Transdev – Multi-modal Asset Management Strategy (Establishing Asset Management Body of Knowledge – AMBoK

Summary

Transdev operates in one of the fastest growing and evolving local transport landscapes in Australia and New Zealand. Transdev manages the public transit authorities’ (PTAs) assets through responsible stewardship. Asset management in public transport is critical to ensuring availability of transport assets across all modes to deliver punctual, reliable and safe customer journeys. To establish a long-term way-forward for an effective, efficient, and fit for purpose strategic asset management system, applicable to Transdev’s business model, we have developed a “multi-modal asset management body of knowledge (AMBoK)” with a flexible “modular” structure that can be applied to or adopted by Transdev entities based on the requirements of their maturity, business, and contractual obligations.

Description of project

1        Introduction

Governments across Australia & New Zealand, local or federal, have adopted asset management as a key requirement of the partnerships they are offering to private operators and maintainers to manage their physical assets. Certification against the ISO55001 standards is widely used as an assurance of business practices and ensuring sincere stewardship of the government’s transport assets that are managed by private operators through long term contracts. To match the local industry standards and establish a long-term way-forward, Transdev has developed a “multi-modal strategic asset management plan (SAMP)” to assure Transdev’s local and international clients and stakeholders of Transdev’s commitment to responsible stewardship of the assets that are utilised to deliver the services to the customers thereby reinforcing Transdev & entities’ partnership with governments/PTAs to maintain and earn the trust of the community we serve. Transdev is a complex organisation with self-managed business entities established for business/contracts we win across multiple modes of transport. Each business entity is at different level of AM maturity and varying contractual obligations, regulatory requirements and clients / PTAs needs. Transdev recognises that asset management is fundamental to our business and presents a significant opportunity for innovation and continuous improvement. Transdev’s asset management approach and strategy align with applicable standards, government, and PTA’s requirements of aligning the services and asset management to ensure a clear line of sight of the customers and services outcomes that we deliver. The first stage of Transdev’s multi-modal SAMP is to establish AMBoK that comprises of 10 modules. This modular approach provides the framework to the business entities whilst ensuring their organisational independence of decision making. Continual and self-diagnostic assessment of effectiveness of asset management decision making through cascaded analysis of performance against expenditure and corresponding impact on risk mitigation is the foundation of Transdev AMBoK and critical factor of its practical applicability to Transdev businesses. This strategic approach provides clear line of sight to leadership to understand the outcomes of the asset strategies and align all entities under common goal of “mobility”. The modular structure of the Transdev’s AMBoK is an innovative approach that provides systematic flexibility and structure to assess the asset management maturity and identify gaps, adopt the elements of asset management by the business entities based on their current / future needs and applicable contractual obligations.

2        Asset Management Maturity Assessment

One of the pre-requisites of any systematic improvement effort is to conduct the gap assessment.  Transdev adopted the industry recognised approach of asset management maturity assessment that not only helped to identify gaps but also provided the level of compliance which is instrumental in setting reasonable and practical targets for asset management maturity in future. Such approach has helped Transdev’s asset team to prioritise the gaps and set realistic timeline to deliver the outcomes and assess the targeted benefits.  Transdev has developed inhouse tool based on –

  1. Transdev’s inhouse AM Maturity Tool which is benchmarked against AM Council’s maturity tool, Transport for New South Wales Maturity Assessment and NSW Treasury’s AM policy,
  2. ISO55001 requirements, and
  3. Transdev’s internal business environment, requirements and Transdev’s global strategy

Figure 1: Transdev’s Maturity assessment results in July 2021

Figure 2: Transdev’s gap analysis against the requirements of ISO 55001 standards. Starting level (July 2021), target and current level

Transdev was assessed as having an AM Maturity Score of 43% in July 2021 which indicates that Transdev as an organisation is aware of the asset management approach with gradually developing the understanding and was non-compliant with the ISO 55001 standards. The break-up of high-level areas is shown below in Figure 2.

The maturity assessment output and the gaps were also analysed against the requirements of ISO55001 standards, and the summary is illustrated in the “Spider Chart Analysis” which indicates Transdev’s starting level, target, and the current level due to the improvements achieved. The gaps identified through the AM maturity assessments and the corresponding strategies helps to address them are some of the key actions of Transdev’s SAMP. asset management strategic. Each action is compared and mapped with the corresponding requirement of ISO55001 to ensure that the assurance and optimisation are achieved by encuring demonstrable balance between cost, risk, and performance. The primary responsibility to deliver the actions listed below lies with Transdev’s Strategic Asset Management team and the members from other Transdev functions and Transdev entities are assigned specific responsibilities based on the interface and requirements of each action. Each of the actions is a small project by itself with specific timeline and resource allocation.

3        Transdev’s Multi-Modal Asset Management Strategy

Building on the asset management maturity assessment Transdev as summarised above, and to achieve the Transdev’s strategic objectives, we have identified asset management strategies that lays out the asset management landscape for Transdev as a responsible custodian of the assets we manage. Figure 3 illustrates Transdev’s asset management strategy and how it establishes fit for purpose and effective AMBoK for all the current and future entities to align and achieve consistent level of asset management maturity.

Figure 3: Transdev’s Asset Management Strategy

3.1        Strategic Timeline      

Reference to the AM maturity assessment, gap analysis and the business requirements, Transdev’s SAMP provides the vision of for the future three years following which we will redefine our targets and review our direction. Figure below provides the timeline of strategic actions for Transdev and to establish AMBoK.

