**Abstract**

In the field of pharmaceutical sciences, material characterization has been a focus of research as properties of the powder ingredients govern characteristics of the finished dosage form. It has been a tedious and time-consuming job to develop a correlation between the characteristics of powder material and final dosage form. Extensive experimentation is carried out at different stages of formulation development to optimize the final blend and produce a product fulfilling official requirements. Various approaches have been applied for the purpose with varying degree of applications. SeDeM-ODT expert system is a novel pre-formulation technique developed for characterization of powder material of varying nature. Experimental and quantitative determination of various parameters provides a basis for SeDeM-ODT expert system. The system predicts suitability of powder material (APIs and excipients) for tablet preparation by direct compression technology and disintegration behavior of the resultant dosage form. It provides a basis for selection of excipients, both quantitatively and qualitatively. The present study covers area of powder characterization at pre-formulation level of pharmaceutical product development. SeDeM-ODT expert system reduces lead time for pre-formulation studies and provides formulations with minimum number of excipients. SeDeM-ODT expert system has been successfully applied for material characterization (APIs and excipients) before processing and after processing.

**Keywords:** direct compression, powder characterization, pharmaceutical powders, pre-formulation study, SeDeM-ODT expert system
