SAMP within ISO 55001: how to draft the strategic asset management plan

A SAMP, the strategic asset management plan, describes how your organisation will manage its assets to meet its goals. It is the document between the general policy statement and the concrete maintenance plans. The asset management standard from ISO asks for a plan with this function within the asset management system. An overview of the requirements shows where the plan fits in the standard.

The SAMP is where you make your choices. Which assets are important, what do you invest in, and what do you leave alone? You must record those choices, so that someone can later see why you made them. For how the plan fits into the whole route to a certificate, read the step-by-step page.

The SAMP is not the same as your asset management policy. The policy states what you want. The SAMP states how you will achieve it, with goals, choices and resources.

What exactly is a SAMP?

A SAMP is the long-term plan for your assets. According to Glocert, the long-term portfolio often covers ten to thirty years, depending on the lifespan of your assets. It links three things: your organisation’s strategy, the goals for your assets and the plans that carry them out.

Take a grid operator. Its strategy says: reliable supply, affordable tariffs and a greener grid. The SAMP translates that into asset goals. For example: reduce the number of faults per year, and replace older transformer capacity within a set period. The maintenance and replacement plans per asset group follow from that.

What does the standard expect from a SAMP?

According to Glocert, the SAMP must show at least the following:

how your organisation’s goals are converted into asset goals,
the asset goals themselves,
how you draw up the plans per asset group,
what role the asset management system plays in reaching the goals,
how the plans relate to each other and to the SAMP.

Glocert describes the SAMP as documented information that the standard requires. The plan must therefore be recorded and kept up to date.

The SAMP also covers the strategy for your assets, a long-term portfolio with planned investments, and the budget needed. Glocert also mentions a decision framework and the link with the asset management plans per group.

What parts does a SAMP contain?

A SAMP does not have to follow a fixed format. You will, however, find the same building blocks in almost every plan. An example structure:

Part	What it contains	Question it answers
Starting points	Organisational goals, legal requirements, client agreements	Why are we doing this?
Asset goals	Measurable goals for the assets, linked to the organisational goals	What do we want to achieve?
Asset portfolio	Overview of the assets, their condition and their importance	What do we have?
Risks	Main risks and the approach to them	What could go wrong?
Investments	Replacements and new builds, with timing and budget	What does it cost and when?
Plans per group	Reference to the asset management plans	Who does what?
Monitoring	How you measure progress and when you adjust	How do we know it works?

Example: the SAMP of a water company

This is a fictional example. Water company Noordveld manages pumping stations, pipes and a treatment plant. The board wants to keep supply secure and spread the costs of replacement.

The SAMP records a few decisions for this:

Replacements are based on condition and risk. Pipes with many breaks get priority, not just pipes that are old.
Pumping stations get a redundant backup system. This costs money, but it prevents outages during a fault.
Investments are planned five years ahead. The company keeps a reserve for unexpected failures.
The plan is adjusted every year. A thorough review takes place every three to five years.

Each decision is recorded in the SAMP with its reason. This way a new employee or an auditor understands why Noordveld does things this way.

How does the SAMP relate to other documents?

The SAMP sits in the middle. Glocert gives a rough indication of size: the policy is one to three pages, the SAMP fifteen to fifty pages, and an asset management plan per group twenty to more than a hundred pages. These numbers are indications, not a requirement.

A SAMP that simply repeats the policy at greater length contains few choices. Make sure the SAMP is concrete: which assets, which goals, which budget and which timeframe.

A SAMP that only repeats the policy gives an auditor little to check. Make sure that every asset objective can be traced back to a goal of your organisation.

Who approves the SAMP?

The board approves the SAMP before it is published. According to Glocert, that approval is a fixed step in drafting, following consultation with senior management. After that, the asset managers and the departments that work on the assets carry out the plan.

Frequently asked questions

How often should I update my SAMP?

Glocert advises updating the SAMP every year with small changes. A thorough review belongs every three to five years. The standard asks for a current plan, so set a fixed date and record it in your procedures.

Does the SAMP have to be certified?

The SAMP is part of the asset management system that the certification body checks. Ask your body how it assesses the SAMP. You can read more about that process on the certification page.

Can I combine the SAMP with another plan?

Yes, as long as all the parts the standard requires are included. If you combine it with a multi-year budget or a municipal plan, you must make clear which parts are the SAMP. An auditor must be able to find them.