PLM Data Replication in a Distributed Environment

PLM Data Replication in a Distributed Environment

This Business Scenario Map is designed for all industries. It shows how PLM data is replicated from a central engineering or R&D system to decentralized production or sales systems in a distributed environment. The map illustrates the benefits of the PLM data replication as part of SAP PLM. The data which describes a simple or even complex product is frozen in a complete and consistent baseline and then distributed in a controlled process to all systems which use the data for production or sales purposes. The result is a secure and almost faultless replication process which enables system integration in a distributed environment and reduces the efforts for data replication dramatically.
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Value Potentials Business Benefits
Up to 30% reduced costs for system integration* Central engineering system can be linked to any number of production or sales systems
Tight integration of the engineering change management enables the definition of consistent change status
Up to 20% improved data accuracy* Complex, configurable products can be distributed as complete and consistent packages based on a baseline,
Up to 80% reduced time for baseline creation* Automatic product structure explosion takes into account all relevant parts of the product definition
Engineering
Configuration Management
Production Plants
Release changes of product definition
Define products
Create new baseline and replication order
Ensure faultless distribution process
Create baseline and replication order
Define configuration folders
Receive and import modified part of product definition
Receive and import product definition
Register plant as target system
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Source:
* Discussions with Customers
The value potentials shown in this table have been reported by selected SAP customers or independent third parties as referenced herein. However, there is no guarantee that such value potentials can be realized in any particular customer-specific business processes, and SAP does not make any representations and disclaims any liability as to the appropriateness of the referenced value potentials for any specific customer situation.
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Business Benefits Value Potentials
Target systems and users can be assigned to the distribution easily
Updates can be imported frequently or on request
Production or sales processes based on predefined, reproducible baselines Up to 80% fewer mistakes in orders*
If changes occur in the engineering system only the modified part of the product structure is distributed and imported Up to 70% reduced time for data replication*
Faultless import of complete and consistent product structures instead of manual replication Up to 80% reduced costs compared to decentralized data maintenance*
 

PLM Data Replication in a Distributed Environment

In many companies a distributed environment is either a fact because of historical reasons or a necessity because of technical reasons. In both cases data which describes the products of the company has to be transferred from one (or several) source systems to all target system where this data is used for different business processes. Most of the time the source system is a central engineering or R&D system while the target systems are production or sales systems.

 

In the past companies usually dealt with this issue using one of the following mechanisms:

  1. List-based manual replication of data in the target systems
  2. Individual interfaces between a source and a target system to transfer single objects

With PLM data replication these error-prone and time-consuming mechanisms can be changed completely. Therefore a smart and secure replication process based on the concept of configuration folders and baselines is used. The idea is to support the distribution of a package which consists of all objects which can be used to describe simple or even complex products, e.g. material masters (parts), bill of materials (BOMs), documents, classification and variant configuration data. The distribution of complete and consistent product definitions instead of the isolated distribution of single objects not just speeds up the distribution but reduces manual rework and errors in subsequent business processes tremendously.

 

For this kind of replication the product has to defined by engineers or developers in the in the source system. Then so-called configuration folders are used to define the products which have to be distributed as well as the target system which need these product definitions afterwards. The target systems can be registered at any time, so changes in the system landscape can be supported in a very flexible way. Now as the replication process has to be started a so-called baseline is created out of the configuration folder. In the baseline all objects are quickly collected in an automatic product structure explosion which takes into account all relevant parts of the product definition. This product structure explosion not only ensures the completeness of the distributed package but also its consistency since the explosion is done based on defined change status. This is supported by the usage of the Engineering Change Management (ECM) capabilities of the SAP PLM solution.

 

For the physical distribution of the data a replication order is created and based on the Application Link Enabling (ALE) technology. The entire package is exported from the source system and imported into the different target systems. Administration tools can be used during the process to control the export and import steps in order to ensure a faultless replication.

 

After the initial load of the product definition in the target systems, the product is changed and further developed in the source system. If the new status should be used in the target systems the changes have to be released and then a new baseline can be generated. During the following distribution process only the modified part of the product definition is taken into account, so only the delta is exported and imported, which further reduces the time needed.