How to untangle complex IT landscapes

Heterogeneous IT landscapes complicate data-based decisions, cross-domain product development, and enterprise-wide collaboration based on shared product information. Solutions that integrate data and processes facilitate a timely, flexible response to the dynamics of global markets with their changing requirements and circumstances. Solutions that link or federate data help build the "digital thread" across distributed systems.

The number of IT innovations has been steadily increasing for years. This means that product information is distributed across more and more systems. At the same time, the demands of customers have been increasing for years; they expect the most intelligent innovations possible with an expanded range of functions with greater frequency. If you want to keep up as a manufacturer, you need a real productivity boost. One way to make fact-based decisions and get to market faster is to provide reliably accurate product information or easy, rights-controlled access to the data you need, across system boundaries, locations, and roles. Depending on the application, this requires intelligent integrations that make the user's daily work easier and relieve them of as much routine work as possible, or the linking of data that establishes correlations in order to make product creation comprehensible.

• The flow of information between departments and users runs continuously without media discontinuities.
• Functions such as automatic versioning or mechatronic data models in PLM systems ensure collaboration with correct data.
• Cross-divisional collaboration based on synchronized component libraries simplifies, improves and accelerates the exchange of information, for example from development to purchasing and production.
• PLM data models or the links between data ensure the necessary transparency.

The key challenge facing many IT departments is therefore to connect the data silos in such a way that the product data asset is used as frequently as possible, in end-to-end data chains and interdisciplinary workflows.

XPLM's innovative integration solutions accomplish exactly that. They do not just push native data into another system such as a PLM system, they process the engineering data, derive data suitable for subsequent processes and store it together with the native data in an individually defined data model. In the case of multi-CAD integration, a mechatronic data model is created along with a mechatronic parts list. This is accompanied by numerous automatisms that free users from time-consuming and error-prone routine tasks. Data federated, i.e. linked, with XSPHERE connects the content of different departments and systems to a uniform, transparent innovation or change process.

This means these integration solutions simplify cross-departmental data exchange and information flow, accelerate the development process and minimize sources of error. In practice, this means:

• Harmonized access to data from a wide variety of systems – from the usual work environment.
• Linking relevant data across system boundaries.
• Visualization and information processing in real time – without tedious searching for data.

Scalability, customization flexibility and intuitive user interface usability ensure your long-term success.

A simplification of the IT landscape through comprehensive data integration has a positive effect on three levels:

1. Minimize risks: You can make well-founded decisions – and minimize business risks.
2. Increase profits: Thanks to better quality and faster development processes, the time-to-market decreases – and your margins increase.
3. Ensure future viability: Your innovative strength and flexibility increase – and your resilience increases as well.

The solutions from XPLM are all standard solutions that are individually configured and cover around 80 % of the user's needs. This means the solutions are quickly installed or implemented, so the added value and ROI are achieved very quickly.