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SAP PLM - Case Study On Rapid Prototyping A Solution

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The Customer And The Goal

Customer: Large Global Corporation with multiple product lines and sales of greater than $30 billion USD.

Goal: Quickly implement SAP PLM into one of their divisions with the hopes of expanding the implementation to other areas after a successful go live

What Were The Business Issues?

Internal resources had a great deal of experience with SAP functionality in many areas - but little experience with SAP PLM.

Customer could not judge implementation effort because of their lack of knowledge in this area.

They needed to make sure that SAP PLM functionality fit their business requirements before moving ahead with a project.

A solution was required quickly - business was growing and they needed to implement a data management solution to meet the demands of the growing business.

The Solution - Rapid Prototype Using Out Of The Box SAP PLM Capabilities

Build a prototype system using a copy of their existing SAP production environment, implement the SAP PLM functionalities into system that is hosted by SAP.

It must be quick - project can last no longer than 8 weeks.

Solution must deliver at between 60% and 70% of total functionality that customer will require at go live.

Customer will provide resources to gather initial requirements but consultants are expected to provide best practice knowledge for process and implementation.

Key SAP PLM Functionality Included In Prototype

Management of key engineering documents.

Integration of the Unigraphics CAD system to SAP.

An engineering change management process that utilizes SAP Workflow.

Material and BOM management from an Engineering perspective.

Use of SAP cFolders for internal and external collaboration.

The Timeline And Process

Week 1: Initial meeting to discuss process and goals.

Week 2-3: Work through questionnaire provided by SAP to drive and document business requirements.
Around 100 questions that business and consultants need to work through.

Week 4-7: Build prototype in customer system. Weekly review sessions with business to confirm progress and direction.

Week 8: Deliver prototype to business for use.

Beyond Week 8: Train key users on use of system. Complete a gap analysis and plan next steps.

The Results

The process was a success! Key business goals were met.

Prototype delivered to business in a short period of time which can actually be used to test functionality against business requirements.

Overall implementation time for project greatly reduced.

Able to do a much more intelligent blueprint process because key users are much more familiar with functionality of the system.

Able to better estimate implementation effort after the solution is found and proven with a prototype.

The cost estimate for the full project became much more accurate and confidence level for delivering based on the estimate was much higher.

Prototype provided enough information so that the right business resources could be identified and put on the project.

What Is Right For You?

Is building a rapid prototype the right direction for you? It might be. I can help you analyze your situation and outline the benfits in doing such a project.

I am a seasoned SAP PLM consultant with over eight years experiences implementing the SAP PLM solution across a wide variety of industries. To learn more about my background, please visit my profile SAP PLM Expert at LinkedIn.

Additional Case Study

Tenneco's Global Product Data Management (GPDM) Project: Tenneco, a leading tier-one automotive supplier, is implementing the SAP Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) application to manage product information globally. Get a high-level overview of Tenneco's engineering change management process and the support that the SAP implementation supplies. Learn what effort is needed to address the challenges of CAD integration. Gain insight into critical success factors for a global system implementation.
Effective Document Management with SAP DMS: Discover how to implement a document management solution using SAP DMS.
SAP PLM 7.0 Webinar: Recent presentation on the new capabilities of SAP PLM 7.0.

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