The Management Game Asset Management

Third International Engineering Systems Symposium CESUN 2012, Delft University of Technology, 18-20 June 2012 The Management Game Asset Management Ma...
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Third International Engineering Systems Symposium CESUN 2012, Delft University of Technology, 18-20 June 2012

The Management Game Asset Management Martine van den Boomen, Johan Duifhuizen2 and Thomas Staverman3 Colibri Advies, Plantage 125, Utrecht, The Netherlands Vitens NV, Reactorweg 47, Utrecht, The Netherlands 3 Waternet, Korte Ouderkerkerdijk 7, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1

2

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract. It is serious and fun to play! The game supports organisations in the implementation of asset management. It enhances the communication between employees on a wide range of asset management topics. The game provides a rough roadmap for asset management development within organisations. It incorporates internationally acknowledged asset management principles and is linked to organisational maturity steps. In 2010 the game was originally developed by and for the Dutch water sector. It has been played at a number of drinking water companies, water boards and municipalities. Waternet, the first water cycle company in the Netherlands, plays the game organisation-wide to enhance asset management communication and culture. At the end of 2011 the game was improved and translated into English. Vitens Evides International and its Mongolian counterpart USUG have adapted it to Mongolian standards and use the game to support the implementation of asset management in Mongolia. This article describes the content of the game and provides two examples of how it benefits the asset management development within different kinds of organisations. Keywords. Asset Management, Serious Gaming, Roadmap, Maturity Scale, Communication, Culture

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The Management Game Asset Management

The Management Game Asset Management has been developed to support the change process towards a full asset management implementation in the Dutch Water Sector. It brings employees together and helps them to understand different asset management roles and responsibilities. The game highlights the specific asset management development issues of the organisation and encourages employees to find solutions that work. 1.1 Game Roles Five players represent a management team that consists of:  an Engineering Manager  an Operation & Maintenance Manager  an Asset System Manager  an Organisation Manager (CEO)  a Customer Service Manager The Organisation Manager and Customer Service Manager both represent the strategic asset management role, generally referred to as the Asset Owner. The tactical asset management role is played by the Asset System Manager or Asset Manager. Finally, the operational asset management role or Service Provider role is played by the Operation & Maintenance Manager and the Engineering Manager. The responsibilities are summarised by:  Asset Owner: responsible for the translation of stakeholders‟ interests into strategic business objectives and a strategic organisational plan that contains a solid framework for the organisation-wide implementation of asset management. The asset owner is responsible for the provision of the asset management enablers and controls. 

Asset Manager: responsible for the management of the asset portfolio and asset systems in line with the organisational strategic plan. The Asset Manager will set out an asset management policy, objectives and strategy. A long term asset system plan, including a capital and operational expenditures decision strategy, is part of the Asset Manager‟s responsibility.



Service Provider: responsible for the effective and efficient operational life cycle activities. This is simulated in the game by the functions reliability engineering and reliability centred maintenance.

1.2 Maturity Scale The purpose of the game is growth, individually for the respective roles and collectively for the team. Five game axes are reserved for the five game roles. Collective growth is measured at the sixth game axis which represents stakeholder value. Stakeholder value will grow as individual players grow. The game board is presented in figure 1.

Fig. 1. Game board with five asset management roles axes and a sixth shared axis

At the start of the game, each player receives a growth path chart or maturity scale (see Figure 2). Players start to determine the current growth position for their role and put their game piece on the number of choice on the game board. The Management Team discusses all positions. The player‟s own organisation is often taken as a point of reference. The final start position of the game pieces is determined by the majority of votes. In this phase of the game lively discussions arise as players need to explain to their colleagues why they value the maturity of roles differently. Often, knowledge is shared that some people were not aware of. These discussions are important for a common understanding of what is meant by asset management.

Fig. 2. Maturity Scale for the Game Roles

1.3 Balanced Growth & Board Meetings Players are expected to grow. Buying a growth card simulates the investment in development programs such as ICT-Development, Training and Communication, Risk Management and Performance Management. A growth card costs 2 coins. Money for growth cards is obtained in several ways. In each game round, the Organisation Manager shares 6 coins amongst the players and himself. The Organisation Manager cannot satisfy all players. The Organisation Manager aims for a balanced organisational asset management growth. A second way of gaining money for growth can be found at board meetings, where all kinds of typical asset management challenges arise. During the game, players are confronted with asset management challenges (debate cards) that belong to their roles. These challenges are to be answered in such a way that a player convinces as many of his fellow management team members as possible. It is not only a question of what to answer but also of who to involve. This challenges players to empathise with the position of the other players. The more team members who are in favour of a player‟s solution, the higher the chance of gaining the additional money which is necessary for growth.

