PLM Business Case Guardian and Governance

The automation initiative got the support of management based on the guarantee that results would be delivered, preferably timely. It is essential that this isn’t left to chance nor that the intent of the program and strategy fades into memory.

Since automating the product lifecycle is hugely strategic there are a variety of activities that continue post go-live.

Integware’s solution consultants work with our customers to provide deployment health check activities, which comprises of several specific activities:

• Development of a Change Process: This is intended to manage any changes to the system and ensure the level of quality in terms of documentation, validation risk and impact, and validation execution are performed in a way that does not deteriorate the level of quality and discipline provided during implementation.

• Strategy Health Checkup: A checkup activity occurs every 1 to 2 years to look at the original strategy, evaluate how well it has been followed (per the plan), consider any changes to the business since it was developed or last updated, and if needed make adjustments.

• User Community Review: Integware conducts surveys of the user community to see how the system is meeting their expectations and if they are having difficulties using the system, following the QMS process, and if their needs are being met. Once complete, Integware will provide a comprehensive set of recommendations for any immediate corrections or enhancements and even more fundamental corrective actions to be applied to follow on phases.

• Review Target/Actual Metrics: Establish how well the system is meeting expectations from a metrics and business value perspective. For example, during the strategy it may have been the intention (based on industry benchmarks) to reduce the engineering change cycle time by 30%. This part of the health check process determines how well the system is measuring up based on these expectations. If the system is underperforming, it’s important to establish why and determine a course of corrections to ensure the target is met or exceeded. Most often, some fairly simple changes can be made to course correct and make all the difference. For example, it could be one or two individuals that are slowing the process because they are overwhelmed. Integware is skilled at extrapolating where the bottlenecks are in the deployed system, made possible based on the automation offered by the system.