How to control the item database?
Item management is one of the most important processes in a company that has to be organised before one can introduce a PDM system.
An item can be any entity that is independent with respect to product data management and has an identifier.
Examples of items:
- Physical items: assemblies, parts, components, materials, tools, packages, etc.
- Services: service packages, their parts, contracts, etc.
- Activities: projects, special deliveries, tasks, etc.
- Stakeholders: customers, suppliers, etc.
A company defines its items according to its needs. It is essential to define the items because to a large extent they determine what data can be manipulated with a PDM system.
The item management tools in VariPDM make it easy and efficient to keep the item database in control. In each company, item management must consider item reuse, elimination of item duplicates, and classification maintenance.
VariMatch helps in the classifying item data that originates outside a company and in integrating the data with the local database of the company.
