Asset Management Plan Update No.1 – Project Planning

As outlined in my previous overview post, 2014 is the asset management plan updating year in New Zealand.

The first issue to consider at this point in January 2014 is – How are your AMP updating project planning and delivery?

Most staff members should be back from their summer holidays (vacations) by now, and it is an excellent time to regroup and consider progress.

I have listed below some questions to consider:

• Have you started your 2014 AMP updating – is there any evidence of this?
• Do you have a project plan for the AMP updating, and are you on track?
• If there is slippage in the project plan – is it on the critical path?
• Is all the necessary information available and collated?
• Have the corporate updates (for example, population and demography reviews) been completed and are they available?
• Is the Long Term Plan updating project on track? Are there any impacts on the AMP updating?
• Where are the hold-ups for AMP delivery? Can you make changes now to remove or mitigate these?
• Don’t forget about external agency reporting requirements (for example, OAG, NZTA) and the impacts on project timelines.
• Before release, if you are planning internal or external reviews of your AMPs, make sure these are built into the project plan.

My advice to my clients last year was to start the process in about September or October.

This period allowed the preliminary planning, preparation, issue and risk identification and decisions to be in place before the summer break.

Many of my clients have done this, and they are in an excellent position to continue AMP updating through 2014.

Most New Zealand AMPs have about 12 sections to update, and some sections will require more input than others.  

That is about two sections per month from now if you haven’t yet started updating.

Please do not underestimate the amount of work required to update AMPs this year. There have been several legislative, regulatory, and standards changes that need integration into your AMPs.  

In many cases, these changes will require additional analysis and work.

Make sure you have a critical (rather than optimistic) look at your available resources and your ability to complete the Asset Management Plan updates in the required time.

You still have time to make changes. It will be too late in a few months.

If you haven’t started your asset management plan updating project planning, now would be a good time.

Well planned, and with good project management, you can achieve the 2014 AMP updates.

PHOTO CREDIT: Karl Hipolito