POLITECHNICA UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST FACULTY OF AUTOMATIC CONTROL AND COMPUTERS

The Department of Automatic Control and Industrial Informatics

MASTER THESIS

Enterprise Asset Management Item Tracking and Software Solutions

Thesis supervisor: Ş.L. Ing. Călin MUNTEANU

Author: Roxana CHIRIACESCU

BUCHAREST

July 2012

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SERVICE ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

Enterprise Asset Management. Item tracking and Software Solutions MASTER OF SCIENCE DISSERTATION THESIS

Roxana CHIRIACESCU

6/29/2012

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CONTENTS

Contents ........................................................................................................................................................................ 4

1. Overview of Asset Management ............................................................................................................................... 7

1.1. The benefits of good Asset Management ....................................................................................................... 7

1.2. What does ‘Asset Management’ mean? ......................................................................................................... 8

1.3. The Scope of Asset Management ................................................................................................................. 10

1.3.1 People ‘do’ Asset Management .......................................................................................................... 10

1.3.2. The IAM Conceptual Model ............................................................................................................... 10

2. Brief History of Asset Management ......................................................................................................................... 12

2.1. Origin of modern concepts of Asset Management ....................................................................................... 12

2.2. Public Asset Management ............................................................................................................................ 13

2.3. Public sector Asset management in UK ........................................................................................................ 14

2.3.1. Context .................................................................................................................................................. 14

2.3.2 The formative years ................................................................................................................................ 14

2.3.3. Measuring success ................................................................................................................................. 16

3. PAS55 Assessment Methodology (PAM) ................................................................................................................. 17

4. Systems Engineering ................................................................................................................................................ 21

4.1. Asset Information Systems ........................................................................................................................... 22

5. Asset Management in various domains. Software solutions. .................................................................................. 24

5.1. Enterprise Asset management ............................................................................................................................. 24

5.2. Managing Assets in the business of IT .................................................................................................................. 24

5.3. Inventory and Resource Management ................................................................................................................. 25

5.3.1. Inventorying requirements in the real world ............................................................................................ 26

5.3.2. A feasible solution to avoid inevitable havoc ............................................................................................ 26

5.3.3. Streamlining software auditing and license management ........................................................................ 27

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5.3.4. Gathering relevant inventory information ................................................................................................ 27

5.3.5. Overall inventory demands to enhance usability ...................................................................................... 28

5.4. Software solutions for Asset Management .......................................................................................................... 28

5.4.1. IBM Maximo Asset Management .............................................................................................................. 28

5.4.2. Introducing GLPI: IT Asset management on steroids ................................................................................. 29

5.4.3. Oracle® Enterprise Asset Management (eAM) .......................................................................................... 30

Asset Management ...................................................................................................................................... 30

Asset Hierarchy ............................................................................................................................................ 31

Asset Operations .......................................................................................................................................... 31

Work Requests ............................................................................................................................................. 31

Work Orders ................................................................................................................................................ 32

Work Order Relationships ........................................................................................................................... 33

Planning ....................................................................................................................................................... 33

Scheduling .................................................................................................................................................... 33

Visualization ................................................................................................................................................. 34

Budgeting and Forecasting .......................................................................................................................... 34

Role-Based User Interfaces .......................................................................................................................... 34

Summary ...................................................................................................................................................... 36

Oracle E-Business Suite — The Complete Solution...................................................................................... 36

6. Asset Information System – Case Study: Asset Tracker ........................................................................................... 37

6.1. Business Environment .......................................................................................................................................... 37

6.2. Initial process described ....................................................................................................................................... 38

6.3. Need for an Asset Information System ................................................................................................................. 40

6.4. Analysis of various Asset management solutions ................................................................................................. 41

6.5. Asset Tracker ........................................................................................................................................................ 42

6.5.1. Planning and Analysis ................................................................................................................................ 42

6.5.1.1. Gather the Necessary Data ............................................................................................................. 43

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6.5.1.2. Define Security Requirements ........................................................................................................ 43

6.5.1.3. Select Data Management Functions ............................................................................................... 43

6.5.1.4. Select Data Presentation Functions ................................................................................................ 44

6.5.1.5. Define Special Function Requirements ........................................................................................... 44

6.5.1.6. Application Security ........................................................................................................................ 44

6.5.2. Business flow ............................................................................................................................................. 45

6.5.2.1. User Roles ....................................................................................................................................... 45

6.5.2.2. Workflow ........................................................................................................................................ 46

7. Asset Tracker Demo Script ....................................................................................................................................... 52

7.1. General Information about this Demo ................................................................................................................. 52

7.2. Initiating a request (Requester Role) .................................................................................................................... 53

7.3. Solving a request (Administrator Role) ................................................................................................................. 56

7.4. Confirmation of receiving the Asset (Requester Role) ......................................................................................... 60

8. Individual contributions ........................................................................................................................................... 61

9. Conclusions .............................................................................................................................................................. 62

10. Future of asset information systems ..................................................................................................................... 63

11. Anexis A - Table of figures ..................................................................................................................................... 64

12. References ............................................................................................................................................................. 65

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1. OVERVIEW OF ASSET MANAGEMENT

“Asset Management is the management of (primarily) physical Assets (their selection, maintenance, inspection and renewal) plays a key role in determining the operational performance and profitability of industries that operate Assets as part of their core business. Additional categories of Assets covered by the scope of this discipline include: information, finance, competence and other intangibles insofar as they relate to Asset management decisions.” [1]

Asset Management is the art and science of making the right decisions and optimising these processes. A common objective is to minimise the whole life cost of Assets but there may be other critical factors such as risk or business continuity to be considered objectively in this decision making.

This emerging professional discipline deals with the optimal management of physical Asset systems and their life cycles. It represents a cross-disciplinary collaboration to achieve best net, sustained value-for-money in the selection, design/ acquisition, operations, maintenance and renewal/ disposal of physical infrastructure and equipment.

1.1. THE BENEFITS OF GOOD ASSET MANAGEMENT

How many organisations can answer the following questions?

• Do you understand the risk profile associated with your Asset portfolio and how this will change over time?

• Do you understand the business consequences of reducing your capital investment or maintenance budgets by 10% over the next five years?

• Can you justify your planned Asset expenditures to external stakeholders?

• Can you easily identify which investment projects to defer when there are funding or cash flow constraints?

• Do you have the appropriate Asset data and information to support your Asset Management decision-making?

• Do you know if your people have the right competences and capabilities to manage your Assets?

• Do you know which Asset Management activities to out-source?

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As organizations are coming under increasing pressure to deliver more for less, it is imperative that these types of questions can be answered.

Organizations that have developed their capabilities in Asset Management to a relatively high level of maturity can answer these questions with a high degree of confidence. This helps enormously when dealing with shareholders, regulators, customers, investors or politicians who do not have the time or the skills to understand the long-term implications of the decisions they make. Where these decisions impact on Assets, Asset performance, risk or net value realization, it is the Asset Management community’s responsibility to articulate these implications and the adoption of a holistic Asset Management approach is essential to enable this. [1]

The prize for getting it right is certainly very big and touches almost all parts of an organisation.

The available case studies and increasing hard evidence demonstrate: a mix of higher performance levels; lower costs; greater consistency; increased confidence and credibility; happier customers, staff and regulators and more sustainable outcomes.

Organisations from a wide range of industries are quoting 20, 40% or even 50% gains in business performance, while simultaneously controlling costs, risks and long term capability.

Perhaps even more importantly, organizations that have been evolving their Asset Management approach over several years report a significant re-engagement of the workforce, a breaking down of inter-departmental barriers and a collective, well motivated commitment to delivering better value-for-money. Asset Management evidently stimulates some healthy bottom-up creativity and innovation as well as providing the necessary top-down alignment of priorities and resource targeting. We intend to accumulate case studies and reported results in the IAM Knowledge Centre and we welcome any additions you care to offer.

1.2. WHAT DOES ‘ASSET MANAGEMENT’ MEAN?

As the discipline matures, more and more people have understood that Asset Management is not so much about ‘doing things to Assets’ but about using Assets to deliver value and achieve the organisation’s explicit purposes. So, if Asset Management does not mean managing the Assets, what does it mean?

Great efforts have been made to find a better title. However, once understood, the term ‘Asset Management’ is exactly right for what we seek to do. We provide the techniques for converting the fundamental aims of the organization into the practical implications for choosing, acquiring (or creating), utilizing and looking after (maintaining) appropriate Assets to deliver those aims. And we do so while seeking the best total value approach (the optimal combination of costs, risks, performance and sustainability).

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Asset Management gives any interested organization the knowledge and tools to use chosen Assets to achieve its purpose. Moreover these techniques and processes allow such an organization to demonstrate that it is managing its Assets optimally – often of great interest to many stakeholders, whether owners, customers, regulators, neighbours or the general public.

A web search for “Asset Management” reveals not only a predominance of financial services but also a confusing range of flavours and variants. There are many qualifying adjectives attached to the front of the term Asset Management – we find:

Enterprise Asset Management

Infrastructure Asset Management

Physical Asset Management

Strategic Asset Management

Property Asset Management

Facilities Asset Management and many others.

