Publications

Asset Management and Financial Planning for the Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council (PDF, 163 KB)
Kerry Jones, Senior Principal, Cardno.

Cardno was engaged by Northern Peninsula Area Regional Council (NPARC) to develop a Corporate Planning and Service Delivery Framework, with associated planning documents to tie
the provision of services to asset management and financial planning.

Asset Centric Maintenance and "Levels of Service" defined. (PDF, 1MB) 
Bill Woodcock, COMPLETE Urban, Hans Meijer, Penrith City Council, Andrew Ling, Parramatta City Council.

In the past, the maintenance of the community’s infrastructure has been done on a reactive basis and “Levels of Service” have been ill defined. This approach is not sustainable in regards to
Intergenerational Equity and does not support sound long term asset management. Using the AUS-SPEC maintenance systems, Councils can now link a quantifiable and measurable “Level Of
Service” across a number of activities and asset classes with the individual budget allocation for roads and road components and other Council assets. By ensuring risks are minimised, liability is
almost eradicated and sound Asset Management is facilitated. This system’s approach has major benefits for Councils Australia wide

Applying NAMS.AU Buildings Practice Note principles to a large scale building portfolio (PDF, 70kb)
Steve Lyons, SPM Consultants

Spotless Services Ltd has been maintaining buildings and grounds for a government organisation that owns over 1,000 Sites and 2,500 buildings. As part of their contract, they were required to prepare a comprehensive asset register for these assets, assess their condition, determine the extent of backlog works, and produce a 10 year renewals plan. The results of the work showed that the majority of assets were in a good condition and only a relatively minor extent of backlog works was required. Now that the assets are well identified and described, the client is now using it to determine annual budgets, justify projects, and have evidence based long term planning.

Asset Management Beyond Roads (PDF, 344k)
Mahbub Hossain, Campbelltown City Council

Campbelltown City Council (NSW) is responsible for the management of its assets stock with a replacement cost of approximately $950 million. Initially Council staff introduced a formal approach to asset management concentrating on road technology between 1991 and 1997. This approach has now been used as the basis for the successful implementation to the effective management of other asset categories such as Buildings, Public Spaces, Stormwater, Bridges, Fleet and Plant etc.

Keep It Simple, Sensible Asset Management (PDF, 220k)
Murali K G, City of Charles Sturt

Local Governments throughout Australia have been practicing and applying Asset Management for decades however in the past 5-7 years AM in Local Government has entered a new phase and there appears to be a lot of hype,  discussion and uncertainty about implementing Strategic Asset Management (SAM). What makes SAM so complex and perhaps overwhelming? Is it Asset Data - quality and currency of data? Is it understanding, or lack of understanding of levels of service, especially customer expectation? Is it because we are unsure of the future demand and relevance of the assets in twenty years time?

Replacing a Statewide Pavement Management System (PDF, 198k)
Dale Hughes, WA Asset Management, Cardno

The RoMan Pavement Management System has been in use by Western Australian Local overnment in varying forms for over 25 years. It has served the industry well by providing a basic ecision support tool that aided in the management of a variety of road network types at both the strategic and operational level. Due to the ever evolving IT environment, RoMan is nearing the end of its’ life. This case study looks at the history of RoMan, it’s use and place in the industry and the exciting next stage of the project with the RoMan replacement.

An Innovative Approach to Local Government Road Network Management(PDF, 66k)
Peter Clewer, Mornington Peninsula Shire; Amy Wade, Axim
The Mornington Peninsula Shire in Victoria has amalgamated routine road maintenance activities and traditional annual reseal/rehabilitation capital works activities into the one long-term integrated road network management contract. The ‘Safer Local Roads’ (SLR) is a 15 year outcome based maintenance contract incorporating annual performance reviews. This is an innovative approach to Road Network Management for Local Government, the scale of which has not been previously undertaken in Australia.

Why Asset Management Should Be A Corporate Function? (PDF, 165k)
Ralph Godau, Brimbank City Council
Few Councils position ‘asset Management’ as a ‘corporate function’. Most tend to develop asset management capability within their technical ranks, usually within the Engineering Services. This isolates Asset Management as a technical function rather than a broader concept that embraces the development of relationships between those who deliver services, those who maintain and develop nfrastructure to support the delivery of those services and those who plan for future service provision,. In 2003 Brimbank City Council accepted the challenge of adopting a corporate approach to asset management. This paper details Brimbank’s journey.

Developing Performance Measures for Asset Preservation in New South Wales (PDF, 175k)
Richard Jarvis, Opus International Consultants
The intent of the contract design is to achieve a sustainable inventory of road assets maintained by a planned treatment cycle based upon predictions of future condition, all in a self-monitoring management environment. This paper details the contract requirements, particularly the cycle of asset management processes.

