The dTIMS Agency Roadmap: Getting a Score. How do you Measure Up?

Gary Ruck is a registered Professional Engineer and Project Management Professional in Ontario. He has over 37 years of experience in asset management and is a recognized expert in that field. He is currently the Director of Global Business Development at Deighton Associates Ltd.

Summary

This is Part V of a seven-part blog series on the dTIMS Agency Roadmap. Please refer to the introductory blog “Part I - An Agency Roadmap – Do I Need One of Those?” for the basis of this series.

In this installment, we will introduce the dTIMS Asset Management Maturity (AMM) score, and specifically how it relates to asset management. More importantly, we will discuss how you can apply the concepts from the roadmap introduced in the previous blog to quantify your current maturity level and explore ways to increase it.

Introduction

We ended the previous blog with a definition of a roadmap that I will repeat here:

•  A roadmap is a strategic plan that defines a goal or desired outcome and includes the major steps or milestones needed to reach it.

• It serves as a communication tool; a high-level document that helps articulate strategic thinking—the why—behind both the goal and the plan for getting there.

• It can also be a benchmark to gauge progression.

The previous blog identified the components related to the first bullet above. The remainder of this blog will focus more on the last bullet.

To gauge progression, you need a starting point to compare your progress against. You can only really improve what you can measure. The starting point is your benchmark, and your progression will be compared against that.

The dTIMS Asset Management Maturity Score

When evaluating a current dTIMS setup during a System Assessment, Deighton Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) will perform a dTIMS maturity assessment to establish a baseline dTIMS Asset Management Maturity (AMM) score. This score will be per asset class and then summarized for all asset classes in the cases where multiple asset classes are managed within dTIMS BA. It is important to point out that this score is not a universal, certified score or based on any standard.  Rather, it is influenced by the “Guide for using the Asset Management BC Roadmap (May 2011)”. The score is primarily used to compare the dTIMS maturity level at a point in time against the established benchmark.

Categories

In the Guide referenced earlier and in the evaluation, there are six basic categories used, and these are:

1. Know Your Assets

2. Know Your Financial Situation

3. Understand Decision-making

4. Manage Your Asset Lifecycle

5. Know the Rules

6. Sustainability Monitoring

Within each of these categories, subcategories have been identified for modules that typically would make up a basic, intermediate, or advanced asset management system. The categories and subcategories used for the dTIMS AMM are shown below:

A table of the categories and subcategories used for the dTIMS AMM.

Finally, the sub-categories are broken down even further into more specific dTIMS items. These are actions or features that could or should exist in an asset management system.

Scoring

Presently, the scoring works as follows:

1. Each item has a unique number. 

   For example, “Condition” data is Item “VG1.5”, meaning this is Vertical Growth (VG) sub-category 1 (Basic Asset Inventory) and Item 5 (Condition).

2. Each item has a Scoring value.  This allows each item to be weighted the same throughout, or alternatively, some items could be given more importance if required.

3. Each Asset class has a column in the scoring spreadsheet, and this allows for Horizontal Growth (HG) across the asset portfolio.

   For example, Pavements is HG1, and Structures is HG2, etc.

4. For each item AND each asset, the item is scored with one of three possible values:

   Y – For this agency and asset class, the item is currently being utilized in dTIMS BA.

   N – For this agency and asset class, the item is currently NOT being utilized in dTIMS BA

   N/A – For this agency and asset class, the item is currently Not Applicable

5. For each sub-category, the item scores are summed to derive a sub-category score, and then this is multiplied by the weighting score of the sub-category for the overall sub-category score.

6. All sub-category scores are summed to derive the overall score for the asset.

7. Finally, for all assets that are being evaluated, the asset scores are summed to derive the overall dTIMS AMM score. It is represented as a percentage out of 100.

The dTIMS AMM score is a relative value at a point in time of an agency’s dTIMS asset maturity journey. It provides a baseline to measure against for future evaluations after the implementation of asset management best practices.

Much like when you visit your doctor for your annual physical. The doctor will measure your blood pressure, among other vitals, and if it or other vitals are not satisfactory, the doctor will recommend improvement changes to your diet and/or lifestyle. Then, when you go back the following year and get the same vitals measured, these will be compared against previous readings to see if there was an improvement in your overall health.

Conclusion

The dTIMS Asset Management Maturity score is a concept that can be used to improve your asset management system within dTIMS. By adding new innovations and/or new asset classes, you are expanding the capabilities of dTIMS and bringing additional value to your organization.

The byproduct of deriving this score is your dTIMS multi-year roadmap. The roadmap contains the activities identified during the Assessment to improve your agency’s dTIMS maturity level.  The score is analogous to your current blood pressure reading, and the roadmap is the doctor’s recommendations on how to improve your overall health. Both are critical components to improving your overall dTIMS health.

This blog introduced the dTIMS Asset Management Maturity score and its attributes, as well as a conceptual calculation method. In the next blog instalment, we will look at the three levels of asset management.

If you are responsible for asset management in your agency, please review the roadmap and the maturity score concepts in this blog and the previous one to understand the items you will require for your journey. And remember, you can only improve that which you can measure.

I encourage you to reach out to myself or anyone else at Deighton to learn more about the agency roadmap and to participate in and help influence the work Deighton is doing in this area.

Up Next: Part VI - The dTIMS Roadmap: Strategic, Operational, Tactical Oh My!

Asset Management Roadmap Blog Series:

Part 1: An Agency Roadmap - Do I Need One of Those?

Part 2: The Checklist – What Questions You Can Ask to Help Build a Roadmap

Part 3: A Look at Two Roadmaps – IAM and AMBC

Part 4: The dTIMS Agency Roadmap: Introduction

Part 5: The dTIMS Agency Roadmap: Getting a Score. How do you Measure Up?

