Asset Operations Management: One Data Repository

Recently, we’ve shown what Asset Operations Management means for maintenance, reliability, and operations teams. Now it’s time to go deeper. For the next eight weeks, we’ll outline the eight pillars of Asset Operations. These are the core ideas behind the larger concept, and they’ll provide a better understanding of what Asset Operations truly encompasses.

So far we’ve covered the first pillar: Maintenance, Reliability, and Operations Must Operate Together and Be Aligned on Achieving a Common Goal. Today, we’re covering Pillar 2: Data Must Flow Into a Single Repository.

Where We’re At

Many organizations are dealing with poor software adoption, disjointed systems, and disconnected teams. All these factors combined add up to fragmented information. What we mean is, the maintenance team is using a CMMS, operations is using an ERP or EAM—companies have information spread across all these different systems. And each team has different wants and needs, but they’re all basically operating solely within these different systems. When information is spread across so many different systems, it leads to a difficulty in accessing it. 

Additionally, if all that data is hard to get to, then it’s very difficult to make consistent approaches toward accurate data. Can you imagine? Information all over the place, people asking, “What’s the right document? Where’s that checklist and is it correct?” 

The third roadblock is the actual technology, and adoption is one side of it. It’s not just the fact that these big legacy systems aren’t oriented toward end users; it’s also about the EAM and CMMS solutions themselves. These two systems don’t necessarily play nice with each other. So problems escalate, and a company has pockets of data aggregating separately, not providing a unified view of everything.

How can a maintenance, reliability, or operations team make a business case for positively impacting a company’s bottom line if all these disparate elements can’t be integrated?

One Centralized Command Center for Maintenance, Reliability, and Operations

Implementing an Asset Operations Management mindset and solution can help overcome these obstacles. Asset Operations Management is about company-wide intelligence. No matter the data, or even where it comes from, it all goes into one centralized center.

When teams have this opportunity, they’re able to create a unique company blueprint, basically a way of saying, “Hey, we got all this data. Here’s how we’re going to create an asset management approach, so we can make the right business decisions and make it easy for everyone to contribute to the situation.” 

As one unified team, previously isolated data can now feed into a central repository. Having data consolidated in a single system—unifying and linking it to not just the asset or team but also to executive metrics—allows employees to learn from preventive maintenance tasks and work orders, while also connecting them back to bottom-line metrics. Furthermore, streamlined data gives teams the ability to focus on the optimization of assets across the entire life cycle. 

Asset Operations Management also allows for an ecosystem approach, being able to connect into other systems. Because the platform itself was designed to unify data, there’s an emphasis on ensuring it can handle integration. Asset Operations Management points toward a constellation of solutions instead of a stand-alone system intended to keep you captive.

Finally, a centralized command center also acts as a dynamic knowledge base—a source of truth across fragmented resources, eliminating information silos and connecting teams across departments and locations.

Establish Clear Objectives

It’s essential to know what you want to achieve with the benefits offered by Asset Operations Management. In addition to improving data quality, some possibilities include:

• Tracking maintenance data

• Easing administrative burdens

• Reducing equipment breakdowns

• Upleveling MRO inventory management processes

Make sure your goals are based on your business’ needs. You’ll also need plans for how these objectives will be executed and how to measure success. When deciding what objectives are best for your company, consult with personnel at all levels, everyone from technicians to administrators. 

A Single Source of Truth

We can no longer look at maintenance, reliability, and operations as three different teams with three different goals. If each team isn’t aligned, then employees will be stuck in a cycle of being undersupported, undervalued, and misunderstood. But we have the potential to change that.

With Asset Operations Management, businesses can create a central repository of data from across maintenance, reliability, and operations teams. This data spans assets and activities to deliver a unified view of asset health, utilization, and management. 

For more on Asset Operations Management, check out:

• What Is Asset Operations Management?

• What Asset Operations Management Means for Maintenance Teams

• What Asset Operations Management Means for Reliability Teams

• What Asset Operations Management Means for Operations Teams

• Why Teams Must Operate Together and Align on a Common Goal