OGRA Wins TAC’s Educational Achievement Award

Friday, July 22, 2016

The winner of the 2016 Educational Achievement Award is Ontario Good Roads Association (OGRA) in recognition of its Municipal Asset Management Certification Program.

The Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)’s Educational Achievement Award was created to recognize outstanding contributions in training relating to an in-house or external program or provide the foundation for future and better business practices.

OGRA established a comprehensive program of courses covering various aspects of asset management to help municipalities acquire required skills to manage their infrastructure assets, and obtain a new professional certification. The program addresses skill sets common to all public sector asset management such as finance, data collection, asset valuation, and more. It also offers specialized courses in municipal capital assets for a more rounded education touching on roads, bridges, solid waste facilities, buried infrastructure, fleets, public buildings, and public transit.

According to Heather Crewe, Manager, Professional Development & Training, OGRA, an asset management training program encompassing such a wide range of tangible capital assets encountered some challenges.

“Envisioning how best to connect such diverse elements under one umbrella and identifying the learning outcomes for all twelve courses was challenging,” explains Heather. “The field of asset management is evolving very quickly, so a great deal of thought went into identifying the most appropriate skills and knowledge for today – and tomorrow’s asset managers. For some courses, we have engaged some of Canada’s best academics from the field of asset management and for others, it’s important to have instructors who have personal in-depth knowledge and experience with municipal administration.”  

Innovative Program Elements

The Academy certification program represents a new standard for municipal professional development. Each course links back to immediate on-the-job application of new skills and knowledge. Most courses begin with a pre-course assignment that requires students to research background legislation or internal corporate processes before arriving to class.

“While there are no exams, each course closes with a post-course assignment that requires students to directly apply their new skills to a particular aspect of asset management in their home jurisdiction,” adds Heather. “Our aim is that the final assignment should also be suitable for presentation to their senior management and/or municipal council, rather than a research and theoretical assignment that is more typical of courses of this nature.”

The second unique element is the capstone project for certification. This requires certification candidates to prepare a long-term asset management plan for their chosen category of assets and present their recommendations to the Certification Advisory Board.

According to Heather, OGRA is preparing students for on-the-job application of the skills in a real world environment where elected officials are not necessarily familiar with the tenets of asset management.

The program will help prepare the next generation of asset managers by helping to influence and set the bar for a brand new occupational category.

“Through the certification program, we are helping to shape the knowledge and skill sets that will be demanded by this new occupational category. We have defined elements of asset management that are common to the management of all municipal tangible capital assets and married them to the specialized knowledge that is required for particular categories of municipal assets.”

Four other submissions were also reviewed by a selection committee appointed by TAC’s Education and Human Resources Development Council: The Cone Zone Experience (Mainroad Lower Mainland Contracting LP); Freight-Supportive Guidelines (Ministry of Transportation, Ontario); Integration and the Promotion Common Practice Use of the New TAC Utility Coordination Guidelines (T2 Utility Engineers) and Transportation Planning Website (ISL Engineering and Land Services Ltd.).

The award will be conferred during the Monday Lunch at the 2016 TAC Conference & Exhibition in Toronto on September 26.

 

 

 


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