The IEEE and Asset Management: a Discussion Paper

Rhys Davies, Smart Asset Management Solutions, 23 Pendinas, Wrexham, LL11 3BQ, UK
James Dieter, Sunflower Systems Inc., Suite 2011, 2001 Jefferson Davis Highway, Arlington, VA 22202
Tony McGrail, National Grid, Electricity Distribution and Generation, 40 Sylvan Road, Waltham, MA, 02451 USA

operations, universities and laboratories, medical institutions,

Abstract- Asset management is a subject with many meanings and IT Asset Management.
for many people. The aim of this paper is to provide a basis for
discussion of the role of the IEEE in asset management, The power sector is particularly noteworthy in the current
specifically with relation to the electric supply industry. To that
end this paper provides background information on asset
economic environment, and ultimately, the key issues in the
management, the role it has and the benefits it brings, and the power sector are the same as in other industries. Specifically,
current status of available standards It is proposed that the role managers need to deal with an ageing infrastructure following
of the IEEE is to act as a forum for discussion of Asset years of under investment. In the current economic climate
management related topics, and a means to influence there is not as much cash around to let them deal with the
development of standards through involvement in appropriate problems in the way that they would like to in an ideal world.
Standards organizations. Additionally, the power sector has to address the fact that
maintenance practice has built up over many decades. This has
I. INTRODUCTION both good and bad elements to it. In a good way it means that
the industry has a huge amount of experience in operating,
Asset Management is a much used phrase. It is a phrase maintaining and understanding its assets. The downside is that
that can mean different things to different industries and in it is extremely easy to fall into practices which were
different countries. At the simplest level a Google search on appropriate 10, 20 or even 50 years ago, but which may not
the term “Asset Management” will yield a variety of financial now be appropriate for a variety of reasons (2).
services organizations interested in managing portfolios of
assets. Unfortunately, on closer inspection this will tend to The generation plant and grids are used differently and
show a focus on managing portfolios of stocks and shares or generally that means working them harder than ever before.
similar rather than infrastructure or fleet assets. Technology is continually changing and more rapidly than
ever before, as is the understanding of best practice. Most
Similarly if you were to take a poll of many technical staff importantly, the corporate objectives, legal and regulatory
involved in the engineering field you will get a variety of frameworks and societal expectations have all changed, so
responses varying from inspection, condition assessment and why should the approach to maintenance and asset
maintenance, through a variety of versions of enterprise data management remain the same? Asset management is about
management systems through to influencing the delivery of building on the long heritage of the power sector in a manner
core business objectives. that best addresses today’s external environment rather than
simply relying on legacy approaches. Whilst it is easy to use
It is in the context of tangible assets that this paper is these thoughts to support the argument that the power sector is
presented. A definition of asset management that has gained unique, the fact of the matter is that many infrastructure and
significant currency is found in the British Standards Institute fleet management industries that support society have very
(BSI) Publicly Available Specification PAS 55 (1): similar problems, from the railways with in excess of 100
years of legacy to more modern industries like telecoms that
“Systematic and co-ordinated activities and practices struggle to innovate with the bulk of their financial investment
through which an organization optimally and sustainably buried in miles of copper cable.
manages its assets and asset systems, their associated
performance, risks and expenditures over their life cycles for Because asset management is not always carried out by the
the purpose of achieving its organizational strategic plan” asset owner there is a need to use a generic term for those
responsible for ensuring that the asset delivers what is
Two significant trends are emerging in this sphere: required. In some industries the term “Asset Steward” has
international visibility and broad interest and support across a emerged to cover the fact that asset management activities can
wide array of industry sectors. The international visibility happen on both sides of the owner maintainer divide which
includes a variety of standards activities that are briefed often includes a commercial relationship. To enable Asset
further down in this paper, and include efforts by BSI, ISO, Stewards to discharge their responsibilities more effectively
ASTM, International Infrastructure Management Manual and to generate a common language to facilitate the
(IIMM), and IEEE. Industry sectors include infrastructure identification and transfer of best practice, The Institute of
industries such as the power industry and smart grid, water Asset Management and leading asset owners from around the
and other utilities, transportation, defense and government world worked with the British Standards Institution (BSI) to

