PRODUCT LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT

UNIT – II
PLM/PDM FUNCTIONS AND FEATURES

DATA VAULT AND DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT

Data vault is a data modelling technique that enables agile and scalable data warehousing. It
consists of hubs, links, and satellites that store business keys, relationships, and attributes of data
entities. Data vault modelling is especially useful for dealing with complex, heterogeneous, and
evolving data sources. But how do you document and communicate a data vault model to different
stakeholders and users? In this article, we will explore some data vault case studies and examples
in physical data modelling (PDM) and how they can help you convey the structure, logic, and
value of your data warehouse.

Data vault modeling: Hubs, links, and satellites

Hubs - Each hub represents a core business concept, such as they represent Customer Id/Product
Number/Vehicle identification number (VIN). Users will use a business key to get information
about a Hub. The business key may have a combination of business concept ID and sequence ID,
load date, and other metadata information.

Links - Links represent the relationship between Hub entities.

Satellites - Satellites fill the gap in answering the missing descriptive information on core business
concepts. Satellites store information that belongs to Hub and relationships between them.

A satellite cannot have a direct connection to another satellite.

A hub or link may have one or more satellites.

Data vault PDM basics

A physical data model (PDM) is a representation of how data is stored and accessed in a database.
It includes tables, columns, keys, indexes, constraints, and other physical properties of the data.
A data vault PDM is a specific type of PDM that follows the data vault principles and conventions.
For example, a data vault PDM uses hash keys as primary keys, prefixes tables with H_, L_, or
S_ depending on their role, and applies load dates and record sources to track data lineage and
history.
Data vault PDM tools

To create and maintain a data vault PDM, you need a tool that supports data vault modeling and
generates the corresponding SQL code. There are several tools available in the market, such as
WhereScape, erwin, Data Vault Builder, and Data Modeler. These tools allow you to design,
document, and automate your data vault PDM using graphical interfaces, templates, and wizards.
They also provide features such as data quality checks, metadata management, and data lineage
visualization.

Data vault PDM examples

Learning and communicating a data vault PDM can be done by looking at real-world examples.
For instance, a retail company used data vault to integrate data from multiple sources and capture
the customer journey, while a healthcare organization used it to consolidate data from various
clinical and administrative systems. Additionally, a financial institution used data vault to
harmonize data from disparate systems and generate accurate and timely reports. All of these case
studies demonstrate how the data vault PDM can enable companies to analyze sales performance,
optimize marketing campaigns, monitor patient outcomes, improve quality of care, comply with
regulations, support business intelligence, and meet audit requirements.

Data vault PDM benefits

Using a data vault PDM offers several advantages for your data warehousing project, such as
flexibility, scalability, and auditability. Flexibility is provided as you can easily add new hubs,
links, or satellites without modifying the existing ones. Scalability is also available as it can handle
large volumes of data and support parallel loading and querying. You can even partition the tables
by hash keys, load dates, or record sources to improve performance and manageability. Lastly,
auditability is enabled as it can track the origin, history, and quality of the data. Load dates and
record sources can be used to identify when and where the data came from, while satellites store
the changes and versions of the data attributes.

