Octane Asset Desk

From a sensor at 6:12 a.m. to a work order. Every step checked.

Fourteen agents run maintenance, leases, capital planning and FP&A for Brindlewood Property Group, a fictional owner of eight commercial buildings in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Auckland, with sample data. Agents read, diagnose and draft. Code decides priority, permits and limits. IBM Planning Analytics does every number. People approve anything above their delegated limit.

See the Asset Desk agents
How a job moves

Sense to learn. Every step labelled.

Every step on every job is labelled Agent, Code or Person, and every action is written to the audit trail. Agents do the reading and reasoning rules can't; code does everything that must be the same every time.

01

Sense

Intake Agent and code

A sensor drifts from its learned normal, or a tenant reports a problem. Code raises the alert and sets the priority and response time.

02

Diagnose

Condition Agent

Explains the likely cause, citing the sensor trend, past work orders and the failure-mode library. Code checks every citation exists.

03

Plan and check

Planner and Scheduler Agents

A job plan for the diagnosed cause and the best start. Code checks crew licences, parts, permits, weather and warranty for every day.

04

Approve

The asset manager

Approves anything above the delegated limit. Small emergencies inside the limit are done at once and reviewed afterwards.

05

Act

Posting and Notification Agents

The approved job is written to the EAM system by a tool that re-checks everything first. Tenants and contractors are emailed.

06

Learn

Learning Agent

A person's override becomes a one-line lesson, which a person approves. Lessons change preferences, never controls.

Four domains

Maintenance, leasing, capex and FP&A.

Each domain has one owner and one outcome, redesigned end to end rather than as a pilot.

Maintenance and facilities

Owner: the asset manager. Sensor alerts and tenant requests become checked, scheduled work orders. Small emergencies are handled overnight inside a delegated limit. Outcome: response times met.

Leasing and renewals

Owner: the leasing manager. Leases and deeds of variation are abstracted with every field quoted; option windows, rent reviews and expiries are calculated in code and land in the register. Outcome: no critical date missed.

Investment and capex

Owner: the head of asset management. Every asset ranked by risk and 10-year cost, refurbish or replace decided by rule, and a site inspection before the committee signs. Outcome: more risk removed per dollar.

Finance and FP&A

Owner: the FP&A manager. Budget, forecast and what-if scenarios for every building live in IBM Planning Analytics, which does every number. Agents explain the results and never calculate. Outcome: NOI against budget.

Finance and FP&A

Planning Analytics does the maths. Agents explain it.

Every number comes from an IBM Planning Analytics (TM1) model of the eight buildings. Code applies fixed policy. Three agents explain variances, read contracts and turn a plain-English question into scenario drivers that code checks. The same Planning Analytics model is also available as a PAW dashboard for planners.

NOI cockpit

Budget against actual for every building, a variance waterfall, and commentary from the FP&A Agent that cites the Planning Analytics cells behind each point. Code checks every citation.

What-if scenarios

Ask in plain English. The Scenario Agent sets the drivers, code checks they are in bounds, and TM1 recalculates NOI, interest cover and LVR. Covenant breaches are flagged: interest cover under 2.0x or LVR over 50%.

Live planning

A planning grid inside the desk, in the style of Planning Analytics Workspace, with drill-down and scenario drivers you can edit. TM1 recalculates on the spot. Changed cells turn green: solid where the desk wrote them, light where TM1 recalculated them.

Vendors and SLAs

CPI step-ups, minimum fees and abatements when an SLA is missed, calculated in TM1. The Contract Agent reads the FM contract and every quote is verified. One contract hasn't been market-tested in 14 years.

Lifecycle and capex

A 20-year lifecycle plan and capital reserve for every building. Approved jobs are classed as capex or opex by a rule in code and flow into the TM1 forecast.

ESG and hybrid work

Desk utilisation, kWh per m², NABERS ratings and the floors that could be consolidated, building by building.

In the Asset Desk

A day at Brindlewood. Nine outcomes.

Each story runs end to end in the Asset Desk with the real agents.

Made safe

6:12 a.m., a leak

Leak cable, level 14 riser

In seconds: P1, a condition insight, a $508 make-safe approved under delegated authority, a work order in the EAM and tenants on levels 13 and 14 emailed. The desk counts the third leak in 18 months and flags the riser for replacement.

Fixed before failure

The chiller that warned us

Bearing vibration rising

Chiller 2 is heading for its action limit in about 6 days. The Condition Agent names bearing wear, citing a senior technician's notes from past jobs. The asset manager approves the repair and the safety officer issues the isolation permit.

Next clear day

Rain on the roof

Exhaust fan, crane lift

The crew is free mid-week, but code sees forecast rain of 18 mm/h and 55 km/h winds. The Scheduler Agent proposes the next clear day at 07:00 and says why. Heights, crane and isolation permits are listed.

Claim lodged

It's still under warranty

Lift door faults

The Warranty Agent quotes the lift maker's certificate and checks every exclusion. Code confirms the dates and that each quote is word for word, so a claim is lodged and about $3,700 of internal work is avoided.

Date caught

The lease in the drawer

Lease and deed of variation

The Lease Agent finds a 12-month extension in the deed. Code checks every quote and calculates the option window. The register still had the old expiry, so it is highlighted; the leasing manager approves the update.

