Asset lifecycle method

Organisational objectives, the problem the need responds to, and evidence returned from earlier investments of the same kind.

Write the outcome in terms that can be measured after handover, and name the role that will own it once the delivery organisation disbands.

An outcome statement with a named owner, a measure, and the objective it traces to.

The dated outcome statement, kept so that later drift from it can be seen and explained.

Proceed to options, reframe the need, or stop.

Where no measurable outcome can be stated, the gap is recorded and the case proceeds only with that gap visible to whoever sanctions it.

The team preparing options and the business case.

The outcome statement is the measure against which benefits are later evaluated, and the record that makes that evaluation possible.

An outcome statement exists and has an owner.

The outcome statement, options including doing the minimum, cost estimates with their class and range, and evidence from earlier evaluations.

Record the decision criteria and who is entitled to apply them; estimate whole-life cost including operation, maintenance and decommissioning; plan how the outcome will be evaluated.

A business case naming the preferred option, its whole-life cost, its estimate range and its evaluation plan.

The criteria as written before options were scored, the estimate basis, and the operating-cost estimate with who prepared it.

Recommend an option for sanction, return to options, or stop.

An estimate whose class does not match the definition achieved goes forward with its range shown, not as a single figure.

Whoever holds the authority to sanction.

The operating-cost estimate made here is the figure later compared with actual operating cost.

A preferred option, or a short list of options, exists.

The business case, the outcome statement, and what the organisation can and cannot do for itself after handover.

Record why the chosen delivery and contracting model fits the sanctioned case, and allocate design, testing, commissioning, training, spares, warranties and information to named parties.

A delivery and contracting strategy with an allocation of lifecycle obligations.

The strategy as approved, and the reasons recorded for the model chosen.

Approve the strategy, revise it, or return to the case.

An obligation that no party has been allocated is recorded as unallocated and goes to the decision-maker, not left to be found at handover.

Those preparing requirements and tender documents.

Whether the allocation held is evidence for the next strategy decision of the same kind.

A business case with its whole-life cost, estimate range and evaluation plan.

The business case and any review of it.

Decide against the recorded criteria, and record the decision, its conditions and any dissent.

A decision record: sanctioned, sanctioned with conditions, deferred or stopped.

The decision record with the authority exercised and the information the decision-maker had.

Sanction, sanction with conditions, defer, or stop.

Conditions attached to sanction go into the conditions record with an owner and a date.

Those authorised to enter into contracts with suppliers on the organisation’s behalf.

The decision record is the baseline against which later change is measured.

A delivery and contracting strategy allocating those obligations.

The outcome statement, the operating concept, the organisation’s information requirements and the allocation of obligations.

Write operating, information, testing and commissioning requirements and the criteria for accepting each deliverable, and name the receiving party and receiving system for each.

Tender documents carrying those requirements, acceptance criteria and receivers.

The deliverable and evidence register as issued with the tender.

Release the tender package, or hold it until the requirements are complete.

A requirement left for later is recorded as a condition with an owner and a date; one never written cannot be enforced against a supplier.

Tenderers, and then the appointed supplier.

Information the operator later finds missing is returned to the requirements template for the next tender.

Operating and information requirements exist to trace the design to.

The requirements, the operating concept, the named future operator, and the maturity the next decision needs.

Trace requirements into the design basis; record whether constructability, maintainability, operability and testability were examined, against what criteria, by which functions, and what followed; set test and commissioning requirements before construction.

An accepted design basis, a record of the examinations and their outcomes, and the test requirements.

The design basis under configuration control and the dated record of each examination and decision.

Accept the design basis, accept it with recorded deviations, or return it.

Departures from the basis are recorded as deviations or concessions, each with an approver and conditions.

Construction, project controls and the operator.

Design decisions that fix whole-life cost are recorded so that operating evidence can later be traced back to them.

An approved baseline and a signed contract.

The baseline, the design basis, change requests and progress records.

Assess changes before they are made, record their effect on operation as well as cost and time, and keep the design record in step with what is built.

An updated baseline with every step from the sanctioned one documented, and a current configuration record.

Change and deviation records made at the time, not reconstructed later.

Approve a change, reject it, or approve it with conditions; re-baseline only by recorded decision.

A change made without assessment is recorded as such and assessed after the event.

Testing and commissioning, and finance for the cost record.

Changes that altered operation are carried into the operating record and the requirements template.

Test requirements and acceptance criteria exist from the design stage.

The test requirements, the design basis and the as-built configuration.

Carry out the tests with the future operator present, and record results against the criteria, including tests that could not be run.

Test and commissioning records, and a list of tests outstanding.

Dated test records signed by whoever witnessed them, and the reasons for any test deferred.

Tests passed, passed with recorded deviations, failed and repeated, or deferred with a reason.

A deferred test is listed as outstanding work with a date and an owner.

The party applying for taking over, the operator, and finance for the capability test.

Failures found late are traced back to the design decision or requirement that caused them.

Costs are being incurred under a sanctioned and committed project.

Certified and paid amounts, directly attributable costs, and the dismantling and restoration obligation where one exists.

Classify costs as eligible or not, and hold eligible costs as work in progress against identifiable items.

Work in progress balances traceable to items and to the project record.

The cost records and the basis for each eligibility judgement.

Recognise a cost, expense it, or hold it pending information.

Costs that cannot be traced to an item are recorded as such, not spread silently.

Finance, for the capitalisation decision.

Actual cost by element is the evidence later compared with the estimate in the business case.

A taking-over certificate listing what is outstanding.

The list on the certificate and defects notified during operation.

Track each item to closure, and record the operator’s confirmation that it was closed in service.

A list of outstanding work and defects with closure evidence.

Dated notices of defects and dated closure records.

