Have it your way

In preparation for the 2013 Spring release of Arena, we’re highlighting some of the ways that our customer feedback helps us drive product development. Today’s post showcases one of our most-requested features: “Custom Item Lifecycle Phases”.

Companies have their own business processes and nomenclature for New Product Introduction (NPI) as well as product development. While one company might have a single phase called “testing”, another might have an Engineering Verification Test (EVT), Design Verification Test (DVT), and a Production Verification Test (PVT) that they need to track each as separate phases.

While we’d initially kept our Lifecycle Phases simple to avoid overwhelming manufacturers new to the concept of product lifecycle management (PLM), our customers have now let us know they’re ready to have more; control visibility, and flexibility to customize. Essentially, make our stuff match your stuff – vs the other way around.

How it works

The Custom Item Lifecycle Phases include an administrative setting to let users create and activate these phases for their workspace items. These new phases augment or replace the existing In ‘Design’ and ‘In Production’ phases. Users can then release items to these new custom phases using existing release workflows.

Users can also indicate the progress of items. Through these more detailed phases of their NPI processes, they can track approvals as items move from phase to phase. Custom Item Lifecycle Phases gives users the granular control and visibility they need to accurately track the release progress of their products in closer alignment with their existing internal business processes.

That alignment will help not only the administrative users but also engineers and casual users of Arena PLM, who’ll be able to use meaningful designations like “Concept” or “Prototype” to communicate that designs are not ready for prime time (or expensive purchase orders!) Reviewers and managers will also be able to make decisions more quickly by having review phases clearly designated and only looking at products that are ready and flagged for their attention.

We know this will be a popular feature—you’ve been asking for it—and we’re excited to see how customers use Custom Item Lifecycle Phases to better manage all phases of NPI and product development. Hold the pickles hold the lettuce–special orders don’t upset us…