ApAppendix 2A
Asset Management
Communication
10 Wellington Street East, Alliston, ON
AM Communication
Table of Contents
Glossary ............................................................................................................................................ 2
1.0 Executive Summary .................................................................................................................. 3
2.0 Key Messages .............................................................................................................................3
2.1 What is Asset Management? .................................................................................................. 4
2.2 Why now? ................................................................................................................................4
2.3 How will we achieve this? ........................................................................................................ 4
2.4 W ho are the Stakeholders? .................................................................................................... 7
2.5 What is Asset Management Governance? .............................................................................. 8
3.0 What we communicate? ......................................................................................................... 10
4.0 How we communicate? ........................................................................................................... 10
5.0 Evaluate and Review .......................................................................................................... 11
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Glossary
ELT Executive Leadership Team
SMT Senior Management Team
AMT Asset Management Team
CAM Corporate Asset Management
SME Subject Matter Expert
SAMP Strategic Asset Management Policy
SC Steering Committee
AMO Association of Municipalities of Ontario
FCM Federation of Canadian Municipalities
LOS Levels of Service
BIA Business Improvement Association
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1.0 Executive Summary
The Asset Management communication framework recognizes the vital role communication
plays in tying the town’s strategic plan to asset management. It is important our stakeholders
have a full understanding of the assets we own and through those assets the services we
provide. The communication plan is far reaching and will ensure that asset management
initiatives are collaborative efforts among council, staff, residents, developers, contractors, and
government. Developing a communication strategy is a mandatory requirement of the Ontario
Regulation 588/17.
The goal of the Communication Strategy is to:
• Communicate the Strategic Asset Management Policy and Plans
• Improve the understanding of assets in the Town and how they support the Town’s
services
• Communicate asset management initiatives including levels of service, risk,
maintenance and financial strategies
• Communicate strategies that utilize data and evidence to make decisions
• Develop reporting mechanisms to monitor progress and success of the plans
• Inform internal and external stakeholders of how the Town is using technology, to
enable collaboration and asset preservation
2.0 Key Messages
The following asset management fundamentals are required in the Communication Plan:
• Defined levels of service: in order to successfully balance the town’s assets with
stakeholder’s needs and expectations within the constraints of the municipality’s
financial resources.
• Defined measures of performance: to ensure desired performance expectations are
delivered by the Town.
• Defined lifecycle planning and risks evaluation: to ensure investment happens at the
right time and the asset delivers the required level of service over the asset’s
expected life at a minimum cost. This includes the incorporation of risks while making
evidence-based decisions.
• Defined maintenance programs: to ensure that maintenance and improvements to the
Town’s infrastructure is carried out in a planned and coordinated way.
• Defined performance evaluation and reporting: to ensure that the stakeholders are
aware of the results of the asset management efforts
• Continuous feedback from the community: to ensure that there is community
engagement on asset management initiatives
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2.1 What is Asset Management?
International standards ISO 55000 provide a global consensus on asset management and
describes asset management as the coordinated activity of an organization to realize value from
its assets. It also involves balancing of costs, opportunities and risks against desired
performance of assets to achieve an organization’s objective. The Town of New Tecumseth
provides various services to residents including roads, sidewalks, bridges, water, wastewater,
storm water, parks, recreation and cultural services. The management and analysis of the
assets are the main objective of the Asset Management office.
2.2 Why now?
The Ontario regulation 588/17 created under the Infrastructure for Jobs and Prosperity Act
enacted in 2018 has emphasized the need for a strategic asset management policy followed by
an asset management plan for all municipalities. The plan and policy are mandatory are will
document how municipalities demonstrate their implementation of asset management. The asset
management plan should discuss the state of infrastructure, current and desired levels of
service, asset management strategies such as risks, maintenance, lifecycle management and
address community growth needs. A significant requirement in the plan is to indicate how the
Town will manage the effects of climate change on town’s assets and a demonstration of our
commitment to long term asset management objectives.
