Research Digest

In 2006, at the direction of its members through a series of facilitated national focus groups, WERF launched a multi-year research and development project to strengthen the practice of Asset Management. The Project is called the Strategic Asset Management (SAM) project. It is comprised of four separate but integrated Tracks. Track 3 of WERFs Strategic Asset Management Project was developed to provide guidance on implementing SAM&and develop analytic tools for SAM implementation - the Decision Support Tools and Implementation Guidance goal. In Track 3, the Decision Support Tools and Implementation Guidance goal was organized around two major elements: Analytic/decision support tools - Develop staged, user-friendly analytic and decision support tools (gap analysis, cost benefit analysis, risk management, life cycle costing, condition assessment selection tool, etc.) for SAM implementation and continuous improvement. Implementation Tool - Provide practical, accessible guidance for an implementation tool to undertake SAM in incremental stages leading to a well-planned, structured, and progressive implementation to suit the needs of a diverse range of utilities communication practices. Phase 3 (the current Phase about which this Research Digest reports) of the Project provided for the development of and inclusion in SIMPLE (WERFs on-line Asset Management Knowledge Base) the following five asset management support Tools: Asset Hierarchy Tool Remaining Effective Life Tool Life Cycle Cost Projection Tool End of Asset Life Reinvestment Decision Support Tool Business Case Tool Asset Management Plan Template Tool These Tools join the Gap Analysis and the Benefit Cost Tools developed in Phase 1 and the Level of Service, Condition Assessment Scoring, Business Risk Exposure and the Capital Investment Validation and Prioritization Tools developed in Phase 2. This phase (Phase 3) completes the scheduled work on Track 3 for the SAM project. This Research Digest briefly outlines the Tools developed in Phase 3 of Track 3. Each chapter describes a separate Tool. The Tools have been added to SIMPLE, WERFs web based asset management knowledge base. The Tools are also available in stand-alone versions by downloading the desired Tool or Tools from SIMPLE.