Combining workflow and PDM based on the workflow management coalition and STEP standards: the case of axalant

Product data management (PDM) current technology has several pitfalls such as lack of compliance of workflow modules to standards as well as lack of interoperability between these systems. This paper illustrates the extension of the current workflow management system part of the PDM system axalant to support engineering processes management. The extension was based on an analysis of the workflow management coalition and STEP standards and, through the extension described in the paper, now axalant complies with these standards. Because of this it is now possible to exchange workflow data with existing workflow systems on the market. In this paper the two standards are analysed, the required workflow architecture is specified, and the resulting implementation is described. The necessary enhancements include the extension of the data model of axalant, the modification of the corresponding software, the modification of the user interface and the link to the interface between axalant and ProView, which helps to generate graphical process definitions. Major achievements consist of the enhancement of process design through the creation of building blocks (split- and join-operations) as well as the enhancement of organizational structure through the usage of roles as a resource for process activities. Moreover, the paper adds flexibility for axalant to handle changes, and axalant is able to generate workflow templates and ad-hoc processes and to communicate with external workflow systems.