PROSTEP INC Blog 
Joseph Lopez
Joseph is an experienced marketing professional with a demonstrated history of working in the engineering and information technology and services industry. He is skilled in marketing strategy, search engine optimization (SEO), copywriting and web design. With a Master of Computer Information … More » PROSTEP strengthens development with Scrum teams in PolandJune 4th, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
PROSTEP AG founds a new branch in Wroclaw, Poland (formerly Breslau). At the beginning of April, PROSTEP sp.z.o.o. started its business activities to support and strengthen the development team of the Berlin-based PROSTEP branch. It is planned to set up two Scrum teams that will develop specific solutions for major automotive customers. PROSTEP decided to move to Poland because the country has a relatively large pool of qualified IT specialists who are becoming increasingly difficult to find in Germany. Wroclaw was supported by the fact that the city on the Oder River is the country’s second largest university location and that for historical reasons more people speak German than in other parts of the country. We are not going to Poland with the development for cost reasons, because Poland is no longer a low-wage country, but because we can find qualified personnel there with German language skills. The Polish software developers will implement agile development projects on site in cooperation with their Berlin colleagues and in close coordination with the key developers and business analysts. The decentralized model has proven its worth in Berlin, where PROSTEP currently has a development team of more than 20 programmers. The new branch in Poland will employ 15 to 20 people in the medium term. We are currently looking for personnel and intend to hire eight to ten new people by the end of the year. The first team leader will start work in September 2019. Filip Plochocki will be responsible for the new location, whose office will be located in a startup center in the center of Wroclaw during the first few months.  By Norbert Lotter
Peter Pfalzgraf named president of the 3D PDF ConsortiumJune 1st, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
Peter Pfalzgraf, head of the Products business unit at PROSTEP AG, has been named president of the 3D PDF Consortium. The global initiative is committed to establishing and further developing 3D PDF, and the PDF format in general, as an open standard for visualization, data communication and long-term archiving. The appointment of Pfalzgraf underscores PROSTEP‘s long-standing commitment to the dissemination of 3D PDF technology.  The 3D PDF Consortium was originally founded at the suggestion of Adobe to demonstrate the openness of the 3D PDF format. Thanks to its collaboration with the PDF Association and, in particular, recognition by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) of the Consortium as the US TAG Administrator for the PDF ISO standard , it has become the world’s most important organization when it comes to PDF standardization. In addition to Adobe and other leading software vendors – including the PLM consulting and software company PROSTEP – its members include large industrial companies such as Boeing. On the one hand, the 3D PDF Consortium involves itself with the further development and consolidation of the various ISO PDF standards for archiving (PDF/A), engineering (PDF/E), electronic signatures (PSdES) and universal access (PDF U/A), which have been created within the framework of the ISO 32000 standard for the full function PDF. On the other hand, it provides software houses and industrial companies with support when implementing the 3D PDF standard. The 3D PDF Implementor Forum is a collaborative testing program designed to ensure the quality and usability of 3D PDF in engineering workflows by means of joint testing. An important activity performed by the 3D PDF Consortium is the planned extension of the 3D PDF format that will allow STEP AP242 data to be embedded directly in 3D PDF documents without conversion to the internal PRC or U3D format and to be viewed with Adobe Reader. As Pfalzgraf says, “We expect this to lead to even broader acceptance of 3D PDF, especially with regard to the long-term archiving of 3D data. This option is of particular interest to manufacturers of products with very long lifecycles and strict obligations to provide documentation, such as the aerospace industry.” The 3D PDF Consortium therefore wants to work more closely with LOTAR International, an initiative for long-term archiving and retrieval launched by leading aircraft manufacturers.  By Joachim Christ
PROSTEP sponsors the Formula Student DART Racing TeamMay 17th, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
For the first time, PROSTEP is sponsoring the DART Racing Team at TU Darmstadt, which is developing an electric racing car for the international Formula Student university design competition. We are donating a powerful computer to the students so that the team can optimize the properties of aerodynamic components and maximize their strength and resistance to deformation. The TU Darmstadt Racing Team e.V. (DART) is a non-profit association that promotes science, research and education in the field of vehicle construction. Approximately 60 students from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, industrial engineering and other disciplines are actively involved. The team has set itself the goal of designing, manufacturing, rolling out and validating two vehicles within one year and using them to successfully compete in the Electric and Driverless categories of the Formula Student competition. The next races are being held from 28 July to 1 August 2019 at the Red Bull Race Track in Spielberg, Austria, and from 5 to 11 August 2019 at the Hockenheimring race track in Germany. This year we are sponsoring the team that is developing the current ny2019 electric vehicle. It is already the ninth all-electric vehicle that the students at the TU Darmstadt will be putting on the race track. One of the challenges in the further development is to validate the aerodynamic properties of the vehicle as early as possible in order to achieve a high degree of reliability and good results in the races.   “As a student racing team, we have very limited access to wind tunnels and therefore rely heavily on CFD simulations to test our ideas for aerodynamic components,” says Marco Bonneschky, technical team leader Electric for the DART Racing Team. “Pre-processing, simulation and post-processing, however, require enormous computational power if we are to work efficiently in terms of time. We are therefore delighted that PROSTEP is providing us with more power for this purpose.” E-mobility is an important future trend that not only requires new development tools and methods but also users with new skills. Providing support to the team participating in the Electric category of the Formula Student competition provides us with the perfect opportunity to establish contact with highly-skilled young scientists and to see how they master the challenges of e-mobility in a field as exciting as racing technology. We wish the DART Racing Team the greatest of success for the new racing season. By Peter Pfalzgraf OpenPDM connects Arena PLM directly to SAPMay 6th, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
PROSTEP continues to expand the world’s leading PLM integration platform OpenPDM by adding standard connectors that allow a wide range of different PLM, ERP and other backend systems to be connected “as-is” and the data to be synchronized or migrated. The company recently created a seamless integration between the cloud PLM solution from Arena Solutions and SAP’s ERP system, which is already in productive use at customer sites in the USA. Arena Solutions, a US American PLM manufacturer, is a true pioneer when it comes to cloud PLM. The company has been offering its customers cloud-based SaaS applications for product lifecycle management and quality assurance for over 15 years. They are primarily used by smaller start-ups and leading high-tech companies in the USA but also by customers in 80 other countries. The company has created an integration solution between Arena PLM and SAP together with PROSTEP’s US subsidiary that makes it possible for customers to bring their new products to market faster. The OpenPDM-based integration ensures that manufacturing is always working with the latest version of BOMs, article master data, approved manufacturing lists and associated documents. The OpenPDM connector accesses the Arena PLM module ERP Exchange, which exports product information like BOMs, change orders, article master data and parts master data as a PDX package in XML format. OpenPDM validates the data and any changes made to it and then automatically imports it into SAP. It is also possible to supply different instances of the ERP system with data. Data transfer is logged and can be monitored in a dashboard to enable immediate response to any errors that occur while the data is being transferred. With its OpenPDM connector for Arena PLM, PROSTEP demonstrates that the world’s leading integration platform can also be used to connect cloud-based PLM solutions with on-premise enterprise applications. The company is currently developing an enhanced connector to the cloud-based ERP solution SAP S/4 HANA, which will allow OpenPDM to also support hybrid cloud/cloud scenarios in the future.  By Peter Pfalzgraf
PROSTEP develops OpenPDM connector to PTC Integrity for SchaefflerMay 2nd, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
The automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler has decided to use PROSTEP’s OpenPDM integration platform to connect its existing PLM and ERP system landscape to the new Engineering Cockpit in Aras Innovator. We are also developing a new connector for Schaeffler that will connect the application lifecycle management (ALM) system PTC Integrity Lifecycle Management (ILM). Aras Innovator is Schaeffler’s overarching PLM platform for mechatronic product development and model-based systems engineering (MBSE). The plan is to merge not only the mechanical and electrical/electronic product data in the new Engineering Cockpit but also the software development statuses. At Schaeffler, the latter are managed using PTC Integrity, which controls the entire software development process. Hence the request to connect the ALM system to the Engineering Cockpit. Schaeffler decided last year not to develop the interfaces for connecting the various IT systems in-house but instead implement OpenPDM as middleware. The fact that PROSTEP’s standards-based integration platform offers maximum investment protection and requires less effort to develop and maintain the integrations – thanks to the fact that tried-and-tested connectors for the existing CAD, PLM and ERP systems PTC Creo, PTC Windchill and SAP are already available – worked to its advantage. As we did not yet offer integration with PTC ILM, Schaeffler commissioned us to develop an appropriate connector. The new PTC ILM connector allows us to expand our portfolio of standard integrations and take an important step towards supporting application lifecycle management. ALM is becoming increasingly important in the context of developing smart, connected products. The first release of the new connector was delivered to Schaeffler before Easter and can in the future also be used by other customers.  By Mirko Theiß
PROSTEP outlines the benefits of the digital vessel twinApril 5th, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
