Fundamentals of Asset Management - 5

Asset Management Fundamentals - continuation

7.0 Service criteria

7.1 Service criteria are a set of guiding principles defining the standard of quality of service provided by an asset or assets. Amongst the generic service criteria are:

a. Quality
b. Quantity
c. Availability
d. Safety
e. Responsiveness

7.2 Even though the above generic criteria encompass all that the organization need to formulate service criteria, the other important factors to include are legislative, user, availability of funds and the organizational strategic requirements. With all these criteria and linking it to the asset’s objective, the asset’s service criteria can be developed and implemented by the organization. The figure below shows the formulation of asset criteria, asset service level and asset performance.

7.3 It is simpler to define the service criteria for a single asset compared to a network of assets such as road, buildings and so forth. This is because a road will have a multiple service in terms of the items in a road such as road signage, pavement, drainage, street lighting, road markings and so forth. It is the same for a building, which consists of air conditioning system, elevators (or lifts in some part of the world), lightings, signage, water supply system, sanitary and so forth. The building is, basically, a system of assets working in tandem to provide a service.

7.4 Each of the assets mentioned have its own service criteria and maybe, multiple level of service for each of the assets. For example, a road pavement has multiple service level, but it can be consolidated into a single service level for the road pavement. Furthermore, a level of service is the defined quality of a particular service area in which measurements of performance or compliance can be made. In this case, the road pavement provides a smooth riding quality but signage and drainage will have a different service criteria and service level.

7.5 It is important for the organization to determine the current service level of the asset in order to see whether the asset is within the service criteria set forth and to enable the gap closed between current service level and the newly defined service level. If the asset is below the service criteria and the defined service level, the asset need to be renewed, upgrade or disposed of. This method also allows the gap determination between customer expectations and the service provided.

7.6 The above figure illustrate two (2) gaps to closed and once, the two (2) gaps are closed the actual service delivery will be the same as the customer’s expectations. The closing of gaps will sometimes involve capital expenditure or it could just inform the customer the value for money for having that level of service. Nevertheless, it most cases, the organization has to disburse funds for modifications or renewal of the assets in order to elevate the current level of service towards customer’s expectation. This exercise could take years depending on the availability of funds. For a local council, the funds are limited and usage of the limited funds must be prioritized on assets which in a poor condition. This is the most important aspect of using service criteria, which can help an organization to manage its financial needs and spending.

7.7 The diagram below shows the relationship between the individual service level and ultimate service level of a network of assets:

7.8 Lastly, every asset must have a service level and sometimes, an asset consist of numerous assets acting in a system to provide a service. The determination of service level is important, as the organization will be able to demonstrate to its customer the performance of the assets to their expectations.