What are the Asset Management Skills and Expertise for Better Implementing ISO 55001?

ISO 55001 requires businesses to achieve the following:

• Understand the competencies expected of persons working in asset management and assess and update these regularly.
• Ensure that those persons have the necessary skills.
• Understand any existing competency gaps and have plans and processes in place to bridge such gaps.
• Keep enough records to indicate that the necessary competencies are held.

What Asset Management Skills are Required?

There are two alternative sources for a starting point to help you define the competencies required for each function. The Institute of Asset Management (IAM) Competence Framework is the first of them.

The structure is built on seven core Asset Management “roles,” namely:

• Policy formulation
• Strategy creation
• Asset management strategy
• Implement asset management strategies.
• Development of asset management capabilities
• Management of risks and enhancement of performance
• Asset knowledge administration

Because the IAM competence standards are still very generic (as are the AM Council competencies to some extent), it will be vital to identify other components of competence that may be relevant to your business or organisation and ensure that these are also listed. Some of these competencies may be required to ensure compliance with externally imposed legislation or rules. In several businesses, for example, certain positions have legislative functions, and their occupants must have specified qualifications, experience, and/or pass specific examinations to comply with those statutory criteria. Here are a few examples from the Australian industry:

• It is a requirement for personnel in command of an operating mine site to be familiar with the appropriate mine safety legislation and supporting regulations, the risk management methodology, and the dangers relevant to the operation, as well as have management and leadership abilities.
• Engineers in Queensland must be Registered Professional Engineers (RPEQ) to provide competent engineering services. To become an RPEQ, you must first pass a discipline-specific competency evaluation.
• To operate a boiler, plant operators must have a licence, which needs specified competencies to be proved.

Evaluating Asset Management Expertise

At this stage, it is important to ensure that you understand what the term “competence” means. Competence is described as “the ability to do something successfully or efficiently”. In other words, competency can only be shown via action. Attending a course and knowing theories and concepts does not necessarily make you competent; you are only competent when you know how to use these concepts and principles in practice and can demonstrate that you can. Attending a course and passing a theoretical exam, while an essential requirement on the path to competence, does not, in and of itself, imply competency.

Competence is defined by the four dimensions listed below:

• Task Skills are the ability to complete tasks to the appropriate standard.
• Task Management Skills – the capacity to plan and integrate a variety of tasks to reach a job outcome.
• Skills in Contingency Management – the ability to respond to abnormalities, malfunctions, and other unplanned events; and
• Job/Role Environment Skills – the ability to deal with the obligations and demands of the workplace, including teamwork.

In terms of the first of these bullet points, demonstrating competence necessitates meeting an agreed-upon benchmark standard while completing the activity. As a result, this standard must be ISO 55001 documents as thoroughly as possible. Some larger businesses have established their performance requirements for specific jobs.

In other situations, you may be required to depend on standards developed as part of an approved ISO 55001 awareness training course or certificate. Unfortunately, the IAM competency criteria do not expressly indicate the level of performance that is expected.

7 Requirements of an Effective Asset Management System

ISO 55001 is an asset management system standard whose primary objective is to assist organizations to manage asset lifecycles more effectively. Organizations that implement ISO 55001 will have greater control over daily activities, greater returns on assets, and a lower total cost of risk. The ISO 55001 standard applies to all organizational structures and asset types. The actual outcomes include increased effectiveness accompanied by a significant decrease in unit cost. The framework also promotes continuous performance improvement and provides enhancements for any industry, type, or size of the organization. So, here are the seven requirements that contribute to the creation of an effective asset management system.

1. Context of the Organization: Asset management is an organizational system; the organization must consider the various factors that affect them. The social, cultural, economic, and physical environments are all part of the external context. Other external contexts that must be considered are regulatory and financial. The organizational culture, environment, and objectives are all part of the internal context. Understanding the stakeholders of the organization is critical to understanding the balance of cost and performance risk and being able to implement rules to ensure consistent judgment balances those requirements. ISO 55001:2014 Clause 4 contains the requirements for the Organizational Context.
2. Leadership: An ISO 55001 asset management system should always be controlled from the top of an organization. Without leadership, asset management systems will not be sustained, nor will the benefits to the organization and stakeholders be realized. Leaders must align asset management objectives with organizational objectives and communicate them to everyone in the organization. Leaders at all levels must continue to not only communicate the asset management system but also live it every day. They accomplish this by resourcing the organization to achieve the objectives, defining RACIs, and removing any barriers or conflicts that may arise.
3. Planning: The organization’s direction and objectives are developed during strategic planning activities and documented in the organization’s plan. This strategy is used to create the Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP). At a high level, the SAMP is used to guide the development of asset and asset management objectives, as well as how to achieve the objectives. The SAMP is then used as a guide to creating the Asset Management Plan(s) for each asset type. Finally, all Asset Management Plan objectives should be fully aligned with the organization.
4. Support: Implementing the Asset Management Plan(s) necessitates the appropriate level of assistance. This assistance is usually in the form of resources (people, information, systems, etc.). The Asset Management Plan(s) will outline the expected needs for the various support functions. This is where cross-functional teams come into play with asset management. HR and IT are critical in supporting asset management. Whether it’s ensuring that the organization has the necessary capabilities and competencies, or creating databases to store all asset information.
5. Operations: The Asset Management system is now put into action. During this phase, the plans are implemented and the system’s value is realized. During the operation of the asset management system, changes in funding, risk profiles, and so on may occur and must be addressed. This is all part of how the asset management system works. If any activities were outsourced, regardless of the reason, the organization must ensure that they are carried out correctly and by the business objectives. Furthermore, everything is recorded in ISO 55001 documents for future reference.
6. Performance Evaluation: The performance of not only the assets but also the asset management system must be evaluated and use the objectives outlined in the SAMP, or asset management plan. If the objectives are not met, the reasons for this must be identified and action is taken to improve performance. The asset management system will most likely fail to meet the organization’s objectives if performance is not evaluated. The data gathered during the performance evaluation phase should be fed back to senior management for use in the management review.
7. Improvement: The information collected during the performance evaluation will be utilized to improve not only the assets but also the asset management system. However, to ensure that the asset management system is being followed, the organization should conduct regular assessments or audits. This will ensure that the system is followed by everyone in the organization. Any non-conformities must be documented, and corrective or preventive actions must be implemented to avoid recurrence. Finally, any incident (failures, emergencies, etc.) provides an opportunity to improve the asset management system. Utilize these incidents as a learning opportunity to improve risk profiles and response plans.