Series: Asset Management 101 – The Blueprint.
In our previous post, we looked at the “Rulebooks”, the SAMP and the AMP. We established that the SAMP is the strategy and the AMP is the action. But how do we ensure the results of those actions feed back to the people at the top?
In the industry, we call this the “Line of Sight”, it is another key concept in Asset Management. ‘Asset Management Line of Sight’ is the “Golden Thread” that connects a technician fixing a valve on a rainy Tuesday morning to the organisation’s 10-year corporate vision.
What is “Line of Sight”?
The Institute of Asset Management (IAM) describes alignment as the “unbroken chain” of objectives. If your organisation’s goal is to be the most reliable utility provider in the UK, every single bolt tightened and every data point entered should, in some way, support that reliability.
Without Line of Sight, organisations suffer from “Strategic Drift”. This is when the boardroom makes promises (like reaching Net Zero) while the delivery teams continue with “business as usual” because the message never reached the front line.
The Four Stages of the Thread
To achieve true alignment, the Golden Thread must pass through four distinct levels of the organisation:
- Corporate Objectives (The North Star): The high-level goals.
- Strategic Asset Management Plan (The Translator): Turning that goal into an asset policy.
- Asset Management Plans (The Action): The specific work required.
- Operational Delivery (The Ground Truth): The actual work on the tools.
The table below maps this ‘Line of Sight’, demonstrating exactly how a high-level corporate objective translates into a specific, measurable action on the ground.
| Level | Document/Action | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate | Objectives | Reduce carbon footprint by 50% |
| Strategic | SAMP | Energy Efficiency Policy ‘A’ |
| Tactical | AMP | Replace 20 inefficient pumps |
| Operational | Delivery | Technician installs high-efficiency motor |
Why the “Bottom-Up” View Matters
Alignment is a two-way street. While objectives flow top-down, data and reality must flow bottom-up.
If a technician notices that a specific type of pump is failing early, that information needs to travel back up the thread. If it doesn’t, the boardroom will continue to fund a “Strategy” (SAMP) based on a “Reality” that doesn’t exist. True Line of Sight ensures that senior management isn’t just making guesses, but is making decisions based on “Ground Truth” data.
The UK Perspective: The “Social Value” Thread
In the UK, Line of Sight is increasingly being used to track Social Value. Under the Social Value Act 2012, public bodies must show how their spending benefits the community.
Line of Sight allows an organisation to prove that by hiring a local apprentice to maintain a bridge (Operational Delivery), they are fulfilling a corporate pledge to support regional economic growth (Corporate Objective). It turns a “nice idea” into a measurable, auditable fact.
Takeaways
- No Silos: Asset Management fails when departments don’t talk. Line of Sight breaks silos by giving everyone a common purpose.
- The “So What?” Test: If you are doing a task and can’t explain how it helps the organisational objective, you might have a break in your Golden Thread.
- Data is the Glue: Without accurate data flowing from the ground up, the Line of Sight becomes blurry and unreliable.
- Asset Management Line of Sight: Is what ensures that corporate objectives are translated into action and results.
Next Step: Now that we have the strategy and the alignment sorted, we need to decide what to fix first. In Part 06, we’ll look at Criticality & Risk: Why we don’t treat every asset the same, and how we rank them by their “Impact of Failure.”
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