Body of Knowledge Committee

Terms of Reference​

Purpose of Committee

  • To act as custodian and administrator of the “Knowledge” section of the Plant Engineering and Maintenance Association of Canada’s website to provide a comprehensive source of relevant information for its members in order to support and enhance the organization’s overall knowledge base and its members' learning opportunities. Materials will include, but not be limited to; electronic copies of presentation materials, papers, magazine articles, audio/video recordings and links to external materials such as books, blog articles, etc. Materials that are included in the Body of Knowledge (BoK) will only be limited by the relevance of the materials and the capabilities of the storage system.
  • Ensure standards are established and documented for content, manage the ongoing structure of the Body of Knowledge and deal with any other issues related to the Knowledge areas of the PEMAC website.
  • The committee will be the custodian of the PEMAC Maintenance Management Framework and associated documents, diagrams and visual aids.
  • The primary goals of the Body of Knowledge committee are to:
    • Create and sustain a library of high quality maintenance management and asset management related materials that is available to the members of the organization.
    • Ensure material available is in alignment with the core concepts of PEMAC, and the organizations PEMAC is associated with through the GFMAM and other international bodies.
    • Ensure materials and references available are aligned with, and complementary to, the MMP program and AMP program content.
    • Ensure materials and references available are aligned with, and complementary to the content of other maintenance management or asset management related educational programs that PEMAC may develop.

Responsibilities

  • To administer the ongoing sustainment of, and the continuous improvements to, the “Knowledge” section and all the section contents of the Plant Engineering and Maintenance Association’s website, complete with its visual models and glossary of terms.
  • To provide direction and guidance on enhancing PEMAC website user experiences with regard to; knowledge information content, structure and user interfaces for searching and information retrieval.
  • To establish and manage processes for the intake of materials to the Body of Knowledge. This will include, but not be limited to, materials from; Maintrain conference presentations and workshops, presentations from lunch and learn sessions, presentations and papers presented by members at other conferences, and materials submitted by the membership in general. 
  • To establish a process and criteria for the classification of materials submitted to the Body of Knowledge.
  • To maintain and enhance where appropriate the PEMAC Maintenance Management Framework and associated documents, diagrams and visual aids 
  • To identify possible improvements to GFMAM Asset Management Landscape and provide improvement suggestions to the PEMAC Board of Directors to be passed on to the GFMAM for consideration.
  • To maintain the taxonomy documentation for the classification of materials submitted for inclusion in the body of knowledge utilizing the GFMAM Asset Management Landscape and the PEMAC Maintenance Management Framework as guidance.
  • To provide recommendations for additional information to include in the Body of Knowledge that may not be submitted through the normal channels of Maintrain presentations or member’s submissions. This could include publications on asset management or maintenance management concepts and philosophies from individuals or other organizations.
  • To work with other PEMAC committees to identify and facilitate knowledge sharing opportunities to engage members in information sharing and education opportunities such as; forum discussions and specific information presentations, etc.
  • Provide ongoing support to all the PEMAC educational programs, the Maintenance Management Professional (MMP) and the Asset Management Professional (AMP), and any other educational programs or courses the PEMAC may develop or adopt in the future by;
    • Providing a source of reference materials for MMP, AMP, and other programs instructors to utilize as part of their course delivery.
    • Ensuring the materials contained in the Body of knowledge are maintained in a manner that ensures it is assessable to instructors, students, course developers and the PEMAC membership.
    • Utilizing feedback from instructors and students to improve and expand the information in the body of Knowledge and ensure that relevant material is available to support and enhance the individual course content and the overall program curriculum.
  • To the degree possible, ensure all material and references are kept current.

Membership

The Body of Knowledge Committee shall consist of:

  • A Chairperson selected by the PEMAC Board of Directors Committee. The chairperson will be a voting member of the committee and shall act as the spokesperson for the committee and shall be responsible to report regularly to the Board member assigned to act as the liaison with the Board of Directors 
  • Five to seven voting members from the PEMAC membership at large.
  • A member of the PEMAC Board of Directors who will act as committee sponsor and liaison with the board.  This is a non-voting position.
  • A PEMAC staff member, as appointed by the Executive Director.  This is a non-voting position.
  • Additional Associates (non – voting) committee members, recruited as required and at the discretion of the committee chairperson, who will be listed as committee members for reviewing materials submitted to the committee for inclusion in the Body of Knowledge. (see appendix A for selection criteria). 

