ISO 5501:2014 Asset Management Systems

ISO 5501:2014 Asset Management Systems

ISO 5501 is a standard for asset management systems, created by the international organization for standardization to help organizations manage the lifecycle of their assets better. It has seven guiding principles. Let’s take a closer look at them:

1. Organizational context – Asset management is an organizational system. It is, therefore, necessary that a company knows what affects this system. It includes:

• External contexts such as economic, social, physical environment, regulatory and financial aspects
• Internal contexts such as the objectives of the institution and its culture

2. Leadership – An asset management system should be led from the top. It means an organization must insist that its leadership be sound. If otherwise, then the asset management system may not be sustained, nor will it be beneficial to stakeholders. A good leader should, therefore:

• Ensure that all know the objectives of asset management
• Communicate on the implementation of the asset management system and ingrain it into the company
• Using RACI (Responsible, accountable, consulted and informed) to eliminate barriers to the system implementation

3. Planning – The course and intentions of any organization are first developed during a strategic planning meeting and forwarded as a document that expounds on the organization’s plan. This plan is then used to create the SAMP (Strategic Asset Management Plan)

The SAMP is then used for:

• Guiding the development of the asset and asset management objectives.
• Details how to achieve those objectives
• Used as a template to create asset management plans for the various asset types.

4. Support – A lot goes into the implementation of an asset management plan. Here, people, information systems and finances have to be availed by the organization. The asset management plan will stipulate the kind of resources it requires for successful implementation.

Cross-functional grouping, for instance, between HR and IT, can be developed in a way that ensures the organization has the right, competent human recourse and an impenetrable database to house all the asset data.

5. Operations – The asset management system can now operate. At this stage, plans are implemented, and the value realized. Likely scenarios that occur during operations are:

• Changes related to funding and risk profiles may occur. These changes must be addressed effectively.
• The organization must also ensure that outsourced activities are conducted in a manner that is aligned to the businesses objectives.

6. Performance evaluation –The objectives spelt in the SAMP, and the overall asset management system must be evaluated. If they do not work as designed, the reasons why need to be understood and remedied. Doing this will ensure that the asset management system will be able to meet the organization’s objectives. 

The information, which is gathered during the performance evaluation, can be forwarded to senior personnel for a management review.

7. Improvement – Improvement must be continuous throughout the implementation process. Performance evaluation is one of the ways that an asset management system can improve. Another great way to ensure continuous improvement is to carry our consistent internal audits of the system. Any non-conformities noted can be documented and put through corrective action.

Point to note

During the implementation of the asset management system, always remember that to be successful, you need to find the problem first, then implement the solution. Now find a way to sustain winning results.