What are the differences? What do we find in common? In short, what are the underlying ‘Asset Management’ bits, irrespective the Assets we are trying to manage? In most cases, the qualifying adjectives don’t help at all – they try to make a special case for something that is inherently consistent, whatever the type or nature of the ‘Assets’. If you scratch beneath the surface, there are a set of clear, generic requirements for applying the label “Asset Management” appropriately.

Institute of Asset Management (IAM) [1] considers good Asset Management:

• should be ‘enterprise’ wide (avoidance of silos)

• applies to Asset owners, managers and those with delegated management responsibilities (e.g. outsourced Asset responsibilities)

• has to balance costs, risks and performance on different timescales

• applies to tangible/physical and intangible Assets;

• applies to public and private and not-for-profit organisations

• will be strategic (aligned with the organisational strategy).

At the time of writing, the draft ISO definition of Asset Management is: “the coordinated activities of an organization to realize value from Assets”; and the draft definition of Asset is “something that has potential or actual value to an organization”.

These may seem very general definitions. This is intentional, as the thinking is common to the use of assets in whatever form they take. It is up to the organisation to choose how to manage those Assets to derive best value, and ‘value’ will take different forms to different organisations (including, for example, the ‘minimisation of risk or liabilities’).

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1.3. THE SCOPE OF ASSET MANAGEMENT

1.3.1 PEOPLE ‘DO’ ASSET MANAGEMENT

The understanding of the principles of Asset Management has developed significantly over the last decade and a number of approaches, standards and models have been developed across the world. It is becoming increasingly necessary to align these various approaches and to develop a global view, in particular for companies that operate Asset Management systems in many countries.

Asset Management differs, for example, from Quality Management (e.g. ISO9001), Lean, 6-SIGMA, Total Productive Maintenance and so on, although it can incorporate such methodologies. Asset Management is best seen as an integration framework that enables organisations to achieve their explicit aims in a structured way. They may choose to use any combination of tools and techniques to achieve these aims, provided that they are appropriately applied and deliver ‘added value’.

It is vital to remember that people ‘do’ Asset Management and therefore people, and their knowledge, competence, motivation and teamwork, make the biggest difference to good or poor Asset Management. The tools and technologies may be helpful, but the engagement of the workforce, the clarity of leadership and the collaboration between different departments and functions are the real differentiators of a leading Asset Management organisation.

Similarly, Asset Management is not about just managing the Assets for their own sakes. Asset Management is about deriving value from the Assets in a structured and predictable way.

Even if the role of the organisation is limited to the ‘governance’ responsibility for Assets, there are plenty of opportunities to optimise what is spent, and when, in relation to the risks, obligations and liabilities incurred.

1.3.2. THE IAM CONCEPTUAL MODEL

The IAM takes the view that there is no perfect model. Instead welcomes a variety of useful models either because they are preferred by some individuals or because they explain a theory or practice in different ways for different purposes.

The following section presents the current conceptual model used by the Institute to which all the Subjects and Subjects Groups are aligned. The Conceptual Model is designed to describe the overall scope of Asset Management and the high level groups of activity that are included within this discipline. The Model highlights the fact that Asset

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Management is about the integration of these groups of activity and not just the activities in isolation. It also emphasises the critical issue that Asset Management is there to serve the goals of the organisation. The ‘line of sight’ from an organisation’s goals to its Asset Management activities or ‘alignment’ that is promoted in PAS55 is a concept that we continue to emphasise.

The Asset Management Subject Groups are shown in the IAM conceptual model for Asset Management below. [1]

Figure 1 - IAM Conceptual Model for Asset Management

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2. BRIEF HISTORY OF ASSET MANAGEMENT

2.1. ORIGIN OF MODERN CONCEPTS OF ASSET MANAGEMENT

Civilization has always relied on its technological Assets to support key functions like transport, public health, business and commerce. There is a clear link between the provision and sophistication of technological Assets and our modern lifestyle. Persians built a strong empire through their construction of roads, aqueducts and other Assets. Similar stories are found when examining Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas.

Asset Management is not new. People have been managing Assets for thousands of years. What has changed, however, is the cumulative recognition that good Asset Management involves optimising (within any absolute constraints) the mix of cost, risks and performance over the whole Asset life. [1]

These insights have three primary origins:

1. The financial services sector has been using the term for over 100 years to describe the juggling act of ‘optimizing’ risk, yield (performance), short and long-term security from a mixed portfolio of cash, stocks & shares and other investments.

And, despite the spectacular recent failures in the banking sector, the underlying aspirations remain sound (provided that the risks and long-term dimensions are properly handled!).

2. The North Sea Oil & Gas industry adopted the term Asset Management in the era following the Piper Alpha disaster and the oil price crash of the late 1980’s. Radical change was needed and it was discovered that the creation of small, dynamic, multi-disciplined teams managing each oil platform (the ‘Asset’) with a full life cycle view, unleashes great creativity and massive improvements in performance, safety and productivity.

3. Meanwhile, in Australia and New Zealand, the public sector faced a ‘perfect storm’ of falling levels of service, escalating costs and poor planning. The public outcry forced a corresponding radical re-think, and the establishment of much better strategic planning, prioritization and value-for-money thinking.

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The lessons learnt from these widely different environments have been remarkably similar, with significant convergence of conclusions. Now the message is spreading – over the last 20 years it has been penetrating the electrical and water utilities, road and rail transport systems, mining, process and manufacturing industries at an accelerating rate. All are realising that great opportunities lie in a more joined-up approach to Asset lifecycle value optimization. [1]

2.2. PUBLIC ASSET MANAGEMENT

Public Asset Management (referred to also as Corporate Asset Management) expands the definition of Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) by incorporating the management of all things which are of value to a municipal jurisdiction and its citizens' expectations.

An EAM requires an Asset registry (inventory of Assets and their attributes) combined with a Computerized Maintenance Management System. All public Assets are interconnected and share proximity, and this connectivity is possible through the use of GIS. [18]

GIS-centric public Asset management standardizes data and allows interoperability, providing users the capability to reuse, coordinate, and share information in an efficient and effective manner by making the GIS geo-database the Asset registry. A GIS-centric public Asset management which standardizes data and allows interoperability, providing users the capability to reuse, coordinate, and share information in an efficient and effective manner.

In the United States the defacto GIS standard is the ESRI GIS for utilities and municipalities. An Esri GIS platform combined with the overall public Asset management umbrella of both physical “hard” Assets and “soft” Assets helps remove the traditional silos of structured municipal functions. While the hard Assets are the typical physical Assets or infrastructure Assets, the soft Assets of a municipality includes permits, license, code enforcement, right-of-ways and other land-focused work activities.

This definition of “public Asset management” was coined and defined by Brian L. Haslam, President and CEO of a leading international GIS-centric Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) company which software is certified by the National Association of GIS-Centric Solutions (NAGCS). GIS-centric public Asset management is a system design approach for managing public Assets that leverages the investment local governments continue to make in GIS and provides a common framework for sharing useful data from disparate systems. Permits, licenses, code enforcement, right-of-way, and other land-focused work activities are examples of land-focused public Assets managed by local government. These public Assets occupy location just as in-the-ground or above-ground public Assets do. [18]

Land-use development and planning is another area which is interconnected to other local government Assets and work activities. Public Asset Management is the term that encompasses this subset of land-focused Asset management, considering the importance that public Assets

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affect other public Assets and work activities and are important sources of revenue and are various points of citizen interaction.

2.3. PUBLIC SECTOR ASSET MANAGEMENT IN UK

2.3.1. CONTEXT

It is no coincidence that facilities management emerged as a distinct profession in the UK

during the 1980s, when rapidly developing office technology and ever-more sophisticated

building management systems were locked in a kind of arms race. As the buildings became

more complex, they demanded a different kind of care. It is equally no coincidence that

corporate real estate management spread during the recessionary 1990s, as global

organisations sought to control their costs and standardise property management around the

world. [17]

FM and CREM have different representative bodies and different practitioner profiles, but they

are two sides of the same coin. In recent times they have combined to change the way in which

property is perceived within occupier organisations. For many, property is no longer treated as

a passive, inert bi-product of doing business or delivering services, but rather as a measurable

component of organisational planning, and one that must be provided in the same efficient and

effective way as other organisational resources.

This is the context within which public sector Asset management has emerged and continues to

evolve. In many ways, the public sector has led the private sector. Perhaps more constrained by

budgetary issues, it has consistently shown innovative approaches to workplace improvement;

and it has in many respects led the flexible working styles agenda. [17]

2.3.2 THE FORMATIVE YEARS

During the 1980s, the public sector was ahead of the private sector in recognising the

importance of managing real estate in a more proactive manner. Reports by Ceri Davies on the

NHS estate1 and Lord Gowrie on central government office accommodation2 were two of the

earliest to highlight waste in the management of public sector property. By the late-1980s,

scrutiny was taking a more formal route with studies by government watchdogs the Audit

Commission and the National Audit Office. Between them they produced reports on Asset

management in the Civil Estate, the Crown Estate, district councils, local authorities, the

Metropolitan Police, and the National Health Service.

