Local infrastructure governance in Peru:a systems thinking appraisal

Ensuring the through-life quality of infrastructure systems is a fundamental instrument in providing economic development and enhancing quality of life. The complexity of infrastructure networks themselves, the operations of the public entities which manage them and the governance systems which oversee them make this a challenging activity. This research uses the city of Arequipa in Peru as a case study to bridge the knowledge gap on the behaviour of such municipalities regarding the management of infrastructure systems. It employs qualitative Systems Dynamics Modelling through a methodology based on the V-Model, with its emphasis on validation and verification, and framed in the systems thinking approach. First, 67 variables characterising the management of infrastructure systems in Arequipa are identified from literature and semi-structured interviews with key actors. Second, a model of the system is constructed using Causal Loop Diagrams. Within this model, 33 feedback loops are identified, formed from the causal influences between variables. Third, a diagnosis is carried out that unequivocally illuminates the municipalities’ failure patterns. Fourth, by identifying leverage points, a paradigm shifting intervention is proposed along with tools that municipalities can implement to improve their performance. Finally, these proposals are validated with key actors through a focus group

Applying a new concept for strategic performance indicators

Performance measurement provides critical information for strategic decision-making about the future of national infrastructure provision. The process of developing appropriate performance indicators must be based on an understanding of the high-level desired outcomes that infrastructure systems are intended to facilitate. These outcomes may be complex and dynamic and vary across the spectrum of infrastructure stakeholders. This paper demonstrates a conceptual process for developing outcome-related performance indicators by using case studies from the UK rail and water sectors. The case studies show that the process can provide an industry-specific picture of desired outcomes across the main stakeholders, together with their dimensions and associated performance indicators (so-called partial indicators). The work highlights potential shortfalls of a sector-by-sector approach to outcome-oriented strategic performance indicators and suggests that further work is required to integrate partial indicators to provide a holistic picture that recognises the contributions often made by a variety of infrastructures to a given high-level desired outcome

ICIF response to the National Infrastructure Commission: Consultation (cm 9182)

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A conceptual approach to strategic performance indicators

Effective decision-making for the provision and maintenance of infrastructure systems requires strategic performance indicators aligned with a clear vision of the societal benefits that infrastructure will be expected to enable and systemic awareness of interdependencies between infrastructure sectors. This paper proposes a conceptual outcome-oriented approach to strategic infrastructure performance indicators as a systemic alternative to current approaches which predominantly focus on performance within individual sectors. The conceptual approach proposed aligns performance measures with stated priorities and future aspirations rather than past performance; provides a transparent framework for decision-making; can be applied at a range of scales; and creates an evidence base against which indicator design can be justified and reviewed. Additionally, the conceptual outcome-oriented approach proposed is adaptable for application in other areas of infrastructure decision-making, in particular the development of methodologies to assess what infrastructure will be needed in the future

Using causal loop diagrams to explore behavioural and socio-technical safety challenges

In 2021, the EI published a Research report: Achieving greater resilience to major events – Organisational learning for safety risk management in complex environments, which identified common contributory organisational and cultural deficiencies that led to 12 major process safety events. From that, a set of expectations of good practice was created that organisations can use to help identify weaknesses and make interventions to potentially avoid future organisational incidents.Following this, the EI Research report: Question-set to understand and evaluate socio-technical organisational resilience (QUESTOR) was published, in which a methodology was developed to help organisations identify potential shortfalls in meeting these expectations. Question sets were created, designed to assess the extent to which the expectations are being met in ‘operational reality’. This practical tool is aimed to be utilised by leaders, managers, ‘specialists’ and a sample of the workforce.The EI Research report: Using causal loop diagrams to explore behavioural and socio-technical safety challenges is a further continuation of the two previous reports, and builds upon the use of causal loop diagrams (CLDs) as a tool for organisations to identify, and understand, vulnerabilities that lead to failures within complex work systems, as well as model interventions that aim to prevent these vulnerabilities being introduced.The purpose of the report is to demonstrate how CLDs might be used by teams to model the causes of incidents (perhaps even before incidents have occurred if vulnerabilities are found proactively, such as by using the QUESTOR tool) so that interventions might be designed that can effectively tackle these, without introducing unexpected and undesirable consequences.The intended audience of this report includes health, safety and environment (HS&E) managers, senior leaders, and others who may have responsibility for auditing and measuring safety performance within organisations