$1.98M of $2M

Where should the next $2M go?

The capital plan

Code ranks every asset and fills the budget; the corroded riser is a $186,000 replacement by rule. The Capex Agent explains the top picks and flags a building for a hold-or-sell review. The surveyor inspects every item of $100,000 or more before the committee approves.

Lesson approved

Learning from a swap

A person overrides a proposal

The asset manager gives the chiller job to the technician who knows the compressors. The changed job needs someone else's approval, and the Learning Agent drafts a lesson that the head of asset management approves.

Handover drafted

If she retired tomorrow

Knowledge capture

Ask the Asset Agent what a senior technician knows that nobody else does. It lists the assets only she has worked on and her notes, such as a valve that sticks at 60%, and drafts a handover checklist.

Breach flagged

What if rates rise 100 bp and Wattle Place drops to 85%?

A what-if for the FP&A manager

The Scenario Agent turns the question into two drivers and code checks they are in bounds. TM1 recalculates every building: Wattle Place and Granville Trade Centre fall below the 2.0x interest cover covenant. The FP&A Agent explains why, citing the cells.

Fourteen agents

Eleven that think. Three that act.

Thinking agents read an evidence pack and return answers that code checks; they have no tools. Acting agents have one tool each, which takes only an id and re-checks everything before anything changes.

Thinking agents

Read, diagnose and draft; never decide

Asset Intake Agent

Reads tenant and staff maintenance requests: what, where, hazards, likely problem codes, quoted.

Asset Condition Agent

Explains an asset's condition from sensor analysis, work history and the failure-mode library, with citations.

Asset Planner Agent

Chooses the job plan that fixes the diagnosed cause and notes what to watch for.

Asset Scheduler Agent

Proposes the best start from the days where crew, parts and weather checks all passed.

Asset Warranty Agent

Reads warranty certificates and service contracts: covered or not, exact clauses, how to claim.

Asset Lease Agent

Abstracts commercial leases and deeds of variation, quoting every field.

Asset Capex Agent

Explains the code-ranked capital plan to the investment committee.

Asset Learning Agent

Drafts a reusable lesson after a person overrides a proposal; never touches controls.

Asset FP&A Agent

Explains NOI variances and scenario results from Planning Analytics, citing every cell; never calculates.

Asset Scenario Agent

Turns a plain-English what-if into scenario drivers for Planning Analytics; code checks the bounds.

Asset Contract Agent

Abstracts outsourced FM contracts: fees, indexation, minimums, KPIs, abatement and renewal, with every quote verified.

Acting agents

One tool each

Asset Posting Agent

Posts an approved job, lease abstract or capex plan to the EAM system; the tool re-checks everything.

Asset Notification Agent

Sends the Asset Desk's queued emails for one job, lease or plan.

Asset Agent

Answers staff questions about the buildings, assets, work and leases from the Asset Desk's records; can't approve or send.

What you'll see

Buildings, work, leases, capex and FP&A.

Follow one job all the way through.

Alerts and requests

Sensor alerts with a condition insight in IBM's format: status, confidence, health, criticality and risk scores, and recommendations each with its evidence. Tenant requests arrive from a one-page form with no sign-in.

The job

Five check lights for crew, parts, permits, weather and warranty on every proposed day, the job plan, and every step labelled Agent, Code or Person.

Leases

Each abstract field beside its quote from the lease, the option window and critical dates calculated in code, and the register entry it corrects.

The capital plan and FP&A

Every asset ranked by risk and 10-year cost, refurbish or replace by rule, and the committee's approval. Then the NOI cockpit, scenarios and the live planning grid, every number read from Planning Analytics.

Controls and the Asset Agent

The limits on one screen, every change in the audit trail, and a staff chat that answers from the desk's own records.

The EAM Console

A stand-in system of record in Maximo's vocabulary: assets, work orders through WAPPR to CLOSE, job plans, storeroom, crews and licences, permits, warranties, meters and leases.

Built-in rules

The work done. People in charge.

Fourteen controls (A01 to A14) are in the code, not in a prompt, so no agent can talk its way around them. The limits are settings the head of asset management can change, and every change is in the audit trail.

A13

Delegated authority. Reviewed afterwards.

An emergency make-safe up to $1,500 by an after-hours panel contractor, plus tenant notices, is done at once and reviewed in the morning. Above the limits, a person approves.

A04 A05

Permits and weather. Before it's scheduled.

Isolation, heights, crane and confined-space permits are issued by the site safety officer first. No roof or crane work with forecast rain of 5 mm/h or wind of 40 km/h.

A07

Under warranty? Claim it.

A current warranty that covers the fault, with the clause quoted and the dates checked, becomes a claim, not internal work.

A12

Separation of duties.

Whoever proposes or changes a job, or builds a plan, can't approve it.

On IBM watsonx Orchestrate

End to end, in the Asset Desk.

Fire the 6:12 a.m. leak and watch it made safe, approve the chiller repair and issue its permit, see the roof job wait for a clear day, lodge a warranty claim, approve a lease abstract and the capital plan, ask the Asset Agent what a retiring technician knows, then run a rate-rise what-if in Planning Analytics.

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