Creating an asset registry for railway electrical traction equipment with open standards

An asset registry arguably forms the core system that needs to be in place before other systems can operate or interoperate. Most systems have rudimentary asset registry functionality that store assets, relationships, or characteristics, and this leads to different asset management systems storing similar sets of data in multiple locations in an organisation. As organisations have been slowly moving their information architecture toward a service-oriented architecture, they have also been consolidating their multiple data stores, to form a “single point of truth”. As part of a strategy to integrate several asset management systems in an Australian railway organisation, a case study for developing a consolidated asset registry was conducted. A decision was made to use the MIMOSA OSA-EAI CRIS data model as well as the OSA-EAI Reference Data in building the platform due to the standard’s relative maturity and completeness. A pilot study of electrical traction equipment was selected, and the data sources feeding into the asset registry were primarily diagrammatic based. This paper presents the pitfalls encountered, approaches taken, and lessons learned during the development of the asset registry.

Contracting-out asset maintenance : how arrangements adapt over time

Technological and societal change, along with organisational and market change (driven by contracting-out and privatisation), are “creating a new generation of infrastructures” [1]. While inter-organisational contractual arrangements can improve maintenance efficiency through consistent and repeatable patterns of action - unanticipated difficulties in implementation can reduce the performance of these arrangements. When faced with unsatisfactory performance of contracting-out arrangements, government organisations may choose to adapt and change these arrangements over time, with the aim of improving performance. This paper enhances our understanding of ‘next generation infrastructures’ by examining adaptation of the organisational arrangements for the maintenance of these assets, in a case study spanning 20 years.

Application of text mining in analysing road crashes for road asset management

Traffic safety is a major concern world-wide. It is in both the sociological and economic interests of society that attempts should be made to identify the major and multiple contributory factors to those road crashes. This paper presents a text mining based method to better understand the contextual relationships inherent in road crashes. By examining and analyzing the crash report data in Queensland from year 2004 and year 2005, this paper identifies and reports the major and multiple contributory factors to those crashes. The outcome of this study will support road asset management in reducing road crashes.

Open standards-based system integration for asset management decision support

Over the last decade, system integration has grown in popularity as it allows organisations to streamline business processes. Traditionally, system integration has been conducted through point-to-point solutions – as a new integration scenario requirement arises, a custom solution is built between the relevant systems. Bus-based solutions are now preferred, whereby all systems communicate via an intermediary system such as an enterprise service bus, using a common data exchange model. This research investigates the use of a common data exchange model based on open standards, specifically MIMOSA OSA-EAI, for asset management system integration. A case study is conducted that involves the integration of processes between a SCADA, maintenance decision support and work management system. A diverse number of software platforms are employed in developing the final solution, all tied together through MIMOSA OSA-EAI-based XML web services. The lessons learned from the exercise are presented throughout the paper.

Service driven asset management

Local governments are service driven rather than asset driven. Understanding this distinction is critical to ensuring that community needs are appropriately addressed. Translating community needs and desires into infrastructure is a complex yet little understood process. In this paper, we look at two case studies that explore the interface between service outcomes and the specification of performance requirements for the assets. The two case studies we look at are: a public health issue resulting from inadequate public amenities in a beach resort and the prioritisation of maintenance work in a world of increasing service demands and declining funding. The case studies all use the same investment logic mapping framework to establish clear drivers as to the problem that councils are responding to in delivering their services. The key to the framework is the separation of concern between service management and asset management.

Reflection on the use of rating and score cards for asset and service assessment

The concept of star rating council facilities has progressively gained traction in Australia following the work of Dean Taylor at Marochy Shire Council in Queensland in 2006 – 2007 and more recently by the Victorian STEP asset management program. The following paper provides a brief discussion on the use and merits of star rating within community asset management. We suggest that the current adoption of the star rating system to manage community investment in services is lacking in consistency. It is suggested that the major failing is a lack of clear understanding in the purpose being served by the systems. The discussion goes on to make some recommendations on how the concept of a star system could be further enhanced to serve the needs of our communities better.

Portfolio size effect in retirement accounts : what does it imply for lifecycle asset allocation funds?

Lifecycle funds offered by retirement plan providers allocate aggressively to risky asset classes when the employee participants are young, gradually switching to more conservative asset classes as they grow older and approach retirement. This approach focuses on maximizing growth of the accumulation fund in the initial years and preserving its value in the later years. The authors simulate terminal wealth outcomes based on conventional lifecycle asset allocation rules as well as on contrarian strategies that reverse the direction of asset switching. The evidence suggests that the growth in portfolio size over time significantly impacts the asset allocation decision. Due to the portfolio size effect that is observed by the authors, the terminal value of accumulation in retirement accounts is influenced more by the asset allocation strategy adopted in later years relative to that adopted in early years. By mechanistically switching to conservative assets in the later years of a plan, lifecycle strategies sacrifice significant growth opportunity and prove counterproductive to the participant's wealth accumulation objective. The authors' conclude that this sacrifice does not seem to be compensated adequately in terms of reducing the risk of potentially adverse outcomes.

Public asset management framework for local governments : opportunities and challenges for public asset managers

The aim of the study is to identify the opportunities and challenges a local government public asset manager is most likely to deal with when adopting the appropriate Public Asset Management Framework especially in developing countries. In order to achieve its aim, this study employs a Case Study in Indonesia for collecting all data i.e. interviews, document analysis and observations at South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. The study concludes that there are significant opportunities and challenges that local governments in developing countries, especially Indonesia, might be required to manage if apply public asset management framework appropriately. The opportunities are more effective and efficient local government, accountable and auditable local government organization, increase local government portfolio, reflect up to date information for decision makers in local government, and improve the quality of public services. On the other hand, there are also challenges. Those challenges are local governments has no clear legal and institutional framework to support the asset management application, non-profit principle of public assets, cross jurisdictions and applications in public asset management, the complexity of public organization objectives, and data availability required for managing public property. The study only covers the condition of developing countries where Indonesia as an example, which could not represent exactly the whole local governments’ condition in the world. Further study to develop an asset management system applicable for all local governments in developing countries is urgently needed. Findings from this study will provide useful input for the policy maker, scholars and asset management practitioners to develop an asset management framework for more efficient and effective local governments.

