Abstract: An information model based on a physical system, such as the physical equipment in a power system. An object-oriented information model provides a generic power system model that may be applied to any of several specific applications. In the invention, physical pieces of equipment are represented as objects with attributes that can be verified (primary data) and relations including connectivity, grouping, and location. The model handles all known configurations of power systems and is extensible to new configurations. Attribute input is supported from primary sources and is used to calculate data required by applications programs. A window-based graphical user interface uniquely simplifies operation of the database. Thus, the present invention provides a single, easy to use, source for all proprietary application databases at a utility.