How to use this book | Implementing and Integrating Product Data Management and Software Configuration Management (Artech House Computing Library)

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The most straightforward way is to read the book from beginning to end! This is, however, not the only way.

Those mostly interested in the practical use of PDM and SCM could begin with Part IV, Case Studies, which describes relevant practical experiences of leading companies in the United States and Europe in the fields of software, telecommunication, and hardware development, as well as manufacturing. At the end of each case study, cross references to relevant chapters in the book help the reader to guide further reading. In Part V, extensive information about Web resources and references to tool providers are available for readers requiring up-to-date information about PDM, SCM, or document management tools and vendors. Similarly, the references to many standards related to PDM, SCM, and product life cycles may be of interest to engineers, project managers, and quality assurance departments.

If a new SCM or PDM tool, or a tool of a similar nature, is to be introduced, very useful and practical information about tool evaluation and deployment is available in Chapter 7.

Those interested in the basic principles and theory of PDM and SCM and their integration may prefer to focus on the first half of the book, from Chapter 1 to Chapter 6. These chapters provide useful and thorough information for engineers and others new to the use of PDM or SCM or for those already using one of these tools but who have no overall picture of development processes, product life cycles, and the support of these processes. Those with experience with SCM only may be interested in gaining insight into PDM, and vice versa. System and hardware engineers often have working experience of PDM and may wish to learn about SCM.

As course literature, reading could begin with the first parts and continue with a study of some of the case studies or standards.

For researchers, apart from Chapters 1 to 5, the most interesting would be Chapter 6, which discusses many open questions about the integration of PDM and SCM.

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