Figure 4: Transdev’s Strategic Timeline for Asset Management

3.2        Asset Management Body of Knowledge

Figure 5: Transdev’s AMBoK Structure

Given the structure of our business model with Transdev being a parent organisation with the entities being independent organisations by themselves, we have developed a fit for purpose AMBoK that is built 10 concepts/approaches 1) Asset Management System/ Framework, 2) Objectives & Targets Framework, 3) Governance Framework, 4) Stakeholders & Communication Management Framework 5) Asset Information Requirements, 6) Asset risks & planning guide, 7) AM Resource & Competency management Framework 8) Vendor performance & Inventory management framework, 9) Change & Configuration management, 10) Assurance & Continual Improvement. Transdev’s 10 asset management approaches provide the systems, frameworks, and the structure that the entities could use and develop their own processes. To avoid complexity and ensuring alignment with Transdev’s asset management system, Transdev’s AMBoK prescribes how to incorporate all the approaches and implement them within the entities. Figure 5 illustrates Transdev’s AMBoK’s structure and the how the 10 asset management concepts at Transdev level are implemented in the entities in the form of 3 key documents.

3.3        Asset Life Cycle Management

Transdev’s asset management strategy is underpinned by the asset life cycle management to ensure assets are managed and maintained on the whole of life basis consistent with ISO55001 standards and the design, technical and operations solutions. This is supported by Transdev AMS which clearly demonstrates how the asset life cycle is embedded across various asset management functions. This life cycle management approach supports the delivery of consistently high levels of performance and provide for Assets to be handed back in an appropriate condition at the end of the Term. This is ensured through effective governance, review, and reporting structure by effective review of performance against the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and Targets. Whole of life asset management facilitates balance the asset management funding requirement with risks and targeted asset performance.   

Figure 6: Transdev’s Asset Life Cycle Management

3.4        Transdev’s Asset Management System (AMS)

Figure 7: Responsibility to implement and manage Transdev AMS

Figure 8: Transdev’s Asset Management System

 The Transdev AMS is aligned with the requirements of ISO55001 standards. The AMS demonstrates Transdev’s holistic approach to managing assets by ensuring the relevant and practical application of a ‘whole of life’ approach for all applicable assets in line with the ‘Asset Life Cycle Management’ as illustrated in Figure 6. Transdev AMS applies the continuous improvement approach of Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle to achieve cyclic improvement through structured planning, delivery, monitoring and making decisions, follows ISO55001 and demonstrates our approach of achieving asset management ‘maturity’, and provides the high-level guidance around the segregation of roles & responsibilities between Transdev and Transdev entities.  Transdev AMS is established on the foundation of four pillars of asset management fundamentals, leadership, value, alignment, and assurance. One of the key requirements for effective and successful delivery of the AMS is to ensure clear understanding and segregation of responsibilities to deliver the asset management outcome for each of the function, demonstrably, aligned with Transdev AMS. Transdev’s AMS clarifies the responsibility of Transdev, and the entities as illustrated in Figure 8. All entities are required to manage the assets across their life cycles and hence they can apply the AM framework as illustrated in Figure 7. Depending on the size of the asset portfolio, complexity of the network and the contractual requirements, Transdev entities can choose the applicable parts/sections of the AM framework. Transdev strategic asset management team will provide the guidance and support to the respective entities’ assets team to establish the AM framework as applicable to their asset portfolio.

4        Plan

Due to our practical and fit for purpose approach, Transdev’s AMS has proven to be practical for implementation and simple for our entities to adopt. The asset management approach that fits our requirements and which is developed around the needs of our stakeholders and assets that we manage has enabled us to achieve reasonable success in demonstrating our objective of “responsible stewardship” to deliver safe and efficient services to the community we serve on behalf of our clients. Figure 9 illustrates a short-term timeline of our achievement wherein number of Transdev entities are on the math of improving their asset management practices and delivery and, in the process, achieving the certification against the requirements of ISO 55001 standards as well as applicable local engineering accreditation. This demonstrates the success our “fit for purpose multi-modal asset management strategy”.

Figure 9: Transdev’s progress and achievement so far – Proven demonstration and utility of multi-modal AM strategy

5        Benefits

In addition to the progress against our plan, we also assess the actual benefits targeted through the implementation of our multi-modal asset management strategy that includes (not limiting to) –

  • Transdev and entities should be able to demonstrate the optimisation of cost clearly aligned with the risk,
  • demonstrate the alignment of the asset management functions with the business, contract, and asset management objectives
  • understand the effectiveness of asset management activities and how they impact the performance of assets,
  • understand the cost impact of maintenance plans and the corresponding risk,
  • better understand asset conditions and prioritise maintenance actions and the resources (funds, workforce etc.)
  • establish sustainable asset management competency system aligned with technical requirements for each transport mode and the corresponding assets,
  • improve effectiveness of asset information system do deliver the asset information specified in AMBoK
  • improve compliance and assure our clients of our approach of responsible stewardship of assets to serve the community.

Figure 10: Transdev’s Asset Management Maturity Level – Compliance Vs Benefits

A simple illustration of our progress is shown in Figure 10 which demonstrates the level from where we started in July 2021 (‘non-compliant’ and organisation just being ‘aware’), the current level (fully compliant and competent organisation who understand the optimisation of cost risk and performance) and the targeted level (demonstrable balancing of cost, risk and performance with organisation moving beyond compliance).

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