Asset management: performance-based management with a view to service sustainability

Abstract

From the perspective of analyzing the management practices of organizations that most often carry out public service missions, performance appears to be a common concept that guides managers in their desire to ensure long-term access to the service under optimized conditions, regardless of the type of assets to be managed. These conditions relate to the aspects and dimensions to be taken into account in defining and evaluating performance, which appears to be multifaceted: safety, technical/operational, environmental, social and economic. The article considers the possibility of defining a multidimensional performance evaluation methodology that would be independent of the type of assets analyzed with regard to their functionality and whether they are buried or visible. To this end, two case studies representative of this typology have been chosen. One considers a buried infrastructure, namely drinking water distribution systems, and the other one is visible and concerns flood protection dikes.