From Reactive Maintenance to Strategic Asset Management
An asset management plan transforms how organizations think about infrastructure—moving from "fix it when it breaks" to strategic lifecycle optimization that delivers better service at lower cost.
What is an Asset Management Plan?
An Asset Management Plan (AMP) is a documented strategy that outlines how your organization will manage physical assets over their entire lifecycle—from acquisition through operation, maintenance, renewal, and eventual disposal.
The goal? Deliver required levels of service at the lowest lifecycle cost while managing risk appropriately.
Why this matters: Canadian municipalities face an estimated $270 billion infrastructure deficit. Asset management planning is no longer optional—it's mandated by provincial regulations and essential for securing federal funding.
The Foundation: International Standards and Frameworks
Modern asset management plans are built on established international frameworks that provide structure, terminology, and best practices.
Canadian Regulatory Requirements
In Canada, asset management planning isn't just best practice—it's increasingly mandated by provincial regulation, especially for municipalities.
British Columbia
Renewed Canada Community Building Fund Agreement (2024-2034) requires asset management capacity building. C2 category reporting includes historical cost, AMP status, and risk registers.
Alberta
Developed under the Canada-Alberta Gas Tax Fund Agreement. Infrastructure Asset Management Alberta (IAMA) supports practitioners with toolkits and handbooks.
Saskatchewan
Municipalities must show asset management progress as a condition of CCBF funding. Tiered structure based on population recognizes varying municipal capacity.
FCM (National)
The Municipal Asset Management Program ($110M, 2017-2024) supported 2,773 communities with funding, training, and resources for asset management implementation.
7 Steps to Create Your Asset Management Plan
Establish Governance and Policy
Your asset management policy is the foundation—a commitment from senior leadership that defines objectives, scope, and organizational accountability.
Policy Should Include:
- Commitment to sustainable service delivery
- Integration with strategic planning and budgeting
- Roles and responsibilities for asset management
- Continuous improvement commitment
O. Reg. 588/17 required Ontario municipalities to have an approved policy by July 2019. FCM provides a Strategic Asset Management Policy Toolkit to help.
Build Your Asset Inventory
You can't manage what you don't know. A comprehensive asset register is the data foundation for everything that follows.
Required Data
- • Asset ID and description
- • Location (site, building, floor)
- • Purchase/installation date
- • Original cost
- • Expected useful life
- • System classification
Calculated Values
- • Current Replacement Value (CRV)
- • Lifecycle percentage
- • Remaining useful life
- • Condition rating
- • Risk/criticality score
Pro tip: Use hierarchical classification (e.g., CSI MasterFormat) to organize assets by system type. This enables meaningful aggregation for capital planning and reporting.
Define Levels of Service
Levels of Service (LoS) describe what your assets deliver to the community. O. Reg. 588/17 requires two tiers:
Community LoS
Qualitative descriptions of user experience
- • "Roads are smooth and safe to drive"
- • "Water is clean and always available"
- • "Parks are well-maintained and accessible"
Technical LoS
Quantifiable measures the organization tracks
- • "85% of roads rated Good or Fair"
- • "99.5% water system uptime"
- • "Park grass cut every 10 days"
FCM's Municipal Metrics Catalogue provides standardized LoS metrics across asset categories.
Assess Condition and Risk
Understanding current asset condition and risk enables data-driven prioritization for maintenance and capital investment.
Condition Assessment Options
Calculate condition based on age vs. expected useful life. Simple, data-driven, no inspections required.
Physical inspections rate condition on 1-5 scale. More accurate but resource-intensive.
Risk = PoF × CoF
Based on age, condition, historical performance
Service impact, safety, environmental, financial, reputational
Higher risk scores = higher priority for intervention. See FCI Scores for condition-based planning.
Develop Lifecycle Strategies
Lifecycle strategies define how you'll manage assets through each stage—from acquisition to disposal.
Day-to-day activities to keep assets running
Preventive and corrective maintenance strategies
Major repairs that restore existing capacity
Full asset replacement at end of life
New assets to increase capacity or service
Decommissioning, sale, or demolition
See Asset Replacement Strategies for data-driven approaches to prioritizing capital investments.
Create Financial Projections
The financial strategy connects asset needs to budget reality—identifying gaps and strategies to address them.
10-Year Financial Projection
- Operating costs: Day-to-day operations and routine maintenance
- Capital renewal: Scheduled replacements based on lifecycle
- Growth/expansion: New assets to meet increasing demand
Funding Gap Analysis
Use FCI forecasting to show leadership what happens with current funding vs. adequate funding over 10 years.
Implement Continuous Improvement
Asset management is a journey, not a destination. Build in processes for ongoing monitoring and improvement.
Key KPIs to Track
- • Asset availability/uptime
- • Planned vs. reactive maintenance ratio
- • FCI trend (improving or declining)
- • Maintenance backlog ($)
- • Customer complaints/service requests
Review Cycles
- • Monthly: KPI dashboards
- • Quarterly: Progress reviews
- • Annually: Full AMP update
- • 5-year: Comprehensive reassessment
Maturity Progression
Level 3 (Defined) aligns with ISO 55001 requirements. Most organizations should target this level before advancing further.
Ready to Build Your Asset Management Plan?
AssetLab provides the data foundation, analytics, and reporting you need to create and maintain a compliant, effective asset management plan.