Collaboration - Apriso

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10 For example, Microsoft partners now integrate 3D data into Office documents, including: • Structured images in Microsoft Word that can be clicked to select component information; Calculated properties (e.g. material volume, or calculated price) in Excel; Embedded 3D data in Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentation graphics program. Engineering Applications and Office Systems Microsoft partners have created many opportunities to embed engineering data into Microsoft Office documents. Examples include Autodesk’s DWF Viewer, Dassault’s 3D XML Player, UGS’s JT2Go 3D viewer, Actify’s Spinfire, and Lattice3D’s XVL player. These can deliver tight integration between engineering applications and Microsoft Office documents, allowing 3D data to be harnessed across the enterprise. One example of integration with Microsoft Office is based on 3D XML: “ Using the 3D XML documentation and tools available freely at www.3ds.com/3dxml, Powerway added 3D capabilities into its existing industry-leading product, Powerway.com. Then, working with Microsoft, it developed a demonstration that tied together real-time product data that management, engineering and suppliers could access to solve the problems, quickly and collaboratively, by seeing them in 3D via their existing applications, such as Microsoft Office. The new application requires no additional learning by existing users.” (Source: Dassault Systèmes 29 August 2005, Detroit, MI, USA) But business systems also offer this integration, often by giving access to their data from inside Office applications. These help create collaborative environments that can reach everybody who adds value to a product, project or service. Familiar environments make it easy for users to access data from a range of applications, which encourages the use of shared information sources that in turn improve consistency of information across departments and trading partners. The result is growth in the opportunity for, and the value of, collaborative environments for many job functions (see panel below). Using a collaborative environment A collaborative environment has value for virtually every employee in a manufacturing company, from the boardroom to the plant floor. An Engineering Manager will use a collaborative environment to share realtime technical information, investigate technical and project issues, run review meetings and progress initiatives. The environment will allow the manager to communicate with colleagues and partners to solve problems, make decisions, and approve action. A Logistics Manager will use a desktop display of ‘traffic lights’ showing aggregated real-time information covering production, stock levels and distribution events, with drill-downs. The manager may use it in a planned manner to review and approve plans, and equally – perhaps, when investigating an ‘amber’ condition – to initiate ad-hoc collaboration to get more details. While travelling, the manager may switch on text message alerts. A Purchasing Administrator may access goods-received data and initiate ad-hoc collaborative sessions with managers who requested purchases to complete authorisation. Their discussions will be supported by immediate desktop or remote access to consistent, up-to-date information. A Production Manager may find the main use of a collaborative environment is to discuss changes with colleagues. Sales may want to push certain orders through. Engineering design may want to delay a planned manufacturing change until a customer agrees the prototype. Purchasing may suggest the use of substitute materials. A partner that provides a specialist finishing process may want to agree best dates for machine maintenance. In each case, the interaction can be on the basis of accurate, shared information – meaning fast decisions. LEADING EDGE COLL ABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS IN DISCRETE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES
Collaborative Environments in Design and Engineering CoCreate (www.cocreate.com) “ We can fire-up an online meeting in seconds. Our distributed teams can approach OneSpace. net meetings just like stopping by the desk of a local team member to ask a quick question.” (Source: Mechanical Engineering Manager of a OneSpace.net user company) CoCreate’s OneSpace.net is designed to solved the complexities and challenges that product development engineers face when working with teams that extend across a company and into partner companies. OneSpace.net is built on the Microsoft environment and makes use of the Microsoft .NET Framework to offer Web-based, multi-party 3D CAD model design reviews, with the ability to synchronise dates and tasks with Microsoft Outlook, and maintain traceability of actions across the extended team. CoCreate offers real-time collaboration to help users speed up whole sequences of activities. For example, a real-time collaborative session can replace a sequence such as checking out a dataset, e-mailing it to a colleague, agreeing and making some changes – perhaps by telephone – then checking the dataset back in to the master database. By exposing selected data from application systems such as ERP, workflow and version management tools, OneSpace.net connects collaborative sessions to the formal controls appropriate for design review and follow-through of issues. The use of Web services architecture inside OneSpace.net has provided an efficient structure for CoCreate’s software engineers. However, it is the use of the XML standard for data, together with Microsoft BizTalk Server, that has made a real difference to users. With BizTalk Server, not only are multiple point-to-point integrations replaced by a single integration to BizTalk Server, but also, it is possible to build certain business rules into BizTalk Server configurations rather than application code. “ By basing our development on the .NET Framework we made some aspects of design collaboration possible that five years ago were simply unthinkable.” (Source: CoCreate) LEADING EDGE COLL ABORATIVE ENVIRONMENTS IN DISCRETE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES 11
Page 1 and 2: Microsoft ® EMEA Manufacturing Ind
Page 3 and 4: Contents Introduction 4 World Class
Page 5 and 6: Collaborative environments help peo
Page 7 and 8: Collaboration For manufacturers, to
Page 9: Understanding and Applying Collabor
Page 13 and 14: DS’s users set up multiple collab
Page 15 and 16: For UGS users this has opened up ne
Page 17 and 18: Invensys Wonderware (www.wonderware
Page 19 and 20: Collaborative Environments in Wareh
Page 21 and 22: RedPrairie (www.redprairie.com) Red
Page 23 and 24: Architecture for collaboration A ke
Page 25 and 26: Microsoft Office System Microsoft O
Page 27 and 28: By using Microsoft capabilities to

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