ABSTRACT
This chapter is aimed at all levels of management responsible for determining and providing the infrastructure that enables the organization to function in its operating environment.
ISO 9000:2005 defines infrastructure as the system of permanent facilities and equipment of an organization. Infrastructure also includes basic facilities, equipment, services and installations needed for growth and functioning of the organization. Such basics would include the buildings and utilities such as electricity, gas, water and telecommunications. Within the buildings it would include the office accommodation, furniture, fixtures and fittings, computers, networks, dining areas, medical facilities, laboratories, plant, machinery and on the site it would include the access roads and transport. In the offices and workshops it would include the IT systems for planning and resourcing operations and the computer systems for processing, storing and displaying information. In fact everything an organization needs to operate other than the financial, human and consumable resources. In many organizations infrastructure is classified under the heading of capital expenditure because it is not order-driven, i.e., it does not change on receipt of an order but might change before a big contract is signed that was bid on the basis of changes in the infrastructure such as new IT systems, buildings for new assembly lines etc.
