Understanding engineering data management systems

Engineering data management is important for companies that deal with engineering projects and data. Managing this data is more complex without reliable software. Some of the tasks like maintaining a correct version of the documents, drawings, workflow, files editing, document revisions, and securing the files are not as easy as you think without software.

One of the basic and main features to expect in a engineering data management software system is the navigation to the correct file in the database. Explorer style navigation would be best suitable for all the users as they can find the file needed easily. The document management system is the core to any engineering data management system.

 

Automated workflow is another feature that would be more helpful. With such a feature, the documents are passed on to the respective people in the next stage so that the approval process is smooth. This saves a lot of time where you need to send the document to the concerned person for approval. With automated workflow once your task is over, the document automatically moves on to the next person in the workflow.

 

An automated file check-in and check-out feature will help you in working with a document so that another person who tries to work on that file is kept on hold until you check-in that file. Once you check-in the file after your task, the revision control system would also update the file version to the next higher version. If this process is automated then there won’t be any two people working on the same file. This is an important feature to look for in an engineering data management system.

 

Other features to look for are database search, secured file access, reporting, file viewing and printing, web based system, easy to integrate with corporate email system, tools to customize the software, and administration module.