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* Welcome *
Welcome to this issue of 2PLM, an e-zine distributed every two weeks on
a free subscription basis. This week's article "PLM Access Management" is from
Menno Huijben of Technia. Menno's previous article appeared in the February 2,
2004 issue of 2PLM.
But first, a few words in reply to reader questions, and some information from Anne
Schwartz, Director of Research at Goldense Group, Inc.
(Needham, MA) about GGI's Fourth Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey.
* PLM Market Size *
A reader asked if we had a more up-to-date figure for the Product Lifecycle Management market size
than the one we mentioned in the
previous issue.
That was the $16 billion PLM market size for 2001. The answer is Yes. In the
June 9, 2003 issue of 2PLM
we mentioned the $16.5 billion PLM market size for 2002.
Another reader asked if it is possible to do "departmental PLM". The answer
is No. PLM is the activity of managing a product all the way across its
lifecycle - which involves many departments, functions, suppliers, customers, etc.
* GGI's Fourth Biennial Product Development Metrics Survey *
Every other year we conduct our Product Development Metrics Survey to investigate
best practices and metrics in product development.
For example, results of our 2002 survey were highlighted in the December 30,
2002 issue of 2PLM.
The importance of IP is expected to grow exponentially over the next fifteen
to eighteen years and will change the way corporations are valued. If your
product development cycle is three years, that means you only have five or
six cycles to change the way you manage these processes. Now here is an
opportunity to recognize the importance of IP in your company and to measure
the processes and interrelationships with the product development process.
The GGI 2004 Product
Development Metrics Survey "theme" is "the processes and relationships between
the selection of innovative/inventive new products and the intellectual property
that is produced -- prior to the approval of a project/product for development."
Intellectual property is rapidly growing in importance, and this is perhaps a
chance to be one of the first in the industry to participate in research of this
nature.
If you choose to participate by fully completing the questionnaire within the
required timeframe, you will receive the extensive Executive Summary of the
survey results. The Executive Summary
will provide 40-50 pages of detailed text and graphical reporting on how others,
typically North American industrial and high tech manufacturers, responded to
the same questions along with observations and analyses written by GGI's research
team.
Completed surveys are due back to GGI in Needham by June 1, 2004. All information
provided by survey participants will be held strictly confidential.
Download a free PDF copy of the survey questionnaire
here. For
more information, please contact Anne Schwartz at +1 781/444-5400 x204 or by
mail.
* PLM Access Management *
PLM is about managing your product during its entire lifecycle.
All the product information created during this lifecycle represents a big chunk
of the intellectual capital of an organization.
Managing access to this information is important. This intellectual capital has
to be protected, but, at the same time, it must be leveraged to create more
revenue and profit.
Access management is built on a set of system functions, guidelines, and policies.
These should safeguard your intellectual capital, but on the other hand, make
it available for use.
To define an access management policy you need to take into account issues ranging
from the type of business you are in and the level of competition you
experience, to the possible threats to your spare parts business from pirates.
The policy needs to strike a balance between the risk of information getting
in the wrongs hands, and the levels of, let’s call it bureaucracy, to prevent
this from happening.
Access management functionality is in general well supported in PDM systems.
Typically the data model enables a very high granularity of access control.
A PDM system can be easily configured to support rules such as : Document X
can be accessed by all developers in team Y when it is in the Draft state,
but cannot be read by anybody else until it is released.
But here is a flaw. In the 21st Century we
have gone beyond PDM to PLM - and manage products across their lifecycles. The
product that we have to manage may have a lifetime of 3, 10, 50 years. During
that time, organizations change, IT systems change, businesses get bought and
sold, people come, and people leave.
PLM manages the product information as it flows through various applications
such as PDM, ERP and CRM. The access policies should go with the flow, but
that's seldom the case.
Surprisingly, access management often gets implemented with a very static view
of the world, as if for the next 10 years Mr. X will continue to own document
type Y, and business unit Z will remain in business.
I've seen access management models being implemented with plenty of different
roles and groups, and lifecycle state dependencies. This works fine for
a while, but when the first organizational changes happen, or the development
project is finished, or a new acquisition is made, it becomes apparent that
the access management model is not at all easy to administrate.
There are at least two things to remember when setting up an access management
model for a PLM system.
- Select the basic strategy : "Open to all, and closed only when needed",
or "Closed to all, and opened only when needed".
- Select a control mechanism : "Proactive access control", or "Retrospective
access control".
Solution of the basic strategy is a standard requirement and, in one way
or the other, your choice will be supported, at least by your PDM system's
data model.
The second issue is an interesting option with many consequences:
By "Proactive access control" I mean the classical implementation way - a certain
user gets an error message when trying to access a confidential object, or
simply the user is "not aware" the object exists. Implementing a PLM system
with this approach could lead to high administrative efforts. In some cases
it might even affect the performance of the system, for example if
wildcard-queries trigger a lot of checks against the access management policies.
So, especially when thinking about PLM, consider implementing access management
with retrospective control.
This means that all access-related transactions will need to be captured in
history / log-files (most PDM systems do this). These history files can be used
to review who has been accessing a certain object, at what time, and what has
been done with it. Special triggers can be put on more confidential
information informing its owner that Ms. A. has been reading the document
and Mr. B has copied it.
Mr. Big Brother, you may be thinking - but involve your HR manager, legal
department, or VP sourcing and it can become a feasible option. For example
make a contract with your suppliers that they are allowed only to access
specific information and that you will monitor that. It's not a solution for
all cases, but in some cases it's a viable option to consider, especially from
a PLM standpoint.
Access management in a PLM context is challenging. Make sure you keep it simple,
but well aligned with your company's strategy and security policy.
For questions and comments, please contact me by
mail or call +358 424 7221.
Menno Huijben is a consultant at Technia,
a leading supplier of PLM solutions in the Nordic countries.
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