Engineering information management (EIM) is the business function within

product development In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) covers the complete process of bringing a new product to market, renewing an existing product or introducing a product in a new market. A central aspect of NPD is product design, along wi ...

and specifically

systems engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering util ...

that allows engineers to collaborate on a

single source of truth In information science and information technology, single source of truth (SSOT) architecture, or single point of truth (SPOT) architecture, for information systems is the practice of structuring information models and associated data schemas su ...

of engineering data. Contrary to

product data management Product data management (PDM) should not be confused with product information management (PIM). PDM is the name of a business function within product lifecycle management (PLM) that is denotes the management and publication of product data. In soft ...

(PDM) and

product lifecycle management In industry, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PL ...

(PLM), its main purpose is not storage of

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

-related drawings and files, but rather the full execution of the

V-model The V-model is a graphical representation of a systems development lifecycle. It is used to produce rigorous development lifecycle models and project management models. The V-model falls into three broad categories, the German ''V-Modell'', a g ...

for hardware development, complementing and integrating to the above mentioned systems.

Scope

EIM systems enable collaboration on all important aspects of the engineering lifecycle, such as: *

Requirements management Requirements management is the process of documenting, analyzing, tracing, prioritizing and agreeing on requirements and then controlling change and communicating to relevant stakeholders. It is a continuous process throughout a project. A require ...

Functional design Functional Design is a paradigm used to simplify the design of hardware and software devices such as computer software and, increasingly, 3D models. A functional design assures that each modular part of a device has only one responsibility and perf ...

Product architecture Product may refer to: Business * Product (business), an item that serves as a solution to a specific consumer problem. * Product (project management), a deliverable or set of deliverables that contribute to a business solution Mathematics * Prod ...

* Detailed systems design and simulation * Verification and validation * Documentation EIM systems implement the activities on both sides of the engineering

. Instead of being purely a data storage, it focuses also on the human interaction with the models and data, thus enabling

concurrent engineering Concurrent engineering (CE) or concurrent design and manufacturing is a work methodology emphasizing the parallelization of tasks (i.e. performing tasks concurrently), which is sometimes called simultaneous engineering or integrated product develo ...

. EIM therefore enables the optimization of products and engineering processes, where traditional methodologies have become ineffective in keeping up with rising product and process complexity.

Interactions with the other engineering management systems

EIM systems do directly and indirectly interact with other tools in the engineering information infrastructure, such as: *

Computer simulation Computer simulation is the process of mathematical modelling, performed on a computer, which is designed to predict the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be dete ...

tools * Automated hardware testing tools *

Product lifecycle In industry, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PL ...

and

systems *

Enterprise resource planning Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of Business management tools, business management ...

tools *

Manufacturing execution system Manufacturing execution systems (MES) are computerized systems used in manufacturing to track and document the transformation of raw materials to finished goods. MES provides information that helps manufacturing decision-makers understand how curr ...

s *

Computer-aided design Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve c ...

(MCAD) and

electronic design automation Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...

(ECAD) tools PLM-EIM

References

{{Reflist Product development Systems engineering Information management