The dTIMS Agency Roadmap: Introduction

Gary Ruck is a registered Professional Engineer and Project Management Professional in Ontario. He has over 37 years of experience in asset management and is a recognized expert in that field. He is currently the Director of Global Business Development at Deighton Associates Ltd.

Summary

This is Part IV of a seven-part blog series on the dTIMS Agency Roadmap. Please refer to the introductory blog “Part I - An Agency Roadmap – Do I Need One of Those?” for the basis of this series.

In this instalment, we will introduce the dTIMS Agency Roadmap specifically how it relates to asset management; and, more importantly, how you can start to look at where your agency is with respect to its asset management practices and how you could start to improve upon them.

Introduction

We ended the previous blog with a quote that I will repeat here:

“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.”

— Earl Nightingale

There are four noteworthy concepts mentioned in this quote: a plan, a roadmap, courage, and a destination. But perhaps the biggest item is “You”. As in You the asset owner/steward/manager of your agency’s asset or asset portfolio. You should be aware that a roadmap is how you get from Point A to Point B, and in this case that is a place of lower asset management maturity towards a place of higher asset management maturity.

My hope is that these blogs as well as the experts at Deighton, can help you harness the desire for improvement and instil in you the courage to proceed.

“It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop”

— Confucius

I think this nicely encapsulates the “press on” part of the previous observation. The remainder of this blog will introduce the concepts of plan, roadmap, and destination. Later blogs will delve into these in more detail.

What is a Roadmap?

There are many acceptable definitions of this, but for the purpose of this blog, we will consider this:

• A roadmap is a strategic plan that defines a goal or desired outcome and includes the major steps or milestones needed to reach it.

• It also serves as a communication tool, a high-level document that helps articulate strategic thinking—the why—behind both the goal and the plan for getting there.

• It can also be a benchmark to gauge progression.

Every roadmap, be it for a family vacation or for an asset management journey contains the following attributes:

• A starting point

• A route made of interconnected paths (there may be many of these, but ultimately you would settle upon one)

• Waypoints

• A timeframe

• A destination

Just this past summer, my vacation took me from my home city to the United Kingdom. We spent 3 weeks travelling from London through England, Wales, and Scotland. There were many places we had picked to stop at, and that ultimately created the route we would take. If any of those attributes had changed, the route would likely have been very different.

How do these attributes relate to an asset management (AM) roadmap? Let’s explore further. But before we begin, each roadmap should have a guiding principle, a North Star if you will, that helps underpin the creation of the roadmap. For the vacation, it was seeing some famous UK landmarks but also to explore off the beaten path.

In the case of the AM roadmap, it can be to improve your agency’s AM maturity. That is, to ensure as time goes on, your agency is doing more or a better job in AM this year compared to last year. So, with this as the North Star for the AM roadmap, let’s explore those attributes.

Starting Point

The origin of the roadmap is your agency’s current asset management practices. This can encompass the assets included, data sources and governance, stakeholders (both internal and external to the agency), purpose, and strategy, to just name a few. Blog 2 explored six fundamental questions around asset management that will help establish this starting point.

Route

This is the path you will take from beginning to end. It sounds simple, but it isn’t. What is the end? Even using Google Maps with one origin and one destination that you can clearly define will often come up with several alternate routes. What if neither of these can be unequivocally defined. The route ends up being a myriad of paths, but in the end, it often does not matter because if the North Star is in place and you follow the guiding principle, you will be on the roadmap and the specific route is secondary. The concept of route will be discussed further in later blogs.

Waypoints

A waypoint is a fixed location that the route must pass through and in some cases at a specific point in time. That is, we must be in Edinburgh on August 1st. Whatever route you take both prior to and after that, doesn’t really matter if you are at the waypoint at the desired time. The waypoints must be laid out with your North Star as the guide, as they will help focus your route from a potentially endless number of paths to a select few. A waypoint is a milestone or a stage gate along the way. They’re critical because by checking off waypoints, you know you’re still following the roadmap.

In terms of an AM roadmap, they could be established by legislation. For example, the agency must have a risk-based pavement management system by Fall 2024 and a risk-based bridge management system by Fall 2025.

Timeframe

The timeframe establishes the allotted time you have to go from starting point to destination. In some cases, this is going to be on-going.  In others, you will have a finite amount of time especially in cases where the roadmap is driven by legislation. Such as, we need an AM plan in place for the Federal reporting deadline of Spring 2026. Depending on the timeframe, your route or even possibly your destination may be impacted. You may have to break the journey into several trips rather than just one.

Destination

The destination may seem like the easiest attribute to define and yet it might be the most difficult. How do you know if you have arrived? With a vacation, it is pretty evident but with an AM roadmap, you may not be able to definitively define this, or it may change after you have defined it.

This last thought leads to two further points. The route must be flexible enough to absorb changes and there must be enough alternate paths to take. For example, what if construction has closed the route you intended to take. In AM, the same thing applies if legislative dates change which could happen with a change in government policy.

The second point is that perhaps rather than having a fixed destination in mind, continuous improvement might be your “destination”. That is, rather than saying we must get to a specific end goal by such and such a date, your roadmap strategy should allow you to progressively improve your destination.

Conclusion

The dTIMS Agency Roadmap is built upon the framework presented here. The idea of this roadmap is not unlike any other roadmap – to help you get from your current location to your destination and hopefully avoid any pitfalls along the way and of course to enjoy the journey!

At Deighton, the Agency Roadmap begins with a System Audit or Assessment. This consists of three distinct levels beginning with an efficiency review, before moving on to a best practice review, and finally concluding with the building out of a roadmap. Along the way, an asset management maturity score is derived simply to be able to quantify an agency’s asset management position at any point in time. This allows you to be able to review this score at different times and compare.

This blog introduced the various attributes of a roadmap in the light of asset management.  These attributes and the dTIMS Asset Management Maturity Score will be explored in detail in the next blog.

