Investigation on auditing principles and rules for PDM/PLM system implementation

• The PDM system auditing points are explored.
• Some valuable guidelines can be a good support to audit PDM system.
• Case company can be used to reduce losses and create tangible benefits.

To avoid fraud behavior and ensure product data quality throughout the stages of product lifecycle management, the demand for the computer audit is increasing in the engineering and manufacturing industries. Enterprises have paid much attention to the implementation of product data management/product lifecycle management (PDM/PLM) systems in which computer audit mechanism is the critical function concerning the final success of PLM. However, the PDM/PLM systems nowadays usually lack of superior mechanism to audit the information quality of product data (PD) and its impact on product design, manufacture, service, and disposal. The purpose of this study is to find out a set of decisive auditing points and rules necessary for the PDM/PLM systems, which may be a reference basis for firms to audit quality of PD throughout the product lifecycle. Additionally, a case company was chosen to implement the proposed audit points and rules for verifying the research findings, examining the benefits deriving from the new audit system implemented, and providing valuable suggestions for firms to improve PD quality and effectiveness of PLM.