Traditionally, engineers and designers created product definition information (PDI) on drawings. During the 1960s and 1970s, computers were heavily used in processing alphanumeric product structure and process information. Later, in the 1980s, they kept geometry information of the product. This led to the computer systems maintaining PDI on different databases (graphics and alphanumeric) on the heterogeneous computers and operating systems. This environment caused inconsistent PDI and delayed access for various departments. The product definition information system (PDIS) must be redesigned so that it can take advantage of advances in computer and communication technologies to provide more valuable information, not just data. PDI within the databases should be accessible and transferable to various computer systems while maintaining their integrity.