Public agencies, private corporations, nonprofit institutions, and other organizations regularly invest millions of dollars in acquiring buildings and other constructed facilities to support their lines of business. For this investment, the owner receives a complex structure composed of hundreds of separate but interrelated components, including roofs, walls, foundations, electrical, plumbing, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, fire, communication, safety, and architectural systems. These components and systems must all be maintained and repaired to optimize the facility's performance throughout its service life and to provide a safe, healthy, and productive environment for its users and occupants.

Linking the Construction Industry: Electronic Operation and Maintenance Manuals is a summary of a workshop that was held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C., on October 13, 1999. The workshop, planned and organized by the Federal Facilities Council and the National Institute of Building Sciences, brought together an invited audience of building industry stakeholders, including owners and operators from federal agencies and other organizations, building component and system manufacturers, publishers of building product data and maintenance manuals, and CMMS software developers to revisit the issue of electronic operation and maintenance manuals.