1.04 Strategic Planning

This presentation will provide a detailed look at how Manitoba Hydro builds and applies whole-life cost models for the purpose of projecting performance, cost, and risk for an asset class. The application of predictive analytics, through the use of these models, will be discussed as it relates to a single asset class, to mature Manitoba Hydro’s asset management strategy.

Traditional asset management historically prioritized infrastructure over the natural environment. This approach has led to many conflicts between the natural and built environment (e.g., flooding, pipeline exposures, property loss, etc.). As we respond to these conflicts and experience new weather patterns related to climate change, the design approaches of the past are transitioning to techniques that re-frame water and natural systems as valuable assets. Natural systems provide value to communities through the provision of ecosystem services. The realm of ecosystem services is diverse and includes flood mitigation, mental well-being, wildlife habitat, and pollution control. Understanding these services and systems allows proponents to manage and maximize the value of their natural assets. This presentation will describe two types of approach for managing natural systems as assets. The natural system type used for this discussion will be surface water drainage systems (creeks, channels, rivers, or ditches). The first approach to management is using proactive planning around natural systems to prevent conflicts between watercourses and infrastructure from occurring in the future. The second approach is used to manage existing conflicts in and around watercourses when built infrastructure cannot be relocated according to the recommended planning measures. In this case, existing conflicts can be resolved through applying knowledge of natural system function and design. Examples will be used to explore how these approaches benefit communities and project proponents alike.

Asset Managers understand that the best way to achieve success with their strategy is to have executive sponsor support. Unfortunately, many Asset Managers are frustrated because they cannot get senior leadership to pay attention to the importance of the company's assets. Asset management goals and objectives should align with corporate strategies, but often, there is a disconnect. Some of the gaps are: •    Corporate strategy vs. asset management strategy; do you have a line of sight?•    What Asset Managers say vs. what executives hear; are you speaking the same language? •    Operations production targets vs. asset lifecycle value; do these conflict?•    Executive education; can you help senior leaders who don't know the difference between their assets and their asses?•    Executive decisions; are you in the loop on this secret process? •    Corporate performance vs. asset management measures; do your KPIs align?•    Managing up; are you providing executives solutions or problems?Understanding what executives are thinking and how they make decisions is crucial to an Asset Manager's success. Ron Bettin has spent many years guiding operational and project success by bridging the gap between executives and asset management. This presentation explores why executives often don't appear to care about critical assets and what Asset Managers can do about it 

The energy landscape is shifting with the rise in electrification of transit and the rise of renewable energy shaping a new energy era that is changing the way we think about infrastructure decision making. This presentation will articulate how electrification of transit and an increase in renewables will impact medium and long-term infrastructure planning by providing examples and a practical perspective (case study) to demonstrate how Asset Management decision-making played a vital role in a utility company’s response to this change. This utility company is a key contributor to several electrification initiatives. They recognized the challenge associated with these initiatives and the overall success of the first implementation phase with minimal disruption to current operations. They are also preparing for electrification of the government transit’s first all-electric bus garage to support future procurements of battery-electric buses (eBuses) and will be working on the design and implementation of charging systems infrastructure across the city(?). Over the past 20 years, more than 50 renewable energy systems have been installed on City buildings and properties. In 2020, the city developed recommendations for the utility to achieve greater outcomes for energy efficiency, demand management, and renewable energy. The city also mandated installation of renewable energy systems on all buildings, where feasible, by 2020. The rate of development in electrification and technology in the transit sector is faster than implementation of major infrastructure developments; changes in demand patterns impact everything from the transmission and distribution networks to generation, dispatch and peak-load system capacity design; so it is not possible to “wait and see” before committing to infrastructure investment decisions. This presentation will cover how the utility is dealing with these changes by ensuring an appropriate long-term decision-making framework is in place to assure business continuity and reduce the impact on climate because it poses a particular risk for asset owners and operators. AMCL will present best practices for long-term decision-making and how the impact of change should be taken into account during the development of long-term infrastructure planning processes, in the context of a public utility.

We’ve all heard time and time again the value that Planning and Scheduling brings to a Maintenance organization. But, is your organization fully realizing this value? If Planning and Scheduling is intended to be a “wrench time multiplier” of you Maintenance Technicians, have you looked at the “wrench time” of your Planners and Schedulers? What are the potential barriers preventing them from achieving the ultimate goals of their roles? Can one Maintenance Planner really bring the same effective value as 15-17 tradespersons in your organization? Likely not, and it isn’t the fault of your Planners and Schedulers. In this presentation we’ll review the planning and scheduling function, define what it really is, and more importantly what it is NOT. We’ll also take a close look at many of the “value vampires” common in Planning and Scheduling that detract from the intended value generation. We’ll compare what an ideal Day-in-the-life of a Maintenance Planner should be against the realities they so commonly face. The intent of this presentation is to help you understand Why Planning and Scheduling is likely less effective than it could be in your organization. More importantly, this will hopefully trigger changes that help the Planners and Schedulers in your teams do more of what they do best.