978-1-4577-1002-5/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

develop a specification, called BSI PAS 55, which describes a ISO/IEC 15288:Systems Engineering & Life Cycle Processes
management system framework for asset management. Originally developed by Sub-committee SC7 (software and
system engineering) of ISO/IEC JTC1 (Information
II. THE DEVELOPMENT AND ROLE OF PAS 55 Technology), ISO 15288 has gained widespread use in the
systems engineering community as a standard that describes
PAS 55 is an acronym for “Publicly Available the system lifecycle and introduces typical techniques that
Specification 55”, a document which is published by BSI and should be applied at all phases of the system or asset life-
available to any interested party. cycle. Again, this standard should be viewed as
complementary with the PAS 55 management system
The first aim of PAS 55 is to provide a common language framework and provides pointers to other useful techniques
that enables people in the same organization to talk about asset that should reside in the asset manager’s armory such as:
management related problems, from senior managers to requirements management; configuration management;
accountants to engineers to technicians to stewards. Moreover information management and the definition and management
this common language should facilitate an asset manager or of life cycle phases.
engineer in a power generation station talking to their
counterpart in a railway or a pharmaceutical plant or an PAS 55, IIMM and ISO 15288 all introduce strong
offshore drilling platform. Step one of the process is the concepts of risk management and each has documented
definition for Asset Management presented above. approaches towards improving risk management techniques.
More recent publications that should provide a more generic
Since 2004 when PAS 55 was first published, the literature approach to risk management are now appearing. Specifically
in the field of asset management is more and more the ISO31000 series of documents should be referred to for
consistently using this definition. Risk Management guidance.

Asset Management and PAS55 and related standards Additionally, another key area of asset management is in
BSi PAS 55 is a management system framework, much like the area of disaster recovery and business continuity
ISO 9001 or ISO 14001, but targeted at asset intensive management. BS25999 Part 1 and Part 2 have recently
organizations who depend on effective management of their provided detailed information on the subject of Business
assets to deliver business success. Many major organizations Continuity Management (3).
have chosen to adopt BSi PAS 55 as the framework for their
asset management systems, and are publicly demonstrating Within the ASTM International, Committee E53 on
that their system meets the required standards through Standards for Property and Asset Management, the ASTM
certification. As a management system framework for Asset Committee E53 on Property Management Systems was
Management, BSi PAS 55 very much describes the “what to formed in 2000. Committee E53 develops management
do” rather than the “how to do it”. systems criteria, including performance standards, practices,
metrics, and methods of effectiveness for the conduct of
There are, however, other complementary standards and management and administration activities for durable &
documentation that asset managers should include in their movable assets (personal property management). The
reading lists. Committee currently has jurisdiction of over 21 approved
standards covering the lifecycle of asset management, and
International Infrastructure Management Manual (IIMM) including process management standards, operational
IIMM was developed jointly by the New Zealand National standards, and assessment standards.
Asset Management Steering (NAMS) Group, the Institute of
Public Works Engineering of Australia (IPWEA) and the UK The IEEE 1680 Family of Standards for the Environmental
Institute of Asset Management (IAM). It is a well-respected Assessment of Electronic Products, EPEAT (Electronic
collection of case studies and guidance that has been published Product Environmental Assessment Tool) ratings are product
through several iterations. It addresses a variety of areas from assessments against lifecycle environmental performance
an overview of asset management, guidance on criteria. These criteria are developed through stakeholder
implementation, a selection of implementation techniques, consensus and are contained in the IEEE 1680 Family of
discussion of asset information systems and country specific Standards for Environmental Assessment of Electronic
information (for New Zealand, Australia and the UK). Products. The current computer Standard is IEEE 1680
Standard for Personal Computer Products.
Many organizations use this document to help them to
understand the “how to do it” elements of asset management III. BENEFITS OF ASSET MANAGEMENT
in conjunction with the management system framework
provided by PAS55. Asset Management is a very broad subject and the direct
benefits may seem difficult to quantify. Specifically, it is
normal for real financial and performance benefits to accrue
through the correct application of appropriate tools on the organizations find themselves realizing the lower end of those
right assets and processes at the right time. As such, it is bands at best. A well focused management system that has a
normal for critics of management system approaches to point strong link to delivering wider business objectives will
at improvements that are more easily identified in terms of the provide an organization with the necessary tools to help them
application of more tactical approaches such as life cycle achieve the upper levels of the bands of improvement
costing, RCM, FMECA etc. In simple terms the true benefits espoused by many tools and techniques.
of a management system based approach is in terms of having
the confidence and knowledge that the application of a tool or
technique is correctly targeted to maximize benefits in terms
of business performance, corporate risk and financial impact.
What does this mean in practice?

