In November 2016 the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) approved SAAMA’s application to register a professional designation – “Certified Senior Asset Manager” (now the Certified Senior Principal in Asset Management) (CSAM™) – in terms of the national qualifications’ framework.
This was as a result of an initiative pursued in SA by SAAMA in parallel with other similar international bodies, that are members of WPiAM www.wpiam.com, to establish appropriate professional designations for the asset management industry. The collaboration emanated from the joint work that had been done with leaders in AM from countries across the globe linked to the preparation of the international standard (ISO55001) on management system requirements for Asset Management. Leveraging collective global experience, the standard set out principles to be adopted by asset-intensive organisations to manage assets most effectively and efficiently. It was adopted as a South African National Standard in 2015.
The formalisation of AM designations aims to recognise the essential role that PEOPLE perform in ensuring that any such management system is appropriate to the operating environment and objectives of the organisation, enabling it to deliver. This applies to the public sector – providing basic services that support social well-being and facilitate economic growth; as well as the private sector – enhancing business performance and maximising job opportunities.
Importantly, this initiative was a means to fulfil SAAMA’s mission to:
- Raise the profile and competence (and, in so doing, the motivation) of people responsible for the performance of infrastructure, plant and machinery (that so often is a key mechanism to achieving an organisation’s objectives); and
- Provide a cross-sectoral and multi-layered career structure in which young people can enter and confidently grow according to their capabilities; and in which domain-specialists can be equipped to better achieve asset-based overall organisational objectives.
Indeed, successful delivery is the result of effective integration of the contributions of the various members of the AM team, each applying their specific competencies, aware of, and understanding, the impact of their contribution to the whole.