PLM Interest Group

There is a demand amongst user companies to be able to know, in quantifiable terms, how well their organisation is set up for PLM.

The problem in the past has been that PLM was regarded as "unquantifiable".  That has been resolved by the new PLMIG toolsets, which provide a structured way of generating a wide range of metrics to show PLM performance.

The direct result of this is that user PLM Teams and suppliers of PLM solutions and services can now show, in clear financial terms, the positive impact of their PLM investment.   However, that still leaves the question of how well the implementation is managed, from Board level to Operations, and across the whole enterprise.

Engaging senior levels of management within a company to critique themselves on the way they manage a subject such as PLM can be something of a challenge.  The PLMIG has provided a way to do this by producing the PLM Governance Standard.

This new PLM standard is laid out in a similar way to existing standards such as ISO 9001, for example, so its concept will be familiar to directors and VPs.  At only 27 pages, it is concise enough to minimise the demands on everone's time.

Major corporations commit millions of euros or dollars implementing PLM, without any clear picture of how well this money is being spent.  The questions go well beyond a simple need for "ROI", and cover the whole scope of PLM:-

• "What, exactly, is achievable in PLM today, and in the future?"
• "How well does our operational setup support our business strategy?"
• "How do we compare with other companies in the functionality we provide?"
• "How efficient are we in using budgets and resources compared to other companies?"

Rather than trying to compare notes with many other companies, and then trying to collate all of their answers, it is much simpler to apply a neutral standard that has been written for this purpose.

The way to evaluate a company's PLM Governance is to apply the PLM Governance Standard.

The Standard covers all aspects of PLM Governance from the highest to the lowest levels of a company, across all organisational functions and all geographical locations.

Applying the Standard will highlight to everybody the areas where the management structure is strong, and where improvements might be made.  Furthermore, it instils a culture in which the Board requires the PLM Team to inform it of ongoing progress and direction, rather than the PLM Team having to push this upward in the hope that it will be looked at.

In other words, if the Standard is properly applied then a continuous management framework will exist between the Board and the PLM Team.

The PLM Governance Standard is an entirely self-contained document that requires no pre-existing knowledge of PLM.

Its introduction contains Executive and Management overviews of PLM as a subject, and explains the similarity in approach with ISO 9001.

The Standard itself sets out concise levels of activity or performance for the Board, the Steering Group, the PLM Team and other managers and staff.  It then sets out clear instructions for how it should be applied.

More information PLM Governance Standard and how to obtain it is available on the PLM Governance Standard page.

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