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Design for Retrieval® - DFR®

Easily Capture and Manage Detailed Information

Overview

Design for Retrieval is an Engineering Master Data Management software used to capture and manage detailed information about products, assets and services. By exploring this website, you can learn how to create and manage a master data repository of detailed data on products, assets and services. The detailed data is more than just descriptions, it is detailed characteristics such as dimensions, performance, usage, constraints including relationships to other items.

The Design for Retrieval software can be used for any purpose that requires high quality data including:

• Cataloging products, people, assets, services, etc.
• Preparing data for Product Data Management (PDM)
• Preparing and managing product data for customer facing websites
• Preparing and managing product data for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
• Preparing and managing data for search engines
• Preparing data for direct material cost reduction sourcing initiatives

PRIMARY FEATURES

Flexibility and Adaptability - As the business changes, the database catalog built with DFR is flexible and easily adaptable to changing business conditions.

Relationships - DFR provides a very easy method for creating relationships between items; for example parts and related items such as documents, customers, suppliers, manufacturers, etc.

Collaboration - DFR has built-in collaboration capability which allows people to work together while maintaining data integrity.

Publishing - The data in the DFR database is accessible using standard database access techniques such as ODBC (Open Database Connectivity). DFR can also be configured to publish data to search engines, internal and external websites, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, data warehouses or any system that requires high quality accurate data.

Item Clusters - Drop-in software module that allows certain DFR users to identify item clusters using attribute weighting and sensitivity factors. This module is used for helping customers identify groups of similar items to support part standardization and direct material sourcing initiatives.

ARCHITECTURE

DFR is a .net client/server application that has a downloadable modular architecture, meaning any new enhancement or bug fix is down loaded to the server and becomes immediately available to all client users. Users work collaboratively and share data from a central, common database. DFR runs on both SQL and Oracle databases. DFR also uses a Remoting Server to manage concurrency and streamline processing between clients.

Hardware & Software Requirements

DFR Server Minimum System Requirements

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2008 (32 bit or 64 bit)
• Microsoft SQL Server 2005/2008 or Oracle 10g to 11g
• Windows Server 2003 on VMware on Linux/Unix
• Oracle Data Access Components provided by DFR Remoting Server Install (10g to 11g)
  (DFR Oracle database only)
• Microsoft .NET framework v2.0
• Microsoft .NET framework v4.0
• CPU - 2.0-gigahertz (GHz) Pentium-class processor
• 4 gigabytes RAM per Remoting Server installation
• 200 megabytes free disk space per Remoting Server installation

DFR Client Minimum System Requirements

• Microsoft Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7
• Oracle Data Access Components provided by DFR Remoting Server Install (10g to 11g)
  (DFR Oracle database only)
• Microsoft .NET framework v2.0
• Microsoft .NET framework v4.0
• 1.5-gigahertz (GHz) Pentium-class processor
• 1 gigabyte of RAM, 2 gigabytes recommended
• 50 megabytes free disk space (DFR MS SQL database installation)
• 200 megabytes free disk space (DFR Oracle database installation)

Additional DFR Server Configurations Supported in 2012

• Windows Server 2003/2008 on VMware on Linux/Unix