27. Asset Lifecycle Data Governance Framework

Engineering asset lifecycle management is information intensive. The variety of asset lifecycle processes generate, process, and analyze enormous amount of data on daily basis. Information systems utilized for asset management not only have to provide for the control of lifecycle management tasks, but also have to act as instruments for decision support. Asset lifecycle management can be viewed as a combination of decisions associated with strategic, planning, and operational levels of the organization. Information systems in asset management, in theory, thus facilitate data-enabled view of asset management. However, realization of such a view of asset lifecycle through information systems requires appropriate hardware and software applications; quality, standardized, and interoperable data; appropriate skill set of employees to process data; and the strategic fit between the asset lifecycle management processes data requirements and the information systems. This paper sketches out a framework for asset lifecycle management data governance, which highlights the rights and accountabilities related to asset data lifecycle management. The framework describes how common business data and metrics should be defined, propagated, owned, and enforced throughout the organization, thereby allowing for better quality and faster decision-making, business intelligence reporting, cost reductions, compliance, and better controls of business processes.