Debbie. Debbie is used to hearing this question, especially when they are getting ready to go out. Yes, tonight they are invited for dinner at Jerry’s place. Jerry has been trying to meet up with Darren for the past few weeks, but they have not been able to connect due to conflicting schedules. Then last week Jerry sent a text to invite Darren and Debbie over for dinner at his place. It was great timing, as it is a good opportunity to reconnect and continue their conversation from where they left off four weeks ago.
While Darren waits for Debbie to get ready, he gathers a few documents that he is planning to bring over to Jerry’s house to continue their discussion on his challenges in asset management. He has especially taken Neel’s paper, with some notes that he made, to remind Jerry of a few key items. He only read half of the draft paper and did not have a chance to go through the rest. Anyway, deep inside he knows it will be of great help to Jerry.
The drive to Jerry’s house is around forty minutes. He lives in a new subdivision where he bought his house last year and moved in a few months ago. It is a beautiful townhouse in a very quiet neighborhood.
As soon as they ring the doorbell, Jerry opens the door as if he has been waiting for them right behind the door. They are welcomed inside with a large smile and invited to take a seat in the living room, which is immaculately decorated; light background music is playing. Debbie and Darren are greeted by Rita, Jerry’s wife, who right away makes them feel at home with her lovely and charming personality.
Jerry serves the guests some red wine, and they start chatting. Naturally after a few minutes, the conversation between Darren and Jerry turns toward their most passionate topic, asset management.
“Jerry,” Darren asks. “So how have things been turning out for you since we last met? I think it was in the coffee shop last month. Have you had any success with some of the ideas we talked about around education and awareness?”
Jerry’s rubs his hands together, and the large grin on his face tells it all.
“Oh, it has been going very well, much better than I was expecting,” Jerry replies delightedly.
“We have a governance model in place, and, last week, we just had our first steering committee meeting. It feels so good, you know, to have senior management at the table, learning about asset management and supporting the program. Suddenly, for the first time at Mouroum Inc., I felt I was not alone anymore in all this.”
“Come on, Jerry,” Darren jokingly challenges Jerry, “You were never alone in this—you always had me around, didn’t you?”
Jerry blushes and feels bad for a moment. He realizes that it is actually true. He could always rely on Darren whenever required, and he was never alone.
“True,” Jerry adds remorsefully. “I should not have said that. I was never alone in this. What I meant was in my work environment I was alone fighting through the day-to-day challenges. But I know that I always have you when needed.”
“That’s fine,” Darren quickly adds. “I was just pulling your leg. Come on, tell me the rest.”
Jerry continues that now he has some action items in place after the first steering committee meeting. He presented a draft AM framework that the committee liked a lot. He now needs to refine it and send it around for approval. He also talked about the need for an AM policy and was able to show the committee members some of the AM policies which are in use in other organizations. The committee sees the importance of such a policy and gave Jerry the marching orders to draft one for Mouroum Inc.
“I see that you are off to a great start Jerry,” Darren says with joy.
“Yes, I am so excited, and I want to thank you for the great advice. Now I want to know what to do next. That is why I have been bugging you to meet with me.”
“Jerry, you may regret what you are asking for. I have a lot already lined up for you.”
“How about we discuss all that after we eat,” Darren continues, having noticed the awkward look from Debbie.
Jerry and Darren change the topic of conversation, and they start talking about real estate and the new area where Jerry lives. This brings Debbie and Rita into the conversation, which makes it more interesting for everyone. They all have another round of red wine before dinner.
“I love this delicious food!” Darren exclaims. “Rita, you are a true cordon bleu!” he adds looking at Rita, who blushes and smiles at him.
Rita has prepared braised lamb shanks well cooked with onions, carrots, and garlic. She also made roasted spicy eggplant, all served with white rice and salad.
“Thank you, Mr. Darren,” she politely replies.
Debbie gently taps Rita on her shoulder and murmurs something to her. It looks like Debbie also likes the food and is praising Rita.
They finish dinner and start working on dessert—a small bowl of bread pudding mixed with almonds and dried raisins. It is equally delicious!
While enjoying the dessert, Darren starts talking to Jerry about Neel’s paper and explains to him the importance of developing a strategic asset management plan as the next step. Darren takes Neel’s paper, which contains his notes and hands it to Jerry. As Jerry starts to look through the document, Darren continues to speak. First, he explains to Jerry, he has to get a good handle on Mouroum’s total physical asset inventory and understand the condition of the physical assets.
“You may already have all this information available in your organization,” Darren says. “The information may just be dispersed and is in different formats. Somebody needs to gather, clean, and arrange it in a standard structure. You can do it in-house if you have the time and resources, or you can use external help. Either way, I caution you not to try to get a perfect and accurate database. Don’t worry if some information is missing or is not up-to-date. You can fix that later. The most important thing is that you have something to start working with even if not perfect.”
“Excuse me,” Jerry interjects, politely as usual. “I understand the asset management framework, the policy, and the inventory. How does the SAMP fit into all this?”
“Excellent question, Jerry!” Darren exclaims. “I was actually expecting that type of question from you. Let me think how to better explain it to you.”
After a few seconds of thought, he begins by asking, “Do you have your organization’s asset management framework?”
Jerry goes into his den and after a few minutes he returns with a binder from which he pulls out a page.
Darren places the sheet on the dining table as Jerry comes over to stand next to his mentor.
“Look here,” Darren starts to explain while pointing to the top of the asset management framework above the area representing the strategic asset management plan. “The corporate asset management policy is like the glue that brings together and aligns the organizational strategic objectives with your strategic asset management plan. Picture for a moment that the SAMP does not exist. You will have a void between the organizational strategic objectives and your asset management plans even though you have a policy in place. A SAMP is required to document how organizational objectives are converted into physical asset management objectives and deliver the physical asset management policy.”
“As mentioned in Neel’s paper,” Darren continues, “many organizations have been omitting this component and jumped right
