Asset class strategies and plans are an integral component of asset-intensive organisations yet their critical aspects—effective communication, integration into business practices, alignment of strategic goals with asset objectives, and standardised language—can be overlooked.
This case study outlines the development of a digital asset management planning tool for wastewater pumpstations in Icon Water, Canberra. It addresses the challenge of bridging strategic asset management objectives with tactical reliability-centred activities, particularly in forecasting renewal and optimising maintenance programs. The tool employs a bottom-up Failure Mode Effect Criticality Analysis approach integrated with strategic asset management principles to quantify costs, risks, and performance metrics, providing insights that are meaningful from top-down strategic and bottom-up operational viewpoints.
The planning tool is fully interactive visualising the state of the asset portfolio (quantities, replacement costs, age), its asset health, criticality and current risk level. The digital tool aligns to Icon Water’s approach to Asset Health Management leveraging source data from its CMMS, Oracle WAM and capabilities of the reliability strategy management tool, OnePM.
Using a novel approach, the tool combines actionable data from WAM and OnePM, with deterioration and asset risk modelling over a planning horizon, offering an integrated view of strategic actions influencing operational and captial expenditures throughout the asset lifecycle. It supports risk-based, interventions for maintenance and renewals with outputs from the modelling visualised in an interactive dashboard. This digital planning tool allows asset owners to effectively engage stakeholders, communicating investment needs across all organisational levels—from board/executive to field crews and the community. For Icon Water, it aids in preparing asset management plans led by asset health considerations, while incorporating strategic inputs to integrate renewal programs alongside optimised preventative maintenance. Such capabilities are crucial for regulatory submissions to the Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission (ICRC), which reviews Icon Water’s services every five years.