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The local authorities report concluded that while technical skills were often strong, property

was an under-managed resource and that, “the corporate or strategic function was

underdeveloped”. This emphasis on the management function itself was the focus of a

groundbreaking study by Reading University, which provided empirical evidence from both

public and private sector organisations, concluding that

The picture which emerged was one of a lack of understanding of the role of property and little

knowledge of the contribution it makes to the organisation.

The search was on, throughout the 1990s, not only to deliver cost cutting, but also new

approaches to the use of physical Assets to bring about long-term change. For example, a

National Audit Office study on the management of office space in the Ministry of Defence

demonstrated how space could be used much more effectively, devoting a whole section to

“new working practices”. Similarly, an Audit Commission report on police authorities explored

more innovative solutions rather than simply cost cutting. This report accepted that the police

service had adopted new styles of policing to improve service delivery, but that pressure “to

secure continuous improvement in economy, efficiency and effectiveness is relentless”. Among

the report’s wide-ranging recommendations was the following:

Undertake regular reviews of space utilisation to maximise the use of available space: explore

innovative ways of using space.

Local authorities were also under the spotlight as the need for a strategic focus became more

evident. A report by the Audit Commission on local authorities made the ultimate purpose of

public sector property clear:

Authorities must sharpen the focus on property as a means of getting services to users as

opposed to ownership being an end in itself. [17]

But to make things happen would require a more strategic focus. A DETR report sought to

address this with good practice guidelines for Asset management, aiming to encourage

consistency across all local authority services. In doing so, the guidelines called for “an

integrated approach between departments and the corporate centre” and for the identification

of individuals who would be responsible for the “corporate property role”, and who would

report to “a strategic decision making committee”.

Thus, by the turn of the millennium, a clear rationale for innovative approaches to the use and

management of property estates within the public sector had been established. However, it

seems that theory and practice were some distance apart. In 1999, and based on a survey of

163 English local authorities, the DETR was able to refer to “The embryonic state of strategic

Asset management in many local authorities”. [17]

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2.3.3. MEASURING SUCCESS

As approaches to public sector Asset management matured, so the issue of measuring progress

became more prominent. In 2006, the OGC introduced its Routemap to Asset Management

Excellence as part of the High Performing Property (HPP) initiative. HPP challenged government

to deliver a “a step change in performance”, promoting an approach in which public sector

Asset management embraced a number of basic principles.

A clear and comprehensive approach to the integration of property Asset management

in strategic business delivery and resource management.

Clearly defined and delivered Asset management responsibilities, matched by skilled

and capable staff and Board level representation, where appropriate.

Use of performance measurement and management tools to deliver continuous

improvement in the management and delivery of property Assets.

Maximised use and operation of an organisation’s estate, including timely disposal,

optimum use through the adoption of effective workspace strategies, and optimum

delivery against government sustainability targets. [17]

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3. PAS55 ASSESSMENT METHODOLOGY (PAM)

BSI PAS 55:2008 is the international reference standard for the optimal management of physical Assets, providing the definition of good practice in the whole life management of Assets. It is applicable to any organisation where physical assets are a key or a critical factor in achieving business goals. [19]

BSI PAS 55:2008 provides a clear and concise definition of what needs to be done to tune physical Assets for business objectives at any point in their lifecycle.

PAS55 covers every organization – whether private or public – in any sector. It is already in use within public services & property, utilities, transport, manufacturing, mining, oil & gas, defence, pharmaceutical, process and heavy engineering.

First issued in 2004, it has been updated by an international panel of organisations covering many different sectors. BSI PAS 55:2008 provides guidance on achieving and sustaining good practice in all facets of acquiring, owning and ultimately disposing of physical Assets. It defines the integrated approach required to meet conflicting stakeholder demands, achieve best value-for-money, and deliver significant performance improvements. [20]

The definition of good practice in the whole life management of Assets PAS55 supports 3rd Party and self assessment to assure customers, owners, employees, regulators and other stakeholders that the business is in good hands.

Certification against PAS55 is becoming a regulatory requirement in a growing number of industries. Compliance provides evidence of systematic, cross-disciplinary and optimized management that correctly blends responses to short-term requirements with the sustainable delivery of long-term goals.

Users of PAS55 attribute the following benefits to their business [20]:

• Enhanced customer satisfaction from improved performance and control of service delivery

• The ability to achieve and demonstrate best value for money

• Improved risk management and corporate governance - with a clear audit trail

• Optimized return on investment and/or growth

• Improved health, safety and environmental performance

• Confidence from long-term planning, better sustainability and performance

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• Improved corporate reputation, including enhanced shareholder value, greater staff satisfaction and more efficient procurement and supply chain.

It defines the integrated approach required to meet conflicting stakeholder demands, achieve best value-for-money, and deliver significant performance improvements.

PAS55 defines Asset management in systematic and inter-disciplinary terms. It specifies the requirements for the identification and management of risk and highlights the vital roles of individuals and teamwork in Asset management.

The standard comprises:

• Definition of terms in Asset management

• Requirements specification for good practice

• Guidance for the implementation of such good practice.

PAS55 provides objectivity across 28 aspects of good Asset management, from lifecycle strategy to everyday maintenance (cost/risk/performance). It enables the integration of all aspects of the Asset lifecycle: from the first recognition of a need to design, acquisition, construction, commissioning, utilization or operation, maintenance, renewal, modification and/or ultimate disposal PAS55 also provides a common language for cross functional discussion and provides the framework for understanding how individual parts fit together, and how the many mutual interdependencies can be handled and optimized.

It is published by British Standards Institution with the rigour of a Publicly Available Specification. Part 1 [4] is the checklist of what needs to be in place. Part 2 [9] provides extensive guidance and illustrations of how to achieve the requirements of Part 1.

PAS55 was initiated by and is now distributed and supported worldwide through the Institute of Asset Management1.

PAS55 is just one of the valuable tools provided by the IAM to assist in the understanding, evaluation and improvement of the management of physical Assets.

Also available are:

• A systematic PAS55 Assessment Methodology2 to enable objective appraisal on all the elements of PAS55 against a five-level ‘maturity’ scale.

• The 2008 IAM Competences Framework3 for the development and assessment of people working in Asset management.

1 www.theIAM.org

2 PAS55 Assessment Methodology Brochure

3 Competences Framework Brochure

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Figure 2 - PAS55 covers and integrates the requirements for all levels of assets and all lifecycle

stages

Being able to demonstrate that the requirements specified in BSI PAS 55:2008 are met provides tangible evidence of a systematic, cross-disciplinary and optimized approach to Asset management that correctly blends responses to short term requirements with sustainable delivery of long term goals. This provides assurance to customers, owners, employees, regulators and other stakeholders that the business is in good hands. [19]

Many organisations have found that carrying out a ‘gap analysis’ against the requirements set out in PAS55 has enabled them to identify improvement opportunities and build these into a prioritized improvement plan. This leads to real improvement in the bottom line and can often enable business deliverables to be achieved more efficiently and effectively with fewer resources.

The PAS55 Assessment Methodology was developed in conjunction with a group of 29 UK and overseas sponsors from across a range of industry sectors. The sponsors included leading infrastructure Asset managers, Asset management consultancies and service providers. The PAM was initially available for use only by this group of sponsoring organisations. The methodology has recently been improved by the IAM, using feedback from this group of organisations and incorporating changes in the new BSI PAS 55:2008. [20]

Following “user testing” in its original format, the IAM has now made this updated version of the Assessment Methodology freely available.

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The PAM contains a series of questions to explore the maturity of an organization’s Asset management capability across all the elements of BSI PAS 55:2008. [20]

Figure 3 - Maturity levels as defined by PAS55 Assessment Methodology

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4. SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

Asset Management cannot be successfully conducted based on individual Assets, but must take into consideration the whole asset system that considers the interrelationship and dependencies between the key assets. Systems engineering in an Asset Management context is the practice of ensuring effective planning, optimal design, performance, performance operation and maintenance at an Asset system level.

This tends to be practised in industries with complex and possibly dynamic Assets, where relationships between Assets can be several times removed from physical or functional points at which they have an influence. Systems Engineering will be applied at the design of the system, or subcomponents for complex Asset systems, and this complexity will normally prevail when maintaining the system.

Systems Engineering includes the consideration and apportioning of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) requirements and the consideration of interfaces with existing Assets or systems. Systems engineering also includes the development of functional and technical specifications, safety approval of equipment, installation processes and acceptance processes including the comparison of the Assets that are delivered with original RAMS requirements.

A typical Systems Engineering approach is shown in the V-diagram below. This shows how the requirements are apportioned through the design process on the left-hand part of the V and components are integrated and validated into an overall system on the right-hand part of the V to meet these requirements. [1]

A good practice approach to Systems Engineering can be found in ISO 15288, Systems and Software Engineering, System Life Cycle Processes.

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Figure 4 - A typical Systems Engineering approach

4.1. ASSET INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Asset Information Systems are the applications and systems that collect, store, process and

analyse the Asset information that an organisation requires to manage its Assets over their

lifecycle. These systems ideally store, or are integrated with, a register of all of the company

Assets. This allows integrated planning and operational activities to be effectively undertaken.

