This document was elaborated by the PDM User Group of the ProSTEP iViP Association. The PDM User Group is a forum where companies discuss experiences gained from actual implementation projects related to the exchange of PDM data. Current members are e.g. companies like Behr, BMW, Cenit, Continental, DaimlerChrysler, Delphi, Magna Steyr, Porsche and ZF. One of the latest documents released by the PDM User Group were the “Best Practice CATIA V5 STEP AP 214 Mapping”, also available at the Association’s website.

In 2006, focus of the PDM User Group was placed on a discussion of future data exchange strategies. An inter-national workshop dealing with the topic “Data Exchange of the Future” was held with this in mind. The large number of people attending the workshop (60 participants from 39 companies) underscored the high level of interest generated by this topic. One major requirement of this workshop was to provide an overview of current strategies for integrating PDM (Product Data Management) systems. This document covers the results of the related activities.

In order to answer the question why to think about PDM data integration and/or PDM data exchange, one has to remember that engineering processes are strongly team-oriented and the development of modern products is distributed. These processes are performed in the very different departments of a company, and the engineering work is often distributed across different companies.

Therefore, exchanging CAD (Computer Aided Design) models and PDM meta data between the partners involved is an everyday task. An easy way to accomplish this exchange of data is to have all the users who are working with the data use the same PDM system. But what can be done if, for example, engineers do not have access to the same PDM system?

Another challenge is when different PDM systems or, in more general terms, different systems that support the engineering processes are used. It is very common for the data describing identical items (parts, documents, etc.) to be stored in different systems. For example, part master data is stored in a BOM (Bill of Material) system as well as in a DMU (Digital Mock-Up) system. This requires tools to synchronize the data between those systems.

Today, requirements such as these can be met through the use of integration technology. It is possible to implement offline and online integration within a company as well as asynchronous data exchange between engineering partners.

This document provides an introduction to enterprise-wide PDM integration technologies. The first part of the document describes scenarios for exchanging PDM data between engineering partners in collaborative scenarios. The requisite IT infrastructure for integration and data exchange is dealt with in the second section. The appendix provides an overview, in table form, of data exchange concepts.

Other publications relating to PDM data integration, such as managing assembly and delta data exchange, can be found in the download area of the ProSTEP iViP website (www.prostep.org), too.