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P A R T I : G U I D E B O O K Chapter 1: Overview The objective of this Guidebook is to provide guidance to airport staff in selecting a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) that best meets an airportâs individual needs, and in successfully integrating it into airport processes, procedures, and other information technology systems. An additional purpose of the Guidebook is to provide guidance for development and implementation of a CMMS program and serve as a reference for the airport professional. This Guidebook is intended to serve large, medium, and small airport audiences. It discusses opportunities to achieve efficiencies and cost benefits of individual CMMS program components, as well efficiencies and benefits of the implementation of a complete CMMS program. A complete full-featured, integrated, CMMS program can be the right solution for a large airport; yet it might not be feasible for smaller airports or budget-constrained airports. For those airports with limited budgets and/or resources, the Guidebook provides assistance towards a suitable program start-up as well as with implementing specific program components that can be beneficial given the airportâs unique situation. For those airports that might choose to implement CMMS program components, the Guidebook provides guidance for a phased approach towards a complete CMMS program as an ultimate goal. For example, it might be advantageous for such an airport to begin accumulating asset data into an asset catalog as part of regular maintenance activities. The Guidebook defines the components of a CMMS program. It can assist the airport in making informed decision about the feasibility of CMMS. Furthermore, the Guidebook intends to supply the information that an airport professional would need to understand the concepts of CMMS, and to have a high-level understanding of their issues and benefits. Some key strategies are identified in the Guidebook with a special marker. Key strategies will be identified with this marker. They may be stand-alone initiatives with independent benefit, antecedents to a successful implementation, or building blocks to implementing a larger-scale CMMS. In addition, the Guidebook provides a review of current approaches to CMMS programs in practice at airports. This includes considerations and decisions made during CMMS program selection and implementation. Lessons learned from airportsâ experience are included to help guide the CMMS evaluation and implementation processes. Good CMMS implementation practices and benefits are also included. Finally, the Guidebook is accompanied by an Evaluation Tool and User Guide to help airports define their requirements for a CMMS program to use in a Request for Proposal, other procurement efforts, or in an internal development/implementation process. 2
Airport Computerized Maintenance Management Systems Maintenance planning and execution is a critical aspect of a facilities management organization within an airport. Airports, in general whether large or small, have a substantial number of assets, many with high dollar values. Managing the maintenance of these assets proactively protects them, allows planning of resources to maintain them, and facilitates budgeting for replacement. A CMMS can track maintenance activities, provide automation for activities and data exchange, and provide reporting for executives. CMMS can include financial review and analysis for cost of asset maintenance and replacement, physical tracking of the asset, and tools for maintaining data about the assets managed by the CMMS. Despite all that a CMMS can do for the airport, it is difficult for decision makers and maintenance professionals at airports to plan a CMMS project. They need tools to help explain the benefits and costs, provide an overview of CMMS, and provide guidance for the airport staff in selecting and integrating the CMMS into airport processes, procedures, and other airport systems. This applies to airports of all sizes. A small airport might not have the budget to do a CMMS implementation with the same scope and scale as a large airport, but there are aspects of a CMMS that most airports can adopt. Airports need guidance, not just on the selection, but also on how to implement a CMMS. Vendors will imply that success depends on the software, yet there is evidence of successful (and not so successful) implementations of each particular software commonly on the market. Therefore, the reasons for success are probably not linked to a particular software. More likely, success is linked to the airportâs understanding of how a CMMS fits within its maintenance practices and how the use of a CMMS can improve those practices. It is also likely that implementation of a CMMS will cause changes within those practices. The potential for improvement in maintenance functions and processes, and in the ability to predict and manage assets drive most airports towards an adoption of a CMMS. Many did so early in the history of CMMS, replacing manual practices with some automation and better record keeping. Some of those airports have moved to full asset management systems, taking benefit of life-cycle analysis and planning for their resources. Many airports without budget and/or identified return on investment have not yet done so. While a full-blown CMMS might not be economically feasible for some of those airports, many could still benefit from a roadmap for a phased implementation of CMMS, or from specific modules from a CMMS that meet budget and specific needs. In general, the main driver for the successful adoption of technologies in airports is the need for improvement of some element of the airportâs business. In the case of CMMS, these drivers would include creating greater operational effectiveness, enhancing of preventive maintenance scheduling, enhancing service delivery, optimizing asset life while minimizing asset cost, improving budgeting and planning capabilities, enhancing resource management, minimizing downtime, increasing reliability, enhancing environmentally sound operations, improving management decision-making, and enhancing productivity. In many cases, management of airport infrastructure is distributed across airport departments, with the responsibility for assets also distributed, which in turn leads to the evolution of department-centric systems and methodologies for maintenance programs. This is also likely to lead to duplication of efforts across these departments. Generally, these department-centric stand-alone systems create the following inefficiencies and problems within the airport: ⢠Separate silos of information are not shared with other airport departments 3