If you are responsible for asset management in your agency, please review these roadmaps and the accompanying material in this blog to understand the items you will require for your journey. Pack your bags, set your course, and enjoy the ride!

I encourage you to reach out to myself or anyone else at Deighton to learn more about the agency roadmap and to participate in and help influence the work Deighton is doing in this area.

Up Next: Part V - The dTIMS Roadmap: Getting a Score, How do You Measure Up?

Asset Management Roadmap Blog Series:

Part 1: An Agency Roadmap - Do I Need One of Those?

Part 2: The Checklist – What Questions You Can Ask to Help Build a Roadmap

Part 3: A Look at Two Roadmaps – IAM and AMBC

Part 4: The dTIMS Agency Roadmap: Introduction

DUC 2024: Recap

Welcome to the 2024 Deighton User Conference (DUC) recap! Bringing together industry leaders, innovators, and enthusiasts at Deighton’s headquarters, DUC has always served as a beacon of knowledge and collaboration, and this year was no exception. From insightful presentations to interactive sessions, DUC2024 not only showcased the latest advancements in dTIMS, but also explored the evolving landscape of global asset management. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the field, join us as we dive into the highlights and key takeaways from this unforgettable event.

Day 1

The conference kicked off with a heartfelt celebration of the relationships that define Deighton – from long-standing client partnerships, to the dedication of our internal staff whose anniversaries were recognized by Vicki Deighton, CEO.

Left to right: Reid Kiniry and Rick Scott, Vermont, Vicki Deighton, CEO, Deighton Associates Ltd, Karen Deasy and Kay Hopper, Vermont

Following the warm welcome, DUC2024 started with a compelling presentation by the President of Deighton, Rob Piane, on the Deighton Water Model and its associated challenges. Developed in 1994, this model serves as a tangible representation of asset management principles. The session delved into its core concepts, setting the stage for the first of a series of challenges spread out throughout the week. In this DUC Challenge clients engaged in a hands-on exercise to discover optimal ratios for water distribution within the model.

Rob Piane, President, Deighton Associates Ltd

To end the day, clients were invited to showcase their agency and highlight the transformative impact of the dTIMS product suite on their asset network during our client introductory sessions.

Day 2

Each morning, DUC begins with a recap of what took place the day before, and what attendees can expect to see throughout the upcoming sessions. Followed by a second round of client introductory sessions, the audience was excited to welcome our VP of Engineering, Chris Chau and our Head of Product Management, Joel Beaulieu to the stage to highlight the latest advancements in our products and services, focusing particularly on performance improvements.

Deighton’s Chris Chau (left) and Joel Beaulieu (right)

After a quick break, Rob Piane delivered a session focusing on prevalent asset management challenges, highlighting how recent advancements in dTIMS effectively streamline these labor-intensive processes. After, Stephen Smyth and Gerard O’Dea from Transport for Infrastructure Ireland (TII) presented a compelling case study recounting their journey, milestones, and transformative impact that Deighton and dTIMS have had on their asset network.

Stephen Smyth, Travel Infrastructure Ireland

Closing out day 2, Rob Piane introduced strategies for advancing active travel infrastructure, while Jeff Zavitski, partnered with TII, explored the seamless integration of an environmental management system into their existing PMS. Our Director of Business Development, Gary Ruck, then led us into our next DUC Challenge, where attendees were split into three groups and tasked with answering question focused on the strategic, tactical, and operational levels of asset management. Each group presented their innovative ideas and solutions to the others.

Attendees participating in the DUC Challenge

Day 3

On Day 3, the DUC challenges continued with examples and demonstrations of strategic, tactical, and operational uses of the dTIMS Product Suite. Following its completion, attendees engaged in a case study presented by Reid Kiniry from Vermont, demonstrating their approach to achieving strategic objectives through execution, setting the stage for our tactical workshop. During this workshop, led by Dr. Gustav Rohde, participants actively contributed to an open forum discussion on bridging the gap between Strategic (dTIMS BA) and Operational (dTIMS OM) perspectives, providing unique concepts and ideas based on geographical variances amongst the attendees.

Attendees engaging in the Tactical Workshop

That afternoon, Lillian Wester-Andersen delved into a captivating exploration of Vejdirektoratet's asset management journey, driven by the dTIMS Product Suite. Next up, Zutari’s Johan Gerber captivated the audience with a case study on integrating water infrastructure management into dTIMS BA, including deconstructing 3-dimensional models of pump systems and using augmented reality to view live results.

Johan Gerber, Zutari

We were once again greeted by Gary Ruck for an insightful session on the asset management journey. Gary elaborated on the previously mentioned three levels of asset management, and delved deeper into their connection with the six categories of the roadmap. He provided concrete examples illustrating how these concepts relate to dTIMS.

Gary Ruck, Deighton Associates Ltd

To conclude this productive day, Joel Beaulieu and Chris Chau presented key updates on dTIMS products. Their presentation offered a comprehensive overview of the latest advancements and updates to the dTIMS Platform. Attendees gained valuable insights into enhanced features and functionalities aimed at optimizing infrastructure asset management processes.

Joel Beaulieu, Deighton Associates Ltd

Day 4

The last day of DUC was primarily focused on the future of dTIMS, and was kicked-off by Ian Greenwood, of Greenwood Associates Infrastructure Consultants, who presented on institutionalizing asset management, climate resilience and adaptation, as well as GHG modelling.

Ian Greenwood, Greenwood Associates Infrastructure Consultants

After Ian’s keynote presentation, we announced the winner of the dTIMS Cup, a trophy awarded to the individual who demonstrated the highest level of achievement throughout our challenges. We are pleased to announce that Gerard O’Dea from TII is the winner of our DUC2024 dTIMS Cup and will be added to the esteemed trophy located in Deighton’s head office.

