CHAPTER 8

Asset Information Handover as a Process

Strategic Asset Management and Decision-Making

It is generally understood within the asset management industry that asset ownership represents 70 to 80 percent of the total cost of an asset over its intended life. In other words, the cost of planning, designing, and constructing an asset represents approximately 20 to 25 percent of the total cost over the life of the asset. Design and construction represent just the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to costs over the life of any given asset. The future costs of operating and maintaining that same asset are often overlooked.

Future costs of an asset will depend on the answers to questions such as

• When will this asset need to be replaced?
• What levels of maintenance and resources will be required to care for it in between?
• What training or qualifications will your maintenance staff require to care for this asset properly?

Because the costs associated with the various planning, design, and construction phases required to create an asset can be so significant, the accuracy, relevancy, and timeliness of well-developed asset information or data must be emphasized to ensure the airport “owner” and stakeholders receive the asset information they individually need in a format that is usable for them. They should, of course, also receive this data and information in a timely manner. Regardless of the project size and knowing that once asset information handover is complete the majority of cost over the life of the newly constructed asset will begin, it becomes paramount to ensure that its life is enhanced and supported through appropriate maintenance activities.

Knowing what you own is part of what asset management means, as it is more than maintaining an asset. The built environment provides value to an airport as facilities that enable passenger and cargo movements, fire rescue support, revenues from parking, and tenants to operate. Airports tend to be miniature cities and have so many different asset types that they require staff who understand a broad range of asset types such as buildings, roadways, utility distribution systems, airfields, and central utility plants.

Asset management—when it refers to an airport’s constructed assets—is the collection of information that is required to strategically make informed decisions about these assets—including operation, maintenance, and periodic improvements or upgrades—all while providing a “best value” approach for an organization. In this case, that “best value” refers to the overall cost—sometimes referred to as the TCO—and the risk, performance, redundancy, and sustainability of the assets and of the asset management program itself.

Staff/Stakeholder Support and Priorities

Asset management and the need for data from the asset information handover process affect many airport stakeholders. These internal stakeholders each have a significant role to play in operating, maintaining, and managing the airport. People manage assets and keep an airport operational; the constructed assets will not do it on their own. To ensure successful airport operations, you will need an asset information handover process that ensures data is accurate, easily accessible, and provided in a timely fashion so that your airport stakeholders can make decisions reliably and effectively.

Most airports focus on the traveling public as their first priority. Airport management staff want their customers to be happy, to enjoy their traveling experience, and to want to return to the airport because they have had such a positive experience. Functioning restrooms, easy-to-read directional signage, food and retail options, a ticketing counter that is easy to use, and baggage claim services that are accessible all equate to a smoother, more positive passenger experience. Each of these is an asset that is a part of your built environment.

To better enable this focus on a positive customer experience, airport staff must ensure that their responsibilities in supporting asset management and various internal processes and procedures, such as asset information handover, are fulfilled, and that the environment airport customers are exposed to meets standards defined by the airport governing body. All airport stakeholders play a role and should have a say when it comes to the projects that create the built environment, for these constructed assets are what these individuals must operate, maintain, and manage daily.

When establishing internal processes and procedures, it is important to identify the stakeholders that have an interest in, or somehow impact, the airport’s constructed assets. Typically, these will be internal groups such as maintenance, information technology, capital project planning, architecture/engineering/design, finance and accounting, and fleet. For some projects, tenants such as airlines or government agencies will be stakeholders. Specialty groups might be accountable for significant art pieces or exterior landscaped areas at an airport.

Each stakeholder, either a group/department or an individual, should have a “seat at the table” when it comes to the built environment and new project development. Each stakeholder holds a different perspective on the impacts a given constructed asset has on their respective role or department, on airport operations, and on the customer experience, and because of this, open discussions with these stakeholders can be valuable.

Airport stakeholders must be able to review asset information throughout the planning, design, and construction phases of any project (regardless of project size) to ensure that they get the information they require to maintain or manage the asset upon completion. These stakeholders should also be able to provide comments or input on asset information, and the design and construction teams should be required to respond to stakeholder comments.

Upon project completion, stakeholders should be able to revisit their constructed asset inventory routinely or have access to the data itself to help verify that it is accurate. Stakeholder requirements will vary from one airport to another no matter what their roles and responsibilities might be. As the complexity of constructed assets increases, an airport should adapt its size and available resources to properly maintain the assets and plan for future repair and renovation-type projects to ensure the assets’ operational performance. The airport will benefit if stakeholders are engaged in an asset management program and their input is considered. The airport should be able to manage its assets more effectively and lower costs through efficiencies if the various assets are operated, maintained, and managed consistently and reliably day in and day out.

Asset Management and Maintenance Information

Asset management and maintenance activities rely upon accurate data or information. Asset-specific O&M manuals are only one component of the project closeout information required to properly manage and maintain an asset. O&M manuals are documents published by manufacturers that describe the required maintenance processes, methods, and tools, as well as suggested preventive maintenance frequencies (e.g., weekly, monthly) to keep a product functioning as intended.

