The development of an integrated information system to support the Engineering Department of electricity utilities

The Distribution Engineer in a UK Area Electricity Board is being required to respond to increased pressures from the technical economic and customer demands of his work. The implications of this shows that the engineer will need access to data not easily available to him. Furthermore this new data, to be of value, has to be properly integrated with existing engineering computer applications. The authors describe their work to develop an integrated database that would fully support the needs of the Engineering Department. They discuss four main aspects of their work: identification and definition of the requirements of an integrated database; developments in information technology that made the development of the database a practical proposition; the shape and structure of the designed database paying particular attention to plant and circuits; and the use of the database and a description of the benefits it can be expected to provide