Asset Management
Policies And Programs To Preserve Valuable Assets
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TDM
Encyclopedia
Victoria Transport Policy Institute
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Updated
March 6, 2007
This chapter describes Asset
Management, which refers to policies and programs to preserve the long-term
value of physical assets.
Asset Management refers to special policies and programs designed to preserve the long-term value of assets such as vehicles, roads, transit systems and buildings. It emphasizes careful planning, preventive maintenance and resource management, rather than waiting for problems to develop before responding. Asset Management tends to give more consideration to the efficient operation and management of existing transportation facilities and systems, and so tends to support TDM. It is important for all forms of transportation, including nonmotorized, transit and roadway equipment and facilities.
Asset Management typically requires:
· Identifying the organization and individual responsible for managing each asset.
· Detailed lifecycle cost analysis (that is, taking into account total costs over each assets operating life) during planning and procurement, so options with the lowest overall long-term costs can be selected.
· Institutional Reforms to correct biases that favor new construction and capacity expansion over operations, maintenance and management of existing facilities.
· “Fix It First” policies, which mean that maintenance, operations and incremental improvements to existing infrastructure is given priority over construction of new facilities.
· Establishing preventive maintenance and replacement schedules.
· Training and certifying operating and maintenance staff.
· Having appropriate tools and replacement parts available for each asset.
· Establishing and enforcing restrictions on damage-causing activities, such as operation of overweight vehicles.
Asset Management often results in higher design, construction and repair standards (so equipment and facilities last longer), and increased funding for maintenance and minor repairs (to prevent minor deterioration from becoming severe). This type of preventive maintenance tends to reduce lifecycle costs as well as improve travel conditions, reliability and safety. Asset Management reflect Least Cost Planning and Sustainability principles.
Asset management is usually implemented by organizations responsible for transportation facilities, including transportation agencies, transit agencies, road authorities and municipal engineering departments. It can also be implemented by private organizations, such as a bus or taxi company.
|
An
elderly lady returned from shopping to find four young men sitting in her
car. She dropped her bags, drew a handgun, and proceeded to scream at the top
of her voice that she will shoot each of them if they don’t leave the car
immediately. The four men leapt from the car and ran down the street. The
lady then loaded her shopping bags into the car and got into the driver’s
seat. But her key wouldn’t fit the ignition. Then she noticed an identical
car parked a few spaces away. She moved her bags into her car and drove to
the police station. The sergeant to whom she told the story pointed to the
other end of the counter where four pale young men were reporting a
carjacking by a mad elderly woman. No charges were filed. |
TRB (2004), Pagano, McNeil and Ogard (2005) and the Transportation Asset Management Today (http://assetmanagement.transportation.org) provide guidance on transportation asset management best practices.
The FHWA Asset Management Website (www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt) includes a variety of case studies. Below are some examples.
Since
2000, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) has undertaken several
important initiatives designed to improve transportation planning,
decisionmaking, and resource allocation. Today, CDOT recognizes that data
integration plays a critical role in improving business processes and managing
assets. Thanks to institutional policy changes and forward-thinking information
technology planning, the department is successfully integrating data to support
Asset Management.
CDOT
approached the issue of data integration to support Asset Management from both
the policy and information technology perspectives. On a policy level, CDOT has
been reorganizing its business planning processes since the early 1990s by
defining investment categories and associated performance measures. CDOT also
officially recognized Asset Management as a critical function within the
department by appointing an Asset Management Task Force. These institutional actions
set the stage for connecting departmental goals with business planning to
ensure efficient allocation of resources. At the same time, the Information
Technology branch of CDOT has been working to better serve this business
approach by providing more efficient information transfer across asset and
program areas.
Several
decades ago,
In
1997, NYSDOT created an internal task force to prepare a blueprint for
advancing the implementation of TAM. An important finding of the task force was
that the ability to conduct economic tradeoff analysis among investment
candidates is central to realizing the full potential of TAM. NYSDOT has since
developed a prototype TAM Tradeoff Model that employs economic tradeoff
analysis to compare the dollar value of customer benefits to investment costs
among competing investment candidates. The model ranks the candidate projects
by rate of return on investment. When it is fully operational, the model will
assist NYSDOT at the program level in targeting agency resources more
productively among its pavement, bridge, safety, and mobility goal areas.