Close an item, extend its date, or treat it under the contract’s remedies for defects not remedied.

An item the contractor does not remedy goes to the contract’s remedy, recorded with the decision.

The party that will issue final certification.

Recurring defects are returned to design and requirements for the next project.

Information requirements with acceptance criteria exist from the tender documents.

As-built records, manuals, asset data and the deliverable register.

Check each deliverable against its criteria; trace records to the assets row by row; load accepted information into the receiving systems.

Information accepted into named receiving systems, and a list of what was rejected and why.

The deliverable register showing who accepted each item, when, and into which system.

Accept, accept with recorded deficiencies, or reject and return.

Information accepted with deficiencies goes into the conditions record with a date for correction.

The asset register, the maintenance system and the operator.

Deficiencies found here are returned to the information requirements template.

Design decisions have been taken whose reasons are not in the documents.

The decision, deviation and change records, and the people who made them.

Record the reasons and the accepted compromises against the assets they affect, before the delivery team disbands.

A record of reasons and accepted compromises, linked to asset identifiers.

The dated record and who supplied each entry.

Record complete enough to release the people who hold it, or not yet.

Knowledge that could not be captured is listed, so the operator knows where the record is silent.

The operator and asset management.

Gaps the operator later finds are returned to the next project’s capture plan.

Testing and commissioning records, and the operating organisation’s readiness.

Test records, accepted information, the custody record and the readiness of people, contracts, spares and systems.

Check readiness against the criteria the organisation set, and record conditions and who owns them.

An operational acceptance decision, with conditions where they apply.

The decision record and the readiness evidence it rested on.

Accept for operation, accept with conditions, or defer.

Operating before acceptance, where it happens, is recorded as a decision with its risks and owner.

The operator and asset management.

Conditions that remain open after a year are evidence for the next readiness plan.

Accepted asset information.

Accepted information, identifiers set in the requirements, and the project crosswalk.

Enter each asset, and trace it to the project record and to the financial record in both directions.

Register entries with identifiers that the project, finance and operations records share.

The crosswalk between project, technical and financial records.

Entry made, or held pending information.

Assets that cannot be traced in both directions are listed for reconciliation.

Maintenance planning, finance and asset management.

Identifier problems found here are returned to the information requirements template.

Evidence that the asset is in the location and condition to operate as intended.

Test and commissioning records as evidence of capability, and the work in progress balances.

Decide the capability date on evidence, split cost into significant parts, and transfer the balance.

Capitalised components with a date, a cost and an identifier shared with the technical register.

The evidence relied on for the capability date and the basis for the split into components.

Capitalise from a stated date, or hold in work in progress with the reason.

An asset in use but not capitalised, or capitalised but not capable, is recorded and corrected.

The financial asset register, and asset management for reconciliation.

The split into components is reviewed when the first part is replaced.

A capitalised asset with components and useful lives.

The capitalisation date, the components, and useful lives with the basis for each.

Set each component’s useful life and method, and record the basis for the life chosen.

A depreciation schedule per component.

The basis for each useful life, including which end of any published range was taken.

A life later found wrong is changed as an accounting estimate, not by restating the start date.

Finance and asset management.

Observed condition and replacement are returned to the annual review of useful lives.

Custody has passed and the operator holds the information it accepted.

Accepted operating and maintenance requirements, the register, warranties and the conditions still open.

Execute the maintenance regime, record what is done and found, and keep the register in step with the asset.

Records of operation, maintenance, condition, failure and cost.

Work records made at the time, with the date each record was last confirmed true.

A requirement found unworkable in service is recorded and returned to the requirements template.

Asset management, for performance and renewal decisions.

Operating cost and failure records feed the performance evidence and, through it, the next investment decision.

The asset is in operation and its records are being kept.

Operating, maintenance, condition and cost records, and the business case estimates.

Compare actual performance and cost with the estimates and service targets, and record the differences and their causes where known.

A performance and cost record comparable with the business case.

The records used, and when each was last confirmed true.

Where the records cannot support a comparison, that is reported as a finding, not filled by estimate.

Asset management, finance and the sponsor.

The comparison is the evidence returned to the next investment decision.

An outcome statement with a measure, and an asset in operation.

The outcome statement, the evaluation plan from the business case, and performance evidence.

Measure the outcome against the statement, and evaluate the difference rather than only report it.

A benefits and evaluation record.

The measures, the period, and who measured them.

Continue, change how the asset is used, or record that the outcome will not be achieved.

Where no outcome was ever stated, that absence is the finding.

The sponsor and whoever appraises the next investment of the same kind.

The evaluation is returned to the appraisal of later proposals.

Performance, condition or cost evidence that raises the question.

Performance and cost evidence, the useful lives assumed, and the organisation’s decision criteria.

Apply the recorded criteria; where renewal is a new investment, start it as a new need with its own case.

A renewal decision, and where needed a new outcome statement.

The decision record and the evidence it relied on.

Maintain, renew, replace, or dispose.

Renewal driven by failure, not by plan, is recorded as such.

Inception, for a new case; finance, for the replaced part.

The life actually achieved is returned to the useful-life review and to the next estimate.

A decision that the asset, or a part, will no longer be used.

The disposal decision, the dismantling and restoration obligation estimated at recognition, and the register entries.

Decommission, remove the asset from the technical register and derecognise it in the accounts, each on its own record.

Closed register entries and a derecognition record.

The decision, the decommissioning record and the derecognition entry, each dated.

Dispose, mothball, or transfer to another use.

An asset no longer in use but still on either register is recorded and reconciled.

Finance, asset management, and whoever estimates the next asset’s end-of-life cost.

Actual decommissioning cost is compared with the obligation estimated at recognition.