked the question ‘who currently has implemented an asset management system?' . It reminded me of a similar question that was asked during these types of conference 10 or so years ago...'Raise your hand if you have implemented a GIS'. Back then, it was the same response of 2-3 people in a group of 60 utility professionals. When asked specifically what they were using, each one had a different answer.
Asset Management seems to be the new GIS, a buzz word or technology that we know needs to be implemented but is still quite nebulous. As witnessed during the session, there are very tangible ROI savings from collecting data efficiently, moving away from paper, having easy access to the data, and analyzing the data for future planning. In terms of hydraulic modeling, the data collected for asset management is also extremely helpful in establishing a well-calibrated model and for other modeling applications such as criticality analysis, capital planning, uni-directional flushing, etc. Utilities are investing a lot of money in asset management and there are many software vendors that claim to have asset management solutions. It is going to be very interesting to see what standards, best practices, and software applications percolate to the top, and how many more people raise their hands in the next 3-5 years when asked about their asset management solution.
Raj,
I fully agree that there is a lack of best practice collecting this information. However, I believe a bigger issue is many seeing asset management as data collection alone. Typically, if I ask a client if they have an asset management system they will say “Yes we have a GIS”. Maybe I should ask them if they are working through an “asset management process” to better manage their system. Collecting data for a GIS is only the first step in the asset management process. Questions need to be asked of the data that is collected… lots of questions to truly be working though an asset management process. The best definition for asset management I have seen is as follows: “An integrated process of managing infrastructure assets to minimize the total cost of owning and operating them, while continuously delivering the levels of service customers desire, at acceptable levels of risk.” It’s a mouth full but as you can see much more beyond simple data collection. Asking lots of questions helps address the definition above and is an ongoing process that never ends. To truly get to where we need to be, the first step will be for folks to understand the true definition of asset management.