Asset systems can range from complex integrated Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) suites

to mixed environments of “Best of Breed” software, bespoke applications and spreadsheet

based analytics. The optimum mix of applications will depend on the size and complexity of the

organisation and the nature of the regulatory environment it operates in. [1]

Typical Asset Information Systems include:

• A register of Assets to detail the Assets of interest to an organisation.

• A Geographical Information System (GIS) to record the location and spatial details of Assets.

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• Work management systems to plan and record work activities related to an Asset.

• Logistics systems are required to manage the storage, issuing and use of spares.

Possession management systems are used to plan access to Assets for work activities.

• Demand management systems will forecast how demand on Assets will change over time.

• Decision Support Tools such as investment modelling systems are used in strategic planning

activities.

• Process, telemetry and SCADA systems provide a record of how well Assets have performed

and are meeting their service requirements.

• Condition monitoring systems monitor key condition indicators of Assets, such as

temperature and vibration, to help predict possible future failures.

Across the Asset Management lifecycle, different functions of an organisation will have an

interest in the Asset and will require Asset information presented and manipulated in differing

formats, therefore it is just as important to have a robust reporting system as part of the Asset

information systems.

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5. ASSET MANAGEMENT IN VARIOUS DOMAINS. SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS.

5.1. ENTERPRISE ASSET MANAGEMENT

Enterprise Asset management is the business processes and enabling information systems that support management of an organization's Assets, both physical (such as buildings, equipment, infrastructure etc.) [18]

Physical Asset management: the practice of managing the whole life cycle (design, construction, commissioning, operating, maintaining, repairing, modifying, replacing and decommissioning/disposal) of physical and infrastructure Assets such as structures, production and service plant, power, water and waste treatment facilities, distribution networks, transport systems, buildings and other physical Assets. Infrastructure Asset management expands on this theme in relation primarily to public sector, utilities, property and transport systems.

Fixed Assets management: an accounting process that seeks to track fixed Assets for the purposes of financial accounting.

IT Asset management: the set of business practices that join financial, contractual and inventory functions to support life cycle management and strategic decision making for the IT environment. This is also one of the processes defined within IT service management.

Digital Asset management: a form of electronic media content management that includes digital Assets.

5.2. MANAGING ASSETS IN THE BUSINESS OF IT

As with other business units today, information technology (IT) organizations are required to run efficiently, be accountable and provide support, and add value to a company’s core business. Aside from all other aspects of IT operations, IT assets and their management are increasingly coming under focus.

Some of the benefits of focused IT asset management include:

Addressing IT cost management challenges and helping to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) by providing greater visibility for end-to-end IT Asset management

Providing solutions that enable clients to measure the usage of shared IT resources for resource accounting, charge-back billing, IT cost management, cost reduction, and optimization

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Simplifying the growing complexity of license compliance

Integrating IT Asset management with extensive IT service management capabilities, providing clients with world-class end-to-end processes

The discipline of IT asset management is borrowing the practices and processes of enterprise asset management. [2]

5.3. INVENTORY AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

In the past decade or so, we have begun to realize that computers are an indispensable necessity. They're around us everywhere, from the computers in our comfortable households to rovers from other planets. Currently, it is not uncommon at all to have more than a few dozen office computers and other pieces of IT equipment in the infrastructure of a small company that does nothing directly related to that specific area. [3]

It should not surprise anyone that in the case of business environments, there has to be some streamlined inventory, especially when we consider that the network might have a total of several hundred, if not thousands, of workstation computers, servers, portable devices, and other office equipment such as printers, scanners, and other networking components.

Resource management, in its essence, when viewed from an IT perspective, provides a method to gather and store all kinds of information about items in our infrastructure. Later on it supports means to further maintain the said inventory.

Moreover, it performs routine tasks based on the collected data such as generating reports, locating relevant information easily (like where is a specifc memory module with the model number you're looking for), auditing the type of software installed on workstation computers, and more.

Let’s analyze the IT inventorying needs and some general requisites when it comes to managing those Assets. What's more, we'll be presenting the client-server model that is the underlying foundation on which most centralized management solutions are working.

OCS Inventory NG is an open source project. No matter how successful a company is, open source solutions are always appreciated by the IT staff and management. Open source projects are preferred as long as they are actively developed, fairly popular, well documented, provides community support, and meets the needs of the company. Among others, open source projects end up modular and flexible. [3]

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5.3.1. INVENTORYING REQUIREMENTS IN THE REAL WORLD

One of the general requirements of an IT inventory is to be efficient and practical. The entire process should be seamless to the clients and should require limited (or no) user interaction. Once set up, it just needs to be automated to update the inventory database, based on the latest changes, without requiring manual intervention. Thereafter, the collage of data gathered is ought to be organized and labeled the way we want.

Businesses everywhere have come to realize that process integration is the best method for querying, standardizing, and organizing information about the infrastructure. The age of hi-tech computing made this possible by speeding up routine tasks and saving up employee time, eliminating bureaucracy and unnecessary fling of papers that all lead to frustration and waste of resources. Implementing integrated processes can change the structure and behavior of an organization, but finding the correct integration often becomes a dilemma.

5.3.2. A FEASIBLE SOLUTION TO AVOID INEVITABLE HAVOC

Drifting back to the case of the IT department, the necessity of having an integrated and centralized solution to manage numerous systems and other hardware equipment becomes obvious. The higher the number of systems, the bigger the volume to be managed, the more easily the situation can get out of control, thus leading to a crisis. Everyone runs around in panic like headless zombies trying to figure out who can be held responsible, and what can be done in order to avoid such scenarios.

Taking a rational approach as soon as possible can improve the stability of entire organizations. Chances are you already know this, but usually system administrators tend to dislike working with papers, filling in forms, storing them purely for archiving needs, and then when they least expect it, finding relevant information. A system like that won't make anyone happy.

A centralized repository in the form of a database gives almost instant access to results whenever such a query happens. Its actual state of always being up-to-date and reflecting the actual state of the infrastructure can be guaranteed by implementing an updating mechanism.

Later on, once the database is in a healthy state and the process is integrated, tried, and proven, it won't make any significant difference whether you are managing dozens of computers or thousands. A well-designed integrated process is future-proof and scalable. Thus it won't become a setback if and when the company decides to expand.

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5.3.3. STREAMLINING SOFTWARE AUDITING AND LICENSE MANAGEMENT

As mentioned earlier, it is important to understand that auditing workstation machines cannot be neglected. In certain environments, the users or employees have limited access and work within a sort of enclosed program area, and they can do little to nothing outside of their specialization. There are situations that arise when the employees are supposed to have administrative access and full permissions. It is for the good of both the user and the company to monitor and pay attention to what happens within each and every computer. [3]

Having an up to par auditing mechanism can integrate the license management system as well. The persons responsible for this can track the total amount of licenses used and owned by the company, can calculate balance, can notify when this number is about to run out, and so on. It isn't uncommon at all to automate the purchasing of licenses either.

The license management process description varies from firm to firm, but usually it's something similar to the following: the user requests for a license, the supervisor agrees, and the request is sent to the relevant IT staff. After this step, the license request gets analyzed. Based on the result, it is either handed out or ordered/acquired if necessary.

5.3.4. GATHERING RELEVANT INVENTORY INFORMATION

We can conclude that in order to have a complete inventory which we can build on and implement other IT-related and administrative tasks, we need, at least, the following [3]:

• Collecting relevant hardware information in case of workstation computers

°Manufacturer, serial number, model number of every component

°When applicable, some of the following: Revision number, size, speed, memory, type, description, designation, connection port, interface, slot number, driver, MAC and IP address, and so on

• Collecting installed software/OS (licensing) information

° Operating system: Name, version, and registration information

° Application name, publisher, version, location

° Custom queries from the Windows registry (if applicable)

• Collecting information about networking equipment and office peripherals

°Manufacturer, serial number, model, type of component, and so on

• MAC and IP address

°When applicable: Revision, firmware, total uptime, and so on

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5.3.5. OVERALL INVENTORY DEMANDS TO ENHANCE USABILITY

Now let's create a list of criteria that we want our IT inventory solution to meet. In the previous paragraph, we enumerated some of the must-have data that cannot be left out from our inventory. Likewise, we have expectancies regarding how the process works.

From the perspective of your users, the process must be transparent and the background software must not become a resource hog. The bandwidth usage that is required to communicate with the centralized management server should be minimal. The inventorying mechanism must be automatic and discover on its own every item within the environment. Once everything is recorded, the copy stored in the database must always be kept up-to-date and backed up. [3]

5.4. SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS FOR ASSET MANAGEMENT

5.4.1. IBM MAXIMO ASSET MANAGEMENT

One of the leading software solutions for enterprise Asset management is Maximo Asset Management. Maximo Asset Management is now an IBM offering and has been adapted and enhanced to support IT Asset management.The IT Asset management version of the Maximo Asset Management product is called IBM Tivoli Asset Management for IT. [2]

IBM Maximo Asset Management and Asset Management for IT provide a computerized Asset maintenance system that offers Asset management, work management, materials management, and purchasing capabilities to help companies maximize productivity and extend the life of their Assets.

