The PLM Self-Assessment Toolkit deals with one of the most basic and yet most difficult problems facing those working in PLM - "How do we understand and discuss our own PLM situation?"

For those who are starting out on the road to PLM, there sometimes seems to be too much information.  There is so much to read, and so much advice, and yet none of it actually relates directly to your company.  You need something that describes your own situation, in your own context, with your own colleagues' names on it.  And you want to have a clearer understanding of PLM before deciding whether to go for outside assistance.

Experienced PLM managers in multinational organisations have a related problem. After months or perhaps years of using external advisors on major projects, how can you step back and do an internal cross-check to see how things are going?

It is perhaps easier to begin by explaining what it is not - it is not a detailed spreadsheet with lots of numbers that produces a rating or score for your PLM status. Knowing that you have a score of 'A' or 'C–' is of absolutely no use for this purpose, even if the score is accurate.

Instead, the Self-Assessment follows the thought processes of PLM and leads you to discover, or cross-check, what your current position is in these areas.  It points you towards the people in your organisation who should be involved in PLM, and gives you material with which to hold a productive discussion with them.  There are no right or wrong answers, and finding a "blank" can be just as instructive as having a long conversation.

You can't do PLM by reading the instructions, and you can't do a Self-Assessment by filling in all of the answers yourself.  If you want to have a meaningful picture of your PLM status then you (or you and your PLM team) will have to go out and talk to people about the issues that the Self-Assessment covers.

Furthermore, you have to do the Assessment with your own in-house resources.  If you pass the job over to an outside consultant, you will not get the same results.

You can be completely honest about what you find, because no-one outside your company will ever see the information (unless you choose to show them).  Results are generated in a format that can be used for discussion in any part of your organisation, and one of the main goals of the Self-Assessment is to enable these discussions to take place.

When you have held these discussions, you will be in a much better position to decide whether the use of outside resources should begin or continue.

The PLM Self-Assessment Toolkit is free to PLMIG Members, so you will receive a copy if you join with any class of Membership.

You can purchase the PLM Self-Assessment Kit directly for €695 (or £600, $999), which will give you complimentary Individual Membership for 2012.  Alternatively, you may buy it from the Store.

For more information about Self-Assessment, or to purchase the Toolkit, contact selfassessment@plmig.com