ISO 55000: Stelar a common information base

The ISO 55000 standard, whose inception was supported by the Institute of Asset Management (IAM), makes asset management a strategic mission. This mission is not solely that of shareholders and investors, but undoubtedly extends to all employees, regardless of their hierarchical position. 

‘’We believe that asset management will increasingly become the best means of harnessing and integrating all the activities within an organization to achieve its purpose most effectively and economically.’’ – IAM ISO 55000 

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ISO 55000 – Global standard for excellence in asset management 

While for many organizations ISO certifications might not be a priority, and for others, this standard might seem unattainable, ISO 55000 offers organizations a roadmap, relevant professional practices and appropriate resources to implement their strategic asset management planning. It defines the reasons, processes, practical protocols and global standards to help organizations prepare for a more complex and demanding future economically, socially and environmentally. The basic principle of ISO 55000 is to provide best practices and experience-based guidance. With over 30 countries involved in the development and evolution of ISO 55000, it should be considered an integral part of organizational best practices. 

The asset sustainability professionals on the Stelar team refer to the ISO 55000 framework as a design guide, due to its comprehensiveness and relevant framework for establishing best practices and performance enhancement. 

ISO 55000 consists of three standards: 

- ISO 55000: Asset management – Overview, principles and terminology 

- Provides the critical concepts and terminology necessary for developing a long-term plan that integrates an organization’s mission, values, objectives, business policies and stakeholder requirements. 

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- ISO 55001: Asset management – Requirements 

- Specifies the requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an asset management system. 

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- ISO 5502: Asset management – Guidelines for the application of ISO 55001 

- Provides guidelines for the application of an asset management system in accordance with the requirements of ISO 55001 

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These standards can assist organizations of all sizes and in all sectors to: 

- Establish an asset management system to optimally manage assets; 

- Implement, maintain and improve an asset management system; 

- Comply with asset management policy and strategy; 

- Demonstrate that they are applying best practice; 

- Seek external certification of their asset management system or make a self-declaration of compliance; 

- Enhance the long-term sustainability of assets. 

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Several fundamental principles structure the approach advocated by AMI and guide organizations in establishing, implementing, maintaining and enhancing their asset management system. To name a few, these include: strategic alignment, value principle, corporate culture, risk management, process optimization, lifecycle management, information structure and continuous improvement. 

Clearly, the internal processes supporting the organization’s strategic planning are fundamental elements. No IT system can replace or structure all the components that constitute asset management. However, some decision support software can aid in specific key processes. Having better continuously available information enhances organizational performance in several ways. An APM+ like Stelar plays a role across four pillars: information base, risk management, decision-making and communication tools. 

Asset information base 

In asset management audits, the information base is often identified as a weakness in organizations. Decentralization of information, lack of uniformity and collection of irrelevant data are generally to blame. 

Quality information that is centralized, structured and accessible at all times is essential. An organization needs to make fast, relevant and well-documented decisions. Moreover, the term “quality” proves to be of paramount importance, as it is the opposite of “quantity”. Consequently, with the optimization of resources, it is best to concentrate efforts where teams can generate value. 

Indeed, gathered data should be part of a higher-level strategic reflection concerning the objectives of strategic planning. Essentially, it must address the question: which decisions require crucial information? Subsequently, it is highly important to adopt an asset information standard as simple as using the same name or component structure for an asset type. In this regard, the data collection frequency in alignment with an intervention plan and a standardized data format is also crucial in the adopted standard. 

These steps precede any advanced analysis. High-value analysis, machine learning and the development of artificial intelligence models are based solely on quality and cleansed data; otherwise, the results will not provide reliable or promising indicators. 

When selected, an important issue is the depth of detail or granularity of information that the organization utilizes to enhance its overall performance. In-depth knowledge of asset health, considering its overall performance, residual life, probability of failure, impacts on production, worker health, environment and cost, is of paramount importance for effective asset management. These are the data that will enable predictive asset condition and the progression of aging. This methodology, based on specialized engineering expertise in reliability and integrity, appears to be a trusted source of information. There is very few available software like Stelar to support an information base of this kind. 

Risk management 

Typically in asset management, according to the principles of ISO 55000 and 31000, risk management addresses critical organizational matters. There is a need for ongoing review of established processes and the systems supporting them, to ensure that the organization achieves its business objectives. Understanding the impact of performance on the strategic planning is of utmost importance. 

Asset managers therefore need to assess potential risks associated with each asset and implement appropriate control measures. The consolidation of health data per asset in a centralized system is even more crucial in this context. Asset managers cannot afford to cross-reference data from multiple systems and conduct physical tours of the assets for an accurate overview. This consumes a significant amount of time for a low-value task. 

This makes it all the more important to have information on the risk associated with each asset. Integrating a risk rating per asset associated with the organization’s risk matrix is an essential component. An APM+ like Stelar offers this kind of functionality. 

Asset management decision-making 

Making the right asset management decisions is not straightforward, as it requires a continuous balance between the costs, performance and risks of an asset. To be more precise, while performance includes elements such as the use, safety, compliance and reliability of an asset, risk is primarily associated with the condition, consequence and probabilities of an asset’s failure. The cost of an asset is linked to concepts such as life-cycle costs, operating costs and maintenance costs. To these we can add the environmental costs of GHG emissions, toxic waste and wastewater management. 

Undoubtedly, every poor financial decision can jeopardize the organization’s strategic planning. While there are excellent tools to assist investment planning, few of such tools have a centralized information base encompassing all the mentioned elements. Moreover, as mentioned earlier, continuous information centralization will significantly reduce the time required for asset management investment planning, thereby allowing more time to generate value. It is this compiled asset information that will truly assist decision makers in their choices. This is a critical challenge in a context in which the vulnerability of assets to climate change must also be considered. 

Communication tool 

One very important aspect of ISO 55000 best practice is to break down organizational silos through cross-functional communication. Each employee has a role to play in asset management, regardless of their hierarchical position. Coordinating activities is crucial to extracting the greatest value from assets for all stakeholders. The direction taken by an organization must be supported by information that is reliable, structured, standardized and above all, digestible for everyone. 

Dashboards made up of key indicators cannot rely on fragmented information. The decisions are too important. The displayed outcome must come from a source that mirrors the ground reality. Only visually dynamic dashboards based on the actual health of assets are relevant. An APM+ like Stelar provides a trustworthy environment that enables this communication, ensuring effective, swift and well-documented decision-making.