IBM Maximo Asset Management and Asset Management for IT enable a company to create a strategy for maintenance, repair, and operations related to both Enterprise Asset Management® (EAM) and Information Technology Asset Management.

The Tivoli Asset Management for IT product is configured to meet the needs of enterprises managing their information technology Assets. Functionally, Asset

Management for IT stores and maintains data about a company’s Assets, facilities, and inventory. This information can be used to help schedule maintenance work, track Asset status, manage inventory and resources, and analyze costs.

Aside from traditional hardware Assets (servers, clients, networking components, and so on), Tivoli Asset Management for IT provides functions to help track and manage software Assets by tracking contracts and licenses. Software license management is a key point of focus in many companies looking to limit their legal exposure due to noncompliance. In addition, tracking the software that is actually in use, companies can negotiate improved contracts for the software they are using, eliminate or reduce the number of licenses for software that is not being used,

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and make support more efficient by helping ensure consistency in software and software versions being used across the enterprise.

Some of the key benefits and uses of a Maximo-based solution include [2]:

Improve the availability and performance of their Assets while decreasing operating costs and without increasing liabilities.

Recording service requests and all related records and communications from the initial request to problem resolution.

Tracking work orders and failures to better schedule preventive maintenance.

Track information technology Assets and their configurations across a network.

Track inventory use to find optimum stock levels. The goal is to maximize availability of items for upcoming work, while also reducing unnecessary inventory and associated carrying costs.

5.4.2. INTRODUCING GLPI: IT ASSET MANAGEMENT ON STEROIDS

It goes without saying that inside any IT-centric environments, the hardware components need to be organized and administered. These Assets, such as computers, monitors, phones, and so on need to be tracked, inventoried, monitored, and maintained. Some kind of application is required to track everything and update their status while servicing. GLPI comes to serve this scope, aside from many others as well. [3]

The name of this application is a four-letter acronym of Gestion Libre de Parc Informatique. It is an open source project of French origin. The project's website can be accessed at http://www.glpi-project.org/.

GLPI is a robust and well-rounded product. It is used all over the world, and at the time of writing, over 1,650 entities reported publicly that they are using GLPI in their IT department. According to the reported numbers, almost one million computers are administered.

In essence, GLPI has an administration interface that provides easy access to tasks that deal with its database. As it is an IT Information Resource Management software suite, we need to build its database. This database is going to be the inventory. Once this database reflects the reality, we can do anything within the admin console. The somewhat tougher job is creating the database, right? We can manually add entries, set up templates according to which we pre-specify some form field values, and so on. But these are still exhaustive. The good news is that we already have an inventory database. GLPI can mass import the OCS-NG inventory into its own database format. This way, the actual OCS-NG database remains intact but allows you to use GLPI. [3]

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This can be done seamlessly with an OCS mass importer plug-in. We will cover this as we arrive to that part. Right now, let's focus on the benefits of using yet another Asset manager suite as well. For some of you, this dilemma might pop up. As we have seen, OCS-NG already fulfils our needs, so why should we bother with another resource manager? To keep them updated, synchronized, and all that? Good question.

Well, it is up to us to decide by weighing the benefits. The overall setup of GLPI should not take more than five minutes as the AMP (memory refresher: Apache, MySQL, PHP) solution stack is ready. It's not heavy on resources, so we can install it on the central OCS-NG server. If we opted for a distributed OCS-NG configuration, decide on which server you set up to balance out the load. By itself, GLPI needs an Apache2 web server with PHP support and MySQL.

Drifting back to its set of features, aside from an extensive list of inventoried Assets, we can also associate the items with extra information such as location, costs, technicians who are responsible, and so on. We can include vendors and manufacturers and then link them together. All these help the IT department's staff to organize a rather diversified environment.

Tracking the status of an Asset is valuable. We can fag these as faulty, sent to servicing, or asked for an RMA. By having associated to the appropriate vendor, we can query its contact information (such as name, phone number, address, and so on) right away.

Consumables are yet another sticky area that is quickly delegated from IT departments. Tracking the different types of consumables is often handled by assistants or suppliers. However, if we have a centralized solution, we can get notifications such as when our stock is running out, from which vendor to order, and so on. Everything can get easier. The location fields are especially useful in the case of large companies (multiple floors or dozens of offices).

Should we have the same type of multifunctional printers on every floor, we can easily label these accordingly in the location field. Such as the printer003 inventory number is situated "on the back of fourth floor, in front of the PR department." [3]

5.4.3. ORACLE® ENTERPRISE ASSET MANAGEMENT (EAM)

ASSET MANAGEMENT

Asset Definition Oracle eAM makes it easy to define and manage your organization's multitude

of Assets. By establishing Asset Groups, users uniquely define groups of Assets of the same

type. Once established, users can associate standard information that can be inherited by the

Assets belonging to that group. Unlimited user-defined Asset attributes can be used to store

detailed information, such as nameplate data, engineering specifications, etc. Parts list of an

Asset or group of Assets belonging to the same Asset Group can be maintained in the Asset Bill

of Materials. This allows you to quickly identify necessary parts at time of maintenance. Oracle

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eAM uses templates, associated with Asset Groups, to store Asset attributes and Asset-related

information such as activities, meters, and preventive maintenance schedules. Upon Asset

creation, information from the templates is used to define the Asset and its related information

without manual intervention. The new Global Asset Repository provides a single, consistent

view of an Asset regardless of its location or status. The Asset number can also be changed at

your discretion without losing the Asset definition. [21]

ASSET HIERARCHY

Oracle eAM allows organizations to setup Assets in a hierarchical structure with parent-child

relationships. This hierarchical structure makes it easier to find and group Assets as well as roll

up Asset costs. For example, a top-level Asset would be defined as a company's office building.

The child Assets would be defined as each individual floor of the building. This structure could

be further defined by establishing a relationship between offices and floors.

ASSET OPERATIONS

Asset Operations Management provides the following capabilities: Asset Moves and Transfers:

Oracle eAM supports multiple Asset locations: Organization area, internal inventory location

and external physical location. You can move an Asset or transfer an Asset to another

organization without losing the integrity of its attributes, maintenance strategies or work

history using the Asset Move Workbench. Asset Check-in and Check-out: Fleet operations are

supported by the check-in / check-out functionality. During the check-in / check-out process,

Asset-related data, such as meter readings or collection plan can be entered. Work requests

and work orders can also be part of the check-in / check-out process. Asset Operations Log:

Asset Operations Log provides for the tracking of all user-selected maintenance events of a

critical Asset. The Asset operations log enables equipment operators to document problems

identified during Asset usage the problems can be addressed during the next scheduled

maintenance.

WORK REQUESTS

Work Management is at the core of all maintenance operations and includes the identification

of maintenance issues through work requests, as well as the ability to execute maintenance

work through work orders. By creating a work request, you initiate a process, notifying the

maintenance supervisor that an issue is encountered and resolution is requested. Oracle

Workflow is utilized to route work requests through any required approval process. If work is

deemed warranted, the work request is approved and a work order is created for the request.

[21]

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WORK ORDERS

Work Orders are used for the planning, scheduling, and execution of work. Work plans include

the identification of labor, material and equipment. Work Orders for Assets can be

automatically generated from Preventive Maintenance forecasts or the issue of inventory

rebuildable spare parts. Work orders can also be manually created as a routine job. Copy Work

Order is a convenient way to create a new work order from an existing one. The user

experience provides a single-page user interface for work order creation, planning and

scheduling as shown in the figure below.

Figure 5 - Single-Page Work Order User Interface

Express Work provides users with a quick way to report work that has been completed without

any planning – often referred to as ‘after-the-fact’ reporting. The Debrief Work Order feature

enables users to report labor, charge time, issue stocked items and complete the work from a

single page.

The user-defined work order status provides flexibility in tracking and managing your work

orders. Oracle eAM introduces a user-defined Workflow and Approval process for the Work

Order Release flow, enabling you to enforce compliance as dictated by your business processes.

In addition, the work order cost estimate calculation and material shortage check are an easy

click away, speeding up your Work Order Release decision-making process. Leveraging XML

Publisher, you can define your own template for work order printing. Multiple selected work

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orders can be printed at any given time. Besides the standard Simple and Advanced Search

capabilities, Oracle eAM also provides the powerful Work Order Text Search, which can be

tailored to your search needs. [21]

WORK ORDER RELATIONSHIPS

With Oracle eAM, you can manage complex work order networks and not just individual work

orders. Work order relationships link work order together for reference, cost, reporting or

scheduling. With work order relationship, a complex overhaul with multiple work units that

may be independent from each other or have an end-to-start requirement can be easily set up

and scheduled within the scheduled dates of the overhaul. You can also create a follow-up work

order while on a task for another work order.

