Tip #130 Basic or Advanced?

There was an earlier tip called Advanced Processes where I described what advanced processes were. Quite often, the statement will be made, let's take baby steps first. Dave Ramsey is a motivational speaker who promotes this strategy. From an asset management system (AMS) perspective is ... the baby tends to wander. And there is no guarantee they will ever get there (- without guidance).

I do like baby steps but the better approach is to know where you want to end up. This young lady has a clear line of sight. And the only way to do this is to first define the end game.

But wait! The team says, "We are not exactly sure where we want to end up - yet." Okay. Your choices are this:

1. Continue AS-IS and hope for the best. Hopefully we will get "there" over time, or,
2. Research the subject. Get help (in identifying an end-game which provides value to the organization). Help can come from internal resources or external. 

If you choose option 2, then you need to 

• Document the end-game
• Create a road-map to get there. This normally involves a schedule. 

Do not be afraid to create a Long Range Plan (LRP)

The LRP is a schedule. It may be 1 year or it may be 5 years. It would contain mini-projects (goals/deliverables) and prerequisites to get there. The benefits of a schedule are ability to: (1) focus on critical path, (2) estimate annual budget, (3) brief executive level of long range plans. And when someone walks in the door and says, "I just heard about a new wiz-bang and we should go buy it", you can refer them to the annual LRP review meeting.

Consequences

Without a LRP in hand, and assuming you are taking baby steps, the following might happen:

• You might setup foundation data incorrectly. And once you have an active system then it is near impossible to alter primary keys.
• You may create bad habits by the users - which becomes hard to alter course going forward.
• A poor design with lack of clarity & purpose might lead to a disgruntled work force. If they get too upset this can lead to a "tipping point". A poor execution also creates a bad impression at the executive level.
• Lets pretend you went 5-10 years with basic processes. The really sad point is that you've lost years of valuable "failure data" because this cannot be (easily) converted from text to actionable data, after-the-fact. And, without failure data, you have no failure analytic (or analysis).

Imagine Success

There is no additional cost to the organization once a long range plan is created. You can still take baby steps but they can be at your pace. And the difference is, you will not waste time or money on rabbit holes, or missteps. As leader of the plan, you are confident in your direction and realize value-add each day, each week you come into work. 

• When senior managers ask for analytical reports .... you have them.
• When reliability engineer wants to compare work order "failure data" to FMEA sheets ... you can do this.
• When reliability engineer asks for "problem assets".... you can pull them out with drill-down capability to failure modes and cause codes.
• When maintenance manager asks for weekly schedule ... you can generate one in minutes.
• When maintenance technicians ask for fully planned work orders ... you can produce them for the weekly schedule.
• When executive level asks for schedule compliance numbers and backlog growth trends .... you can produce these reports.

Imagine a knowledge base from which you can make more informed decisions, day-in and day-out. Heck, you could even come in late and leave early to make up for it!