1. A system for managing a network comprising: a processor configured to manage at least one network element associated with the network; a memory device coupled to the processor and configured to store an application program; and one or more repositories configured to communicate with the network, where at least one repository is configured to maintain an object-oriented information model, the information model including at least one managed entity data structure for describing the network element as a physical entity represented by one or more physical objects, wherein the at least one managed entity data structure is used to map different characteristics of different network elements into one or more vendor-independent data models.