⢠Difficult information exchange among departments and systems ⢠Lack of timely coordination ⢠Applications which are difficult to support ⢠Redundant data entry for different systems ⢠Insufficient distribution of relevant data across departments and systems ⢠Impede establishment of standards within the airport ⢠Duplicate and non-standard physical infrastructures (e.g., servers, databases, networks, cable plants, etc.) ⢠Lack of cost effectiveness in supporting multiple systems ⢠Difficulty in inter-departmental communications ⢠Difficulty in achieving common organizational goals Department-centric systems also leave the airport without the âbig pictureâ perspective of airport assets and maintenance that is critical to operations and planning. The integration of these disparate systems would allow the airport both an overview of the asset maintenance requirements and the detail to manage each asset optimally. Airports need to create an integrated business process to support the integration of CMMS programs. From this, systems that might be considered for integration include: Geographic Information System (GIS), Resource Management Systems (RMS), Common Use systems, Pavement Management Systems (PMS), Gate Management Systems (GMS), Asset Information Management Systems (AIMS), Airport Operational Databases (AODB), Automated Vehicle Identification (AVI) systems, runway incursion systems, airfield systems, airport procurement and financial systems, airport capital planning systems, airport safety systems, pavement maintenance systems, building management systems, Building Information Management (BIM) systems, Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, airport help desk, airport Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, human resources systems, other airport back-office systems, and potentially all airport operational systems. The Guidebook assists airports to determine which of these systems should be integrated to provide optimal data use and the resulting efficiencies for their airport. The benefit of integrating each system should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, in order to produce a roadmap that allows the airport to systematically approach integrations and make decisions about which ones have the required/desired cost- benefit to support a decision for such an integration. The airport will need to decide the level of application integration that is desired based on practicality and budget? For example, GIS integration can pull information from underlying databases to spatially display and visually analyze asset infrastructure. The level to which this is taken will drive the cost of implementing GIS integration. The airport might want to click on a specific camera in a terminal map, and see the maintenance history for that camera as well as its specification and upcoming preventive maintenance. An airport-wide CMMS program can allow airport executives a better insight into how the airport maintains assets in real-time, and can enable the creation of real-time monitoring of key performance indicators (KPIs). Convergence of the silos of information contained within departments is an essential way for executives to reach into the departmentsâ information resources in order to better manage airport assets from an overall airport perspective. Historical data can be analyzed to identify opportunities for improvement and to develop a better ability to set and meet or exceed performance benchmarks, including preventative maintenance and management of assets. 4
A challenge in implementation of an airport CMMS, as with any system, is cost. There are options, which range from a custom system developed natively within the airport over time, implementation of some modules of a full CMMS implementation, a "vanilla" implementation of a CMMS without customization, to a full-scale off-the shelf and highly-customized CMMS. Each of these has advantages and disadvantages. Budget and resources are factors in determining what kind of implementation will work at any given airport. A full-scale off-the shelf and highly customized CMMS can be a multi-million dollar expenditure. And the successful execution of a CMMS program requires many airport resources. The dependency of a CMMS on a reliable asset catalog (also referred to as asset inventory or asset dictionary) is vast. Some large airports have implemented airport-wide Asset Information Management (AIM) systems. Some others have implemented custom solutions. But in all cases, an asset catalog is critical to a successful implementation of a CMMS. Although a comprehensive asset catalog is needed to manage all assets, most airports start with particular types of assets and include additional ones as their program matures. There is little in the current available literature about airport CMMS. However, efforts to identify and locate relevant materials are currently underway in the airport and other industries, within organizations such as the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), the Airports Council North America (ACI-NA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), Institute of Asset Management (IAM), The Airport Association for Benchmarking (TAAB), and others. Airports, obviously, also have investigated solutions to CMMS and are good sources of information for this study. The Transportation Research Board (TRB) has an American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) subcommittee on asset management. The subcommittee supports a Transportation Asset Management Today website, and the TRB sponsors a transportation asset management conference. The National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) funded a recently published report on Analytical Tools for Asset Management and another on An Asset- Management Framework for the Interstate Highway System. These and other industry sources can provide a wealth of information on asset management and CMMS that is considered for, or can be extrapolated to, airports. CMMS versus Enterprise Asset Management Systems What is the difference between a CMMS and an Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) system? CMMS have been in use for more than thirty years. Generally, a CMMS tracks the maintenance activities and costs for assets. It can also track workflow and cost for maintenance activities. Typically, a CMMS provides management of work orders, preventive maintenance, inventory, and asset history. An EAM system includes those components as well as functionalities addressing inspection and monitoring of assets. Monitoring is done with regular periodic condition assessments of the assets, and the system attempts to maintain a desired level of service at the lowest life-cycle cost. EAM systems can be defined as managing infrastructure capital assets to minimize the total cost of owning, operating, and maintaining assets at acceptable levels of service. These systems touch the entire organization and manage the interdependencies of maintenance, operations, asset performance, personnel productivity, life-cycle costs, and capital planning. A first step in any EAM plan is for an organization to conduct a needs assessment to understand what is required to accomplish its asset management goals. In the past, many organizations managed their 5
activities by capital and operating expenditures found in their accounting systems. However, airports are a capital âassetâ intensive business, so they are âasset-centricâ by definition because assets are central to their business purpose. Just as with a CMMS, one of the first tasks for any EAM plan is compiling existing assets into an inventory, an âasset catalogâ. Both EAM and CMMS require a commitment to maintain such an asset catalog. CMMS can be the starting point for an airport EAM. CMMS planning should include EAM as an eventual goal. Therefore, the CMMS program should be structured with that in mind. One approach might be that an airport procures an EAM software and only implements those modules relevant to CMMS. The scope of the data required for an EAM includes the total life-cycle cost of an asset, and not just its maintenance costs. The initial cost data can be captured in the CMMS. It is important for the airport to understand the long-term goal for the CMMS. If that goal includes a full EAM system with life-cycle costs for assets across the entire airport, the procurement of the CMMS should be approached with that goal in mind. Airport case studies, as provided in Appendix B, describe the progress of five airports, two of which began a CMMS program and have evolved it into a full EAM system. 6