Data vault PDM best practices

To ensure the success of your data vault PDM, you should adhere to some best practices and
guidelines. A consistent naming convention for tables, columns, and keys will make your model
easier to understand and maintain. Utilizing hash keys as primary keys for hubs and links will
guarantee uniqueness, prevent duplicates, and facilitate quick joins. Adding load dates and record
sources to satellites and links will enable data lineage and history tracking. Furthermore, using
business keys as attributes for hubs will enable business identification and mapping of the data
entities. Finally, employing surrogate keys as foreign keys for satellites and links will ensure
referential integrity and avert circular references. A major issue for many companies is ensuring
that product data is up to date, correct and protected from accidental or deliberate damage. Data
vault and document management provides secure storage and retrieval of product definition
information. Check-in and check-out functions work with data stored in an electronic vault to
provide secure storage and access control. Release levels for design data are defined and users are
assigned access authorizations.
The electronic vault either contains the product information itself or information that allows users
to access the data. Users and applications must go through the PDM system to get controlled data.
This may seem like a road block to getting the job done, but this is not the case. For it means that
users do not have to know where information is actually located and ensures that they get the latest
versions of data. This works in a fashion similar to library systems with a card index (the meta-
data) that leads users to books (the product data). Meta-data and other attributes help users search
for and retrieve relevant data.
The release management process ensures that data attains release status only after passing a pre-
defined approval process. Various approval scenarios can be used. User access to released
information is based on project, password and other user-defined controls.
Meta-data stores information about product data so that changes, release levels, approval
authorizations and other data controls can be tracked and audited. The meta-data also is used to
create relationships among product data so that information can be grouped and related by
common usage and among products. Product definition data can be associated with product
configurations as well as parts.
Data stored in locations other than the vault (paper drawings, documents stored on remote
computing systems, etc) can be controlled by reference. Of course, this does not provide the same
level of security as for data in the vault. However, security is at least as good as that found in
manual systems and tracking is simplified.
WORKFLOW MANAGEMENT
Workflow management is the discipline of creating, documenting, monitoring and improving
upon the series of steps, or workflow, required to complete a specific task.
The goal of workflow management is to optimize workflow to ensure a task is completed
correctly, consistently and efficiently.
Workflow management is an ongoing activity within a business. Advances in the technologies
that support workflows, evolving workplace dynamics and changing customer requirements can
make existing workflows obsolete or present opportunities for improvements. As such,
organizations need to continually review and revise workflows to ensure they're optimal.
What are the basic components of a workflow?
The following three basic components are required to successfully execute a workflow.
Input. All the information, materials and resources required to complete each step in a task.
Transformation. The actions taken to perform each step and move through the sequential or
parallel steps. This speaks to what needs to be done, how and by whom.
Output. The result of each step becomes the input for follow-on steps within the workflow, with
the finished task being the final output.
Every workflow starts with an additional workflow component known as a trigger.
What is a workflow management system?
Organizations have created and managed workflows for centuries -- and they've had to manually
manage them for nearly that whole span of time.
But organizations have been able to use software to support this task since the late 20th century.
Moreover, comprehensive workflow management systems that offer a wide range of functions have
come onto the market in recent years.
Today, workflow management systems provide numerous tools to digitally create, document,
analyze and optimize workflows. They are also tools to streamline and automate steps within each
workflow.
Workers define inputs, transformations and outputs, translating them in the workflow
management systems as objects, rules and events so the system can assemble them and automate
them where possible.
Workforce management platforms typically support customized workflows. But they also offer a
service catalog of prebuilt workflows, which let teams quickly implement managed workflows to
rapidly streamline business processes. Additionally, some platforms have features that let
organizations customize prebuilt workflows, so each enterprise can tweak them to its own unique
needs.
What are the benefits of workflow management?
Organizations typically experience the following benefits from engaging in workflow
management:
First and foremost, the creation and documentation of structured workflows bring consistency to
how tasks should happen.
As a result, the ability to complete a task does not reside with one person but rather can be taught
and replicated by others, which brings operational resiliency to the organization.
Workflow management also creates visibility into how tasks are completed, as well as the roles
and steps dedicated to execution.
This visibility lets managers see barriers, bottlenecks, inefficiencies or redundancies in the
workflow, which in turn lets managers identify opportunities to streamline, automate and
otherwise improve how efficiently and effectively a workflow can be done.
Automated, optimized and streamlined workflows translate into time and money savings.
Automated workflows take repetitive, mundane and low-value activities away from workers,
letting them focus on higher-value tasks and be more productive and satisfied with their jobs.