NYSDOT
continues to improve the prototype TAM Tradeoff Model as well as the separate
management systems that feed data into it. The department is exploring ways to
incorporate additional life-cycle cost and benefit data into the model
equations and taking steps to ensure that economic comparisons among projects
use consistent values for benefit and cost elements. Simultaneously, NYSDOT
continues to improve its project-level economic applications. In May 2003,
NYSDOT announced that it would formally implement a TAM program as the
department's transportation infrastructure management strategy. Economic,
engineering, and mathematical analysis will constitute the core of this
program.
Since
1991, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) has used computer models
to support its investment decision-making processes. Initially,
At
about this time, ODOT became aware of the Highway Economic Requirements System
(HERS), a new investment/performance model that had just been introduced by the
U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) for use at the Federal level. The
HERS differs from the HPMS AP in that it incorporates economics into its
investment selection simulation procedures. Initially, the national version of
HERS was not available for State use, but ODOT obtained a copy through a
contractor working on the update of its Highway Plan. ODOT worked closely with
the contractor in modifying the software to make it useful as a State-level planning
tool. The revised program, which came to be known as HERS-OR, was successfully
used in producing the
ODOT
is one of the first States to use the HERS model for planning and policy
analysis at the State level. Recently,
State Departments of Transportation are
integrating electronic databases and software applications to achieve
efficiencies and meet their performance goals.
All the information necessary to manage the
integrity of
Like all States,
Austroads Asset Management Reference Group (AMRG) (www.austroads.com.au/amrg.php) supports efforts by Austroads Member Agencies in managing road assets at the lowest whole-of-life cost (agency costs and road user costs) as a means of improving effectiveness in the delivery of broad community transport objectives.
Asset Management Website (www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt), Federal Highway Administration, provides information on roadway asset management programs and tools.
Cambridge
Systematics, PB
Consult and System Metrics Group (2005), Analytical Tools for Asset
Management, National
Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Report 545 (http://trb.org/publications/nchrp/nchrp_rpt_545.pdf).
FCM (2002), Ahead of the Wave: A Guide To Sustainable Asset Management For Canadian Municipalities, Federation of Canadian Municipalities (www.sustainablecommunities.ca/files/pdf/sustainable_asset_management_guide_final.pdf).
FHWA (1999), Asset Management Manual, Office of Asset Management, Federal Highway Administration (http://gulliver.trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?ID=1427).
FHWA (2001), Economic Analysis Primer, Office of Asset Management, Federal Highway Administration (wwwcf.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt/primer.htm).
FHWA (2000), GASB 34 Primer, Office of Asset Management, Federal Highway Administration (http://199.79.179.19/OLPFiles/FHWA/010019.pdf). Provides information on the US Governmental Accounting Standards Board’s Statement 34: Basic Financial Statements-and Management's Discussion and Analysis-for State and Local Governments
FHWA (2000), Insights into Pavement Preservation: A Compendium, Office of Asset Management, FHWA (www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt/compend.pdf).
FHWA (2002), Lifecycle Cost Analysis Primer, Office of Asset Management, FHWA (http://199.79.179.19/OLPFiles/FHWA/010621.pdf).
FHWA (2003), Improving Transportation Investment Decisions Through Life-Cycle Cost Analysis, Office of Asset Management, FHWA (www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt/lccafact.htm).
Anthony Pagano, Sue McNeil and Elizabeth Ogard (2005), “Linking Asset Management To Strategic Planning Processes: Best Practices For State Departments Of Transportation,” Transportation Research Record 1924, TRB (www.trb.org), pp. 184-191.
Shelly J. Row (2003), “The National Transportation Operations Coalition: Moving From Dialogue to Action,” ITE Journal, Vol. 73, No. 12, Institute of Transportation Engineers (www.ite.org), December 2003, pp. 28-31.
Transportation Asset Management Today (http://assetmanagement.transportation.org) is a website sponsored by the AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials) Task Force on Transportation Asset Management, includes a variety of information resources.
TRB (2004), Transportation Asset Management Guide, NCHRP Project 20-24, Transportation Research Board (www.trb.org) and AASHTO (www.aashto.org).
Jeromie Winsor, et al. (2004), “Transportation Asset Management Today: Communities of Practice In The Transportation Industry,” Transportation Research Record 1885, Transportation Research Board (www.trb.org), pp. 88-95.
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