At this year’s Schiff&Hafen Maritim 4.0 conference, PROSTEP’s shipbuilding experts outlined the challenges faced when it comes to end-to-end digitalization in the maritime supply chain and the benefits of a digital vessel twin. The choice of topic for their presentation was a good one, as the event is primarily attended by shipping experts who are interested in optimizing their working fleet.  Maritim 4.0 in Hamburg was well attended with approximately 100 representatives from shipping companies, equipment manufacturers and classification societies. The event focused less on shipbuilding than on shipping, i.e. the challenges facing ship operators. We explained to the participants the role the digital vessel twin (DVT) plays in monitoring and optimizing operation of the vessels. The term DVT refers to a digital representation of the vessel that is linked to the physical asset and enables new services such as predictive maintenance or remote inspection – something mentioned by a representative from the classification society DNVGL. Without the DVT, the vision of autonomous vessels would also never be feasible. In our presentation, we made it clear that the end-to-end provision of digital product information over the entire lifecycle of a vessel is a key prerequisite for the digital twin. Ship operators today face the challenge of making digital product information available to their various partners throughout the vessel lifecycle in an efficient, needs-oriented and purpose-related manner. We used practical application examples to demonstrate how companies in other industries make service-relevant information available via the OpenDXM CCenter collaboration platform, thus managing the balancing act between end-to-end digitalization and know-how protection. Another reason our presentation met with great interest among participants was the fact that we were able to point out similarities to the digitalization efforts being made in other industries. Carmakers and automotive suppliers, for example, are trying to ensure the homologation of autonomous driving functions with the help of simulation-based validation and verification processes – an approach that could also be of interest to the maritime industry. We have set important accents with the DVT topic at Maritim 4.0 and established promising contacts with potential new customers. In the panel discussion that followed, which was headed up by Prof. Dr. Uwe von Lukas from Fraunhofer IGD in Rostock, several participants raised the question of which standards are needed to create digital vessel twins in view of the large number of IT systems used. We think that the technical problem encountered in the context of end-to-end digitalization of the DVT can be solved using a variety of standards, as demonstrated by examples from other industries. However, data continuity across company boundaries remains a challenge in light of the fact that organizational aspects and aspects such as IP protection expand the number of requirements. Lukas suggested creating a maritime data space, i.e. an open, industry-specific platform for exchanging digital data. The question of where data acquisition and documentation for the digital twin should take place aroused some controversy during the event. While equipment manufacturers see this taking place on land or in the cloud to ensure the provision of new services, shipping companies think it should accompany the ship on board in order to support the crews during operation. They are after all faced with the challenge of having to repeatedly prepare and document emission-specific data in line with different country-specific requirements, a process that is still paper-based. For us, this was an important input which allows us to further sharpen our DVT concept. By Lars Wagner PDF Generator 3D as the motor driving the product configuratorApril 3rd, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
At Siemens Large Drives Applications, variance is a competitive advantage. The Siemens company manufactures heavy-duty electric motors and converters for industrial and special drives in batch sizes that tend toward one. With the help of PROSTEP’s PDF Generators 3D, the company is able to automatically provides its customers with the offer documents for their product configurations, including the 3D models, from the cloud. Siemens Large Drives Applications (LDA) is one of the Siemens Group’s oldest and largest portfolio companies (PC). With a workforce of around 4,900 employees worldwide, the PC develops, manufactures and sells high-voltage motors as well as medium-voltage converters and generators. The products are used in ship propulsion systems and in a large number of industrial applications, e.g. on drilling platforms, in pipelines, in the energy and water supply sectors, and in rolling mills and cement works. Siemens LDA is headquartered in Nuremberg, Germany, and has development and production sites in six countries and all the time zones around the world. It is rare for the products to built in their entirety at a single site; instead they are usually produced in the local factories. The design engineers at Siemens LDA use NX, the 3D CAD system from its sister company Siemens Software, to develop new motors and converters. They manage their mechanical components with the PLM system Teamcenter, where the electrical and electronic components are also stored. The motors are equipped with a growing number of sensors and analysis components, which are used to monitor vibrations, temperatures and other parameters and to offer customers data-based services like predictive maintenance. It is therefore increasingly important that service engineers know the exact construction status of the products actually delivered, so that they can make sure to take the right spare parts with them when servicing is required. Need for action in the presales process Almost no two motors or inverters that Siemens LDA delivers are alike. Taking account of customer-specific requirements provides the company with a key competitive advantage. Although the products can be configured to a very large extent, they normally still need a certain amount of engineering, which flows back into the configuration options if possible. “This means that we can now map a large proportion of special requests via the configurator,” says Markus Götz, Siemens LDA PLM IDS Processes and Tools. The drive technology configurator (DTK) is available to customers in Siemens’ Industry Mall. As IT project manager André Hieke says, implementation of the next generation product configurator means that Siemens LDA has, for the first time, created the basis for mapping delivered products in their entirety in 3D. The initial focus of the Next Generation Sales Visualization project was improving the presales process. There was a particular need for action when it came to preparing the 3D models and 2D drawings, which are made available to customers together with the offers to ensure that they can use the motors in their planning tools. The NX data was re-modeled in an extremely simplified form using CADClick software for visualization in the DTK and configuration logic was added, which required a lot of time. “But the worst thing was that the high level of variance in our products meant that our colleagues were constantly having to reproduce things,” says designer Senthilan Pathmanathan.  