Fundamental aspects of information processing and the decision process to support asset management

Nowadays asset management is regarded as the answer to the changing environment in which power utilities operate. Successful asset management heavily relies on the use of information and data to facilitate the asset management decision process. Decisions should be based on information from various sources, from within the organisation of the utility as well as from its environment, and involve a large amount of different information aspects. This paper describes the fundamental aspects of the asset management decision process, and the information sources necessary for this decision process. This information sources can be categorised into technical, economical and societal aspects. The decision process itself can be separated into three layers regarding component, network and corporate decisions.