Applying Business Architecture to your ISO 55001 Transformation

Shortcuts to Glory

I realise that “ISO 55001” and “Business Architecture” can be considered heavy concepts. But I’m here to explain how it can make your life as an asset manager much easier.

I’ll start with the basics, and hopefully inspire you to start looking at how Business Architecture will provide your ISO implementation some structure. You’ll successfully interconnect the processes with your organisational objectives and, as a result, you’ll achieve alignment – and your business goals – very quickly.

What is Business Architecture?

Business architecture (BA) is a blueprint of the enterprise that “provides a common understanding of the organisation”. It’s also used to “align strategic objectives and tactical demands”.

Object Management Group “What is Business Architecture”.

To successfully build capacity and capability that is aligned with strategic objectives, a BA blueprint encompasses business processes, business information and governance structure.

As such, a business architect focuses on critical motivational, operational and analysis frameworks that link these components of the enterprise together. 

So, how does Business Architecture assist in an ISO 55001 Transformation?

As described in a previous blog, ISO 55001 is a global standard of asset management that will provide effective ways to identify and prioritise high-value activities. It does this (amongst other things) so that your operation is focused upon what is known to positively contribute to your business objective(s).

In many ways, Business Architecture is where business strategy, business design and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) meet. It will assist you in aligning all elements across multiple levels or business structures that are required to achieve your objective. 

Business Architecture optimises the likelihood of you achieving your objective by providing a business model proven to work. It’s a discipline for formalising processes, identifying competencies required and key performance indicators (KPI’s) that should be measured into governance, business processes and information.

By adopting BA models that are known successfully align tactical conditions with strategic goals – ie. an ISO 55001 standard – you have effectively assured yourself that all your ducks aligned. That is, all your roles, competencies, processes, systems information are architected, and reliably embedded in the business via ICT to achieve your goal across relevant business structures.

STEP1: You start with a Strategic or Business Objective. Here, we’re seeking to manage High Risk Work within ISO 550001 Standards.

STEP2: Next: you map a process that would enable that objective, across:

• People/Roles: the RACI (or the person Responsible, Accountable, any Consultant, and Informed roles). Here, we have the Supervisor of Maintenance responsible, Superintendent Accountable, the Engineer or Tradesman is Consulting and Maintenance Manager informed.
• Competencies required of these roles to complete the process (to create a high risk work request).
• Guiding Business rule, procedure or management standards (the Risk Management Procedure).
• System Output Requirements – ie. SAP ERP transaction x and
• Managing Metric (Business Rules that ensure a quality scope of the work request is completed).
• Any KPIs (to process the High Risk Work Request in under 5 days).

This is usually completed across multiple step process (but a single step process works well for a short example). Across the process, data allocated to each step of the process builds out the architecture required for multiple teams to manage their requirements in order to contribute to the objective.

The models constructed also provide you with the following valuable information:

• Business Objective: Clearly illustrate to management how an objective is to be achieved, monitored and controlled.
• Business Processes: That is, setting up your system to facilitate optimal processes and nominate authority: who does what and when – at a transactional, monitoring and management levels.
• CMMS Data Requirements: What are master data, transactional object requirements or minimal data standards required to complete business processes?
• Management Indicators: This refers to both exception/ quality indicators, like flagging a gap in information before it creates issues in process efficiency, in addition to performance indicators that allow you to review and manage performance. The assigned meta data allows personnel reports or their performance measures. 
• Identify Role Based Competency Requirements: Assignment of competency requirements against the process provides each employee and leader a matrix of training and development requirements against each position.
• Continuous Improvement & Change Management Functions: systems should be set up with lean management tools that allow you to leverage management indicators in ongoing monitoring and refinement of processes. This will help the organisation remain agile in response to changing internal and external influences or transition improvement plans.

Now meta data exists in this form reports can be built to extract information and delivered to multiple teams.

An example: the Training and Development Team can extract the training needs assigned to the maintenance supervisor. The company executives can now understand the process, steps and associated rules and procedures required to manage the set objective/s. And the ICT Team can understand the required transactional and security profiles for each role.

Pulling it all Together

Here, hopefully you can see the way that Business Architecture will create powerful linkages between the components of the business that are required to connect tactical capability with strategic goals, as described in our intro.

I’ve applied BA to optimise asset management performance improvements and ISO 55001 standards before. The improvements will be seen across the business cost profile, accountability and safety, but also provides a standardised process that provides improved efficiency and communication across departments, which in turn provides a positive effect upon culture and organisational performance.

And over time, APS has refined business models that are pre-built, ready to be configured and activated for your environment and systems.  The option to apply ready built processes offers asset managers a very efficient, reliable way to tick off a few major optimisation tasks, including:

• Operational readiness
• Organisational standardisation
• Systems security
• Training and competency for each role
• Improvement baseline
• Etc.

For more information on our work with Qualiware to provide tailored BA processes and our rapid-install Business Process Packs , call Jason at APS.