The changes that have occurred in the power generation industry over the last ten to fifteen years have resulted in lower levels of staffing. Particularily affected has been the engineering technical management function. CIS has recognised that organisations require to quickly and efficiently monitor just how well the technical aspects of the plant are being managed. CIS has therefore developed several tools to meet this requirement. Technical Management Benchmarking  The aim of technical management programmes is to ensure that component integrity and plant reliability are maintained over the life of the plant. This basically requires that information about the plant, its design, how it is operated and the impact of operation and maintenance on its condition is gathered and assessed by people with appropriate competencies to ensure safe and reliable operation.  The work process associated with each programme should result in the correct actions being taken at the appropriate times to meet this requirement. The benchmarking process mainly concentrates in identifying areas of high risk emanating from the type and quality of the plant management systems that are in place for controlling the technical aspects of the plant.  This involves comparing the existing management programmes relative to the attributes and metrics of industry best practice programmes. The output is a numerical indication of the level of risk in different plant areas. Process Implementation Audit Once the technical management processes have been benchmarked the degree to which they are implimented on a day to day basis is assessed. This typically involves a series of interviews with key staff to  establish what is or is not being carried out at the plant. It is typically uses not only the prevailing technical management procedures but also international best practice. CIS has also developed a simplified questionaire that was used as a "self" auditing tool  by Station management. CIS experience in this field is ideally suited to helping IPPs develop the engineering and training programmes that are required to achieve long term performance targets. For further information contact enquiries@ciservices.ie or call +353 (0)1 287 8290