The function of these individuals would be to:

  • Review the appropriateness of submissions for inclusion in the BoK using standards established by the committee.
  • Classify material presented for inclusion in the Body of Knowledge library utilizing taxonomy and framework developed by the committee.
  • Provide feedback to the committee on possible improvements to the standards. framework and taxonomy.
  • Identify materials and content not already part of the BoK for possible inclusion.

Duration of membership of associate committee members will be determined by the committee chairperson.

  • All members listed above may attend all meetings and offer input.
  • All members will be PEMAC members in good standing.
  • Members will at all times follow the PEMAC Conflict of Interest Policies and practices.

Recruiting Committee Members

  • Opportunities for participation by PEMAC members at large will be posted on the PEMAC website as required and with notice sent to all members. 
  • The committee Chairperson, with the approval of the Board of Directors, will determine any specific qualifications that are required to participate and will define a process by which committee members are selected. 
  • Committee members shall receive no remuneration for serving as such, but are entitled to reasonable expenses incurred in the exercise of their duty. As outlined in the PEMAC Policies and Procedures.

Term of Office

  • Typical term of membership will be 3 years
  • Term of committee chairperson will be 3 years at the discretion of the board.
  • To ensure continuity, terms will be staggered with typically one third the seats filled each year, as appropriate. 
  • Any member may be removed or replaced at any time and shall cease to be a member of the Committee upon ceasing to be a PEMAC member in good standing.
  • Any committee member may be removed by a majority vote of the Board of Directors or by the Committee Members for performance issues. Refer to performance section.

Performance

  • Voting members of the Committee are expected to attend 7 out of 10 meetings.
  • If unable to attend, notice is to be provided to the Chairperson and following the meeting minutes and action items assigned to the absent member are to be reviewed and followed up on as required.
  • Committee members are expected to review and abide by the “Conflict of Interest” policy.

Meetings

  • Schedule of meetings
    • The Body of Knowledge committee meetings will be held on a regular basis - Monthly - (except July & August).
  • Meeting format and Agenda
    • Meetings will largely be held by remotely accessible means: for example, telephone conferencing, web conferencing, video conferencing. From time to time face to face meetings may be held in conjunction with PEMAC events and conferences.
    • The Chairperson is responsible to ensure that dates, times and means of the meeting are set and communicated to all committee members and to ensure that agenda and minutes are circulated in a timely way.
    • Individual committee members are free to propose agenda items.
    • All reports, documents and outputs of the committee are the property of PEMAC.
  • Documentation
    • All current reports, documents and meeting minutes related to this sub-committee will be stored in a “DropBox” Body of Knowledge team folder a manner that allows access by the Committee members, and the Board of Directors. 
    •  Information (i.e. report summaries, presentations, etc.) deemed appropriate to be shared with the PEMAC general membership will be placed on the PEMAC website.
  • Quorum
    • No business may be transacted by the Committee except at a meeting of its members at which a quorum is present. A majority attendance of voting members constitutes a quorum.
    • A meeting may proceed without a quorum for information sharing purposes but no decisions will be taken.
  • Recommendations and Decision Making
    • The committee will strive for consensus in its decisions. However majority vote (51%) of the quorum will suffice.

Reporting

  • Regular Committee Business
    • The committee shall keep electronic records, in the form of minutes of meetings, email, notes, or a log of relevant information, to support the regular functioning of the committee, as deemed necessary by the committee Chairperson.   Such documents will be accessible at all times to all Committee members and the PEMAC Executive Director.
    • Notwithstanding the above, the Chairperson shall keep the Board Liaison and Executive Director updated regarding important or sensitive items at a frequency to be determined by the parties involved.
  • Business requiring Board involvement
    • For items requiring discussion and decision at the board level, the Chairperson shall:
      • First report to the Liaison, who, at his or her discretion, will decide how the matter will be presented to the Board.
      • Where possible, prepare items for Board review in writing and circulate in advance to the Liaison and Executive Director, who will in turn disseminate to Board members.
    • In the event of any conflict between the Chairperson and the Liaison, the Chairperson shall report to the Executive Director.
    • The Board of Directors will have the final authority to accept or reject the recommendations of the Committee.

Relationships with other Standing and Ad Hoc PEMAC Committees

  • At all times a direct line of communications will be maintained with all PEMAC committees to ensure alignment of purposes and cooperation in activities.
  • Other committees include, but are not limited to:
    • Executive Committee
    • MainTrain Committee
    • Awards Committee
    • Education and Professional Development Committee
    • Marketing Committee

Appendix A – Associate Committee Members

Associate committee members will be made up of PEMAC members who have volunteered to work on the committee and have displayed expertise and experience in the subject matter incorporated in the GFMAM Asset Management Landscape and the PEMAC Maintenance Management Framework.