Managing the Risks of Ageing Steel Water Mains - A Redcliffe City Council Experience (PDF, 108k)
Warrick Field, Greg Cade and Bill Glasgow, Connell Wagner
Connell Wagner was commissioned by Redcliffe City Council to develop a life cycle maintenance management strategy for the Water Main. Innovative testing techniques were used to develop a profile of the active corrosion along the pipeline and provide a verifiable measure of the condition and performance of the asset.

 Asset Management Planning  (PDF, 256k)
Jeff Roorda & Associates
To say "there is plenty of activity in the area of Local Government Asset Management" would be a big understatement … and the activity is growing at a fast rate, in particular, around the preparation of Asset Management Plans. Whilst there is no doubt that this interest has been stimulated by legislative requirements and prospective legislation ….most staff in councils have jumped at the opportunity to get involved …primarily because they really believe that the asset management process assists them to communicate what they have always believed is a "common sense" approach to management of council’s infrastructure.

Linking Assets to Community Values and Outcomes (PDF, 124k)
Sandra Burke, AMCE Consulting
Local government practitioners manage significant asset portfolios on behalf of the community. We all know that these assets need to be managed and that we need to have asset management plans and forward strategies in place for maintenance, renewal, upgrade or replacement.

Managing the Future of Built Assets (PDF, 70k)
Larry Woodland, GHD
Knowing what lies ahead for your asset portfolio is an important priority for all asset owners. Knowing when to repair, when to refurbish and when the replace is all part of being able to manage your built assets strategically. This paper discusses the physical and functional issues that are taken into account when undertaking life cost planning of physical assets. The conference presentation will case study examples to explain the application of the life cost planning (LCP) process and the planning decisions that are required.

Asset Management Improvement at Broken Hill (PDF, 2400k)
Tahlia Griffen, Maunsell
In 2006 Broken Hill City Council took the initiative to begin a journey for the improvement of their Asset Management (AM) practices. The Council’s objective of this project was to develop Asset Management Plans that would provide long term cost effective management strategies to deliver the required levels of service to present and future Broken Hill citizens. This paper will detail each stage of the project as well as identify the benefits received by Broken Hill. This project is a fine example of how the success of any project is heavily weighted by client enthusiasm and the level of customer consultation.

NSW Sewer Overflow PRP100 Reports Drive AM Improvements(PDF, 950k)
Max Anderson, Emma Pryor, MWH
All licenced sewage treatment systems (STS) in NSW are subject to the requirements of the Pollution Reduction Program (PRP).  Under this program water utilities and Councils in the state are required to prepare Sewer Overflow Investigation Reports for each of the STS’s under their management.  The Councils who have used the compliance reporting to their advantage have experienced many improvements in the way they monitor and respond to the performance of their sewerage networks.

Towards 'Fair' Asset Management (PDF, 36k)
Julie Clausen, Morrison Low & Associates
Asset management is not the sole responsibility of the asset manager but instead should have input from planners, accountants, valuers and auditors. The challenge for the asset manager is to draw the other parties into the asset management philosophy and approach. This will require the asset manager to adopt an open and inclusive approach within the executive team.

Development of Road Asset Register using Digital Video Technology (PDF, 284k)
Matt Ryeland, Cardno; Terry Wilson, Greg McDonald, Dungog Shire
The DRIVE (Digital Road Inventory Video Environment) system of data acquisition for road networks was used for Dungog Shire to create a functional, practical, user friendly road asset data capture and management system. The road network and associated assets can be presented as visual, spatial, text and an auditable condition record.

Pavement Management Component of Asset Management Systems (PDF, 52k)
Geoff Webb, GR Webb Consulting
A Pavement Management System (PMS) can be considered a sub-system within an agency’s Asset Management System. The asset management principles of knowing what you have, where it is, and what condition it is in, are fundamental to the most basic decisions. It is critical that data utilised for this purpose be carefully selected and considered an important asset requiring appropriate management.

Other Resources

Developing Asset Management Plans In-house (PDF, 90k)
Craig Young and Andrew Ryan, Caloundra Council
Caloundra City Council developed its Total Asset Management Plans in-house for all major civil infrastructure in 2004/05. An insight is provided on the successes and failures encountered and offers some helpful hints.

Asset Management - Good Levels of Service are hard to come by (PDF, 80k)
Adrian Duff, Sunshine Coast Regional Council
One of the challenges facing much of local government is to clearly define and articulate levels of service and the cost options available so that the community can make an informed decision on the levels of service that they receive and are prepared to pay for. Much of the focus is on delivering new projects and infrastructure (increasing the Level of Service), but little time is spent on defining and debating the current level of service. The challenge, therefore, is to document meaningful levels of service that cover all that customers expect and from which informed sustainable budget decisions can be made. This paper explores Maroochy Shire Council’s journey.