The dTIMS Cup

Dave Penney, our Technical Director of Research and Innovation, then led a session introducing four strategic projects that highlight our dedication to pioneering sophisticated solutions across our product lines. Following that, we held the “Behind the Curtain” dTIMS Product Roadmap Session. Joel Beaulieu unveiled the long-term vision for the dTIMS Platform through our strategic product roadmap. Delving into the future segment, Joel showcased the innovative features and enhancements planned for the long-term horizon.

Deighton’s Dave Penney (left) and Alex Sinicyn (right)

Our final session was our Innovation Workshop. During this session, attendees received a comprehensive overview of our portfolio of ongoing ideas, and had the opportunity to weight features, enhancements, and suggestions in the dTIMS Product Suite to assist in the future development of our products.

Deighton’s Dave Penney (left) and Joy Guha (right)

As DUC2024 came to a close, it was clear this year’s conference was fueled by innovation and collaboration. From exploring the intricacies of dTIMS, to envisioning its future applications in global asset management, each session deepened our understanding and sparked new ideas. We extend our thanks to all attendees, whose contributions and enthusiasm made this event exceptional. We are always excited to share the dTIMS experience and we can’t wait for DUC2025, scheduled for June 9 – June 12, 2025!

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Interested in learning more about any of the dTIMS products featured in these sessions? Book a demo with a member of the Deighton team today to learn more!

A Look at Two Roadmaps – IAM and AMBC

Gary Ruck is a registered Professional Engineer and Project Management Professional in Ontario. He has over 35 years of experience in asset management and is a recognized expert in that field. He is currently the Director of Global Business Development at Deighton Associates Ltd.

Summary

This is Part III of a seven-part blog series on the dTIMS Agency Roadmap. Please refer to the introductory blog “Part I - An Agency Roadmap – Do I Need One of Those?” for the basis of this series.

In this installment, we will look at two of the many asset management roadmaps available: IAM and AMBC. This “look” will not suggest that one is superior to the other, but rather highlight the nuances of each so you can choose the one most appropriate for your agency.

Introduction

In the previous installment of this series, the focus was on the six fundamental questions in most roadmaps that help you evaluate your agency’s asset management (AM) practices. Several organizations publish roadmaps related to asset management: ISO, Institute of Asset Management (IAM), and Asset Management British Columbia (AMBC) are just a few. This installment will focus on the latter two organizations. These roadmaps provide a framework for the dTIMS Agency Roadmap which will be covered in much detail in the remainder of this series. Prior to this, it is prudent to explore the roadmaps in this article.

Two Roadmaps

The Institute of Asset Management Roadmap

According to IAM’s website, “the Institute of Asset Management (the IAM) is the international professional body for asset management professionals. The IAM develops asset management knowledge and best practices and generates awareness of the benefits of the asset management discipline for the individual, organizations, and wider society”.

A substantial amount of literature is available at the above link, but two more pertinent for this author are “The Big Picture” and the “IAM Conceptual Model for Asset Management”.

The following figure depicts the conceptual model.

My interpretation of this model is as follows:

• Purpose & context of why AM in the first place must guide the way through the whole process

• Value & outcomes must be produced and measurable through the whole process

• Leadership & AM governance must lead the way within the overall purpose

• Constant review and improvement are important because it will never be perfect out of the gate and must always be adaptable

• The organization and its people implement the solution provided by their leadership

• Strategy must be defined and articulated, and a plan put in place on how to implement said strategy

• AM decision-making process is critical to execute the strategy for the particular people and the organization that is implementing it

• AM software (LC Delivery) is based on the AM strategy and the AM decision rules for the organization/agency

• Risk is something that needs to be established and measured for each organization and evaluated against an agency’s risk appetite

• Information is what other stakeholders in the organization/agency rely on to do their jobs

This model is useful to ensure that an organization’s AM goals are clearly defined and articulated across the agency, which is paramount if asset management is to be successful.

Asset Management British Columbia Roadmap

The second roadmap explored in this article is from AMBC. Their objective is “Strengthening BC Communities Through Leadership in Asset Management. Sharing information, transferring knowledge, and building capacity for sustainable service delivery”.

The AMBC roadmap is depicted below and this guide goes into much more detail.

Overall, the AMBC roadmap is divided into six categories. The dTIMS Agency Roadmap is based on this and includes many of the competencies shown here. The categories and their relationship to dTIMS concepts are shown below.

Each of these categories is depicted as a vertical swim lane in the previous image. The Asset Management Practice Modules are the numbered items within each category. A lot of these modules are competencies of dTIMS, and it is because of this close alignment between the AMBC roadmap and the dTIMS core competencies that the dTIMS Agency Roadmap is patterned after this.

The previous blog introduced and discussed six key questions to ask when building a roadmap.  To close out this blog, I wanted to connect that blog to this one and map the key questions to the AM Practice Modules.  This will become useful in subsequent blogs.  The following table summarizes the key questions again and shows a mapping to the AM practice modules shown earlier.  The point here is these practice modules help direct our energy to specific areas to help us answer these questions.

Conclusion

These two roadmaps are excellent tools to help guide an agency’s asset management practices. One of these practices is to define an objective and then build a clear path on how to get there.

““All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination.””

— Earl Nightingale

The dTIMS Agency Roadmap is built upon the framework presented here. The idea of this roadmap is not unlike any other roadmap – to help you get from your current location to your destination and hopefully avoid any pitfalls along the way, all while enjoying the journey.

Around the world, dTIMS is used to help agencies through this process. dTIMS can be used for any asset type that your agency is responsible for. For example, the State of Vermont is using dTIMS to manage more than 20 of its critical assets. It is being used for the asset’s inventory and condition as well as the development of the short- and long-term financial plan. Contact Deighton Associates Ltd. to find out more about how we can help you along your asset management journey.

