Dimensions and Management of Facility Performance

Isolation of the practice and technology of the engineering support specialties is identified as a major limitation to their effectiveness. A viable, performance technology for engineered facilities is defined, and an understanding of how this performance technology is related to quality management and the infrastructure crisis is developed. This provides a strong potential to assess and thereby improve the effectiveness of the engineering services that support the engineered facilities in the infrastructure. Opportunities to unify the practice of—and technology in—the engineering support specialties may be founded in the performance technology proposed and enabled by the database provided by technology information management systems. Unified practice and technology will give engineers the potential to effectively engage in the necessary public dialogue regarding the rationale, technical priorities, and investments needed for a well‐managed infrastructure. The database can provide statistically significant support for a probability‐based performance technology to extend the current, deterministic technology based on experimental models and prototypes.