The aim of redesigning the configurator was to eliminate use of the third-party system and make the documents available automatically from NX or Teamcenter. This meant that the 3D models of the individual parts needed to be derived in simplified form and linked with each other using configuration rules, so that the assemblies could be developed dynamically and converted into a neutral format. The dimension sheets containing the dimensions of the motors were also to be generated automatically and made available together with the 3D models. “The biggest challenge for us was the fact that dynamic preparation and conversion of the 3D models shouldn’t take more than a minute,” says Hieke. Combination of 3D and 2D data At Siemens LDA, the configuration logic is not mapped in Teamcenter. The manufacturing BOMS are configured in the SAP variant configurator, which is also familiar with relationships between the components but not their exact position and location. This information is now stored in Siemens’ Rulestream software regardless of whether the CAD geometry has been generated or not, says Götz. This means that configuration is possible irrespective of whether or not the design of the component involved has been finalized. In addition, new components and options can be very quickly introduced in the configurator. One of the formats suitable for providing the documents that make up an offer was 3D PDF. There was some initial concern due to the fact that additional software was required to convert the NX or JT data since the CAD software does not provide direct conversion support. As far as the sales staff were concerned, the format offered the advantage that they could view it using the standard Adobe Reader without having to install a special viewer. As Götz says, PDF Generator 3D impressed the project team, first and foremost with its ability to integrate PMI information in the 3D PDF documents and combine 3D models with 2D documents. This also makes the solution interesting for other use cases such as drawing-free manufacturing and the provision of service documentation. The fact that the PROSTEP solution could be seamlessly integrated in the existing process chain was also important. The experts from the PLM consulting and software company needed less than a week to execute the technical part of the implementation, set up the workflows and create the templates for visualizing the 3D PDF documents. They include not only the 3D models but also predefined 2D views with the PMI dimensions, which are, so to speak, replicated in the drawings. “The solution was practically ready for use before it was even officially commissioned,” says Hieke. The processes did, however, have to be optimized due to the fact that the short generation and loading times placed extremely high demands on the performance of the entire infrastructure.  Generating 3D PDFs from the cloud Since the configurator runs in the Internet, Siemens LDA decided to also provide the CAD generation and conversion services from the cloud. Both Rulestream and NX are installed on three application servers hosted at Amazon Web Services (AWS). Load balancers ensure even load distribution when generating the CAD assemblies and providing the various neutral formats. Siemens LDA offers its customers a number of different options, all of which are generated using the same process. 3D PDF conversion runs on a separate server, which is used by the three application servers. The cloud infrastructure can be scaled up to four CPU cores and is completely virtualized. The development staff put a lot of effort into simplifying the product models, e.g. by automatically removing associative relationships. This process takes place when data is exported from Teamcenter, i.e. before it is transferred to the cloud servers. In addition, the processes in Rulestream and NX have been fully automated on the cloud servers that are responsible for assembly of the configured product models and derivation of the JT data. NX runs, so to speak, “mindlessly” in command line mode. As Pathmanathan explains, the simplified geometry is not generated retrospectively as a separate model: “We work with a master model and define in the current process which status can be shown to the customer and which level of detail is required for manufacturing, for example.” The simplified models are stored in a separate reference set, which can then be exported. Götz goes on to say that what adds to the charm is the fact that the models are created during the design process and that changes immediately flow into the DTK, which – unlike before – always corresponds to the delivery version. The NX data in the cloud is updated once a month. Time savings of 30 percent In cooperation with the product developers, the project team first introduced a new motor group in the configurator, which was launched on the market in the autumn of last year. Following the positive experience gained, the solution is now being used for all new products. Existing series that still have a longer lifespan will also be gradually incorporated. “The aim is for every product that generates significant revenue to run in the new infrastructure,” says Götz. The new process means time savings of 30 percent due to fact that the products no longer have to be re-modeled and design engineers are relieved of unproductive ancillary activities. But that is not all: Today, the engineers themselves use the configurator to make customer-specific adaptations based on a standard configuration, to check their