Defining the scope for ISO 55001:2014

24 February 2023

It is important for an organisation to clearly define the scope and assets that form their Asset Management System.

Assets come in all shapes and sizes, but one thing is for certain; all organisations have assets. Assets can be a competitive advantage or can drain your organisation’s resources. That’s why it is important to manage your assets effectively and achieving ISO 55001 certification can do just that.

ISO 55001 is especially relevant in industries that are capital intensive, have significant physical assets to manage and have high fixed costs. This can include utilities, heavy and light manufacturing, distribution, construction, property management and transportation.

ISO 55001 was published in January 2014 and establishes specific requirements for not only implementing and maintaining an asset, but also improving that asset via an Asset management system. It builds upon PAS55 which had a proven track record specifically in the utilities industries. ISO 55001 aims to apply this approach across other sectors allowing all businesses to benefit from it.

In many cases an organisation will have a simple blanket scope to cover the whole organisation.
For asset management a blanket scope may not be sufficient to meet the requirements of the standard.

The scope and boundaries of ISO 55001

The standard, ISO 55001:2014, Clause 4.3 requires that the organisation shall determine the boundaries and applicability of the asset management system and that the asset portfolio shall be defined.

Whilst that may cover everything, an organisation should consider if certain assets are not part of the scope as they may not have a direct effect on the Asset Management System.

Assets that are not applicable to the asset management system could include:

Office buildings
Vehicle fleet
Equipment used to maintain the network

In addition, the organisation must document their asset portfolio.

Another example is 'Power generation and all assets within the site perimeter'. As with many power generation sites, there’re often assets belonging to other stakeholders within the site perimeter and the organisation should document as these are outside of the asset management scope, where applicable.

Assets that are not applicable to the Asset Management System could include:

Sub-station – owned and maintained by the Transmission Network Operator
Gas in-feed pipe and connection – owned and maintained by the Network Operator

The final example is for assets that are owned by the organisation and operated/maintained by external stakeholders. The scope should make reference to these assets and whether they are within the organisation’s scope or out of scope, with suitable justification either way.

One example might be for an airport, where all their assets are located within the site perimeter, however, the organisation also owns a radar site that is many miles from the airport. The radar site is operated and maintained by an external stakeholder....It's important to document whether the radar site is in or out of scope.

Where the assets are within the scope and are maintained by external stakeholders, the organisation must ensure that the SAMP and other documentation clearly state responsibilities for the asset, reporting requirements and decision making criteria over the assets lifecycle.

If you'd like to chat to a member of the team about ISO 55001 certification please get in touch here.