The significant of public asset management framework application for Indonesian local governments : Opportunities and challenges

The purpose of this paper is to emphasis the significance of public asset management in Indonesia that is by identifying opportunities and challenges of Indonesian local governments in adopting current practice of Public Asset Management System. A Case Study, in South Sulawesi Provincial government was used as the approach to achieve the research objective. The case study involved two data collection techniques i.e. interviews followed by study on documents. The result of the study indicates there are some significant opportunities and challenges that Indonesian local government might deal with in adopting current practice of public asset management. There are opportunities that can lead to more effective and efficient local government, accountable and auditable local government organization, increase local government portfolio, and improve the quality of public services. The challenges include no clear institutional and legal framework to support the asset management application, non-profit principle of public assets, cross jurisdictions in public asset management, complexity of local government objectives, and unavailability of data for managing public property. The study only covers condition of South Sulawesi Province, which could not represent exactly the whole local governments’ condition in Indonesia. Findings from this study provide useful input for the policy makers, scholars and asset management practitioners in Indonesia to establish a public asset management framework that suitable for Indonesia.

Capabilities for strategic infrastructure asset management

Infrastructure organisations are operating in an increasingly challenging business environment as a result of globalisation, privatisation and deregulation. Under such circumstances, asset managers need to manage their infrastructure assets effectively in order to contribute to the overall performance of their organisation. In an external business environment that is constantly changing, extant literature on strategic management advocates a resourced--�]based view (RBV) approach that focuses on factors internal to the organisation such as resources and capabilities to sustain organisation performance. The aim of this study is to explore the core capabilities needed in the management of infrastructure assets. Using a multiple case study research strategy focusing on transport infrastructure, this research firstly examines the goals of infrastructure asset management and their alignment with broader corporate goals of an infrastructure organisation. It then examines the strategic infrastructure asset management processes that are needed to achieve these goals. The core capabilities that can support the strategic infrastructure asset management processes are then identified. This research produced a number of findings. First, it provided empirical evidence that asset management goals are being pursued with the aim of supporting the broader business goals of infrastructure organisations. Second, through synthesising the key asset management processes deemed necessary to achieve the asset management goals, a strategic infrastructure asset management model is proposed. Third, it identified five core capabilities namely stakeholder connectivity, cross-functional, relational, technology absorptive and integrated information management capability as central to executing the strategic infrastructure asset management processes well. These findings culminate in the development of a capability model to improve the performance of infrastructure assets.

Role of farm real estate in a globally diversified asset portfolio

Purpose - The paper examines the benefits of further diversifying a global portfolio of financial assets with New Zealand farm real estate (FRE). ---------- Design/methodology/approach - We compare efficient sets generated with and without farm real estate using portfolio theory. ---------- Findings - The results show that given the predominantly negative correlation between FRE and financial assets, the risk-return tradeoffs of portfolios of financial assets can be improved significantly. The diversification benefits measured in terms of risk reduction, return enhancement, and improvement in the Sharpe performance ratios are robust under a number of FRE risk-return scenarios as well as under high and low inflationary periods. Using 5- and 10-year rolling periods we also find that FRE is a consistent part of risk efficient portfolios. Consistent with the results reported in Lee and Stevenson (2006) for UK real estate the risk reduction benefits of diversifying with FRE are larger than the risk enhancement benefits. ---------- Practical implication - The results suggest that FRE takes on a consistent role of risk-reducer rather than a return-enhancer in a globally diversified portfolio. FRE appears to deserve more serious consideration by investment practitioners that it has been accorded in the past. Originality/value – The study examines the role of direct real estate in a globally diversified portfolio of financial assets.

Probability based data analysis for road asset management

Road agencies require comprehensive, relevan and quality data describing their road assets to support their investment decisions. An investment decision support system for raod maintenance and rehabilitation mainly comprise three important supporting elements namely: road asset data, decision support tools and criteria for decision-making. Probability-based methods have played a crucial role in helping decision makers understand the relationship among road related data, asset performance and uncertainties in estimating budgets/costs for road management investment. This paper presents applications of the probability-bsed method for road asset management.

Strategic infrastructure asset management : a conceptual framework to identify capabilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that can be used to identify capabilities needed in the management of infrastructure assets. Design/methodology/approach – This paper utilises a qualitative approach to analyse secondary data in order to develop a conceptual framework that identifies capabilities for strategic infrastructure asset management. Findings – In an external business environment that is undergoing rapid change, it is more appropriate to focus on factors internal to the organisation such as resources and capabilities as a basis to develop competitive advantage. However, there is currently very little understanding of the internal capabilities that are appropriate for infrastructure asset management. Therefore, a conceptual framework is needful to guide infrastructure organisations in the identification of capabilities. Research limitations/implications – This is a conceptual paper and future empirical research should be conducted to validate the propositions made in the paper. Practical implications – The paper clearly argues the need for infrastructure organisations to adopt a systematic approach to identifying the capabilities needed in the management of strategic infrastructure assets. The discussion on the impact of essential capabilities is useful in providing the impetus for managers who operate in a deregulated infrastructure business landscape to review their existing strategies. Originality/value – The paper provides a new perspective on how asset managers can create value for their organisations by investing in the relevant capabilities.