Automated and more efficient workflows reduce the likelihood of errors.
Ongoing workflow management delivers improved experiences to all stakeholders, including
customers.
Workflow management lets managers better identify the skills required to complete all or part of
the activities within the workflow and then align the right individuals and roles with each activity.
Choosing a workflow management system
Enterprise leaders should ensure the workflow management system they're considering offers a
competitive set of functions, such as the ability to do the following:
 Map and define workflows.
 Create custom workflows.
 Access and use prebuilt workflows.
 Customize prebuilt workflows.
 Automate notifications.
 Automate repetitive steps within the workflow.
 Integrate with existing enterprise systems, including legacy systems, if applicable.
 Measure and report on workflow performance.
Workflow management best practices
Although implementing a workflow management system can help the enterprise in its efforts to
continually improve and automate workflows, operations experts said organizations should also
implement the following best practices:
Commit adequate resources to workflow management and create accountability for successfully
driving continuous improvement.
Aim to create workflows that are easy for workers to follow and watch for worker shortcuts that
indicate the need or potential to streamline.
Find activities that can be eliminated or automated to bring further efficiencies to workflows.
Similarly, look for activities within workflows that can be digitalized, thereby eliminating any
remaining paper-based requirements.
Leverage the workflow management system to its fullest potential to be best positioned to
optimize and rethink workflows and even retire obsolete ones.
WHAT IS PROCESS MANAGEMENT?
Process management is an action organization can take to help them achieve its long-term strategic
goals. It is a business methodology that may use different techniques, structured approaches and
technologies.
To make sure that an organization remains on the right track, process management focuses
primarily on outcomes, rather than tasks. It's an ongoing process, where teams and organizations
can constantly look for ways to improve efficiencies and manage processes effectively.
 Process management often considers goals like:
 Aligning processes with the company's vision and values
 Standardizing processes to facilitate training and quality assurance efforts
  Automating repetitive or simple tasks
 Sourcing new technologies
 Performing risk analyses to mitigate process risks
 Tracking process metrics to measure efficiency
Types of Processes Management
Process management can refer to several types of business processes. Business processes are the
series of structured activities and tasks that an organization's staff and stakeholders perform and
complete to achieve a particular goal.
Here's a closer look at the main process types:
 Information process: This involves researching and collecting data on the organization's
business needs.
 Management process: This entails planning, controlling and decision-making regarding the
organization's business operations.
 Operations process: This includes hiring and designating personnel and deploying work
tools to undertake necessary tasks, implement workplace policies and to monitor the
workflow.
Business processes examples
There are many business processes that exist within an organization. The processes of your
organization may depend on your industry, the size of the organization and the goals of your
company. Developing process management strategies for different processes within a company
can ensure better alignment and make it easier for departments to work together.
 Product research and development
 Customer acquisition and relationship building
 Employee development and management
 Raw materials procurement
 Quality control
 Process improvement
 Financial analysis
 Capital management
 Product delivery
 Customer service
 Infrastructure development
 New employee onboarding and training
How to use process management
If you want to incorporate process management strategies into your own organizational efforts,
here are some steps you can take:
1. Consider the organization's goal
Considering the large-scale goals of an organization can help to align processes with the
organization's vision. By outlining a definite direction, you can create more efficiency and better
resource management.
Communicating the goals to employees can also help them to understand expectations and to
ensure they perform processes in a way that supports the organization's objectives. This can
improve employee engagement and increase efficiency.
2. Establish reliable processes
The organization may have to re-plan its day-to-day operations to make them align with
productivity needs. By creating specific daily work quotas, desired monthly and yearly production
goals are sometimes more achievable.
The organization must also take steps to improve communication between different departments.
To ensure accountability, set up approvals for how the work long you expect processes to take.
Creating reliable processes can make it easier to standardize operations and run multiple processes
simultaneously. This can reduce training time and improve reliability.
3. Consider available resources
Constantly look for resources you can apply to processes. This might include new technologies or
materials. This can help keep operational costs down. With process management, the organization
can list the materials they require and plan their procurement.
They can decide how the resources are to be stored and how to allocate them as needed. This
ensures that business operations continue to work smoothly, without experiencing any resource
shortage or causing waste.
4. Look for improvement opportunities
Automation is becoming an important part of process management. By automating repetitive
tasks, the organization can increase work speed, efficiency and accuracy. It can also assign other,
more useful tasks to employees.
That may help to reduce job-related stress and staff turnover. Constantly look for ways to automate
processes and improve workflows. You can update management strategies to ensure processes are
seamless and streamlined

