Due to the complexity of modern marine power plants, the criteria of reliability, availability
and maintainability became key features in ship design, exploitation and maintenance. The best
results in application are obtained when the analysis of reliability is an integral part of the design
process of new components and systems. One of the conditions for analysing and estimating
a design solution or a maintenance function on the basis of reliability criterion is the existence
and availability of data on RAM (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability) characteristics of a marine
power plant. The paper presents a methodology of creating a database for collecting the operational
characteristics of the system components. It also presents the created database structure.
Using the database structure, an information system that enables the determination of RAM
characteristics of a single marine power plant component has been designed. The minimal set
of essential operative characteristics has been determined. The system is conceived in such a
way that it can easily encompass some additional characteristics with the purpose to extend its
potential applications
