scope:

PDM data in EN 9300 context

In most modern industrial environments, product data is maintained and managed using product data management (PDM) systems. In general, these systems:

- Manage the use of the primary technical data contained, for example, in CAD models and documents;

- Allow organization of primary technical data into structures to represent the relevant products;

- Support definition and maintenance processes for products.

Within the EN 9300 context, several domain specific parts address LTA&R for the primary technical data (e.g. CAD, CAx, Documents) as generated by the relevant technical "authoring" systems. The EN 9300-2xx series provides information for LTA&R of product management data for the relevant documents, structures and processes.

NOTE The terms "PDM data" and "product management data" are synonymous.

Objectives and scope of application

This part covers long term archiving (LTA&R) for product management data and relevant process related information (e.g. product structure requirements). Regarding process related information, only the process results are considered in scope as these have stable and static characteristics. The workflow used to create the information is not in scope. The resulting information, e.g. change authorization document, approvals/signatures, CAD models, attribute data, are in scope.

Product management data closely reflects the local business and data handling processes of each company. Therefore, an open standard can define only a common generic subset of the overall requirements. Other data that are only of local relevance or dependent on the local application environment are defined by local procedures. For each application environment, the complete set of standards, methods, and procedures related to the archived product management data shall be defined and documented by open standards, industry standards, or company standards and procedures. It is strongly recommended to use open standards whenever possible to ease data exchange, sharing, archiving, and ability to audit.

Three main objectives for LTA&R of product management data are:

- enable the proper retrieval of archived primary technical data when performing queries relative to product structure, relationships, effectivity, status, etc.;

- preserving the links between primary technical data and the associated product management data;

- providing all relevant properties of primary technical data as contained within the associated product management data.

Architecture Definition

The product management data and the primary technical data may be managed in different environments (e.g. a database system for the product management data and a file system for the primary technical data with a reference in the database to the unique identifier and location for the file). In many cases, the primary technical data are held by the primary generating systems (e.g. CAD, systems engineering tool set) attached to a PDM backbone architecture.

The relationship between product management data and primary technical data is typically established by referencing mechanisms. The referencing mechanisms and the systems managing them shall be taken into account when archiving.

This can be done by describing the complete architecture of systems involved in the management of the relevant information and by defining common system requirements and procedures, such as synchronization, applied quality level, security requirements, and auditing. The overall capability of the architecture requires all systems within the architecture to comply with the common requirements.

The complete architecture definition shall comply with requirements defined in the applicable EN 9300 common process parts.

Archival of frequently changing PDM data

Product management data frequently changes and methods are employed to properly document the changes, and to provide traceability to authorizing change documentation.

The long term archiving process may be applied to frequently changing data to record its condition at a specific point in time, as defined by the management process. The granularity and timing of long term archival processes can vary depending on relevant business processes, the system architecture, and the application environment (i.e. versions of applications).

CAD Authored Data Replicated in PDM

CAD assembly structures (defined within CAD assembly models) show how parts are organized into higher level assemblies, showing their interrelationships and hierarchy. For example, some systems show the configuration of one product instance by visualizing the 3D CAD models in relevant position, where the position information is defined in the CAD Assembly. Another example would be mass properties which are defined in the CAD Assembly, but are also shown as meta data in the PDM system.

The ability to view CAD assembly structures in the context of a product configuration requires configuration management aspects such as change control, variants (e.g. optional configurations), and effectivities. However, these are only provided in a PDM environment.

CAD model defined assembly structures are not in scope for the LTA&R use cases defined in the EN 9300-2xx series, and are addressed in the EN 9300-115.

Out of Scope

The EN 9300-2xx series does not address primary technical data content or operation of the configuration management process itself. The EN 9300-2xx series only delivers methods for long term archiving and retrieval of PDM data. Methods for long term archiving and retrieval of primary technical data (content data) attached to PDM data is not in scope of the EN 9300-2xx series. These are delivered within the scope of other parts of EN 9300 as 1xx series for CAD or by applying existing available standards.

Examples for these are given below:

- 3D Geometry → EN 9300-1xx series;

- 2D Drawings → TIFF G4;

- Documents → PDF A (ISO 19005);

- Document/Database → XML (W3C recommendation);

- Technical Publications → Spec. S1000D.