Process-based view of product data management

Many companies consider acquiring a product data management system (PDMS) to reduce the delays and costs caused by inefficient product data management. There are, however, considerable differences between the various commercially available PDMSs, starting from the different meanings of basic concepts, such as document or document version. Before evaluating various PDMSs and their features, a company should analyze the processes in which the PDMS is going to be used. This paper describes two common processes: the development and delivery processes of configurable products. To a large extent product data is expressed as documents, and consequently engineering document management is one of the main functions of a PDMS. The rest of the paper discusses general requirements for document management within a PDMS and the particular requirements implied by the two process types.