CIMdata review on SAP's PLM cPDm program (PDF) - Large ...

tracked as normal, but their security is left to the user
to manually maintain. This type of flexibility reflects a
system that has been used to support real implementations.
A number of relationships can be established between
documents and other objects within mySAP PLM.
These include:
• Document-to-document
(hierarchical or peer-to-peer
relation)
• Document-to-part (one to many
and many to many relations)
• Document-to-other SAP objects
These relationships are used to link
product data and documentation to
the change management and product
definition process. For any document,
a user can query for "where
used" information about the document,
to see all of the references that
have been established to it. Documents
can be collected together into
what are called "Configuration
Folders" that are provided with the
Configuration Management application
and are used to assemble data to
be baselined.
Full text retrieval (FTR) and index searches are available
from mySAP PLM, either from SAP or partner solutions,
such as from Verity. Users can also search document
meta-data for documents based on description
fields, Boolean textual equations, and "match codes"
(patterns), or keyword searches. mySAP PLM supports
a Web-based document search capability that returns
lists of found documents as hyperlinks. The user can
navigate to the required documents directly via the
Web browser (see Figure 7).
A topic of contention and concern for many companies
considering electronic document management relates
to the authentication of document approvals (i.e., electronic
signatures). Although there is much work still to
be done in this area, various technologies are becoming
available to support signature authentication. These
include digital signature chips, retina scans, and pressure
tablets, to name but a few.
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SAP’s mySAP PLM
mySAP PLM has embraced various electronic signature
techniques and provides interfaces to digital signature
chip readers and other electronic devices, and can trigger
a document status change on successful authentication.
This initiative has been taken to support its customers
in the medical equipment and pharmaceutical
industries.
Figure 7-Web-Based Document Management
mySAP PLM supports three different document distribution
scenarios:
• Distribution of documents internally and externally
to customers and suppliers
• Distribution across different instances of SAP
installations using ALE techniques
• Document replication (caching of data)
The distribution function also supports packaging of
information to be distributed to single addresses. All
distributions are recorded in history logs and mechanisms
are in place to monitor electronic distributions
for failures and will re-send as needed.
Workflow and Process Management
Workflow (or process) management is a critical part of
managing product definition information and the processes
used to create, change, and leverage it. This
includes defining the ordered steps in the processes, the
rules associated with the steps, the rules for approval of
each step, and the assignment of people to provide
<strong>CIMdata</strong> Program Assessment