Benefits of Asset Management
There are many positive benefits of asset management for the Town. Fully embraced asset
management principals will generate the following benefits:
• Improved operational decisions
• Greater ability to plan and pay for future repairs and replacements
• Increased knowledge of assets and their location
• Increased knowledge of assets that are critical to the Town and how they support Town
services
• Improved emergency response
• Increased understanding of risks related to each asset resulting in improved decision-
making
• Improved communication to council and public
• Increased understanding of the lifecycle management of assets and the various
strategies that support growth and demand for services
• Improved evidence-based periodization during budget deliberations
2.3 How will we achieve this?
The Town of New Tecumseth plans to achieve these benefits by adopting best practices in
asset management (ISO 55000). Good asset management does not happen easily or quickly
but requires an investment in detailed planning considering the longer term. The Province has
indicated a 4 year time frame in their regulation to develop all the various plans and recognize
that it takes many years to develop a mature approach and acquire the necessary funds to
support the recommendations. New Tecumseth has prepared a detailed road map indicating
the initiatives over the next 5 years. Stakeholders in the Town will be kept abreast with asset
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management initiatives, levels of service, performance targets and results that pertain to their
interest in the asset network and service. The Council’s responsibility is to define the strategic
goals of the Town and ensure the town’s resources and services are engaged to meet these
goals. The important questions to be answered include:
What do we own?
This question involves the Town’s asset inventory and how complete the data is. The asset
inventory for some service areas may be robust whereas the inventory data may lack in terms of
completeness in other service areas. Our roads, bridges, fleet, sidewalks and facilities have
inventory and condition assessments as they are mandated by the province or required
for routine maintenance. However, our parks and storm water do not have complete inventory.
When describing the quality of our inventory we include attributes that are essential for asset
management purposes such as condition, risk and performance factors.
Where is it?
This involves the location of Town’s assets and where they reside. Linear infrastructure and
their attributes can be identified in GIS. However, components at a granular level may not be
identified by GIS. The distinct or vertical assets can be identified by GIS, but more detailed sub-
assets and components need to be identified by their location. Location plays an important role
in completeness of inventory.
What is it worth?
Another important attribute in inventory is the replacement cost of the inventory which will help
in financial planning and budgeting. The replacement costs are important for the long-term
financial plan and for evidence-based decision making like lease or buy, trade or sell, repair or
rehabilitate. The other decision-making tools like cost-risk optimization and cost-benefit
analysis are dependent on this attribute. The replacement costs help the asset management
team to build the “State of Infrastructure Report” that will represent the value each service area
provides to the Town.
What condition is it in?
The condition of an asset is significant for understanding how old the assets are and
play a significant role in the “State of Infrastructure Report”. The condition provides
information such as asset replacement or refurbishment. A few service areas in the
Town have condition data based on the mandatory metrics set by the ministry, such
as roads, bridges and sidewalks. However, there is no condition data for parks, fleet
and other service areas. Some assets like fleet are visually inspected for condition
during budgets however we will develop standards to evaluate all our asset for
condition. The following chart uses 5 categories to indicates our asset condition and
will be a standard tool to communicate to the stakeholders.
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For those assets where condition is unavailable, the estimated service life remaining can be
used as a starting point for condition assessment. This will enable the Town to review the state
of its assets annually which is required in the “State of Infrastructure Report”. The matrix below
provides a benchmark on how asset conditions are viewed and reported.
What needs to be done?
The Town of New Tecumseth hired a Manager of Corporate Assets who is responsible for all the
asset management activities of the Town. He is responsible for developing a road map on asset
management initiatives and developing policy and strategies for continuous improvement
initiatives for the Town. The objective is to design a Strategic Asset Management Policy (SAMP)
that aligns with the town’s strategic plan and further develop a governance and communication
plan for the Town.
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When does it need to be done by?
The Province has put deadlines to meet asset management goals and they are as follows:
2.4 Who are the Stakeholders?
Asset Management is an integrated business approach involving finance, engineering,
operations, planning and management to effectively manage existing and new infrastructure to
balance costs, opportunities and risks to provide satisfactory levels of service to the community.
As there is emphasis on an integrated approach, the Town of New Tecumseth has involved
major service areas to be part of the Asset Management governance that will enable the Town
to make evidence-based decisions that will benefit the community. The stakeholders for the
Town can be divided into (1) Internal and (2) External stakeholders.
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The internal stakeholders of the Town are:
• Elected Council members
• Committees within the Town
• Senior Management
• Service Area staff
The external stakeholders of the Town are:
• Community groups/citizens/residents
• Contractors
• Local business (BIAs)
• Other government levels (County, Province, Federal)
• Government agencies (AMO for Federal Gas Tax, FCM for Green Municipal Fund etc.)
• Visitors/tourists
• Emergency service providers (Police, Paramedics etc.)
• Utility providers (Alectra, Enbridge etc.)
2.5 What is Asset Management Governance?
The Asset Management Governance is a foundation on which any activity associated with asset
management in the town can achieve objectives of the town’s strategic plan. This enables the
stakeholders of the Town to understand their roles in improving and enhancing the services of
the Town by promoting improved asset management techniques. The Town has developed a 4-
tier governance framework which oversees asset management activities for the Town.
