The Challenge starts with a briefing for all teams on the evening before the two-day session. This ensures that everyone understands the tasks, their roles, the scenario, and how results will be assessed. It also enables teams to read, discuss and digest the background information and “base case” starting conditions. Roles need to be assigned, and these encompass the typical variety of operational, technical, stakeholder interface and commercial responsibilities.

Each participant receives a full Asset Management Challenge information pack and a set of pre-configured Microsoft Office templates (a risk register and business plan/cashflow toolkit, for example). These materials describe the industrial business environment with a typical range of technical, commercial, resourcing and relationship issues. For example, it includes the current company vision, mission, values and strategies, along with industry sector news, the key features of a particular supplier service contract, an insurance risk review, a recent press release on environmental matters, a technical/asset reliability report and product/service demand forecasts. The available information contains important facts – but there is also potentially distracting information. Participants need to recognize what is critical.

The Asset Management Challenge requires participants to understand the risks, opportunities and constraints, sort out priorities, develop new strategies and plans, and construct the business case for the proposed way forward. As the game progresses, the decisions you make must be reflected in business performance (modeled in a cash flow/net present value template) and a variety of stakeholder impacts, so you can evaluate your options and compare strategies.

The first morning is typically used to sort out the issues, priorities, risks and opportunities, and determine their merits and uncertainties (a risk register and risk scoring template are also provided). There are also options to “purchase” supplementary information – which may or may not help to evaluate or refine your options, considering their combined resourcing, timing, inter-dependencies and so on. And there are research and innovation opportunities as well.

On the second day, the focus shifts onto building an integrated way forward – a 20-year Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP), suitably funded and justified, delivering your objectives and considering appropriate stakeholder impacts. This revised strategy is presented, formally, to a “Board of Directors” (the judges). Each team’s presentation is assessed, supporting data is examined and the facilitators’ observations from the two days are considered (rather like the BBC’s The Apprentice!).

The final results will reflect the value and credibility of hard numbers underpinning each team’s proposals, the effective and efficient route taken to reach those conclusions, and the understandable and compelling explanation of what should be done, when and why. To achieve the Gold Standard and beat the competition to win the Asset Management Challenge Trophy, you will need to work well as a team, with good leadership, time management and collaboration. Expert facilitators will be observing and supporting all the teams.

This course is for anyone responsible for any aspect of strategic planning, or anyone who wishes to understand the role of a Strategic Asset Management Plan, how best to develop, maintain and use one. Typical participant roles include:

• Senior executives
• Business planners
• Stakeholder interface professionals (e.g. customer-, regulator-, investor-relations)
• Investment programme managers
• Implementers of ISO 55000 and other management systems
• Project or portfolio managers
• Asset information managers
• Engineering, technical and other departmental managers
• Maintenance managers
• Operations managers
• Procurement and supply chain managers
• HR and training managers