If you are responsible for asset management in your agency, please review these roadmaps and the accompanying material in this blog to understand the items you will require for your journey. Pack your bags, set your course, and enjoy the ride!

Please watch for future blogs that will continue this theme and go into more specifics.

Up Next: Part IV - The dTIMS Roadmap – Part I - Introduction.

Asset Management Roadmap Blog Series:

Part 1: An Agency Roadmap - Do I Need One of Those?

Part 2: The Checklist – What Questions You Can Ask to Help Build a Roadmap

The Checklist – What Questions You Can Ask to Help Build a Roadmap

Gary Ruck is a registered Professional Engineer and Project Management Professional in Ontario. He has over 35 years of experience in asset management and is a recognized expert in that field. He is currently the Director of Global Business Development at Deighton Associates Ltd.

Summary

This is Part II of a seven-part blog series on the dTIMS Agency Roadmap. Please refer to the introductory blog “Part I - An Agency Roadmap – Do I Need One of Those?” for the basis of this series.

In this installment, we will look at the six questions you should ask yourself to help gauge your agency’s asset management maturity (AMM) level and to help identify your future focus areas.

Introduction

In the previous installment of this series, the purpose was to determine your agency’s AMM, what information you might need to establish that, and how you could increase it. There are six fundamental questions in most roadmaps that help you evaluate your agency’s asset management (AM) practices.  There are always variations to these questions, but the fundamental approach is the same – to look at your AM practices from different perspectives and evaluate how your agency stacks up against industry-recognized best (asset) management practices, identify your existing gaps, and then determine the implementation activities necessary to bridge or close these gaps. This blog will explore those questions.

The 6 Questions

So, what are these questions? Let’s look at each one individually. The first three deal with your current inventory of assets, and the last three deal with how to maintain and fund these assets into the future.

Question 1: What do you have and where is it?

This question is a foundational one in asset management. Its purpose is to bring focus to exactly what assets your agency owns and is responsible for. It is impossible to do proper asset management if you don’t have a full inventory of all your assets. This inventory includes basic data about the asset but also, ideally, is linearly referenced to some base network, and preferably supported by GIS. Otherwise, you will end up with disparate data sets that cannot relate to one another, making it difficult to share data and results, and monitor performance.

For some agencies, the list of asset types that you are ultimately responsible for can be substantial. If this is the case for you, then you will need to prioritize which assets come first because it is unrealistic to work on all of them simultaneously. The prioritization can be based on asset value (more on this in the next question), risk, budget needs, or even an asset steward who is showing initiative.

Finally, for each asset type, you will want to decide on what asset components are important to collect. You don’t necessarily need an exhaustive list of items for every asset, but you will need to consider the AM objectives for each asset, how much data you currently have, do you have the right data, how will you acquire the data that you need, and how often should you collect it?

Question 2: What is it worth?

Once you know what you have and where it is, you will want to consider the importance of each asset type to help focus your AM efforts on the most important ones. This ranking can be in many forms, but two of the more commonly used ones are asset value and criticality. We will explore asset criticality in greater detail in the following question, but first, let’s discuss asset value.

Asset value is the concept of determining the monetary worth of each individual asset and its asset class. An asset class is the entire collection of similar assets. As with everything else, there is not just one way to do this, but depending on the asset type, the overall quantity of individual assets, and the data quality associated with your asset inventory, you can implement either a bottom-up or top-down approach.

A bottom-up approach determines the value of each individual asset at its current stage of life (e.g., year of service). A simple way to do this is to determine the asset’s replacement cost if new and then take a percentage of that based on its current condition and the amount of time the asset is anticipated to remain in service (i.e., service life). Then, you can sum up each asset’s value to determine the overall asset value for that asset class.

A top-down approach determines the overall asset value directly for the asset class without looking at each individual asset. You could sum up all the assets along with an asset value, and this total is the overall asset value for that asset type. A simple approach could be to use an average unit cost per asset and then apply that to the total number of assets.

Other questions to consider when considering an asset’s value include: what is your agency’s current investment level for the asset, and how fast are the assets being consumed? Calculating your asset replacement value can provide you with an indication if there is a potential issue. Similar to getting your blood pressure checked when you visit the doctor for a check-up!  For example, if your current investment levels cannot maintain, repair, or replace your assets at their current rate of consumption, then your asset backlog will continue to increase.

Question 3: What is its condition and expected remaining service life? 

This question focuses on asset condition while bringing in a level of service life angle. Condition is often a quantitative, engineering measure of the current state of the asset, but on its own, it might not tell you the whole picture.  A condition value of 40 out of 100 on an asset that is heavily used on a major component of your network versus the same condition value on a rarely used asset in a remote location is very different. The concepts of remaining service life (RSL) and criticality are used to help clarify the picture. In the example above, the first asset has a much lower RSL and higher criticality rating than the second asset and hence, should be considered earlier in your AM plan.

The purpose of the first three questions is to objectively identify and evaluate what you currently have, and to consider developing a sense of urgency for each asset class.

Question 4: What is the level of service expectation, and what needs to be done and when?

The next two questions highlight areas where the benefits of an asset management software application are maximized. In this question, you are establishing what level of service your agency and your stakeholders expect from each asset class. For example, is it acceptable for 20% of the roads to be in poor condition? What about the bridges? Based on these answers, you will likely develop both a capital and a maintenance and operations plan for each asset type to prescribe what to do and when to do it to achieve the desired level of service. To create these work plans, your asset management software application will likely examine the current condition of your asset and predict how that condition will change in the future. Based on this prediction, a set of maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement recommendations will be recommended along with a cost and a timeframe for implementation.

Question 5: How much will it cost and what is the acceptable level of risk(s)?       