Each growth step achieved is plenarily discussed to ensure that the whole team understands the organisational inter-dependencies of asset management. Stakeholder value grows as players grow. 1.4 Game Evaluation At the end of the game, the results are wholly evaluated. Often the game is played by several teams at the same time. The winning team is the team which has achieved the largest growth in the allotted playing time. It is also possible to look at the efficiency of a team; this is measured by dividing total growth by the number of game rounds. Some teams take more time for discussions. Other teams like to win and keep discussions short (time is money). The Organisation Manager plays a distinctive role in the group process. In the evaluation, differences in the starting positions of teams, which indicate differences in perceptions or knowledge on asset management, are plenarily discussed. The growth steps are a rough roadmap for the further development of asset management. The participants discuss where the organisation stands today, where it aspires to stand in a couple of years and what the necessary enablers and critical success factors are. Participants express their ideas on the different asset management roles. The direct fruits of playing the game are view sharing, a better understanding of asset management responsibilities and a shared vision on how asset management should be developed within their own organisation. Playing the game directly supports the preparation of an asset management implementation plan and communicating this strategy to the entire organisation. As the organisation grows, so will the game. Debate cards and the maturity scale are easily adjusted to meet the specific needs of the organisation.

2 Experience of Vitens & USUG: Asset Management in Mongolia Vitens is the largest drinking water company in the Netherlands. It provides a third of the Netherlands with reliable drinking water in five provinces. Vitens obtains the drinking water from its own groundwater sources at one hundred production sites, purifies the water and supplies it to 5.4 million people and companies. Together with the water company Evides, Vitens is also involved in the supply of drinking water to approximately 20 million people in developing countries through Vitens Evides International (VEI). VEI focuses hereby on the development of sustainable and healthy water companies in urban areas and on the maintenance of networks. Each year, 75 professionals from the workplace in the Netherlands are temporarily seconded to water companies in developing countries. 2.1 Why Asset Management? Vitens evolved from the mergers of municipal and provincial water companies. These mergers created advantages such as economies of scale. To maintain these benefits

the organisation must continuously secure the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of the decision making processes. For this reason, Vitens adopted the UK Asset Management Standard PAS-55. This management system is characterised by an integrated systematic and holistic approach towards the management of physical assets. Considering a long term perspective, performances, risks and costs are balanced in order to achieve optimised asset management solutions which lead to a reduction of life cycle investment and maintenance costs. Assets which directly relate to the physical assets such as personnel, information, finance and intangible assets are incorporated into the asset management approach. Long-term optimised solutions that lead to a reduction of life cycle investment and maintenance costs are also important for the Mongolian water company, „Water Supply and Sewerage Authority of Ulaanbaatar City‟ (USUG). The Water Operators' Partnership (WOP) between VEI and USUG has been established since 2007. The general objective of the WOP USUG is to develop an autonomous and financially sustainable water company. Three years after carrying out various activities in order to achieve this objective, focus is now being given to the instalment of an asset management department and the implementation of the asset management concept. USUG will benefit from this systematic approach, life cycle asset system management and will ultimately save costs on investments and maintenance expenditures. 2.2 Asset Management Maturity The Management Game Asset Management is deployed to discuss the current situation within USUG. What is the maturity of USUG in terms of engineering, operation & maintenance, asset management, organisational management and customer service? How are these activities correlated? Positioning the maturity of USUG on the growth scale helps USUG to think more holistically about its current approach and future ambitions. The game supports a good discussion and common understanding of asset management between management and employees of the Asset Management Department. Management and employees of USUG discussed together the future ambitions for asset management. What is the ambition of USUG and what steps are to be taken to reach the desired maturity level? Here the game provides a rough roadmap as each phase describes in general what the tasks should be. The discussion made clear that first priority was given to data management and business values & objectives. The business values and objectives are important to know where USUG stands and where it is heading to. Good data is essential for providing steer information and for supporting the decision making process. Without good data the tasks of asset management cannot be performed. The game was originally developed for the Dutch drinking water sector. In the Netherlands, the water utilities have their own specific asset management issues. To make the game suitable for USUG, the maturity scale has been adapted by VEI and

USUG to address Mongolian circumstances. The entire game was translated into the Mongolian language. The game was well received and helped to align different views on asset management within USUG. An asset management implementation plan with three focus areas for development was prepared afterwards. 2.3 Conclusion Asset management for water companies in developing countries is certainly not a bridge too far. Developing countries can benefit from the rule of the restrictive head start. In the Dutch water sector we have seen that organisational asset management development and information management often follows the scattered implementation of asset management methods at tactical and operational level. In developing countries, water companies benefit from an early focus on organisational development and information management, both of which are prerequisites in performing good asset management.

