An Integrated Asset Management Framework for Critical Public Utilities in UAE

A Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation in Engineering Systems Management by Alya Omran Alquraidi Alshamsi entitled, “An Integrated Asset Management Framework for Critical Public Utilities in UAE”, submitted in March 2024. Dissertation advisor is Dr. Mahmoud Awad. Soft copy is available (Dissertation, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).

Abstract

Asset management (AM) plays a significant role in ensuring systems’ availability and sustainability of utilities. It is essential due to the ever-demanding pressure to provide high quality services at minimum cost in a sustainable manner. An efficient AM is the linchpin that safeguards a resilient service to the community through system availability maximization and service disruption avoidance. This requires an integrated AM framework to ensure complete value realization of assets. Despite the importance of public utilities, there is a wide variety of practices on how providers manage their assets. These practices are governed by general asset management standards such as ISO 55000 which does not meet all specific needs of public utilities. The lack of integrated and comprehensive asset management approach may lead to inefficiencies in cost and availability of the assets. The aim of this dissertation is to assess the current status of the AM governance of critical fixed assets in critical public utilities in the UAE and develop a tailored framework to satisfy its specific needs. A comparative analysis was conducted to analyse the benefits and challenges of AM standard deployment and its impact on AM performance. Based on subject matter experts’ interviews followed by a survey, it was observed that the available standards lack some important elements of utilities AM such as resilience, digital transformation, and circular economy. Structural equation modelling was done to identify the relationship between the asset management life cycle stages and the performance in public utilities. The results showed that all stages have a positive impact on the AM performance and highlighted the importance of proper planning on all subsequent stages. Consequently, a tailored framework supported by a maturity model was developed to address gaps in current standards and frameworks and provide assessment tool to assess the utilities performance and provide decision makers with a set of recommendation actions for performance improvement. The maturity model was validated using five case studies for utility organizations in several UAE emirates. The proposed utility framework along with the maturity model aid decision makers to assess and enhance current performance which as an important impact on public wellbeing.