A web product data management system based on Simple Object Access Protocol

A new web product data management architecture is presented. The three-tier web architecture and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) are combined to build the web-based product data management (PDM) system which includes three tiers: the user services tier, the business services tier, and the data services tier. The client service component uses the server-side technology, and Extensible Markup Language (XML) web service which uses SOAP as the communication protocol is chosen as the business service component. To illustrate how to build a web-based PDM system using the proposed architecture, a case PDM system which included three logical tires was built. To use the security and central management features of the database, a stored procedure was recommended in the data services tier. The business object was implemented as an XML web service so that client could use standard internet protocols to communicate with the business object from any platform. In order to satisfy users using all sorts of browser, the server-side technology and Microsoft ASP.NET was used to create the dynamic user interface.