The work plan discussed in the previous question on its own does not provide the full picture. Much like maintaining condition is not the same as achieving a desired service level, a work plan needs to consider other factors to be a useful AM artifact. For each asset class, your agency needs to evaluate or determine its risk appetite. Risk appetite is the level of risk that an agency is willing to accept or tolerate, which can be quite low for critical assets such as bridges, but might be higher for other assets such as traffic signs. The risk appetite coupled with your agency’s budgeted asset investment level will help you develop a more structured work plan that can be used to evaluate your predicted performance against your AM objectives.

The work plan will contain a wealth of information that your agency can use to make its AM decisions, such as future capital and operating costs, and from this a short and long-term financial plan, asset renewal alternatives, and asset maintenance and rehabilitation strategies. With this information in hand, you will be able to determine if you are meeting your AM objectives, and if not where you are falling short and what strategies you will need to employ to meet your objectives. Of course, this assumes that you have explicitly documented your AM goals and objectives!

Question 6: How do you ensure long-term affordability? 

Finally, with your work plan in hand and an idea of what your future financial plan looks like, you will need to determine how you can sustain this over the long term. Up to now, we have been looking at assets individually and independently of one another. But this approach may be neither sustainable nor economical, as you may simply not have enough funds to meet the needs of all your assets! You will likely need to consider reducing your performance expectations for one or more asset classes, which reduces the amount of funds you need. This increases the amount of risk exposure you must carry so you can balance your infrastructure needs against your available funds. Making these difficult trade-off type decisions highlights the need to coordinate infrastructure works to minimize future disruptions to the traveling public – your stakeholders – while providing efficiency through economies of scale. Many agencies have seen the benefits of developing corridor projects that address maintenance and capital needs in a single project.

What funding sources are available to your agency and how reliable are these going forward? Is the level of investment going to change dramatically at all in the years ahead? These are just some of the questions around the reliability of the funding sources you have at your disposal and must be answered in your financial plan. The best-laid plans will go for not if the investment level is not there to execute them.

Conclusion

These six questions or variations thereof are fundamental to your agency’s AM efforts. If your agency is serious about AM, you will need to go through these questions for each asset type and document your answers. This becomes the foundation of your asset management plan. The questions help you look at the now and the future, and allow your agency to take a proactive approach to preserve assets for future generations. And, by going through these questions, you will determine your agency’s AMM and identify future areas of improvement.

Around the world, dTIMS is used to help agencies through this process. dTIMS can be used for any asset type that your agency is responsible for. For example, the State of Vermont is using dTIMS to manage more than 20 of its critical assets. It is being used for the asset’s inventory and condition as well as the development of the short- and long-term financial plan. Contact Deighton Associates Ltd. to find out more about how we can help you along your asset management journey.

If you are responsible for asset management in your agency, pick one asset and go through these questions for that asset. At first, do not spend a lot of time on each one. Just go through the process to get a feel for the resources you may need to answer the questions. You will not and cannot do it on your own. But asset management always requires a champion to get a foothold within an agency. Be that champion!

I encourage you to reach out to anyone at Deighton to learn more about the agency roadmap and to participate in and help influence the work Deighton is doing in this area.

Please watch for future blogs that will continue this theme and go into more specifics.

Up Next: Part III - A Look at Two Roadmaps – IAM and AMBC.

Asset Management Roadmap Blog Series:

Part 1: An Agency Roadmap - Do I Need One of Those?

Part 2: The Checklist – What Questions You Can Ask to Help Build a Roadmap

Part 3: A Look at Two Roadmaps - IAM and AMBC

DUC 2023: Day 3 Recap

Summary

We just wrapped up the final day of DUC2023! Our day began with a welcome and Day 2 recap from Rob Piane, President of Deighton Associates Ltd.. Dr. Gustav Rohde, Zutari, brought us a thought-provoking keynote on managing change. The other morning sessions of Day 3 brought us the dTIMS Experience of the Future with the dTIMS BI and dTIMS RSI presentations. In the afternoon, we learned about ‘The dTIMS Product Roadmap’ from Deighton’s Craig German, Okeys Ononiwu, and Chris Chau. This was followed by an introductory presentation to dTIMS User Groups.

Keynote Highlight

Dr. Gustav Rohde, Zutari, delivered a thought-provoking keynote titled “Managing Change – Fundamental to System Evolution & Digital Transformation,” a presentation that analyzes the human race’s natural tendencies to resist change in any given aspect of their daily lives.

Using experiences from his remarkable career of directing people within the asset management industry, Gustav provided examples and context of this phenomenon from both a philosophical and pragmatic point of view.

Gustav’s presentation continuously asked the question of “was the old way really the best way?” and addressed whether human beings can get in their own way when it comes to innovation.

Gustav concluded his presentation by addressing the future of the asset management industry, reminding us that human beings most important asset is not being the smartest, but the most adaptable.

Dr. Gustav Rohde, former Deputy CEO of Zutari in South Africa, delivering a thought-provoking keynote titled “Managing Change – Fundamental to System Evolution & Digital Transformation”.

Session Highlights

After the keynote, our Day 3 agenda focused on bringing you the dTIMS Experience of the Future!

The dTIMS Experience - dTIMS BI – Deighton’s Gabriel Duarte Luna, Jr Implementation Specialist, introduced us to The Hub in a dTIMS BI product video and product interview. Gabriel explained how Deighton is re-working the dashboarding experience to move from displaying your data to telling you a story about it.

Deighton’s Gabriel Duarte Luna (left) and Menan Nagulendran (right) during the dTIMS BI Q&A session.

The dTIMS Experience of the Future - dTIMS RSI – Dave Penney, Technical Director of Reasearch & Innovation at Deighton Associates Ltd., and Alexandr Sinicyn, Associate Product Manager at Deighton Associates Ltd., introduced us to dTIMS Real Safety intelligence. The presentation began with a dTIMS RSI product interview with Dave, followed by a product video by Alex.

RSI is a safety insight tool that utilizes both geospatial and standard data analytics to offer the user information about the areas where potential high-risk event data occurs. Leveraging crash, near miss, and other telematics data, dTIMS RSI provides the user with the information to discover high-risk areas within a roadway network that may have otherwise been overlooked and utilize that data to mitigate potential risk. dTIMS RSI can prepare, sort, and evaluate a large pool of telematics data allowing the user to save time through automation.

Pavement engineers understand what is happening below a roadway network - dTIMS RSI shows what is happening above.

From left to right, Deighton’s Alexandr Sinicyn, Dave Penney, and Menan Nagulendran during the dTIMS RSI presentation.

dTIMS Product Roadmap – Deighton’s Craig German, Director of Product Experience; Okeys Ononiwu, Director of Product Management; and Chris Chau, VP of Engineering, brought us the “dTIMS Product Roadmap” session. This session provided a look inside the product roadmap process at Deighton. We took a look at what a product roadmap is versus product release. Where do innovations and features originate? How they flow into the process and how are they scheduled? Finally, we explored by product, what has been delivered in 2022 and take a sneak peek into the remainder of 2023 and beyond.

From left to right, Deighton’s Craig German, Okeys Ononiwu, and Chris Chau presenting the “dTIMS Product Roadmap” presentation.

The dTIMS Experience of the Future: dTIMS User Groups - An Introduction – We ended the day with Craig German, Director of Product Experience and Gary Ruck, Director of Business Development as they highlighted the newest opportunity for Deighton clients – the Deighton User Groups. This collaborative opportunity will allow clients from around the world to gather together in an informal setting virtually to discuss trends in asset management, the implementation of dTIMS products, or other topics that directly relate to their day-to-day work.

 The Deighton User Groups are still in the pilot phase, and we are looking for your feedback on topics that you believe would suit the Deighton community of Asset Management Professionals. If you have an idea, or would like to be involved in the Deighton User Groups, please click here to let us know.

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Thank you to everyone who attended both in-person and virtually. We were excited to share this dTIMS experience with you.

Interested in learning more about any of the dTIMS products featured in these sessions? Book a demo with a member of the Deighton team today to learn more!

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DUC 2023: Day 2 Recap

Summary

Day 2 of DUC2023 has come to a close! Our day began with a welcome and Day 1 recap from Rob Piane, President of Deighton Associates Ltd. Dr. Theuns Henning, Infrastructure Decision Support NZ, kicked off our sessions with a keynote presentation on "New Zealand Status and Focus for the Future”. This was followed by “The dTIMS Experience - dTIMS OM” session by Deighton’s Chris Chau, VP of Engineering and Menan Nagulendran, Product Manager. The afternoon brought us a panel discussion of global industry experts and a dTIMS Doctor & Support Tips and Tricks webinar.

Keynote Highlight

Dr. Theuns Henning, Infrastructure Decision Support New Zealand, brought us an engaging keynote entitled “New Zealand Status and Focus for the Future”. He began by covering both the new trends and the challenges the industry is faced with from a New Zealand perspective and applied those trends on a global scale.

Dr. Theuns Henning, IDS NZ, presenting at Day 2 of DUC2023.

Session Highlights

After the keynote, our Day 2 agenda kicked off with diving into “The dTIMS Experience - dTIMS OM” session, learning from the Global Trends in Asset Management panel, and diving deeper into dTIMS with “The dTIMS Doctor and Support Tips & Tricks” session.

The dTIMS Experience - dTIMS OM – Deighton’s Chris Chau, VP of Engineering, and Menan Nagulendran, Product Manager, brought us an in-depth look at dTIMS Operations Management (OM). This session began with a product interview where Chris talked about Deighton’s maintenance management journey and where OM falls into place. The session ended with a dTIMS OM product video covering both the history and current state of the product.

Deighton’s Chris Chau (left) and Menan Nagulendran (right) brought us an in-depth look at dTIMS Operations Management (OM).

Global Trends in Asset Management Panel – Nick Rushall, VP of Operations at Deighton Associates Ltd., and Dr. Gustav Rohde, CEO at Zutari hosted this panel of global industry experts. Our global panel included Dr. Theuns Henning, Infrastructure Decision Support NZ (IDS); Erany Robinson, Georgia Department of Transportation; Stephen Smyth, Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII); Jake Bumgarner, West Virginia Department of Transportation; and Michael Ebbesen, Vejdirektoratet (Danish Road Directorate - DRD).

Our panel of experts from left to right: Michael Ebbesen, Stephen Smyth, Dr. Theuns Henning, Jake Bumgarner, Erany Robinson, Nick Rushall, and Dr. Gustav Rohde.

dTIMS Doctor and Support Tips & Tricks – In this session, a panel of our global dTIMS Doctors answered questions for clients on all things dTIMS. The doctors included members of our global support team and Jeff Zavitski, Technical Director of Asset Management at Deighton.

Deighton’s Jeff Zavitksi presenting during the dTIMS Doctor and Support Tricks & Tips session.

Thank you to everyone who attended both in-person and virtually. We are excited to share this dTIMS experience with you and look forward to seeing everyone again tomorrow.

Interested in learning more about any of the dTIMS products featured in these sessions? Book a demo with a member of the Deighton team today to learn more!

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DUC 2023: Day 1 Recap

Summary

We just wrapped up Day 1 of DUC2023! Our morning began with a welcome from Vicki Deighton, CEO of Deighton Associates Ltd., where we recognized client anniversary milestones. We explored all things dTIMS BA in the dTIMS Experience - dTIMS BA session with Rob Piane, President of Deighton Associates Ltd., a dTIMS BA product video, and client case studies! We ended our day with the dTIMS Inspect session including a product owner interview and product demo.

