Abstract

The research purpose is to determine the appropriateness for investing in automating an operational control centre (OCC) in sanitary companies. Based on methodology of Risk Management to the company reality, adopting international standards, this paper presents a model for evaluating and selecting the suitable risk management method for a particular sanitary enterprise considering technical factors as well as experience, knowledge and preferences of implicated actors. So far, different standardization around risk management initiatives has been developed. An increasing interest started from the year 1995 when the Technical Committee "Standards Australia / Standards New Zealand" published the standard AS/NZS 4360 - Risk Management, which responded to a global need for a generic guide for the implementation of a process of risk management in organizations of all sizes, both in the private and the public sector. There are different methods for organizing the basic functions implementation intended for an effective management of risks to prevent threats. Aguilar (2005) & Esteves (2005) studied different accessible methods, named by the organizations that support them, such as Euromethod, Safe, SEI-CRM, Riskit and the risk management methods from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Project Management Institute (PMI). The proposed methodology initially focuses in determining the extent of automating a OCC. It starts with the identification, analysis and assessment of the risks associated with the operation of OCC. A case study takes place at an OCC from a Chilean sanitary enterprise. This implies formal interviews to the involved OCC administration areas and applying aspects of the risks management. Being aware that is unrealistic to satisfy all necessities simultaneously for every situation, thus, conflicting objectives and subjective judgements will appear; a multicriteria approach helps to recognise priority requirements and dealing with intangible factors. Applying Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), numerical score is obtained from an expert panel referring to Saaty´s (2009) table to determine the method meeting the completeness of risk assessments. From the result it is possible to generate a standard for future risks evaluations in sanitary companies. The empirical evaluation reveals that through the methodology is possible to verify phase relative importance and the risks involved. This allows taking preventive actions regarding risks as, investment associated to automating an OCC for reducing the risk of affecting the continuity of water supply failure. From this result, it is interesting to analyse the different weights assigned by the expert team in agreement with the relevant criteria. This will give a reference for each method regarding phases, fulfilling the organization aims. The most important phase is the one that would ensure that the evaluation is as reliable as possible. Once the suitable risk management method is selected it follows its application. The contribution is estimated in that, introduces the importance of risk management and provides a useful methodology based on the AHP. In this context, allows extending this type of analysis and evaluations to any area that requires it.