PLANNING

Maximizing Asset availability, increasing plant productivity and decreasing maintenance costs

are the enterprise objectives that work planning and forecasting can help achieve. Oracle eAM

Maintenance Workbench is the tool to help simplify maintenance planning in a complex

production environment. From the Maintenance Workbench, the planner or supervisor can

initiate requested work, manage existing work orders, and generate forecasts based on Asset

actual, planned and estimated usages (date intervals, meter readings, PM schedules). The

planner can use the forecast horizon and actual work inclusion to manage the dynamic

adjustments of the plan. Work orders can be auto-created when forecasts are implemented. To

minimize manual intervention, Generate PM Work Orders can be optionally scheduled as a

background process. Using PM Set, you can control the number of PM suggestions generated

for your plan prior to implementing them. Construction Estimating introduces Construction

Units (often referred to as Compatible Units), which are standardized, repetitive units of work,

comprising labor, material and equipment that are used to plan different types of jobs.

SCHEDULING

Effective scheduling is critical for an organization to manage and control costs. Planners and

supervisors need the ability to schedule work with the appropriate personnel, request the

correct parts and equipment needed to complete the work order. Employee Scheduling enables

you to search for available employees by skill sets and competency. The displayed department

resource availability and employee current workload facilitate assignments and resource re-

shuffling if needed.

Oracle eAM provides the flexibility to schedule a work order at several levels, including the

work order header, operations, resource, and resource instance. The new Bottom-up

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scheduling functionality ensures that the scheduling will start at the available bottom level, and

that there are no ‘out-of-boundary’ schedule dates. For example, a resource’s schedule start

and end dates will be within the operation’s scheduled dates. Oracle eAM also has bi-

directional integrations with Primavera and Microsoft Projects for Work Order scheduling. The

level of integration with each of these scheduling tools varies based on their respective native

capabilities. Available to Promise (ATP) check and material shortage check provide inventory

component availability information. Material request can be initiated manually or set-up to be

requested automatically from inventory upon release of the work order. Purchase requisitions

for required description based material and non-stock inventory items can be initiated from the

work order directly to Procurement. These features help ensure that required parts are

available when work is scheduled.

VISUALIZATION

In many environments, the ability to see where the assets are located is critical to effective

planning and scheduling of work. This is often seen in maintenance environments with

disparate Assets – such as in utilities. Oracle eAM is integrated with the Web-based source map

viewer of Google Maps and ESRI to allow users to view Assets and related work on a map. The

ESRI integration will also provide the means to locate work on a map and perform basic

execution tasks on these work orders. Work Execution Once a work order is executed, Oracle

eAM captures all required data, including material and resource usage, notes, costs,

inspections, meter readings, collection plans, failure information. To support CFR Part 11, Work

Order Completion can be set up with a user-defined Approval Workflow and e-Records and e-

Signature (ERES) capabilities. The completed work order is a snapshot for traceability and

compliance requirements.

BUDGETING AND FORECASTING

To improve your ability to forecast maintenance costs, Oracle eAM delivers a new tool to

generate cost forecasts based on PM schedules and / or historical work order costs. Generated

costs are bucketed into financial periods. These costs can be aggregated by accounts or work

orders. The eAM Budgeting and Forecasting process also increases the efficiency of your budget

analysis. The forecasted costs can be exported in standard file format (Excel, HTML, PDF) for

further analysis and subsequent import into your favorite budgeting tools.

ROLE-BASED USER INTERFACES

There are a variety of roles in any maintenance organization such as maintenance technician,

supervisor, and planner. Oracle eAM provides role-based user interfaces based on an

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employee's responsibilities. The Maintenance User Workbench allows the technician to view his

/ her work, request material, charge time, and perform a hand-over and all other activities

needed to complete the work as shown in the figure below.

Oracle eAM also introduces the Supervisor Workbench. The Maintenance Supervisor can use

the workbench to plan and perform all work activities for his / her department. A connected

wireless solution for the Maintenance User Workbench is also provided in this release.

Figure 6 - Role based workbench specifically designed for the Maintenance User

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SUMMARY

Oracle eAM provides a complete maintenance solution that enables best practices for

maintenance management. It supports preventive, condition-based, reactive and emergency

maintenance to all types of Assets. Seamless out-of-the-box integration to Oracle E-Business

Suite™ supports an uninterrupted, real-time function and information flow for Asset

management. A complete work management solution, including forecasting, planning,

scheduling, execution and completion, provides the necessary tools to increase maintenance

efficiency and maximize Asset availability.

ORACLE E-BUSINESS SUITE — THE COMPLETE SOLUTION

Oracle E-Business Suite enables companies to efficiently manage customer processes,

manufacture products, ship orders, collect payments, and more — all from applications that are

built on unified information architecture. This information architecture provides a single

definition of your customers, suppliers, employees, and products — all important aspects of

your business. Whether you implement one module or the entire Suite, Oracle E-Business Suite

enables you to share unified information across the enterprise so you can make smarter

decisions with better information. [21]

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6. ASSET INFORMATION SYSTEM – CASE STUDY: ASSET TRACKER

6.1. BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

The Software Industry and IT Services Industry provide a vital and significant role for presales professionals. The task of a presales person starts from the initial contact phase and often ends once the customer is acquired i.e. sale is made. In some cases, presales consultants also provide some initial or transitional support post sale.

The responsibilities differ from organization to organization but in general include:

1. Solution Preparation/Proposal based on Customers Requirements 2. Product demonstrations 3. Proof of Concept Creation 4. Creation of Marketing Documents 5. ... and any other activity required to generate business

The role of presales falls right in the middle marrying the customer needs to the (provider) company's services or products. This role is especially crucial in these industries because the products and services are often heavily customizable and also because the requirements of different customers are often unique. [5]

An applications presales organization in the context of a larger enterprise software and

hardware provider is responsible for supporting the sales representatives by building software

demonstrations, answering to product and business specific questions coming from the

customers or doing complex configurations of the demo environments.

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6.2. INITIAL PROCESS DESCRIBED

The North America Applications Sales organization of a large software vendor has been given

several iPads for demonstration purposes. To maximize usage and ensure that everyone has

equal access to an iPad for their demonstrations, the first process that has been put in place

was the following. In the next chapters we will investigate why this process was inefficient and

how the need for an Asset information system appeared.

1. General Guidelines

a. Each iPad has been configured and tested for demonstrating Business

Intelligence software.

b. Users should not add or delete any software on the iPad without

authorization.

2. If you are not already registered with Demo Solutions Services (DSS), you will need to

do so before you are able to demo from the iPad.

3. Once you are registered with DSS, please enter your DSS Instance Request by

creating a new Task on the iPad Central Workspace.

a. Title: DSS Access Request – Your Name

b. Status: Needs Action

c. Assignee: George McLaughlin

d. In the body of the Task be sure to include your full name and DSS user id

(ex. gkmclaug.us)

4. The iPads will be “owned” by Kristin Decker and be located in the Indianapolis office

when not in use in the field.

5. Once you are registered with DSS, please enter your iPad request by creating a new

Task on the iPad Central Workspace.

a. Title: iPad Request – Your Name

b. Start Date: when you need the iPad

c. End Date: when you will be finished with it

d. Status: Needs Action

e. Assignee: Kristin Decker

f. In the body of the Task please include the following:

i. Your Name

ii. Customer

iii. Shipping Address

6. The iPad Administrator will then update the iPad Central Tracker spreadsheet so that

the entire team will have visibility for the iPads physical location at all times.

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7. If the iPad is not in the possession of the iPad Administrator, they will instruct the last

person that used the iPad to ship it to you.

8. If you need assistance in getting ready for your demo, please refer to the Getting

Started Guide located on the iPad Central Workspace.

9. After Your Demo

a. Once your demo is over, please create a new Task to let he iPad

Administrator know that you are ready to ship the iPad back to them.

i. Title: iPad Shipping Notice – Your Name

ii. Status: Needs Action

iii. Assignee: Kristin Decker

b. If someone else has requested it, you may be asked to ship it to another

SC or SCM.

c. If you are shipping it back to the iPad Administrator, please use the

addresses of Kristin Decker.

d. Please be sure to properly wrap the iPad in bubble wrap and ship it in

approved FedEx shipping boxes.

e. As well, you should always use the FedEx punch-out from iProcurement

when shipping the iPad.

10. Requests for new iPad software should be made by creating a new Task on the iPad

Central Workspace.

a. Title: iPad Software Request – Your Name

b. Status: Needs Action

c. Assignee: Trent Mushtaler

d. In the body of the Task please include the following:

i. Your Name

ii. Software Required

iii. Justification

iv. Customer

Any questions, comments, suggestions or concerns should be posted to our iPad

Questions Forum on the iPad Central Workspace by creating a new Topic.

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6.3. NEED FOR AN ASSET INFORMATION SYSTEM

By studying the business needs we have concluded to the following:

• iPad demos impress audiences and help the sales consultants to reach more target

audiences

• the sales organization recently procured several iPads for use

in the field

• need a tracking system to give iPads highest usage with least administrative

overhead

An information system should be able to answer the following questions:

• Where are the iPads right now?

• I need one, how do I get one?

• How have they been used?

• Who are my borrowers and what are the lending trends?

By analyzing the initial process used by the organization we identified the following

disadvantages to it:

Manually maintained by admin

Difficult to track who has to return what and when

It is not scalable; when the number of the Assets will grow, it will get more and more

difficult to manage

Difficult reporting

Difficult for the requestor to see if a particular Asset is available for his desired period of

time before sending the request

Reminders of returning an Asset have to be made manually by the admin through

individual emails sent to each requester

The couple of advantages found to the initial solution were:

Quick to implement

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Cheap (only use an Excel spreadsheet to keep everything updated)

The cheap factor proved at a closer look to be false, since a person will probably be paid a

monthly salary only for the job of managing the Assets throughout the entire organization.

