This is a site where I try to share my personal experience with PDM, LCM and PLM and focus on some important PDM functionality.

I base this information on my perception on how a Globally Extended Enterprise, developing, manufacturing, selling and servicing configurable, complex Mechatronics Products should go about documenting this. 

I assume that you, my guest and other people who visit this site will already have some idea about why you need PDM (or LCM or PLM). 

However, I will try to explain what a good PDM application should do and how and why.

I will try to explain why you need to write down your own Requirements Specification for your PDM application

I do not

• present or evaluate any PDM/PLM Vendors and their products.
• present any news from the PDM/PLM Industry.
• provide any reason for why you and your company should have PDM/PLM, since this is very well done by John Stark:
  Why do PDM?

The chapter Preconditions explains something about the Processes involved in PDM/LCM and what is meant by an Extended Enterprise. There is also something about Information Objects and Interfaces between Applications and Databases and who should "own"these these. I also present a list of some terms used in PDM Terminology. PDM as it is used in this website may encompass any buzz word for the phenomenon of documenting and managing the information created during the Product Development Process as defined under Processes on this site, including BoM, PIM, PLM, ERP, etc. Most vendors have adopted Product Lifecycle Management or PLM as a more comprehensive replacement for PDM. However, I persistently call it PDM. But be aware of the fact that PDM information frequently are being used in other processes than the Product Development Process and that the Product Development Process covers Product Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, parts of Purchasing and even parts of Customer Support (or After Market) etc.