Fig. 3. Benefits from PAS55 Certification

In practice, users of PAS55 claim benefits which include,

as in Fig 3:
• Demonstrable accountability
• A means to support investment
• Identifying and managing risk
Fig. 1. Balancing the drivers • Coordinating activities within the organization

One of the key messages of PAS 55 is that of introducing a IV THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ISO STANDARD
strong connection between the corporate strategic objectives
and the day to day engineering activities. In short, technical The Institute of Asset Management began its journey of
activity should be in furtherance of achieving a corporate developing asset management standards in 2002. PAS55:2004
objective or managing a corporate risk. The management was published two years later and included content from some
system approach of PAS 55 also has a strong emphasis on nine main sponsors and 13 organizations on the review panel.
identifying assets that are critical to the business and risk Input to the original 2004 edition of PAS 55 was almost
based decision making that correctly focuses the deployment entirely from the UK.
of resources and investment. This focus on what is really
important means that organizations are in a better position to When PAS 55 was refreshed four years later, the intent was to
identify where and when to apply a technique to improve increase international participation and cross-sector input.
performance or cost and just as critically which tool or PAS 55:2008 was published with input from around 49
technique is best suited to the current asset condition and organizations representing 15 industry sectors from 10
external business environment: see Fig. 1 and Fig. 2. different countries. Demand was growing in the international
community and more and more industrial sectors were
following the lead set by the utility sectors in adopting PAS55
as a tool for improving their approach to asset management.

During the development of PAS 55:2008 there were

already calls for a more widely recognized standard under the
ISO banner. Shortly after the publication of PAS 55:2008 in
November 2008, the IAM began an engagement with BSi to
understand how PAS 55 could eventually be used as a basis to
build upon the already considerable international consensus to
develop a formal International Standard.

Fig. 2. Benefits in adopting PAS55 In November 2009, a New Work Item Proposal was
submitted to ISO recommending that an International Standard
Many tools or techniques espouse a band of figures for for Asset Management be developed in 3 parts based upon the
‘typical’ improvements. In practical application many consensus already developed with PAS55. The initial ballot of
ISO member organizations was positive and a Preliminary
meeting in June 2010 made recommendations to the ISO
Technical Management Board (TMB) that a Project NPMA PAS55
Committee be formed to develop the standard with three parts etc
representing:

• Overview, principles and terminology

• Requirements
• Guidelines on the application of the Standard

National
ASTM Standards
Bodies

ANSI ISO

Fig. 4. ISO/PC251 Participants

The ISO TMB endorsed the recommendations and

ISO/PC251 was established. ISO/PC251 now includes 20
participating countries including the USA and Canada which
National
both have active local committees, as shown in Fig 4. ISO
Technical
Additionally there are around 13 countries registered as Advisory PC 251
Observers and formal liaisons established with 12 or so other Groups
international technical committees with an interest in asset
management.

The journey to an international standard has been ongoing

for a long time. In many parts of the world and across many
industries the concept of asset management is well established
and accepted. The relationship of the various organizations is Goal
described in Fig. 5. ISO Management Standard
for Asset Management

Fig. 5. ISO Relations

The power sector has very much led the way and power
companies in public and private ownership around the world
have adopted the PAS 55 asset management framework as a
basis for improving their approach to asset management.
Moreover, regulatory bodies in the UK, Netherlands, Canada
and parts of Asia are increasingly recognizing the benefit of
this approach and are either mandating, or strongly
encouraging, their regulated companies to adopt these kind of
approaches.
 Whilst the journey to this point is well trodden, the ISO
journey is just commencing in earnest. The first drafts were
put out for comment in November 2010 and the first formal
meeting of ISO/PC251 convenes in February 2011 in
Melbourne, Australia. Whilst the basis of the proposed ISO
standard is intended to build on the international consensus
already established with PAS 55 there is very much an air of
enthusiasm in the approach of ISO/PC251 in ensuring that
new and best practices are brought to the table and discussed
to ensure that the ISO International Standard that results truly
captures the best that all industries in all parts of the world can
provide. There are active committees in both the USA and
Canada that offer opportunities for the IEEE to engage in this
development to ensure that the interests of its members are
represented.

V. DISCUSSION POINTS

Much work has been performed around the world in

developing Asset Management guidelines and standards. The
role of the IEEE in these developments is yet to be decided.

Suggested IEEE activities through an Asset management Task

Force:
• Providing a forum to discuss asset management issues
• Acting as a conduit to share information from industry
peers to the ISO through technical advisory groups
• Taking advantage of developments worldwide for the
benefit of members
• Sharing and socializing best practices related to Asset
management
• Identifying key risks, mitigations and means to address
them
• Provide leadership in the development of Asset
Management Standards

VI. CONCLUSION

The IEEE has an opportunity to shape the development of an

ISO Standard in Asset Management. This will be of benefit to
the industry and members of the IEEE. Discussion as to how
best to help support the ISO Standard Development is needed.
It is recommended that the IEEE Task Force provides a forum
for discussion and inputs directly to the US Technical
Advisory Group for the ISO.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors would like to thank their many colleagues who

contributed to this paper in the form of discussions, reviews
and feedback on content.

REFERENCES
[1] http://www.theiam.org/en/products_services/bsipas55-2008/index.cfm
[2] The Asset management Conference, IAM & IET, London, November
2010, http://conferences.theiet.org/asset/
[3] http://www.bsigroup.com/templates/FourTabContent.aspx?id=144334