Therefore, we concluded we need an Asset information system that will automatically keep

track of all the Assets and which will require less human intervention by an administrator.

6.4. ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS ASSET MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS

We started analyzing several software applications for Asset management and their costs. The

disadvantages found for those solutions were the following:

Extensive time for training human resources in using the product

High costs of purchasing (enterprise solutions for Asset management are pretty

expensive)

Long time to customize the solution for the organization’s needs

Other vendors than the employer company were highly undesirable because of business

ethics and internal policies that encourage the use of the company’s products, instead

of the competition’s

Open-source solutions were not desirable because of lack of efficient support post

installation and lack of Service Level Agreements

The Asset Management product that the company sells is too complex for the needs of

the organization

Considering all the negative aspects found through the analysis, developing a brand new

application designed to track the Assets was the logical decision to take.

The technology decided to be used for developing the Asset information system was Oracle

Application Express.

“Oracle Application Express (Oracle APEX) is a rapid web application development tool for the

Oracle database. Using only a web browser and limited programming experience, you can

develop and deploy professional applications that are both fast and secure. Oracle APEX is a

fully supported, no cost option of the Oracle database.” [6]

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6.5. ASSET TRACKER

Asset Tracker is an Apex application, which centralize the usage of Assets and keeps a strict

evidence for any equipment. This application ensures that everyone has equal access especially

to an Asset for their demonstrations.

6.5.1. PLANNING AND ANALYSIS

First of all there must be established the requirements that define the information which must

be tracked, security requirements, data management functions, and how to present data to

users.

Figure 7 - Asset Information Guidelines

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6.5.1.1. GATHER THE NECESSARY DATA

Each manager tracks information slightly differently. Together, everyone agrees that the application should include the following information:

Summary of the Assets Detailed description of the Asset Who has the Asset The date on which the Asset was requested Who the Asset is assigned to A current status of the Asset Priority of the Asset Target resolution date Actual resolution date Progress report Resolution summary

6.5.1.2. DEFINE SECURITY REQUIREMENTS

Because the managers are concerned about everyone having access to all the information, they agree upon the following access rules:

Only managers can define and maintain Assets and requests Everyone can enter new requests of Assets Once approved the request of Asset, only the manager can change data about the

request Management needs views that summarize the data without access to specific Asset

details

6.5.1.3. SELECT DATA MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

Next, the managers determine how information will be entered into the system. So, users must be able to:

Create Assets Assign Assets Edit Assets Create people Maintain people information Maintain requests assignments

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6.5.1.4. SELECT DATA PRESENTATION FUNCTIONS

Once the data is entered into the application, users need to view the data. The team decides that users must be able to view the following:

All available Assets All requests of Assets Recently opened issues Unassigned Assets Summary of requests for managers Issue resolution dates displayed on a calendar

6.5.1.5. DEFINE SPECIAL FUNCTION REQUIREMENTS

Finally, the project leads determine that the application must support the following special functions:

Notify people when an Asset is assigned to them Notify the manager when any request becomes overdue

6.5.1.6. APPLICATION SECURITY

The planning and project analysis phase produced two security requirements:

Only the Managers can define and maintain Assets and users Once assigned, only the person assigned or a manager can change data about the

request

Within Oracle Application Express, you can define authorization schemes. Authorization controls user access to specific controls and components, such as validations, processes and branches, based on user privileges. Once defined, you can associate an authorization scheme with any page, region, or item to restrict access. Each authorization scheme is run only when needed and is defined to validate either once for each page view or once for each session.

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6.5.2. BUSINESS FLOW

6.5.2.1. USER ROLES

Asset Tracker application has 3 user roles:

1. Administrator - can add:

i. Categories (for example notebook, iPhone, etc.),

ii. Types of Statuses for the request or for the Asset

iii. Users and assign them a role.

2. Asset manager – can:

i. Assign Assets for the requests he/she receives.

3. Requester – can:

i. Create a new request.

The sales consultant who makes the requests for Assets will have “Requester” role.

The manager who approves the request and assigns the Assets has “Asset manager” role.

The Apex developers have “Administrator” rights.

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6.5.2.2. WORKFLOW

There are 3 phases for a complete request:

1. Create request – phase 1

a) The requestor logs in the application with the SSO.

b) He goes to the Booking tab and accesses the Create button for a new Asset request. A new

blank form loads.

c) In the begging, the requestor has to select the category in case there are also other

equipments than Assets.

d) The requestor selects the period of time when he needs the Asset for the demo.

e) In case no Asset is available, an alert appears on the requestor’s screen, announcing him

f) That he has to change the start and end date for an available Asset.

Only when a valid period of time (the period is valid when at least one Asset is available in the

selected time interval) is selected in the form, the requestor can complete all the data needed

in the request.

g) After the request’s form is completed, the requestor SUBMITS the request.

In that moment, the Asset manager receives an email alert with some details of the new

request.

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Requestor

2. Approve (or not) the request and the steps of delivery – phase 2

a) The manager logs in the application with SSO and visualizes all the new requests which do

not have any status.

b) The status APPROVED is for the requests which have been checked and have the approval for

an Asset.

c) The new requests which have not been checked have the status NEW.

CREATE

Select CATEGORY

Select START DATE & END DATE

for the Asset

SUBMIT

IF period not available

ALERT:

Select again

START DATE

& END DATE

till you find

an available

period

Email ALERT to the

MANAGER with the new

request’s details

IF period available

Complete form

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a) The manager enters the application to edit the new request and all the details will appear on

the screen. He has to check the APPROVED or NOT APPROVED radio button, in case he wants to

approve or not the Asset request.

If the manager APPROVED the request, the requestor receives an alert that his request is

approved.

The request’s status changes in APPROVED and the status for the selected Asset changes from

AVAILABLE into ASSIGNED, for the selected period of time.

If the manager checks the NOT APPROVED button, after the form is submitted, the requestor

receives an email with the rejection of his Asset request, and the process of the request stops

here.

b) With three days before the period selected by the requestor begins, the manager receives an

email alert which says that he has to send the Asset to the requestor. He contacts a specialized

company to deliver the Asset and the transportation company gives him a package code.

c) After receiving the package code, the manager goes back to the request’s details and enters

that delivery code. The requestor receives a new email with details about the package. In that

moment, the Asset’s status changes into “IN TRANSPORT”.

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Asset Manager

3 days before the

selected period

View request’s details

APPROVE?

YES NO

SUBMIT SUBMIT

Email ALERT to the

REQUESTOR:

request approved

Email ALERT to the

REQUESTOR: request

not approved

Complete request with

the tracking code for

delivery

Email ALERT to the

MANAGER: send

Asset

END of the request

SUBMIT

Email ALERT to the

REQUESTOR: details of

the delivery

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3. Usage of the Asset and the steps of sending back– phase 3

a) The requestor receives the Asset and he changes the status of the Asset into “IN USE”.

b) With two days before the availability of the Asset ends, the requestor receives an email alert

which says that he has to deliver the Asset back to the manager.

c) When the requestor sends back the Asset, he calls the delivery company, receives the

package code, and enters it in the request’s form.

The manager receives an email with the delivery details and again, the Asset’s status

changes into “IN TRANSPORT”.

d) When the manager receives back the Asset he changes the status of the Asset into

“AVAILABLE” and the request’s status becomes “CLOSED”.

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Requestor

Asset Manager

The Asset received

Complete delivery details in the

request

Email ALERT to the

REQUESTOR: end of

period, send back the

Asset

With 2 days before the period

of the Asset ends

Email ALERT to the

MANAGER: delivery

details

Manager receives the Asset back

END of the REQUEST

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7. ASSET TRACKER DEMO SCRIPT

7.1. GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THIS DEMO

North America Presales organization within corporation Zyon has decided recently to purchase

several Assets for the community of Sales Consultants in order for them to enhance their demo

deliveries to the customers. A Sales Consultant is allowed to request an Asset (Iphone, Ipad or

Android Tablet) for a specific demo. Based on the availability of that Asset, he may or may not

be granted the Asset. The employees from the organization who store these Assets are called

Asset Trackers. In this scenario we will see how Cristina, a Sales Consultant, requests an Asset

for one of her customer demos and how she is granted that Asset by Roxana, an Asset

Manager.

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7.2. INITIATING A REQUEST (REQUESTER ROLE)

Cristina logs in the Asset Tracker application using her SSO credentials.

Cristina knows that for her customer demo she needs an IPad II 16GB that would be Business

Intelligence compatible. She clicks on the Assets button to view all the available Assets that the

organization currently has, in order to see if it’s worth making a request in the first place.

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Cristina notices that there is an Asset to suit her needs. Her customer demo is during 15 – 25

March.

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Now she would like to know if her desired Asset is available during this period. So she clicks on

the “Reservations per Asset” tab and sees a Gantt chart with all the existing reservations for

each Asset.

