Asset management is a systematic process to guide the planning, acquisition, operation and maintenance, renewal and disposal of assets. The objective of asset management is to maximize the impact of an asset in supporting the delivery of high-quality public services and manage related risks and costs over the entire life cycle of the infrastructure asset.
To effectively manage a public-sector entity's assets, it is important for managers of an entity to know:
• the organization's assets and what they consist of;
• present replacement and net book value;
• the condition, backlog maintenance and decay rate of the infrastructure assets;
• required legislative/regulatory/other standards for the assets;
• optimal maintenance required to provide the reliability or cost-effective life of service delivery;
• occurrence and timing of rehabilitation and replacement programs;
• cost of future maintenance, rehabilitation and replacement programs;
• program financing and the impact on customers and stakeholders; and
• effects of different levels of funding on level of service provided.
An entity should also have an asset management plan. Generally, infrastructure asset management plans include:
• service-level requirements of the asset(s);
• assessment of current asset condition, performance and service potential;
• present and future infrastructure investment requirements;
• operations and maintenance plans for the short, medium and long terms;
• long-term economic, social and environmental sustainability of the asset(s); and
• identification of long-term (sustainable) funding strategies.
Infrastructure asset management plans are living documents that must be reviewed and updated on a consistent basis over the life cycle of the asset.