The Strategic Asset Management policy requires the commitment of key stakeholders within the
town’s organization to ensure the policy contains a clear plan that can be implemented, reviewed
and updated. The table below provides an overview of the current AM governance.
Table 1.1 Asset Management Governance at Town of New Tecumseth
CAO, GM Corporate Services (CS), GM
Executive Leadership Team
Infrastructure & Development(I&D)
GM CS, Director of Public Works, Director of
Parks & Recreation, Director of Engineering,
Steering Management Team
Mgr. Information Technology, Mgr. Asset
Mgmt.
Mgr. Asset Mgmt., Infrastructure Asset
Asset Management Team
Management Technologist
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Below is the hierarchy of Governance which supports the Asset Management Program:
Council
Approves Budget, Policies,
LOS targets, and Plans
Provides leadership and
guidance to asset management
initiatives
Monitors current progress on
AM activities and provides
feedback. Provide support and
direction to asset management
practices at department level
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3.0 What we communicate?
The communication of asset management initiatives can be specific, operational or strategic
depending upon the stakeholders to whom it is directed to. Specific messages are clear and
defined. For example, performance measures and benchmarking will be directed to the council
and senior management staff. Levels of service and targets are directed to the all stakeholders
including staff, management and council. A new regulation on roads from the province can be a
specific message to the roads department. Funding of asset management activities, compiling
inventory are specific messages delivered to the senior management and Council.
Operational Messages are clear and accurate information about the current operations of the
assets and feedback. For example, consultation for disruptions or changes in road operations,
facility operations, winter maintenance programs require communication directed to operations
staff. Customer satisfaction surveys and feedback is directed to the public.
Strategic Messages are clear and accurate information to all stakeholders to communicate how
the Town will deliver its services in the future, employ lifecycle planning in the prioritization of
projects, define levels of services, define risk frameworks and produce work programs that must
be carried out in a planned and coordinated way. These messages are meant to demonstrate
how asset management initiatives in the strategic asset management policy are implemented by
Town staff.
4.0 How we communicate?
Internal Stakeholders who are part of the asset management governance are updated through
monthly, quarterly and semi-annual meetings. The following is the proposed asset management
governance team meetings for the year 2018 and 2019. As the maturity in asset management
improves, the meetings will move to a quarterly basis for the Steering team and semi-annually
for the executive leadership team.
Year AM Governance Scheduled Meetings
2018 Steering Team Meetings Monthly
Executive Leadership Team Quarterly
2019
Jan-Jun Steering Team Meetings Quarterly
Executive Leadership Team Quarterly
Jul-Dec Steering Team Meetings Quarterly
Executive Leadership Team Semi-Annual
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The external stakeholders are informed through various communication channels like shown
below:
What Details Audience When Who
The use of graphics to depict pieces of Developed as Developed as
infrastructure and statistics that are less General Public and all
Infographics engaging to communicate Stakeholders part of the plans part of the plans
The use of youtube videos to explain what General Public and all
Videos asset management is? Stakeholders
The use of above infographics and videos to
create a more engaging and content rich web General Public and all
Web page pages to communicate asset management Stakeholders
Articles in ReNew Canada, Public Sector
Digest on how the town develops its asset General Public and all
Public Relations management Stakeholders
Media activity to announce when roads are
going to be paved or maintenance programs
of sidewalks, roads during summer, winter
Media maintenance of roads General Public
Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter posts can be
targeted to reach specific group of General Public and all
Social Media stakeholders. Stakeholders
A summary of the content from web page and
infographics can be put in a leaflet or brochure to Local Committee
inform the public or kept in public places like Community groups
Brochures/Leaflets libraries. Council
Communication can also be through traditional methods such as briefing sessions and meetings
with external groups such as contractors and consultants to inform and engage on capital
projects and asset management initiatives. The objective is to build good relationships with
external stakeholders and organizations for various initiatives such as gas tax funding, green
municipal funding and in turn informing them of developments or progress for our projects. Other
alternative tools could include signs at major works to notify users about upcoming major
projects in the Town.
5.0 Evaluate and Review
The Council can measure the success of the communication strategy by obtaining feedback
from the public and continually enhance the approach wherever necessary. We will be
measuring asset management awareness among staff, council and the general public to
determine if there is an increased satisfaction with the town’s services and condition of assets.
How will this be measured?
• Comments, compliments and complaints on social media
• Number of visits to the town’s website
• Number of calls to the customer service center/Help-desk and time taken to respond to
service requests
• Staff surveys
• Consultation with affected residents based on satisfaction surveys
• Amount and nature of media coverage
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