Richard Edwards

Institute of Asset

Management

richard.edwards@theiam.org

UK

This article describes the Asset Management Landscape project that has been undertaken by the Global Forum on Maintenance and Asset Management (GFMAM). The Asset Management Landscape project was initiated by GFMAM to address this challenge and to develop the basis for comparing, contrasting and sharing Asset Management knowledge and practices that are common across the GFMAM, but in a way it allows member societies to develop knowledge and practices that suit their particular members’ needs and cultures.

GFMAM

The GFMAM is an exciting initiative. Both the Institute of Asset Management (IAM) and EFNMS are members of the GFMAM and have supported the concept since the beginning. There are already seven other Asset Management and Maintenance professional bodies who are members and we look forward to further growth in the coming years. The GFMAM’s objectives are:

1. to bring together, promote and strengthen the maintenance and asset management community worldwide
2. to support the establishment and development of associations or institutions whose aims are maintenance and asset management focused
3. to facilitate the exchange and alignment of maintenance and asset management knowledge and practices
4. to raise the credibility of member organisations by raising the profile of the Global Forum.

Figure 1. GFMAM Asset Management Landscape.

Asset Management Landscape

One of the GFMAM projects to support objective 3 is the GFMAM Asset Management Landscape project which has been led by the IAM and the Asset Management Council of Australia. 

The following objectives were defined for the Asset Management Landscape project:

1. to develop a common Asset Management Landscape that provides an overview and perspective of Asset Management and its various features
2. to agree a set of Asset Management Subjects and Principles that describe the discipline of Asset Management
3. to allow GFMAM Member Organizations and their respective Members to see how and where their knowledge and practices fit against the Asset Management Landscape
4. to have a common Core (the Subjects and Principles) but be able to be tailored for each GFMAM Member Organizations to align it with their particular knowledge and practices.

To avoid potential confusion, it has been agreed that the term Asset Management Landscape should be reserved for GFMAM and that each member society should incorporate this Landscape as the first section of their Asset Management Framework. An Asset Management Framework shows how and where a member society’s knowledge and practices fit within the Asset Management Landscape. More on this topic will follow later.

The Asset Management Landscape is made of up three areas:

1. the Core of the Asset Management Landscape which will be common to all GFMAM members
2. the Knowledge and Practices Area of the Asset Management Landscape which will contain the knowledge and practices of each member society (as described within their own Asset Management Framework)
3. the Supporting Area which contains reference to standards and other knowledge and practices that are considered to be outside the scope of Asset Management but which may influence the Asset Management practices of organisations around the world. 

Table 1. Core subjects of Asset Management.

Click Image to Enlarge

The GFMAM Asset Management Landscape is shown in Figure 1.

The Core has deliberately been kept to a minimum to avoid member societies having to re-work existing knowledge and practices wherever possible and comprises the Asset Management Principles and the Asset Management Subjects. The Asset Management Principles need to be part of the Core to ensure GFMAM member organizations have a common understanding of Asset Management; even though they use different models and techniques to describe this to suit their various member communities. These Principles are aligned to the emerging work being undertaken to develop an international standard on Asset Management, the ISO55000 series of standards.

Figure 2. IAM Asset Management Framework.

The Asset Management Subjects need to be part of the Core to enable GFMAM members to be able to compare, contrast and align their knowledge and practices. These Subjects are also intended to provide a common understanding on the scope of Asset Management. The list of Subjects has been derived from an international review of an extensive list of Asset Management models and assessment methodologies. This review identified 39 Asset Management Subjects that together describe the scope of Asset Management, which are shown in table 1.

It is essential to note that this is an arbitrary division of the discipline into individual Subjects for the purpose of understanding the breadth and components of Asset Management more clearly. They cannot be treated as self-standing and independent and it is not possible to understand Asset Management properly without addressing them all as a holistic integrated body of knowledge.

The GFMAM has published the Asset Management Landscape which can be downloaded from the GFMAM web site at http:// gfmam.org/projects/asset-management-landscape. html. This represents a significant step forward in achieving international consensus on the scope of Asset Management.

The Emerging IAM Framework

As described earlier, an Asset Management Framework shows how and where a member society’s knowledge and practices fit within the Asset Management Landscape. GFMAM guidelines have been developed to ensure member societies develop their Asset Management Frameworks in a consistent way.

As an active member of GFMAM, the IAM is developing its Asset Management Framework in accordance with the GFMAM guidelines. This framework describes what the IAM is doing to align its knowledge and services with the Asset Management Principles and the 39 Subjects as summarised in figure 2.

The IAM Framework will include the GFMAM Asset Management Landscape as the first section to set the global context, and will then describe each of the products and services shown in figure 2 and how these are being aligned with the 39 Subjects. It will also describe how the IAM is working with other members of GFMAM to align and share its knowledge and practices for the benefit of both societies’ members.

The IAM is pleased to have contributed to this important project and we are looking forward to seeing the Frameworks for other GFMAM members as and when they are published.

In summary, the last few years have seen the rapid development of a range of ideas and knowledge on the discipline of Asset Management. Through membership of the GFMAM, the IAM has been able to contribute its ideas and knowledge into the development of the GFMAM Asset Management Landscape. The publication of the GFMAM Asset Management Landscape and the IAM Asset Management Framework will provide the stable basis for the development of the IAM’s knowledge and services over the next few years in a structured and coherent way. We hope that other GFMAM members will similarly benefit. It also allows the IAM to share and learn from the knowledge and services of other member societies in the GFMAM which should rapidly increase the rate at which we are able to develop good practice guidance on a global basis.

»»Who is Richard Edwards Richard is a Board Member of the IAM and Chair of IAM Faculty. He has been leading the work within the IAM to develop the Asset Management Framework. He has also been representing the IAM at the GFMAM and has been leading the work on the GFMAM Asset Management Landscape Project. Further information can be obtained from Richard at richard.edwards@theiam.org.