CNAM 2010: Building Partnerships

4th Annual CNAM Workshop

May 2 to 5, 2010 | Ottawa Marriott | Ottawa, Ontario

It is through partnership among all sectors that effective knowledge sharing will advance Canada's emerging municipal asset management industry. That was the essence of the 4th annual CNAM Workshop: Building Partnerships.

As our nation's capital and one of the founding members of CNAM, the City of Ottawa was pleased to host the first CNAM Workshop presented by the official CNAM Association.

Within the two streams of strategic and operational, speakers interactively discussed how assets, people and processes come together as a whole to support sustainable service delivery.

Assets

In the delivery of services to citizens, success happens when the right asset and asset mix, in the right condition delivers the desired level of service. Within a municipality, improved asset reliability and performance, and optimum cost of asset operation and ownership are critical. From a partnership perspective, presenters highlighted the hands-on approach to develop or apply specific tools to support asset management, and the connecting of disciplines and people within the organization and external subject matter experts.

People

People are the enablers within a municipality: from planning and designing, to repairing and constructing, and operating and maintaining assets, skilled people are the key to the culture that will provide sustainable levels of service. It is critical to get all levels of staff aware and involved in development of policy, strategy and vision, and get top leader endorsement of the asset management approach. From a partnership perspective, presenters included discussion of what is needed and what is being done to develop and support our human resources in terms of training, recruitment and retention.

Processes

Efficient processes are critical to a successful and sustainable corporate asset management model. Effective asset management business processes optimize life cycle costs to provide a sustainable level of service. From a partnership perspective, presenters shared practical, technical and tactical information that could be readily applied by other municipalities and reduce the need to reinvent the wheel.