Product Structure Management

Product structure management (PSM) is a process that affects many different disciplines in a
company. Different disciplines have different demands on the decomposition of the product
structure and the functionality of the information systems used. Different disciplines therefore
often work in different information systems. If several information systems to some extent contain
the same information, it is important that the information is updated in all systems if it is changed.
Since PSM is a change intensive activity, it is difficult to perform PSM in an environment
consisting of several different information systems. There is a need for strategies for PSM that
considers all relevant aspects of an information system, such as the process it supports, the
information handled, the information systems used and the organisation.

Product Structure Management (PSM) makes it very easy to functionally organize products and
display them. In this way, functional structures can be optimally oriented on the functional
structure determined by requirements management and the technical solution.

The product structure can be described as the backbone of product development. Its purpose is to
manage all artefacts generated during product development and make them centrally available to
all the processes that build on it.

For variant-rich products, the product structure can be organized in PSM as a so-called product
family or as a product platform. This contains all the variants belonging to the product family and
is aimed chiefly at simpler reuse and better modularization. Product Structure Management makes
it easy to map release and change processes so that they reliably reflect the current status of
product development at any time.

Benefits
 Central availability of all product-related information
 Total transparency of the results of product development
 Increased traceability of requirements, from product development through to logistics
processes and service
 Easy change and release of development status and version
 Full integration with downstream processes

Core Functions of Product Structure Management

 Simple generation of a functional organization structure
 Product structure can be designed even without material masters
 Integrated configuration and simulation of variants
 Flexible and integrated change management support
 Integrated 3D visualization and mockup functions
 Harmonized user interface and improved ease of use for product development
 Easy transition to and automated synchronization with production bills of material
 Where required, linkage with functional requirements managed via Intelligent Product
Design
Use
Product structures manage product variant structures in early development phases without the
need to employ material master data. Product structures support products with a large number of
variants.
Product Structure Management supports the master data evolution during the product lifecycle;
and provides high integration of engineering processes and manufacturing processes for highly
configurable products. It allows you to document several finished products in one structure. This
is effective for high-volume, repetitive manufacturing (for example, the automotive industry), as
well as for complex machinery and equipment.

What is product classification?

Product classification organizes products into four categories based mostly on consumer buying
behavior, similarity to competing brands, and price range. Classifying products helps marketing
and sales teams develop strategies to target consumer needs.

Product classifications are not the same as product categories. Both can help to organize products
for promotion. But product categories are usually specific to a business, industry, or niche.

What are the different product classifications?

There are four main product classifications. Professionals base these categories on consumer
habits, costs and their general characteristics. The four product classifications are:
1. Convenience products
Convenience products describe the items and services that customers purchase on a regular basis
with little thought. Typically, consumers use the same or similar brands for convenience products
unless they are compelled to do otherwise through an advertisement or availability. For example,
dish soap is a convenience product. Another characteristic of convenience products is that they
are easy to find. Most consumers can buy dish soap without conducting research or making a
special trip to the store for it.
Marketers may use more techniques that discount other brands in their campaigns when marketing
convenience products. This is because consumers may change their buying habits and switch to a
different brand if convinced, such as through a comparison advertisement. For example, a
company may market their dish soap to be more effective at removing grease from dishes.
Marketers may also spend more time with consumer test groups, to determine how their brand
compares to others or create marketing campaigns that get a consumer's attention by surprising
them.
2. Informed purchases
Informed purchases, also known as shopping goods, refers to the products and services that
consumers don't make often and usually perform research before doing so. These types of products
can range from more expensive items, such as a house or car, or more regular purchases, such as
a pair of shoes. Consumers typically take more time to make informed purchases, which can
change the way marketers advertise them.
For example, because consumers typically perform more research or have higher standards for
these purchases, they may include more information in their marketing campaigns and choose
more specific demographic groups to target. For example, a marketing team may choose to target
college-aged consumers when creating advertisements for laptops, as this demographic often
needs the product. The marketing team might also include more information about the laptop's
abilities, such as its graphics quality or operation speed.
3. Specialty items
Specialty items are unique products that marketers can advertise to a certain demographic of
consumers without worrying about their competition. These products can include innovative
goods that are one of a kind on the market or brand-name products that have a loyal fan base.
While these items may be more expensive than others, consumers often feel less of a need to
deliberate or research their decision to purchase a specialty item.
For example, the marketing team for a well-known luxury fashion brand wouldn't need to create
advertisements that compare their clothes to other brands or even include detailed information.
Instead, the brand's name and reputation alone can encourage consumers to purchase their
products. These companies can focus more on building and maintaining customer relationships
and brand recognition than distinguishing themselves from other companies.
4. Mandatory purchases
Mandatory purchases, also known as unsought goods, are products that consumers buy out of
necessity rather than desire. Typically, these products are household or safety items that customers
don't feel excited to buy, such as batteries, smoke detectors, air filters and cleaning products.
Sometimes, consumers may buy these items out of fear or an obligatory response, such as buying
a fire extinguisher or a car maintenance membership just in case of an emergency.
When advertising these items, marketing teams can focus more on reminding consumers of their
need for these items and building brand recognition that allows consumers to purchase a specific
brand with little thought. Some companies choose to feature reasons why you need these items in
their advertisements, creating a sense of security through the purchase of their product. For
example, a marketing team may advertise a flashlight by showing a person using one in the event
of a power outage.