Ian Flood, Asset Manager at Northwest Territories Power Corporation, is a recent graduate from PEMAC's Asset Management Professional program. His AMP Course 6 Capstone Project was nominated by his instructor, and selected as this year's AMP Capstone Award winning project. The AMP Capstone Award encourages and recognizes excellence in the Asset Management Professional (AMP) program final project, the Capstone. During this presentation, Ian will share more insights into himself, his organization, his award winning AMP capstone presentation and how his learnings in the AMP program have impacted his organization.

This paper describes strategic Asset Management at an Industry level. The illustrative case study reviews the Ontario Nuclear fleet of stations', life cycle planning and then applying simple risk analysis. The situation is illustrative, not to be taken as accurate in any aspect (eg costs, schedule etc). The purpose of this paper is to illustrate a practical example of how Asset Management can be applied at a strategic level, to support strategic planning over a multi-billion dollar, multi-decade program. The situation described is very loosely based on the OPG nuclear refurbishment program, but cannot be directly connected to it since all the information is proprietary and the numbers used are hugely different. The paper outline is expected to follow: • Background • Fleet Asset planning • Project Estimate process • Risk estimate process and review . • Conclusions The above is at a "bird's eye" view, but with enough details to understand the case study and how it pertains to a broader scope of applications. Learning: 1. Asset Management is a strong strategic tool when applied at Facility level. 2. Estimates, though rough at an early stage, can provide managerial information that is adequate for decision making. 3. Risk Management can be simple, but provides huge returns for management decision making.

The purpose of this document is to provide information on the value asset management can provide an organization.

Around the turn of the 21st century, municipalities began using the term asset management (AM) to refer to a broad range of processes that span the continuum, from managing short-term asset maintenance to long-term asset investment planning. Over the last two decades, AM has been accepted as an umbrella term that refers to the processes that work together to answer the following: When, why, and how should we spend money on infrastructure assets to ensure they meet evolving societal expectations? But the traditional approaches to developing AM processes—extremely granular asset inventories, age-based spending need forecast models, complex level of service metrics—have frustrated organizations, cost them millions, and not practically helped to answer this fundamental question. In recent years, a number of AM champions have developed a consumer-based approach to realize value from assets in the achievement of societal objectives. Clear processes create an asset expenditure to asset performance relationship that helps set overall spending levels and enables a living management system that’s used to develop dynamic prioritized short-term spending plans. This approach enables organizations to engage with their customers/clients to balance asset performance (level of service) expectations with financial affordability. This Asset Stewardship Quality Management System resets the AM paradigm by bringing clarity to what AM processes should do and how enablers (data, people, technology) can help. The tangible impacts resulting from the new AM paradigm include a reduction in the granularity of asset registers, improved accuracy of measuring asset performance and tracking asset spending, and confident spending need forecasts to ensure infrastructure systems can effectively underwrite desired societal progress. These tangible impacts are realized through addressing all three enablers: improving data management and data collection activities, providing a training program to staff, and leveraging innovations in hardware and software technologies.

Studies have shown that asset performance is negatively impacted by the lack of an integrated operational readiness approach during the asset acquisition phase (or project). The resulting delays in reaching sustainable operating performance and anticipated service levels impact start-up dates, capital costs, operational revenues, lifecycle costs, customer satisfaction, organizational morale, and overall project NPV. These impacts often require large additional cost and labour injections to correct for the lack of an integrated operational readiness approach. There are a number of operational readiness asset management objectives to be focused on in parallel with the execution of a project—a must to enable any new asset, facility, or venture to meet business lifecycle targets. These prime focuses can be summarized as follows: develop capable people to safely operate, maintain, and support the project outcomes; ensure asset capability is developed and maintained in line with business requirements; implement and configure required supporting systems and business process; seamlessly manage the transition from project to operations; and ensure the engagement and alignment of the organization and all business stakeholders. This presentation will look at a number of mining, manufacturing, and public infrastructure case studies and show the benefits of using a structured approach to operational readiness during the acquisition phase of the asset lifecycle.