November 23, 1998

2PDM www.johnstark.com

Volume 1 Number 7

Page 1 - Survey Page 2 - Benefits Page 3 - News Page 4 - Brief lines

*Survey* Recently we have been surveying the current stage of companies' EDM/PDM progress. We defined four Stages of progress: Stage 1 - Traditional ; Stage 2 - Awakening ; Stage 3 - Adapting ; Stage 4 - Modern. The four Stages are described in the 2PDM issue of October 12, 1998 which can be found at http://www.johnstark.com/2PDM13.html We asked readers who are users of EDM, PDM, EDM/PDM systems to tell us at which Stage their organization is. We asked EDM, PDM, EDM/PDM vendors, consultants, and system integrators to estimate the percentage of companies at each Stage. The results were as follows. *EDM, PDM, EDM/PDM vendor estimate of the percentage of users at each stage:* Stage 1 - 7% ; Stage 2 - 33% ; Stage 3 - 25% ; Stage 4 - 35% *Estimate of EDM, PDM, EDM/PDM consultants and system integrators:* Stage 1 - 51% ; Stage 2 - 32% ; Stage 3 - 13% ; Stage 4 - 4% *The response of EDM, PDM, EDM/PDM users:* Stage 1 - 54% ; Stage 2 - 41% ; Stage 3 - 4% ; Stage 4 - 1% 2PDM started publication in August 1998 and the number of subscribers increases rapidly. If you are a relatively new subscriber and did not answer the survey question in the October 12 issue, please go to http://www.johnstark.com/2PDM13.html and answer it now. There is only one question to answer. Your answer will be too late to be included in the survey results, but it will enable you to participate more fully in further activities. *Next steps* The above results don't provide users with enough detail to benchmark their progress. To get more details we will ask the companies (there are about 40 of them) at Stage 3 and Stage 4 to participate in a second survey. Again, we'll publish the aggregated results in 2PDM. Again, no information about individual answers to the survey will be published, and we will not mention the name of anyone who participates or the name of their company. We'll send the raw answers to the second survey - with the exception of the company names and any other information that would reveal a company's identity - to those companies at Stage 3 and Stage 4 that participate. That way, in return for taking a few minutes to reply, they will be able to use the raw information to benchmark their performance. *Questions for the second survey* Further to discussions with some of the companies at Stages 3 and 4, here are the main subjects for the second survey: size of Business Unit using PDM industry sector of BU number of geographical sites part of organization that leads EDM/PDM activities number of users (current, ultimate) EDM/PDM systems in use degree of customization time from start of EDM/PDM to Stage 3, to Stage 4, to breakeven ERP and EDM/PDM workflow selection approach implementation approach We'll e-mail the questions to companies at Stage 3 and 4 before November 30, and we hope to publish results in December. Publication dates for 2PDM in December will be December 14 and December 28.

	Want to instantly improve the value of your EDM/PDM or ERP solution? Add Imagenation. The award-winning viewer from Spicer Corporation. For total control over your documents, go to www.spicer.com. View - Markup - Scan - Edit - Print - Web

Page 2

*Benefits of EDM/PDM* While responding to the recent survey, several people mentioned the difficulty of identifying the benefits of EDM/PDM and asked if we could help them. Sure, but remember that cost-justification of EDM/PDM is not easy. It's always difficult to quantify benefits because accounting systems aren't set up to provide the figures you need. As a result, you have to go and get figures from people who work in the development/introduction/support process. And often they don't know the figures or don't feel empowered to provide estimates. The 'benefits of EDM/PDM' can be divided into two parts -'decrease in costs due to the introduction of EDM/PDM' and 'increase in revenues resulting from the introduction of EDM/PDM'. The decreases in cost can be considered in similar, though slightly different categories, in all types of industry - discrete manufacturing, process/plant, Architecture/Engineering/Construction and among users of Geographical Information Systems. Cost reduction can occur in all processes along the value chain. Depending on the industry these may include research, design, build, operate, manufacture/purchase, assemble, store, support and maintain. Examples of the type of reductions to look for include reduced direct labor costs, reduced indirect labor costs, and reduced costs from better decisions. Cost reduction can also result from: reduced costs of storing information. Information can be stored on cheap, compact media rather than on paper. reduced costs of communicating information. Information can be transferred quickly and cheaply by electronic means rather than by the slow and expensive transport of paper documents. reduced cost of space used. Once all the information currently stored on paper has been transferred to electronic media, the buildings, rooms, vaults, cupboards and drawers currently used for paper storage will be available for more useful purposes. reduced costs of duplicate computer and software development, acquisition and maintenance. The EDM/PDM system acts as a central repository and infrastructure for the company's technical data. As a result, some of the company's existing computer systems will no longer be needed. Many of the interfaces between these systems and other systems will no longer be needed. Another way of looking at cost reduction is to consider reductions in the Cost Of Quality (reduced scrap and rework, penalty costs, warranty costs, recall parts, erroneous order and manufacture of parts, obsolete parts, product liability costs, etc.). Although there is some overlap between the three categories of cost reduction mentioned above, it's a good idea to try to identify reductions from the three viewpoints. That should make sure no potential cost reductions are overlooked.

