Integration through standards : an overview of internal information standards for engineering asset

Contemporary engineering organizations are increasingly becoming reliant on advanced computing technology and information systems to ensure the effective management of their engineering assets. Ensuring the reliability, maintenance and management of assets is dependent on the integration and interoperability of their information systems. A plethora of standards have emerged to assist the horizontal and vertical integration of such systems. Within the asset management field several leading bodies and consortia are focusing on standards development. MIMOSA and ISO are two of the leading standardisation bodies that are active in the development of such standards. Although a number of ?open? standards have been developed such standards are not being taken up as rapidly as expected due mainly to the significant investment required in adoption and inertia to change. This not only has implications for interoperability as assets become more complex and difficult to maintain, but also the storage and retrieval of quality data over its lifecycle. This paper provides an overview of information standards relevant to the integration of asset management systems, discusses the directions of the development of these standards and comments on the implications of these advances.