Poor asset information management (AIM) has been identified as the root cause of many asset performance problems, such as poor asset utilization, low maintenance efficiency, high MRO costs, etc.  ARC estimates the costs of poor AIM for a typical asset-intensive organization to be 1.5 percent of sales revenues - a staggering burden for any company today.  Poor AIM also increases the risk of safety, health and environmental incidents, which can jeopardize an enterprise's very survival.

While the opportunity for improvement is incredible, many organizations continue to suffer the pains of poor AIM.  Some don't recognize the opportunity.  Others understand that they have problems, but don't know how to solve them or can't justify the required investments.  ARC Advisory Group's new report, "Asset Information Management and Information Handover," addresses all these needs.

This report represents more than five years of research by ARC analysts and offers organizations a wealth of information on asset information management and information handover.  It identifies the major challenges, their impact on asset performance, and the steps that organizations can take to build effective strategies and technology solutions.

AIM Is Essential for Good Asset Performance
Good asset information is fundamental to good asset performance.  Every person involved in operating and maintaining capital assets needs a wealth of information to do their jobs.  To optimize performance, this information has to be complete, accurate, and comprehensive enough to support any reasonable question about the asset's creation, use, and care.  Access must also be convenient and information shareable so that people can use it in their workflows and decision-making.

Diversity in information, business processes, and stakeholder interests make AIM a challenging topic.  Every organization has a unique set of needs and capabilities they must capture in their AIM program.  This report provides the background and methodology for any organization to build an effective AIM program with the right people, processes, technology, and information.

Technology is the foundation for every AIM program.  It provides the means to efficiently collect, organize, and manage the volumes of drawings, lists, specs, manuals, and databases associated with a typical capital asset investment.  It also enables organizations to sustain the integrity of this information throughout the asset lifecycle and empowers users with convenient access to the information they need to work safely, accurately, and efficiently.

Selecting the right AIM technology is challenging.  This report offers the support users need to establish a winning AIM technology environment.  It explains how AIM technology impacts organizational performance, provides metrics for evaluating AIM capabilities, and mapping gaps to functional requirements for new AIM investments.  It includes new ARC models that structure AIM solutions into an effective technology environment, provide a useful checklist for software modules, and enable users to understand the confusing landscape of available AIM solutions.

Good Information Handover Is Fundamental
While AIM is the primary focus of this report, several chapters are included for the related challenge of information handover from project to operating teams.  This information provides the foundation of asset information, making good handover a prerequisite for good AIM.  Managing information handover is also a common starting point for AIM investments.  Linking the two encourages organizations to adopt a more comprehensive view of the issues as they deliberate on information handover IT investments.

Source: ARC Advisory Group