Finance and Business Services

The Guiding Principles listed below serve as ECU's specific Asset Management and Strategic Objectives:

1. Infrastructure, service needs and priorities should be assessed and aligned to ensure business requirements are met and best value for money is obtained;
2. Maximise asset utilisation;
3. Assets should be managed efficiently, effectively and in a suitable manner with a view to minimising environment impact;
4. Regular communication should be maintained with all major stakeholders;
5. Public and commercial benchmarks and best practice should inform asset investment and procurement decision making;
6. Asset management and cost benefit analysis should be consistent and based on a whole-of-life approach;
7. Appropriate levels of investment and funding should be generated and managed;
8. Effective Asset Retirement planning and management should be maintained; and
9. Balanced performance measures are to be utilised to gauge success.

The Strategic Asset Management Framework Flowchart highlights the key areas please refer to See Also section to view.

Refers to the planning and prioritisation activities associated with strategic asset management to ensure that Concepts Programs and Projects are identified, authorised and documented appropriately in a central location. Processes are at a strategic level and aim to ensure a link exists between the other streams of the framework.

It is the responsibility of the Strategic Asset Management Forum to update and oversee the planning aspects, based on information received on a timely manner from wider University stakeholders.

The Capital Expansion and Improvement Planning process refers to the deployment of new capital assets or the overhaul and/or significant change to capital assets. The process addresses a range of key factors that influence both the initial decision to execute a capital project together with the management of these projects.

Drivers to this type of activity may include long term service delivery requirements, student and staff trends, periodic refurbishment, life cycle costing and the impact on future budgets, strategic plans and the risk of change to service delivery requirements.

Asset Maintenance aims to ensure that assets continue to support the strategic objectives and service delivery requirements. Maintenance itself also ensures that the capital investment in the assets is preserved, consistent with its age and market value.

Planning should occur at the strategic level, as well as at the delivery level, to ensure that the maintenance program supports the University's strategic direction and service delivery model.

The fundamental aim of effective asset retirement is the distribution of value to support the development or management of other University assets or activities. Effective asset retirement focuses on ensuring that under-performing or surplus to requirements assets are clearly identified in a timely manner. Further, a range of alternatives are then considered with respect to their ongoing management and/or disposal.

Retirement of assets, in accordance with a clearly outlined plan, ensures the removal of potential maintenance and financial inefficiencies whilst reinvestment may turn yield substantial benefit.

The compliance and governance aspects of the framework include:

• set of financial delegations, which are incorporated into the ECU Delegations Manual;
• policy governing the framework. The policy works in conjunction with existing ECU policies; and
• clear alignment to the ECU organisational structure, with responsibilities appropriately delegated.