	To learn about EDM/PDM in Process and Power industries, attend the Plant Information Management Conference, PIMC '98, 8-9 December 1998, at the Netherlands Congress Centre, The Hague, Netherlands. Two parallel tracks on both days. Vendor Exhibition each day. 34 leading vendors present. More Information.

Page 3 News

Inso Corporation announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all the outstanding stock of Sherpa Systems Corporation. The transaction will be a merger between a subsidiary of Inso and Sherpa. The total value of the acquisition is expected to be approximately $36 million. Tecoplan Informatik GmbH will now be traded as Tecoplan AG - Digital Mockup Technology. Thomas Koytek is Chairman of the Board and CEO. Klaus Rehm is CTO. International Computex announced that revenues decreased from $4,179,645 for the nine months ended September 30, 1997 to $3,869,430 for the same period in 1998. Software revenue increased from $223,000 in 1997 to $493,201 in 1998 due primarily to the increased marketing and development efforts begun as part of the transition to a software solutions-based company. Documentum announced that while two-thirds of its software license revenue came from existing customers in the third quarter of 1998, it added over 59 new customers, bringing the company's cumulative total to more than 500 customer organizations. Cyco International announced the appointment of Rob Steenbrink to the position of President. Engineering Animation announced a new organizational structure in its Software Division. Jim Ryan was named vice president of marketing and business development. Spicer's International Sales Manager Ray Moric was elected National President for the Canadian Information and Imaging Management Society. Staffware appointed Andrew Lloyd-Skinner as its UK/Rest of World managing director. Xerox Engineering Systems named Wynne Roberts as vice president, Worldwide Supplies. Agile Software announced that James Lawson joined Agile as senior vice president of worldwide sales. Altris Software announced an order for software and services worth $500,000 from BNFL Inc. The solution will be installed at the US Department of Energy's Hanford Site near Richland, WA. Aspect Development introduced Aspect CSM for Strategic Product Development, its next generation enterprise CSM solution. CoCreate announced that Proton, a Malaysian car manufacturer, selected WorkManager as an enterprise-wide PDM system to support all current and future product development work. Xerox and Documentum announced an initiative to link the network scanning capabilities of Xerox Document Centre Systems with the Documentum Enterprise Document Management System 98. Unigraphics Solutions announced that Kansai Electric Power will implement IMAN in four fossil fuel plants in Japan. Engineering Animation announced a migration program for the over 100,000 current users of Rosetta Technologies' PreVIEW and Prepare software. Now through the end of this year, PreVIEW and Prepare users can be converted to EAI VisView licenses which include 3D visualization capabilities for no additional charge. IBM Japan announced that Sony Corporation in a contract valued at 1.2 billion yen (approx. $10 million) will use Enoviapm software from IBM and Enovia to build a new Web-based worldwide PDM system. Filenet announced a restructuring which will result in the reduction of approximately 100 employees and contractors worldwide representing approximately 5 percent of the company's global workforce. Formtek introduced the contractor integrated technical information service - CITISOLUTION Package, a new commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) product for continuous acquisition and life-cycle support (CALS) and industrial electronic commerce applications. Informative Graphics announced the release of MyriadX v2.0. Its ActiveX component allows users to view drawings and documents in their native formats via the Internet. Altris Software announced that Marconi Marine, a defense contractor to the British Navy, has implemented an Altris system on one of the Royal Navy's largest vessels, HMS Ocean. Step Tools announced that its new EXPRESS compiler has been installed on its Translation Service. Spicer announced the integration of Widecom's line of high-speed scanners within Spicer Imagenation. Cimage Enterprise Systems and QAD announced their new marketing alliance relationship, including Cimage's participation in the QAD Product Partner Program. Attendees went to Kalthoff Fall 98 with over $200 million in active project initiatives for Manufacturing and Engineering Information Technology. According to on-site surveys, attendees reported having project sizes ranging from $500,000 to over $10 million, with the average project per company budgeted at $1.7 million. Managing Automation Software Guides, publisher of comparison and selection guides for software products in the manufacturing marketplace, announced the upcoming release of the 1999 Manufacturing Enterprise Applications Comparison Guide. Sherpa announced that Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion, Chemical Systems Division selected SherpaWORKS to replace its mainframe-based legacy system. Agile Software announced support for Oracle8i, Oracle Corporation's database for Internet computing. Documentum announced plans to support Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 with current and future releases of its Enterprise Document Management System. Spicer announced the release of DocuJet r2.0 for Windows NT. The Windows NT print driver utility sits between users' applications and their printers to provide options such as intuitive pen mapping and electronic document archival. Staffware and SMS Business Solutions announced the combination of the process modeling tool ARIS with the workflow system to form the process@work solution. WTC (Workgroup Technology) recognized SofTech, Inc. as a Gold Level solutions provider within WTC PartnerCenter, WTC's partnership program. SDRC announced that, with Phase 2 of Boeing Commercial Airplanes' DCAC/MRM program complete, more than 30,000 people in Commercial Airplanes have access to the Metaphase application. Aspect Development and Ernst and Young LLP announced they signed a strategic marketing agreement that integrates Aspect's CSM technology solutions into select consulting services offered by Ernst and Young LLP. *IPDMUG 1999 Conference Announcement* IPDMUG members, register now for the upcoming IPDMUG conference in San Francisco on January 20-21, 1999. (The International PDM Users Group is a non-profit Organization consisting of, and dedicated to supporting the implementers of PDM systems, regardless of vendor solution. To find out more about IPDMUG, contact Bill Canal. To become an IPDMUG member, fill out a membership/survey application.) *HL Lee Questionnaire Announcement* HL Lee of the University of Huddersfield (Huddersfield, England) is researching PDM usage within the manufacturing industry. For this purpose, he has posted a questionnaire on the WWW. If you would like to respond, go to http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Thinktank/3911.

