26 Jul Cost effective project and asset management in one software package
By Nyiko Chabalala – Building Services/Research and Development Engineer at Citadel House of Technologies spells out the virtues of its well-defined and cost-effective Fortress digital project and asset management solution.
Numerous technical studies reveal that maintaining assets on a regular basis result in a substantially longer lifespan of the asset, and in addition, if the maintenance is carried out at optimal intervals, this results in much more cost effective maintenance, resulting in substantial savings for the owner of the asset. Deterioration of assets due to poor asset and project management results in revenue loss and ultimately reputational damage.
Project Management is an integral and almost inseparable part of the asset management and maintenance practice. For the management or maintenance practitioner, every new contract goes through a project management process, where a project is initiated and then closed once the asset has been handed over to the client.
Currently, there are few software tools available to effectively manage this process and companies have to rely on reactive maintenance strategies. Fortress addresses this shortcoming by tackling the critical need for practitioners to manage projects and assets over the lifecycle of the asset and to achieve sustainable operational excellence.
Fortress can be used by any organisation or institution that has assets and maintenance operations, including:
- Commercial Buildings/ Corporate Offices
- Manufacturing
- Mining
- Oil and Gas
- Telecommunication
- Power – Electricity
- Logistics
- Pharma and medical
- IT
- Education
Fortress ensures effective inventory, maintenance management and operations as well as holistic lifecycle planning for today and for future generations in the organisation.
Having the ability to manage the project implementation, as well as the asset life cycle in a single application, provides a strategic advantage in that it enables a practitioner to offer a value-added service to the client. By initiating the project within Fortress, the practitioner is able to start collecting data on the asset from the onset, which can provide insightful reports that enable the client make maintenance related decisions. It also makes it easy to transition the client into a continued maintenance contract within the Fortress system.
The asset life cycle begins with planning. This function is critical in ensuring that adequate provision is made for any organisation to have the requisite number of assets in operation for maximum productivity at all times.
A seven stage procedure is addressed covering:
- Inception
- Concept and Viability
- Design Development
- Documentation and Procurement
- Contract Administration and Inspection
- Close-Out
- Operations Management
The Asset Maintenance module provides the key functionalities required to process maintenance related activities on the asset, such as defining maintenance schedules as well as creating, assigning, monitoring and completing maintenance jobs.
This module is the repository of all financial transactions related to the asset. To support the client with the historical financial data required to make well informed CAPEX and OPEX planning decisions, the system caters for the tracking of all expenses incurred during the life cycle of the asset.
Further, reports support the asset replacement and asset cost management decision making process with real time and accurate data through the provision of timely reports and business intelligence. The system thus includes a dedicated reporting module, complete with a dashboard that monitors the important asset management KPIs that highlights the situation at a glance. It also provides comprehensive list of out-of-the-box report templates as well as the functionality for users to interact with the data in the system by filtering and slicing the reports.
In conclusion, using Fortress will ensure effective inventory, maintenance management and operations as well as holistic lifecycle planning for today and for future generations in the organisation.
ENDS
About Citadel
Citadel House of Technologies International specializes in designing and building various applications and developing software to enhance business efficiency. Our products help create an enabling environment for effective service delivery by focusing on accurate data and analytics utilised by C-suite executives and managers to improve the performance and profitability of assets, systems, and processes. Citadel’s solutions aim to assist with Planning, Acquisition & Deployment and Analysis, Operations & Maintenance.
Media Contact
Thabiso Dlamini
SWM Communications
Account Manager
Thabiso@swmcommunications.co.za
+27 79 098 4863
Contact Person:
Nyiko Chabalala
info@citadeltechhouse.org
011 805 5414