Strategic long term planning of asset investments in distribution networks using the ASP tool

This paper describes the ASP tool (Asset Strategy Planning) and the importance of trustable and reliable data from various departments within the company. The ASP tool is using a platform from British telecommunications plc called BT Business Simulation Framework. This is a long-term planning and simulation tool for the evaluation of different asset strategies and their impact on business. Assets with different ages are structured according to asset types and geography then assigned with investment, maintenance-costs and error statistics. By altering the levels of investment for the simulations we get a better control over network conditions and cost picture. We get a possibility to simulate how various efforts in maintenance and / or investments affect the asset stock status, SAIDI and the cost picture for longer periods. ASP also provides more transparent communications in the organization when it comes to the consequences that the various budget options will give by both short and long term. It is possible to speak a shared language between technology department, maintenance department, facility owners, finance department etc. In the end, we get decision support with clear and common rules for prioritization of budgetary resources between different regions of the organization. Strategic decisions based on "gut feelings" are a thing of the past and changed to long-term and sustainable strategies.