Cristina doesn’t find her desired Ipad II 16GB on this chart, so she concludes there are no

reservations for this Asset at this moment in time. She goes back on the Home tab where she

clicks on the “Create a request” button. She then fills in all the necessary details for her request,

including a note stating the desired Asset.

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Once she fills in all the details, she clicks on “Create”.

A notification appears on her screen saying that an email has been sent. Also she sees all her

requests and the newly created one is displayed in a green color. This request doesn’t yet have

an Asset assigned to it.

Cristina can now log out of the application and wait for a notification email from one of the

Asset Managers telling her the status of her request and the Asset that has been assigned to

her.

7.3. SOLVING A REQUEST (ADMINISTRATOR ROLE)

Roxana is one of the Asset Managers in the organization. Immediately after Cristina submitted

her request, Roxana has received a notification email with details about the newly created

request.

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When Roxana clicks the link “here” provided in the email, she is redirected to the application.

After she logs in with her SSO credentials, she is able to see all the requests. Those that require

her attention are colored in red and they have status “NEW”.

She clicks on the first request in her list, #778, the one Cristina has submitted earlier.

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Roxana notices that there is no Asset Manager and no Asset assigned to this request. From the

drop down lists she can select one Asset and one Asset manager to deal with this request. Once

those two fields are selected, the Approval field will automatically change to “Assigned”,

representing the current status of the request. The Outbound Address fields are automatically

populated with the address data corresponding to the Asset Manager selected in the “Manager

assigned to the req” field. In this case, Roxana decides to take ownership of this request and

assigns herself to the request, so her default address is inserted in the Outbound Address

section of the form. If needed, she can edit those details and let the requester know she wants

the Asset delivered back to another address.

Roxana has seen Cristina’s note in the request that she needs an IPAD II 16 GB that is BI

compatible, so she makes sure she selects that particular Asset. Once all the required fields are

completed, she clicks on “Apply Changes” and current state of the request is saved in the

database.

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Roxana now sees a success message and can observe that request #778 has moved from her

red list of new requests and appears now in the approved list.

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7.4. CONFIRMATION OF RECEIVING THE ASSET (REQUESTER ROLE)

At this point, Cristina receives an email notification with the updates of her request. She logs

back in the application to confirm receiving her Asset, once this happens.

Cristina is able to see now the Asset Manager assigned to this request and is able to see Roxana’s address. Once she receives the IPAD requested she selects “YES” from the first drop-down list on the page and click on “Apply Changes”.

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8. INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTIONS

Being a complex project, the Asset Tracker and the research in the field of Asset Management

was a collaborative effort between Roxana Chiriacescu and Cristina Aciubotaritei.

From a development perspective, any asset information system requires a minimum of two

user roles: requestor and asset administrator. Because of this reason, the Asset Tracker

application was developed in parallel, following the implementation requirements of each role.

Therefore, the workload for developing the Asset Tracker was split as follows:

Requester role (Roxana Chiriacescu)

Asset request form

User’s reports of asset requests

Email processes notifications and reminders specific to requester

Asset usage statistics, graphics and reports

Auto-fill capability for certain forms

Gantt chart detailing the available assets

Administrator role (Cristina Aciubotaritei)

Administrator’s panel of: users, assets, statuses, all requests

Email processes notifications and reminders specific to administrator

Database scheduler used for email reminders

Calendar with all the past and future requests

Automation of processes through procedures

Auto-fill capability for certain forms

Putting together the two solutions, the final release of the Asset Tracker application became a

central system which aligns the IT resources with the business objectives for efficient

operations.

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9. CONCLUSIONS

The Asset Tracker application is a user-friendly web based asset information system designed to

satisfy the asset management needs of an IT presales organization. It was developed with

minimal costs, using Oracle APEX (no additional cost, feature of the Oracle Database). Asset

Tracker improved the process of requesting an asset, tracking the asset and reporting asset

requests in the presales organization.

The Asset Tracker application represents a miniature version of other complex asset

management solutions available on the market.

From the typical asset management system components, the Asset Tracker application

includes:

A register that details the assets of interest to an organization, based on Oracle

Database

Work management system to plan and record work activities related to an asset

Logistics system required to manage the storage, issuing and use of spares

Possession management system used to plan access to assets for work activities

After analyzing the feedback received from the field sales consultants, users of the Asset

Tracker application, the following components will be implemented in a future release:

A Geographical Information System (GIS) to record the location and spatial details of

assets

Demand management system will forecast how demand on assets will change over time

Decision Support Tools such as investment modeling systems are used in strategic

planning activities

Process, telemetry and SCADA systems provide a record of how well assets have

performed and are meeting their service requirements.

Condition monitoring systems monitor key condition indicators of Assets, such as

temperature and vibration, to help predict possible future failures

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10. FUTURE OF ASSET INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The benefits of software asset management are not new to most firms. Many have recognized and embraced the cost-saving element of Asset management and as such have implemented projects and initiatives to best manage their hardware and software. However, successful Asset management relies on more than just the implementation of best practice policies; these need to be supported by technology such as an automated Asset management system. For example, many make the common mistake of thinking that using spreadsheets and even paper-based binders, is an effective way of managing and collecting information on their IT Assets. However, physical non-automated inventories like these rely on human intervention and are often notoriously inaccurate and inadequate. Methods of Asset management such as this provide only a snapshot of your IT environment, rather than the complete picture. [22]

IT managers should move away from managing manual inventories and look at the advantages of investing in a fully automated IT Asset management system. Once implemented, Asset management systems allow IT managers to successfully track their entire IT Asset portfolio, creating an inventory of all the systems, applications, hardware and contracts they own. As soon as this information is identified they can match it against what is actually needed, and establish cost implications for both effective and ineffective Assets. Once this process is complete IT managers can overhaul and cut costs, by disposing of ineffective hardware, reducing budget spent on unwanted software licenses and ultimately maximizing the potential of their IT infrastructure.

Many organizations realize the benefits of software Asset management and as such have undertaken software and hardware inventories. An inventory scrutinizes systems for unused Assets and highlights potential cost-savings. But software Asset management is evolving and in order to maximize the potential of this, IT managers should look at advances in this field which many will adopt in the coming year. [22]

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11. ANEXIS A - TABLE OF FIGURES

Figure 1 - IAM Conceptual Model for Asset Management ........................................................... 11

Figure 2 - PAS55 covers and integrates the requirements for all levels of assets and all lifecycle

stages ............................................................................................................................................ 19

Figure 3 - Maturity levels as defined by PAS55 Assessment Methodology ................................. 20

Figure 4 - A typical Systems Engineering approach ...................................................................... 22

Figure 5 - Single-Page Work Order User Interface........................................................................ 32

Figure 6 - Role based workbench specifically designed for the Maintenance User ..................... 35

Figure 7 - Asset Information Guidelines ....................................................................................... 42

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12. REFERENCES

[1] Asset Management – An Anatomy, The Institute of Asset Management, 2012. Retrieved

from www.theIAM.org

[2] J. Bart, K. Rajat, C. Otalora, J. Pittard, IT Asset Management Processes using Tivoli Asset

Manager for IT , IBM Redbooks, 2008. Retrieved from IT Asset Management Processes

using Tivoli Asset Manager for IT

[3] J. Bart, K. Rajat, C. Otalora, J. Pittard, IT Inventory and Resource Management using Tivoli

Asset Manager for IT , IBM Redbooks, 2008. Retrieved from IT Inventory and Resource

Management with OCS Inventory NG 1.02

[4] PAS 55-1 (Publicly Available Specification – Part 1: specification for the optimized

management of physical infrastructure assets). The Institute of Asset Management, 2004

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presales

[6] http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/apex/overview/index.html

[8] R. Lutchman, Sustainable asset management: linking assets, people, and processes for

results, DEStech Publications, Inc., 2005

[9] PAS 55-2 (Publicly Available Specification – Part 2: guidelines for the application of PAS 55-

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[10] M. Mohseni, What does asset management mean to you? IEEE PES Transmission and

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[11] C. Palombo, Eight steps to optimize your strategic assets. IEEE Power and Energy

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[12] T. Telford, Asset management - Whole-life management of physical assets, London,

February 2010

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[13] Documents—An opportunity for cost control and business transformation, 2003, Xerox

Global Services. Retrieved from

http://www.xerox.com/downloads/gbr/en/i/idc_Survey.pdf

[14] R. Ynostroza, Managing assets for business success, Graphic Arts Monthly, 2001, 73(7),

12.

[15] S. Shrake, Finding an asset management solution that’s right for you. Target Marketing,

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[16] S. Sharples, Asset management takes on a new spin. Graphic Arts Monthly, 1999, 71(3),

42-46.

[17] R. Harris, Public sector asset management: a brief history, RAMIDUS CONSULTING

LIMITED, May 2010

[18] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asset_management

[19] BSI PAS 55:2008 Brochure

[20] PAS55 Assessment Methodology Brochure

[21] Oracle® Enterprise Asset Management- Datasheet, Copyright 2010, Oracle. Retrieved

from http://www.oracle.com/us/products/applications/060289.pdf

[22] http://www.fsteurope.com/article/What-does-the-future-hold-for-software-asset-

management/