The CADENAS Design Manual (CDM) has the target to provide essential details about the creation of electronic product catalogs (and especially about the most important product groups / market areas) as a guideline for the eCATALOGsolutions users / catalog creators.

A bearing / cylinder / linear module / etc. of “Company A” should be generally executed in an equal way as a same product of “Company B”. In cooperation with our customers and in regular meetings of the CDM / QA-working group, we have collected the most important specifications.

Because the users of the electronic product catalogs basically expect such a unique structure and selection method, the consideration of the CDM means also an important quality attribute.

The CDM is build up hierarchically – There are specifications which are valid for all product groups, but also others, which are only important for e.g. plant design. In the last level are specifications that are only supplier-related (e.g. specification of colours, etc.).

This guideline is publicly available to all eCATALOGsolutions users (all catalog manufactures) – with except of manufacturer specifics which may contain company know-how. These, of course, are treated confidentially.

All topics in the CDM were based on customer demands (supplier- and buyer-side) and as well on our long time experience with eCATALOGsolutions Projects. More than 85% of the available catalogs were created by CADENAS as a service. But as the amount of external catalog creators also increases continuously, we want also to guide / support them with this guideline.

The CDM requires advanced knowledge about eCATALOGsolutions. Therefore it does not contain any detailed step-by-step explanations about mentioned features and processes. All features were described in detail in the individual modules. Regarding specific processes we will point to existing special documentation.

Please also ask your CADENAS Project Manager if you need any advice about the CDM topics.

A detailed documentation of all topics would go behind the scope of a “smart” CDM.

Structure

The CADENAS Design Manual is basically structured into the following categories / fields: