Integrated project-management information systems: the French nuclear industry experience

In the early eighties, and in the French case from 1985, the development of the data-processing industry has made the real integration of project-management information systems feasible, and the data-base administration function has been extended to all facets of the engineering process. The new systems had to take into account the existing ones which were still operating efficiently and the new problems encountered due to the changes in the environment. One of these new problems was equipment and materials management, as the period of plants built in series had vanished, and the industry was obliged to build plants individually. The challenge encountered by the French nuclear industry in terms of the project-management information systems was to adapt efficiently to the new situation, and the purpose of this paper is to describe the most-significant elements of this adaptation. The authors review: (2) the objectives established by the company's general management; (2) the organization put into place to reach these objectives; (3) the main choices made; and (4) the economics. 3 references, 1 figure, 1 table