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Glossary

Externally provided processes

Processes, products, technologies and services obtained from outside the organisation that affect the achievement of its asset management objectives.

Clause 8.3 of ISO 55001 was titled Outsourcing in the 2014 edition. The 2024 second edition renames it externally provided processes, products, technologies and services.

The rename should not be over-read, and this entry previously did. ISO/TC 251 states that the term changed in line with the ISO Harmonized Structure, which is the common text ISO applies across its management system standards, and that the requirements are not changed substantially. So the wider title is not the committee announcing a wider scope.

What remains true is that the four nouns describe a wider field than the word outsourcing does, whatever the drafting reason. Processes covers the classic case. Products and technologies name arrangements procurement treats as purchases rather than delegations: platforms, embedded analytics, proprietary control systems, condition monitoring services and data feeds. Reading the clause against that list is this publication’s suggestion for finding gaps, not a claim that the standard broadened.

Sources

ISO 55001:2024, Clause 8.3, externally provided processes, products, technologies and services, retitled from Outsourcing in the 2014 edition. ISO/TC 251, Updated Guidance on Asset Management System Requirements, 2024, which states that the term changed in line with the ISO Harmonized Structure and that the requirements are not changed substantially. PMBOK Guide, Eighth Edition, November 2025, which expands its coverage of procurement.

Read the sources