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Are PLM vendors delivering the solutions that their customers want / need? The publication of the Datamation PLM Model 2010 report in May 2010 triggered an interesting debate. We had two groups of people looking at PLM from two distinct perspectives, but with no apparent common ground. The first group is the vendors, who follow a technical and IT line of thought, focusing on features and functions, with unsubstantiated claims about business benefits such as faster time to market, business improvement, etc. The other is the user community who raise long lists of issues and problems associated with the implementation and operation of PLM solutions. What is clearly evident is that although the vendors do not necessarily give inaccurate information, they leave vital information unsaid. Bells and whistles do not deliver the business benefits. Effective use and reuse of information assets does. This is one of the central tenets of the Datamation PLM Model 2010. Most PLM systems today offer broadly similar core capabilities. Therefore how much business benefit a PLM system delivers depends on how well it is integrated within the existing customer environment. Given this conclusion, the answer to the question: Are PLM vendors delivering the solutions that their customers want / need? would be a qualified yes. That is, if the implementation is carried out effectively. Implementation can make the difference between success and failure. Implementation requires extensive knowledge of the existing environment, business processes as well as business requirements and priorities. All of which are changing all the time and are specific to the customer. Therefore a successful implementation would need to consider all these and not just the integration of the PLM system to the major business applications such as ERP and CAD. In addition, the potential problems that arise from the custom IT environments (including customisation, integration and bespoke applications) should not be under estimated. The Datamation PLM Model 2010 introduces a new perspective on PLM that helps address these issues. PLM should not be viewed as another “vertical” business application like ERP, CAD, etc. The “M” in PLM makes it different – the provision of control and governance to ensure that information is fit for purpose. As such PLM is a “horizontal” that serves not just the engineering process, but also other processes right across the enterprise and the extended enterprise. This is why investment decisions in PLM solutions must include the implementation issues right at the start. To deliver the “control and governance function” in a typical disjointed IT environment can be very challenging. This is not helped by the confusion created by the overlaps in products on the market today. That is, some ERP systems delivering a “control and governance function”, while PLM systems delivering vertical applications such as MRO and Requirements Specifications. This has often led to academic debates about the role of PLM, and whether PLM or ERP should be the “centre of universe”. The “control and governance function” has to be the “centre of universe”. Whether this function is delivered by a system labelled as PLM system, or a module in an ERP system is not relevant as long as it is present. Before leaving this subject it is worth noting where data warehouse, portal and Business Intelligence applications fit in the overall picture. These are horizontal applications that make information readily available and accessible for reporting, analytics and other decision support functions. As such they deliver value to the business through the reuse of information assets, which is exactly why these applications are attracting the attention of Chief Information Officers (CIOs). However simply collating information from different and disparate sources into a data warehouse or placing them on one screen does not necessarily make them fit for purpose. Effective reuse of information assets requires the “control and governance function” which these applications tend to lack. In conclusion, implementation issues should be made central to any PLM investment decision. Implementation issues are specific to the individual customer and therefore to achieve successful implementation, the customer must be proactive in addressing them. In particular, applying the “control and governance function” to custom IT environments is the most challenging part of any implementation as they cover a wide range of issues that are continuously changing in line with changing business environment and priorities. Solving these problems requires a new approach based on “data integration”, to replace the traditional approach of "application integration" that focuses on the movement of data between applications (through interfaces or data exchange processes), while leaving their databases disjointed. Data integration is the consolidation of data to form a consistent and integrated whole thereby ensuring that data is always fit for purpose. Click here for further information.
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