The development of process information systems to support analysis of energy (or mineral) resource development strategies has been a continuing concern within IIASA's WELMM (Water, Energy Land, Materials and Manpower) Project since 1977, The resulting process information system, the Facility Data Base, has demonstrated its viability in a number of application studies, both in-house and outside IIASA.
Motivated by its experience in socio-economic resource modeling, the Structural Analysis Division at Statistics Canada has initiated a feasibility study on a data base of industrial process descriptions (completed in 1981): the Process Encyclopedia.
The independent development and the joint interest in process information systems has led to collaboration between the Structural Analysis Division of Statistics Canada and the Energy and Resources Task of the Resources and Environment Area of IIASA. This paper (also published by Statistics Canada: Working Paper No. 81-12-01) documents the first results of this collaboration: a synthesis of the conclusions which led to the development of the two systems; of their main features and of the lessons learned from their design and implementation. The conceptual mapping developed between the Facility Data Base and the Process Encyclopedia and documented as an Appendix of this paper provides a basis for future exchange of information between the two systems and should be seen as a first step in promoting interdisciplinary and international process information exchange and system building