Why classify products?

Professionals classify products for a variety of reasons. Product classifications can contribute to
many decisions within the life cycle of a product, including the way companies market it, its price,
the type of consumer who buys it and how high the demand for the product is. Here are some
other reasons why professionals classify products:
Marketing
As previously mentioned, the techniques marketing teams may use to advertise a product often
depends on its classification type. Product classification can change a marketing budget and the
focus of a campaign. For example, when marketing a specialty item, a company is less likely to
spend money on forming a focus group to test its product. Instead, they may allocate their
resources to brand management.
Pricing
The type of classification a product receives can change the way retailers and distributors price
the item. Convenience items and mandatory purchases are often more likely to be cheaper than a
specialty item or informed purchase, as consumers value these products' availability and necessity.
Convenience and mandatory items are also often more regular in nature and include products with
lower price points, such as food. Because consumers typically hold less brand loyalty to the
products under these classifications, it's also more important for the companies that sell
convenience and mandatory purchases to assign a lower price to these items to stay in competition
with other brands.
Demand
The demand for a product often varies depending on the product classification. Generally,
consumers buy mandatory and convenience products more often than specialty and informed
purchases. This affects how companies manufacture these items and how marketing teams
advertise them. Because consumers may need more encouragement to make purchases that they
need less frequently, companies selling specialty and informed purchase products may need to
allocate more time and money to market their products.
Invention
When deciding which products to produce, a company might consider product classifications.
Because the marketing efforts for each type of product varies, a company may aim to specialize
in one type of advertisement, which limits which products they make. The demand of a product,
which has a role in how professionals create product classifications, can also influence a
company's decision regarding the invention of a product.

What is Program Management?

Program Management is an organizational function that oversees a group of individual projects
linked together through a shared organizational goal or common area of impact. This
programmatic grouping of multiple projects provides synergy, consistent management, and
greater visibility to stakeholders than individually managed projects.

What are the Key Functions of Program Management?

Program management is a strategic oversight function responsible for the consistent delivery of
large-scale initiatives. Programs consist of multiple individual projects, which are typically
managed discretely by project managers.
Program managers must maintain a strategic plan and schedule for their programs, inform and
advise stakeholders, review the status and progress of each project, mentor project managers, and
safeguard the quality of each project plan and its deliverables. Program managers take a holistic
view of these projects and evaluate the larger context of the combined organizational impact with
the interdependencies by leveraging system thinking.
Smaller companies may view it as a luxury, but for larger organizations, program management
often provides essential value by coordinating individual projects while applying a strategic lens.
Project managers are primarily concerned with their deliverables, while program managers always
apply the big picture lens and context to every situation.

Another benefit is a consistent level of governance and application of standards across multiple
projects. With a single point of oversight, project statuses can be easily rolled up for a global view;
this allows for baseline quality requirements to be evenly and equally enforced.
Program management is also sometimes where overall budget management occurs. It ensures
funds are allocated appropriately across the entire array of active and planned projects instead of
each project vying for funding.
Program management adds significant value whenever an organization undertakes large strategic
initiatives requiring cross-functional cooperation with external dependencies. Any
transformational activity—be it business, agile or digital—is nearly impossible to execute without
a program management-oriented approach given size and scope.

How Does Program Management Fit into an Organization?

