PDM-UP – Expansion and Sustainable Establishment of a within a predecessor Project developed and implemented Product Data Management Platform

The project PDM-UP is about the expansion and sustainable establishment of the predecessor project developed and implemented product data management platform, an IT system to support training exercises in the compulsory subject of design and product development at HTLs.

The extension applies in particular to support functions that are needed for integrated development of environmentally friendly products across school-spanning projects with students focusing on different major subjects. An extension of the built functionality is achieved through databases containing information on "CO2 footprint", for example in relation to production methods or materials that are integrated in the PDM environment. The scenario of the development of environmentally friendly products will be realized by utilizing the respective priorities of the different schools in order to generate added value from the collaboration between schools.

Sustainable establishment on the one hand means that the PDM platform will be made available for other schools and on the other hand the aim is to develop methods and a systems engineering framework for a durable, low-threshold operation of the solution, especially taking into account in the previous project experience. The integration of schools for example, requires the involvement of other CAD systems through interfaces that must be created and configured. Additionally, empirical studies on user behavior, functionality, and acceptance will be carried out in order to implement both ad hoc as well as long run improvements. The focus here is put on the integration of Web 2.0 and social community features.