Some airports focus on specific asset types that they have defined as more important than others, or critical. For these asset types, airports want (if not need) varying amounts and types of asset information during project closeout. Some airports restrict “asset management” to those assets that are a part of any terminal or building that supports airport operations, whether commercial passengers, flight schools, or cargo operations. However, there are other types of assets, such as utility systems or parking lots and garages, that require attention too, rather than letting them “run to failure.” Data should be collected on these non-building assets as part of the asset information handover at project closeout to support their proper management, including manufacturers’ suggested preventive maintenance activities.

After considering the likelihood of asset failure, airport stakeholders should also consider the consequences of allowing an asset to fail. Consequences vary and are typically the result of financial, environmental, social, or other impacts on the airport and its operations. The groups or stakeholders responsible for asset management should understand the consequences of failure of any asset class, consequences that can range from endangering the public to environmental contamination to the costs associated with the failure. Airports should determine what their critical assets are (e.g., baggage-handling system, information technology infrastructure). Understanding the consequences of any asset’s failure will help define that asset’s particular importance to an airport and, therefore, its criticality. This, in turn, will help you understand what asset data and information you should require as part of the project closeout and asset information handover process to ensure that these critical assets are managed correctly.

Regardless of an airport’s mission, operations, maintenance, and management require knowledgeable and well-trained staff and a well-planned maintenance program. Each airport should strive to

• Reduce unscheduled shutdowns because of asset failures.
• Reduce required capital repairs.
• Extend individual equipment and component asset life, which in turn will extend building life.
• Realize life-cycle cost savings because it impacts the “bottom line.”
• Provide operational systems and facilities that safely meet the airport’s needs.

Creating an Asset Information Handover Process

Developing your asset information handover process should happen now—don’t wait. Begin development of your documentation of requirements in the early stages of asset creation, those initial meetings during which a project is conceived. This part of the process will differ with every airport, and the participants will differ. As the development of the project progresses, there will be more and more asset information. Collectively, this information becomes the design documents that are handed over to the contractor team to construct the project. It is during this phase of the project that materials, products, finishes, and colors are selected or agreed upon, each becoming a part of the project specifications. Your stakeholders will typically be interested in these products and materials.

Once construction begins, it is quite possible that changes will occur, and your asset information handover process should address this. Consider inserting text in the documentation of the handover process that specifies multiple project review meetings throughout the construction

• nature, not just the item that was installed. To avoid confusion, the construction team must highlight the information that applies to the actual constructed or installed asset.
• A process to ensure a complete set of data is obtained for each asset and that all critical assets and applicable attributes are recorded. For instance, some airports have established a workbook in a spreadsheet application that has a worksheet for each asset class. Each spreadsheet lists required data attributes as columns and each row contains the data applicable to an individual asset. This process is similar to a COBie data requirement.
• Data organization. Establishing an asset naming convention, a system for presenting asset data, and the applicable rules for the naming sequence, data format, and so forth will help ensure that the data received is accessible to users.

There is not a single foolproof answer for creating a successful asset information handover process. Every airport must first understand what asset classes it needs or wants to manage and then define and stipulate its requirements for those asset types in the Division 01 specifications sections for project closeout. However, this alone does not ensure that upon completion of any project an airport will receive the data it requires for these assets nor is there a guarantee that if the requested deliverables are received, they will be accurate or complete. Improving asset information handover at project closeout is an ongoing process. Be prepared to take small steps toward improvement with every project. However, defining asset information needs and ensuring they are outlined within the Division 01 project closeout documents is the first major step of the process.

Creating an asset information handover process or SOP will benefit airport staff because it will require them to become more acquainted with design and construction activities, processes, and requirements. The idea of project closeout is well known, but consistent adherence to project closeout best practices is rare. By focusing on project closeout, airport staff can learn from their mistakes, know for the next project what works or does not, and may even be able to develop a checklist of sorts so that for all future projects the process of project closeout runs more smoothly and consistently.

The staff who initially take on the responsibility of developing an asset information handover SOP should already understand project closeout, construction contracts, specifications, submittals, and document management for the airport. This staff could be an individual or a committee of airport stakeholders who have varying vantage points throughout the planning, design, and construction project phases. If you do not have staff to fulfill this role, consider hiring a third-party consulting firm as a temporary extension of staff during your more important projects and programs. A requirement to educate all internal project managers and external third-party participants in the airport’s process and expectations for asset information handover should be outlined in the SOP.

The SOP document should be considered a living document and therefore produced in an application that will enable future revisions and allow the creation of a table of contents, glossary, index, reference list, and other text elements that will aid stakeholders who are working with the SOP. Saving and sharing such SOPs on an internal website to which all stakeholders have access will allow your airport stakeholders to find this valuable information quickly.

Developing processes that help ensure effective asset information handover will better enable airport maintenance staff by expanding the information that is readily available to them either via hard-copy documents or electronic files. Some airports have ventured into mobile applications that enable airport maintenance staff to open a work order on a hand-held device and see not only the work order but the O&M documents obtained during asset information handover.

With newer technologies gaining popularity not only during the design and construction phases of projects but also in the transition of electronic data into asset ownership, airport staff will