Introduction
The department of asset management is responsible for the oversight of asset financial performance, governance of assets, the investment and de-investment of assets, and merger and acquisition of assets among many other jobs that fall under strategy assessment management.
The specific functions assigned to each office include:
The Department of Planning
This office engages in many activities that mainly have to do with the future of the company’s assets. Among the specific responsibilities are:
- Coming up with long-term strategies for the company
- Evaluating resources and making recommendations on tradeoffs
- The maintenance of all the systems of management including PONTIS, HERS and pavement management
- The selection of projects for the company
- The development of STIP
- Gathering the conditions of systems
- Maintenance of all inventories of the company’s assets (Loistl and Petrag 67)
The Department of Design
The department mainly ensures that the systems are up to date. Other specific functions include:
- The coordination of the designs of treatment and its timing in association with members of the asset management staff
- Timely delivery of treatments
- Checking and working with current estimates
- Using current mix designs and types of treatment
- Upgrading standards, manuals and designs in line with the most recent strategies of asset management (Loistl and Petrag 67)
The Department of Construction
Among other functions, the department engages in:
- Aligning the methods and means of construction with the available specifications and standards of the company
- Accepting materials that meet the specifications of asset management and rejecting those that do not meet these standards in order to continue having the best products in the company
- Writing specifications for the performance of long-term assets (“The Institution of Engineering and Technology” 49)
Department of information Technology
The main functions of the department of information technology are:
- Operating processes of knowledge management in the department
- Being in charge of the quality of information in the company
- Aligning and integrating the IT systems of the company with asset management standards established with the most recent demands of technology (“The Asset Management Conference 2013” 23)
- Creating standards and proper methods of reporting in the company and with other companies
- Availing both the user data and executive reports whenever they are needed (Loistl and Petrag 67)
The Human Resource Department
Their duties include the following:
- The provision of necessary asset management training to the maintenance team
- Ensuring that the types of personnel in the company is a reflection of a wide range of skills necessary for effective asset management (“Infrastructure Asset Management” 54)
The Department of Facilities and Equipment
Its duties are:
- To ensure that the type of maintenance carried out is efficient in order to have proper pavement repairs and other precautionary maintenances
- It is also their responsibility to order for all the necessary facilities and equipment (Mathew 48)
Despite having all these functions as listed, companies have varying structures and functions for each of the departments (Austerberry 54). Nonetheless, it is always prudent to have departments within the larger department of asset management being responsible for the setting of targets for the asset management department, carrying out an analysis of resource tradeoffs, evaluating the achievements and re-strategizing and collaborating with each other towards common asset management objectives.
Works Cited
Austerberry, David. Digital Asset Management. Oxford: Focal, 2006. Print.
“Infrastructure Asset Management: Referees 2015”. Infrastructure Asset Management 3.1 (2016): 54-54. Print.
Loistl, Otto, and Robert Petrag. Asset Management Standards. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Print.
Mathew, Joseph. Engineering Asset Management and Infrastructure Sustainability. London: Springer, 2011. Print.
The Asset Management Conference 2013. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 2016. Print.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology Seminar on PAS 55 and Measuring Asset Management. London: Institution of Engineering and Technology, 2007. Print.