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Lessons from the IPWEA Asset Management Study Tour to New Zealand

By ASSET e-news posted 16-01-2013 16:08

  
By Peter Way, Chair, NAMS.AU

In November last year, I had the opportunity to lead the six-day IPWEA Asset Management Study Tour to New Zealand. 

The participants, who travelled from a variety of Australian councils and included the four recipients of Foundation Fellowship Awards, deemed the tour a great success.

Peter WayThe trip commenced with a welcome dinner and briefing from the New Zealand NAMS Committee, before two days at the New Zealand Advanced Asset Management Conference. 

The conference featured a range of speakers who addressed the theme ‘asset management at the crossroads’. These provided an insight into some of the challenges New Zealand is facing at the moment. The country’s professionals are considering the future direction they should take asset management in. They have to be aware of many potential impacts, not least the new ISO Standards for asset management.

Following the conference, the group met with the Audit Office of New Zealand to hear about how it is working with various infrastructure organisations to continue to encourage good asset management practices. 

The remainder of the week was taken up with visits to various council organisations within the vicinity of Auckland. There was a significant focus on the Auckland ‘Supercity’ concept and how it is amalgamating all the asset management tasks from what were previously eight separate councils into one larger body. 
NZ AM study tour
The group was impressed with the sophistication of much of Auckland’s approach. Interestingly, Auckland is aspiring to rank as the most liveable city in the world.

Through involvement at the conference, various meetings with host councils and social events with leading consultants in Auckland, the group took a number of lessons from the experience, especially the following:

Organisational issues
Senior management commitment is essential to success. Councils must employ strategic thinking and encourage a whole-of-organisation approach, recognising that many parts must be involved in asset management. 

We also have to ensure multiple management systems within an organisation all inter-relate. Asset managers should strive to be seen as ‘trusted advisers’ in the organisation and we have to consider the opportunity for legislative changes and new standards, such as ISO, to drive better outcomes – and not just for compliance.

People issues
We must recognise the importance of people as part of the asset management process and better develop the necessary skills. This means that we need capability-building programs and a structured process for delivering training. It is essential there is continuous good communication between asset managers, the community and decision-makers.

Financial management issues
We also must recognise the imperative of strong links between asset management and financial management. There must be a greater emphasis placed on renewals planning to ensure adequate funding for sustainable financial management of assets and services provided. It is obvious there is still scope for significant improvement for asset management and financial management to derive better projections on depreciation and valuations, useful life and financial management for assets. We also have to consider the appropriate use of borrowing for funding capital expenditures.

Data and information issues
The issues were explored included the importance of data reliability, forward projections, converting data into information/knowledge for decision making, expressing information in easily understood language, and gauging what amount of data is appropriate. We must ensure knowledge held by workers is captured and that whatever is gathered is used and at an appropriate level. 

This was the fourth IPWEA Asset Management Study Tour to New Zealand, which are held every two years to coincide with the Advanced AM Conference. Keep a look out for the next tour in 2014.
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