Many organizations establish a formal Program Management Office (PMO) that serves as the
centralized home for managing strategic projects. This office not only assigns program managers
to provide oversight, but it is also housing templates, best practices, and standard operating
procedures. This process brings a similar level of quality to every project in the organization
instead of leaving it up to individual project managers to pick and choose for themselves, resulting
in widespread inconsistencies in quality and effectiveness.
Individual project managers can work with program management in several ways. In some cases,
project managers work for program managers and are assigned to different initiatives based on
their areas of expertise and experience. In other cases, project managers are embedded within
different functional areas of the company or lines of business. There may be dotted-line reporting
to program managers in this scenario, or they may utilize less formal oversight and information
exchange to coordinate activities.
Regardless of the organizational structure, project managers will provide regular status updates to
program management and are expected to heed their advice while honoring the priorities of the
overall program. Program managers can then synthesize the various projects under their purview
and evaluate how the comprehensive program is progressing and provide a macro/strategic view
to stakeholders compared to project managers’ micro/tactical scope.
Despite their seeming similarities, program management and product management are quite
different, yet complementary, roles. Product managers concentrate on what to build and why they
should build it, while program managers focus on how it will get built and when it will be
delivered.
What is Effective Program Management?
For program managers to be successful, they need a host of skills they can tap into. This first and
foremost include practical communication skills due to their broad responsibilities and high-level
visibility given the vital nature of the programs they oversee.
There are three distinct types of communication:
status reporting, direction setting, and problem-solving:
Status reporting requires considerable written, verbal, and organizational communication
capabilities. They must deliver comprehensive yet efficient status updates to a broad audience in
multiple formats with the appropriate level of detail for each individual.
Direction setting is required to inform and shape the scope and schedule of individual projects
(and project managers) that roll up under their programs. Objectives and deadlines must be clear,
and program managers must be willing to ask hard, probing questions to determine how projects
are truly progressing.
Problem-solving comes into play continually for program managers. When obstacles, challenges,
and resistance arise (which happens quite often over the life of a program), they must be willing
to dive into the details and create action plans to ensure the program isn’t put in jeopardy.
A difficult aspect of the role is that program managers must demonstrate their authority regarding
projects related to their program. Very few people are responsible for key deliverables that report
to them. They must establish themselves as both senior leaders and the day-to-day representative
for the executive sponsor of the initiative.
What are Traits of Good Program Management?
Consensus building
Create alignment across multiple teams or even lines of business to ensure everyone is marching
in the same direction and aware of their role in the grand scheme of things.
Risk assessment
As program managers must spot, track, and triage risks as they arise, escalating when required
without continually sounding the alarm and ratcheting up the drama. Spotting and getting ahead
of issues rather than simply reacting to them after the fact is a key differentiator for great program
managers.
Attention to detail
Program management constantly interprets project progress and ties it back to budgets, deadlines,
and strategic objectives. They’re also typically on the hook for ensuring everything is well-
documented, whether they do it themselves or delegate it to others.
COMMUNICATION AND NOTIFICATION
On-line, automated notification of critical events means that all personnel are informed regarding
the current state of the project. Designers and others know as quickly as possible when product
information is ready to be processed through the next task and which information is the most up
to date.
Electronic mail is used to notify people about important events or required actions on-line. Delays
and misplaced communications are minimized. This mechanism may also be used to delegate
activity when a user is unable to complete an assigned task.
A software mechanism known as a "trigger" is used to spawn notifications and other actions
automatically. Almost any event in the product development process can cause a message to be
sent or cause another event (such as the translation of data to another application) to occur.
Triggers are used to streamline data vault and document management in addition to workflow and
process management procedures.
Data transport
PDM systems keep track of data locations and allow users to access it knowing only a data set's
name. Such names are not limited by the local computer's file-naming conventions, so they can
be more meaningful. In fact, the user need not know how to use the computer's file and directory
commands.
Moving data from one location to another, or from one application to another, is an operation that
the PDM system performs - users do not need to be concerned with operating systems and network
commands.
Data translation
The system administrator can pre-define data translators to be used to convert data between pairs
of applications and to formats for various display and output devices. This allows enforcement of
standard data forms. While translators may not be provided as an integral part of the PDM system,
they may be applied because the system knows the data format of each controlled file and which
translation is appropriate.
Triggers can cause data to be translated automatically from one application to another at
appropriate times. Thus, the correct data is more likely to be used in any situation.
Image services
Raster, vector and video images are treated the same as any other data by the PDM system. Online
access is provided to a wide range of previously difficult-to-distribute product data, providing this
information in a structured manner to more users.
Raster and vector image viewing allows users such as managers and shop floor workers to view
drawings and other design data on PCs or terminals, enabling access to a wide audience. Mark-up
capabilities allow checkers, reviewers and approvers to add comments and annotations to raster
images.
Image services accelerate processes such as engineering change requests and orders by facilitating
the exchange of information and comments among users.