Fig. 3. Playing the Management Game Asset Management at USUG, Mongolia

3. Experience at Waternet, The Netherlands Waternet is the water company in Amsterdam and the surrounding area. It produces and delivers drinking water to 1.2 million customers. A sewerage system and twelve waste water treatment plants collect and purify the waste water. In addition, Waternet maintains the water levels in the area of Amsterdam and keeps the surface water clean. It operates the bridges and sluices and maintains the dykes. Waternet is the only water company in the Netherlands that is dedicated to the entire water cycle. It was founded in 2006 by the merging of the Water Boards Amstel, Gooi and Vecht (AGV), the Drinking Water Company and the Sewer Department of the municipality of Amsterdam. Waternet is a public organisation and reports annually to its Boards, the city of Amsterdam and the Water Board AGV. Assets managed by Waternet vary from drinking water purification plants, waste water treatment plants, pressurised and un-pressurised pipe systems, pumping stations, dykes, rivers, canals, boats, sluices, bridges, nature reserves and many more. Drinking water, waste water and water system management were strictly separated divisions for more than 100 years. Today they find a joint approach in asset management. 3.1 Asset Management Definition In 2006, the implementation of asset management became a strategic organisational objective at Waternet. This started off with an internal seminar with people from all three departments. Here it was agreed on the following definition of asset management: “Asset management is a unifying, structural approach, to reach desired company goals, keeping craftsmanship and balance in mind while optimising infrastructural systems and the deployment of company assets”. The problem with this, rather long, definition is that the majority of the employees still did not have a clue what it meant for them, and still nobody can memorise it! A shorter, although less politically correct question for defining asset management might be: “are you really sure you want to spend money on this?” What should asset management bring? On a high level:  transparent and functional assessment of asset systems and assets;  clear and reproducible decision making;  a communication tool between the boards, the management, the policy makers and the „people outside‟ responsible for engineering, construction and operation & maintenance. To make the very big concept of managing the assets more manageable it is divided in three levels: strategic, tactical and operational.

3.2 Asset Management Levels The strategic level of asset management focuses on optimising the entire water cycle. At this level, the demands and wishes of clients, society, politicians and other stakeholders in a constantly changing environment are identified and translated into Waternet strategic organisational goals. At the tactical level, infrastructure systems are optimised. Company goals are translated into performance demands and constraints for the asset systems. At this level a five-year (medium-range) policy for the development of asset systems is prepared. At operational levels, focus is put upon effective and efficient maintenance & operations, construction and modification of assets. In other words: one should first consider system requirements. If the system functions all right, then you should look at the sub-system level. Only if the sub-system is also okay, you could consider measures (such as replacing) for individual objects. By doing so, your replacement strategy fits into the bigger picture. 3.3 Asset Management Implementation An asset management taskforce was established to accelerate the implementation of asset management in the organisation. All departments were represented in this taskforce. Four priorities were defined: an asset management framework, a business case format for investment decisions, sustainability and reliability centred maintenance. Departments were involved in the preparation of frameworks, instruments and processes. At the end the results were agreed upon by all departments of Waternet and the high level management. Further implementation is done in the departments. On a generic level the formats are the same. On a more detailed level the formats leave room for departments to integrate their own specific issues. Different departments have different types of assets, different laws to obey, different cultures. It was not easy developing generic formats which give sufficient support to all departments. We may all be Dutch, but on many occasions discussions resembled the confusion of tongues in Babel. The same words have different meanings in different lines of work. By presenting the results as a group with people from all departments, more understanding was created. 3.4 Communication Almost every aspect mentioned above requires communication. For example, good communication between different organisational levels within and between departments is the pre-requisite for obtaining valid data for a good business case assessment. This means communication between the policy makers, system modellers, engineers, operators and mechanics and not just within one department but also between departments. Asset management plays an important role in improving these communication lines. In the past this type of horizontal and vertical communication was not that self-evident. It remains a major challenge to obtain the full participation of the different Waternet departments in the different activities of the process. Asset management not only requires the right tools and methods, but

perhaps more importantly, the right mind-set. At this point serious gaming attracted our attention. Together with Colibri Advies, the KWR Watercycle Research Institute and The Netherlands Royal Water Association, Waternet developed the Dutch version of the Management Game Asset Management (van den Boomen, Portengen, Beuken, 2010). 3.5 Management Game Asset Management We played the game at different levels: within departments, between departments, with high level management, policy makers, team leaders, operational managers, support staff such as communications, ICT and finance. Playing the game helps to create understanding for the different questions and problems which different lines of work have. People are proud of the work they do and are eager to share experiences. Playing the game with the higher management and placing them in a role different from their own, was very refreshing. The easy atmosphere it creates and the fact that it is entertaining and serious at the same time makes the game a great tool for supporting the further implementation of asset management. It somehow breaks the ice between people and makes it easier to pop in on another day.

Fig. 4. The CEO divides the yearly budgets.

4. References Van den Boomen, M., Portengen, J.P., Beuken, R.H.S. (2010). Management Game Asset Management©. Colibri Advies, Waternet, KWR Watercycle Research Institute. The Netherlands.

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