We can only include a small part of the EDM/PDM news in 2PDM. To make sure you don't miss important information, subscribe to the monthly 16-page Engineering Data Management Newsletter. Regular features provide a guide to successful implementation, management and use of EDM/PDM and describe the experience of beginner and advanced users. Each month the Market News section keeps you up-to-date with detailed coverage of all that's happening with this fast-moving technology. The annual subscription fee for 12 monthly issues is : US$ 345 in North America, South America, Africa, Asia (excluding Japan) and Australasia ; 39500 Yen in Japan ; 195 Pounds Sterling in the UK ; 426 Swiss Francs in Continental Europe.

Page 4 Brief lines

Subscription information To subscribe to 2PDM, fill in the subscription form or send an e-mail headed 'start subscription' to pdm@2pdm.com Subscription cost Subscribers receive 2PDM free of charge. Privacy policy We understand and respect your desire for privacy. The information we ask for at subscription time is the minimum necessary to effectively fulfill your subscription and communicate with you if and when necessary. We do not release the subscription information you provide us to third parties. In case of further questions, you can reach us at pdm@2pdm.com Limited time We know you have a busy schedule. To reduce delivery and reading time, 2PDM has a simple format and concise content. Termination of subscription To terminate subscription, please send an e-mail headed 'stop subscription' to pdm@2pdm.com Sponsorship 2PDM is provided free of charge to its readers. Companies that share our objectives of promoting successful implementation of EDM and PDM systems and world-class product development performance may sponsor 2PDM. There is space for a maximum of one sponsor message per page, except on this 'Brief lines' page - where there is room for several short sponsor messages. Publication frequency 2PDM is published approximately every two weeks. Copyright Copyright 1998 by John Stark. All rights reserved. Permission to reproduce text or graphics Applications for permission to reproduce part or parts of 2PDM (text or graphics) should be sent to pdm@2pdm.com Permission to make 2PDM available within an organization Applications for permission to make 2PDM available within a company or other organization (e.g. by internal mail, corporate Intranet, etc.) are usually accepted. Please send a request for permission to pdm@2pdm.com Disclaimer Information provided in 2PDM is intended solely to provide general guidance on matters of interest for the personal use of the reader, who accepts full responsibility for its use. Information is provided 'as is', with no guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including, but not limited to, the warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose. Nothing in 2PDM shall to any extent substitute for the independent investigations and the sound technical and business judgement of the reader. Technology, laws and regulations are continually changing, and can only be interpreted in the light of particular factual situations. The information in 2PDM does not constitute technological, business, legal, investment or consulting advice, and should only be used in conjunction with appropriate professional advice obtained by the reader from a suitably qualified professional who understands the reader's particular factual situation.