Is information governance the missing link in Asset Management?

In 2006, British mathematician Clive Humby famously stated that “data is the new oil”, recognising correctly that the transformation of data into useful information would become a significant driver of new economic growth globally. However, while technology companies, retailers, and governments have embraced data as a key source of competitive and comparative advantage, businesses in the electricity supply chain continue to struggle to realise full value from asset data and information.

Low confidence in the accuracy of asset information is a common issue for asset managers who are charged with using it to make decisions that have far-reaching consequences for customers and other stakeholders. International research conducted by the Asset Management Council in 2020 found that 72% of asset managers do not have confidence in their organisation’s asset information.

This has significant implications for the achievement of asset management objectives, including ensuring safety of workers and the public, maintaining compliance with legislation and regulation, meeting customer service levels, developing risk-based asset management plans, efficiently delivering work on assets, and realising value from new technologies such as digital twins, LiDAR, and the internet of things.

When events bring asset information issues to the fore and they are escalated to the senior management level, a typical response is to initiate projects to “clean up the data”. While such projects may deliver short-term benefits in specific areas, they rarely result in the improvements that are truly required – the root causes of the data and information issues are not addressed.

In the paper presented on 29 June at the 2023 Electricity Engineers Association Conference, we argued that addressing asset information shortcomings requires the establishment of information governance. We proposed a practical and innovative methodology to achieve this which is aligned with the requirements and good practices outlined in ISO 55001:2014 (asset management systems) and ISO 8000 (data quality). We then discussed examples where this methodology has been successfully applied in the New Zealand electricity distribution sector, delivering significant and enduring business benefits.

This paper will be of interest to senior managers accountable for asset management and information management, as well as asset management and information management practitioners in the electricity supply industry.

Download the full paper here.