I am starting up a new program that will have multiple projects that will require change managment. The biggest hurdle is we dont have much to invest in something like EPDM and I am wondering what others are using for a digital paperless change manamgement process. We are also failry distributed with several sites and not everyone is using solidworks. We can use a workgroup pdm vault to track the actual parts and changes but up stream and downstream from that we need something else.

I would like an off the shelf (low cost) solution that will allow anyone with a PC to initiate a change request from production, engineering, or designers. Then allow a lead engineer to review and approve, comment, document, and disposition a change electronically. Finally revise and release drawings associated with the change. i want to automatically track and archive the changes to do off line trend alanalysis and use for configuation change audits with tools like excel. I know EPDM does this faily well in a solidworks environment we just cannot implement it becuase of cost and not everyone using solidworkds. If it could be could base forms to enter and capture the inital and final data and then check all the parts into a single workgroup PDM vault after converting the part files from pro-e or other cad wouldnt be too much of a headache. im talking more for the actual process and hate data entry on forms like word templates.

thanks in advance

i was looking at smartsheets with webforms but want a slightly more robust "database" for security and integrety.

jarrett