Client Anniversary Milestones

DUC2023 began with recognizing client anniversary milestones. We never take our relationship with our clients for granted and strive to continually work hard to earn the privilege of clients staying with us for many years into the future. This year at DUC, we had some long-time clients with us in-person to receive their anniversary milestone pins. Deighton would like to congratulate the following in-person clients:

• Erany Robinson from Georgia DOT celebrating 5 years with Deighton

• The IDS New Zealand team - Dr. Theuns Henning, Gemma Mathieson, Gordon Hart and Julie Muir – celebrating 25 years with Deighton.

• Dr. Gustav Rohde from Zutari celebrating 30 years with Deighton

Additionally, we congratulated these clients who attended virtually:

• Celebrating 5 years with Deighton, we have: Federal Ministry Republic of Austria for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation, and Technology (BMK); DRI; MOTC Qatar; and State of Styria, Austria

• Celebrating 10 years with Deighton, we have: Lower Austria

• Celebrating 25 years with Deighton, we have: ASFINAG; City of Greater Sudbury, Canada; Flemish Agency for Roads and Traffic; NZTA; and Main Roads Western Australia

• Celebrating 30 years with Deighton, we have: State of Arkansas DOT; State of Massachusetts DOT, State of Rhode Island DOT; and WSP New Zealand

Session Highlights

Our Day 1 agenda kicked off with diving into the dTIMS Experience, learning more about dTIMS BA and client case studies, as well as taking a closer look at dTIMS inspect for day-to-day asset inspection.

The dTIMS Experience – This presentation covered established asset management roadmaps, such as the Institute of Asset Management and Asset Management British Columbia, followed by discussing the dTIMS roadmap.

The dTIMS Experience – dTIMS BA – This session covered all things dTIMS BA! It highlighted news about the product from Deighton experts that know BA the best. A product owner interview with Rob Piane and Gary Ruck started us off. This interview focused on where we are and most importantly where we are going. The dTIMS BA product video highlighted additional tools available to help you get the most out of BA.

Rob Piane, President of Deighton Associates Ltd. (left) with Gary Ruck (right) during the dTIMS BA Interview.

We also brought back a favourite of many past DUCs – the agency case studies. This section featured three case studies from around the world, highlighting why clients chose BA and what they did with it. These case studies were: Main Roads Western Australia Case Study by Lalinda Karunaratne, Zutari Case Study by Chris von Holdt, and Hawaii Department of Transportation Case Study by Deighton’s Jeff Zavitski.

The dTIMS Experience – dTIMS Inspect – This session explored how dTIMS Inspect connects asset managers with in-the-field experts through data collection and condition assessment using a mobile application. It began with a product video and live interview with Joel Beaulieu, product owner at Deighton and ended with an in-depth product demo.

Thank you to everyone who attended both in-person and virtually. We are excited to share this dTIMS experience with you and look forward to seeing everyone again tomorrow.

Interested in learning more about any of the dTIMS products featured in these sessions? Book a demo with a member of the Deighton team today to learn more!

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Deighton Receives WCC Business Achievement Award

Deighton Associates Ltd. is proud to announce we were selected as the recipient of the “Business Achievement Award - 50+ Employees” presented by the Whitby Chamber of Commerce (WCC) on November 10, 2022.

During the Peter Perry & Business Achievement Awards, the WCC recognizes local businesses that have demonstrated a passion for excellence, a commitment to their community, and a strong entrepreneurial spirit. Since these three pillars reflect Deighton’s core values as a company, we are honoured to be recognized by our community as successfully living out these values.

Deighton CEO Vicki Deighton receives the ‘Business Achievement Award 50+ Employees’.

Upon receiving the award, our CEO Vicki Deighton said, “I continue to tell our staff that we are in the ‘centre of the universe’ in Whitby and there is no other place I would rather be. We are surrounded by brilliance in this community and businesses that I am so proud to be associated with.”

Deighton will continue to grow as a company in the coming years, and we look forward to supporting and contributing to the developing community in Whitby.

We would like to extend thanks to RBC and Heather Dunn for nominating us for this award. We are grateful for your continued support.

DUC 2021 | July 12-14

DEIGHTON USER CONFERENCE - 2021

EVOLVING FROM A 2D TO A 3D WORLD

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We are excited to officially announce that the Deighton User Conference (DUC) will be taking place from July 12-14! Similar to last year, DUC will be a fully virtual experience designed to deliver key learning opportunities and valuable resources to our clients, partners, and users.

Featuring content for every level of asset management professional, DUC will use a combination of live presentations and interactive sessions to not only highlight the direction and improvements that we have made to dTIMS over the past year, but the global impact of asset management and the trends that are appearing in the industry.

Whether you’re new to the asset management scene, a strategic asset manager, an executive director, or anything in between, DUC has exactly what you need.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

• 3 consecutive days of learning and networking

• 4 concurrent content tracks

• Thought-provoking keynotes delivered by industry experts

• Dynamic agenda based on attendee interests

• Explore the latest releases and demos of dTIMS

• Network in private break out rooms through video and chat

• Visit with our dTIMS Doctor for an outside opinion on the topic of your choosing

Check out the DUC website to learn more, and keep an eye out for new information as we continue to announce speakers, special guests, and more!

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DUC HAS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE 

Are you an Executive Director looking for high-level information on dTIMS, or an Inspection Technical User working in the field? Our tailored sessions will provide you with access to the information that will help you in your role.

DUC will be run twice each day to meet the needs of different organizations and countries around the world. Select your timezone to view your detailed schedule!
Check out the structure for each day of DUC, and stay tuned for when we announce session topics, speakers, and more!

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TICKETS & REGISTRATION

Early bird pricing is currently available for all DUC tickets, but only for a limited time! Make sure you get yours before April 16.

Looking to register for DUC with your agency? Select one of our "Agency Pass" ticket options to register all at once!