System administration
The administrator sets up the operational parameters of the PDM system and will typically
monitor:
 access and change permissions;
 authorizations;
 approval procedures;
 data back-up and security;
 data archive.
Most systems can be tailored to conform to corporate standards and to improve the efficiency of
operations for individual users. In addition to normal user interface customization, the operational
features of PDM systems can be tailored. For instance, the approval process may be set to require
sequential approval by several individuals in one case and to allow a majority vote of all approvers
in another.
Systems can be tailored in many ways, including:
 user interface layout;
 modification of system messages and terminology;
 integration of third-party applications;
 addition of new functionality.
What is system/application integration and when do you need it?
System/Application integration is the process of joining software and hardware modules into one
cohesive infrastructure, enabling all pieces to work as a whole. Often referred to as IT integration
or software integration, it results in the following advantages.
Increased productivity. Integrated systems allow for centralized control over the daily processes
which adds to the efficiency of the entire workflow. A company gets more work done in less time
due to the fact that employees can use all apps and data they need from one entry point.
More accurate and trustworthy data. Data is updated across all components of the system
simultaneously, keeping all departments on the same page.
Faster decision-making. Data is no longer scattered across siloed storages. So, to perform
analytics, you don’t need to manually download and export it to the centralized repository. Instead,
with a holistic view of all information, you can extract useful business insights to make good
decisions more rapidly.
Cost-effectiveness. More often than not, system integration comes at a lower cost than replacing
all disjointed parts with a new single system. Not to mention the tricky process of implementing
new computer infrastructures.
PDM environments
In many organizations, product data is dispersed among computer systems and applications. To
gain the fullest value from a PDM system, it must be able to deal with information across and
among these systems.
Many types of computers (mainframes, mini-computers, workstations, and PCs) are typically used
during the product life cycle. These include systems used by engineering, manufacturing planning,
shopfloor, purchasing, operations, administration and other parts of the organization. Their
machines may or may not be connected in one or more wide- or local-area networks. A fully
developed PDM system will operate across these systems and networks. However, some software
bridges may still be required to move information between incompatible systems.
PDM systems are designed to conform to a set of industry standards. These include IGES, TCP/IP,
SQL, Motif, X-Windows and other national and international standards, as well as the currently
evolving PDES/STEP and CALS initiatives. In the case of CALS and STEP, the complete product
life cycle is being addressed so that there will be a standard mechanism for sharing geometry,
version, effectivity and other control information.
PDM systems have evolved to support process definition and control and to manage an end-to-
end process. Some PDM systems allow users to define steps in their product life cycle, the tools
to be used at each step and the rules governing movement of data between steps and tools. PDM
systems are becoming a framework for the enterprise, not just for a subset such as E-CAD.
Initially, PDM systems will interface to discipline-specific frameworks and incorporate them into
the larger scope of the total product life cycle.

As for other software tools, the user interface of a PDM system is a key factor in how productive
the tool will be. Because PDM systems are used by a diverse set of people with various computer
skill levels, ease of use becomes a very important factor. Most interfaces are being or have been
upgraded from old style on-screen tables using command line input to modern Motif-based
graphical interfaces with menus, icons, dialogue boxes, drag and drop, and other easy-to-learn
interaction methods. It is important that the interface is simple to learn and re-learn (especially for
casual or infrequent users), as well as tailorable so that different disciplines or classes of users
including experienced "power" users can be supported efficiently.

PDM systems use a database management system to maintain meta-data, product configuration,
process and administrative information. Today, the majority of PDM systems employ relational
database management systems. PDM system users are sheltered from the DBMS and its query
language by the PDM system - with the exception of system implementers, who are required to
know and work with the underlying DBMS technology.