The third key principle is "level of assurance" or level of uncertainty.  That is, what is the level of confidence that the asset will achieve its intended or designed outputs of safety, service and cost effectiveness? "Certainty" and its reciprocal "uncertainty" are all about risk, which links the context of use to the achieved outcomes.

Risk is the combination of the probability or likelihood of an event and its consequence. The consequence of most aircraft accidents is death. However, people confidently fly in aircrafts, because they are reasonably certain that the aircraft will perform to an expected standard. People are certain because of the way the risk is managed by the use of assessment tools during design and later in the provision of support and enabling capabilities.

Management of risk is a key role of asset management.  It provides a level of assurance that the systems and equipment that comprise assets, will deliver the required measurable and testable capabilities. Thus, the concept of "level of assurance" is actually incorporated with the concept of an "output". 

Organisations that are good at asset management effectively manage "what if" scenarios involving a trade-off between level of confidence and the consequences, because they are able to connect actions to consequences