customized designs for buildability and to make them available to customers in simplified form. To this end, Siemens LDA has extended the configurator so that certain user groups can configure complete products, including everything inside, and convert them into 3D PDFs. “One of the strengths of the PDF Generators 3D is the enormous flexibility if offers when it comes to supporting different use cases,” says Hieke. The PROSTEP software is, for example, not only capable of converting CAD data into 3D PDFs but also into HTML5 so that it can be viewed with a web browser. Siemens LDA wants to use this functionality to provide DTK users with a preview of the PMI information. This means that they would no longer have to generate a 3D PDF in order to check the dimensions. “HTML5 also offers the advantage that the 3D models can easily be displayed on mobile devices in order to support assembly, for example,” adds Götz. Workers in motor manufacturing already use tablets to access the MES system for example.  Drawing-free manufacturing with 3D PDF Siemens LDA is determined to do away with drawings in manufacturing. After initial attempts with JT2GO revealed weaknesses in handling, the project team created a 3D PDF-based solution for drawing-free housing manufacture using PDF Generators 3D. If a production order includes a JT model, the model is automatically extracted, sent to the cloud server via a VPN tunnel, converted into 3D PDF and made available to the worker electronically with the production order. PROSTEP has set up a separate template with a field for entering error messages for display purposes. The solution has been well received by employees and is to be implemented in a similar form for other production units. Another use case involving PDF Generator 3D that would be of interest to Siemens LDA in the context of new service offerings like predictive maintenance is the automated provision of service documentation for the delivered product configurations. “If our product is being used somewhere in Russia as a motor for pumping natural gas, the customer wants to know when it needs to be serviced and what spare parts might be needed,” says Hieke. “But we still have a way to go because the service staff in service see the motor in a completely different way to the engineering staff.” By Harald Blümel PDF Generator 3D 9.0 now with BIM supportFebruary 4th, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
PROSTEP is launching Version 9.0 of PDF Generator 3D earlier than planned. The major innovation in this version is support for data exchange and coordination processes in the architecture and construction industries. PDF Generator 3D now also recognizes BIM data in the formats Revit and IFC 4, which can be automatically converted into 3D PDF documents or made available in the web in HTML5 format.  A large number of companies and disciplines are involved in the planning, execution and management of buildings, and they generally use different software tools. As they work, they are faced with the challenge of reliably collecting a wide range of information and changes over the course of a building’s life and communicating them to all the parties involved. Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a method for collecting and combining the relevant building data using a digital building model. The new version of PDF Generator 3D supports this method by making it possible to merge building data from different authoring systems in the formats Autodesk Revit or IFC 4 (Industry Foundation Classes) in 3D PDF containers or to convert it into HTML5 format so that all the parties involved can view it using the standard Adobe Reader or a common web browser. Thanks to the lightweight neutral formats, even extremely large building structures can be converted and displayed reliably. This facilitates end-to-end utilization of 3D BIM information for the purpose of coordinating with property developers, inspection agencies, construction companies and future building operators. PDF Generator 3D 9.0 also offers new functions for hollowing out geometry, which on the one hand improves performance when displaying the model data and on the other hand protects the design know-how inherent in the models. The software not only supports the new CAD and BIM formats but also the latest versions of all the widely used CAD formats, such as SolidWorks 2019 and SolidEdge 2019, and the import of JT 10.2 data. The new version of the PDF Generator 3D includes more than 130 improvements to details when converting CAD data. It is now available.  By Timo Trautmann
PROSTEP evaluates scan data in the DigiTwin projectFebruary 3rd, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
Digital twins make it possible to perform material flow simulations for plant layout and bottleneck analyses. Building digital twins for existing production systems is, however, extremely complicated. As part of the DigiTwin joint project, PROSTEP and three partners are developing a procedure for creating digital simulation models from the 3D scan data generated by production systems largely automatically.  Material flow simulations for bottleneck analyses, plant layout and inventory analyses help improve operational workflows. Up until now, developing corresponding simulation models was extremely complicated, making it difficult for small and medium-sized companies to use them. Digitalization, however, offers new possibilities for simulating and optimizing the real-life situation in production with the help of a digital twin. In the DigiTwin project, the Institute of Production Engineering and Machine Tools (IFW) at the University of Hanover, together with PROSTEP, isb – innovative software businesses and Bornemann Gewindetechnik, are examining how digital twins for existing production systems can be created more easily. The research project, the full name of which is “DigiTwin – Effiziente Erstellung eines digitalen Zwillings der Fertigung” (Efficient Creation of a Digital Twin for Production), is being funded by the “SME innovation: Service research” initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Within the framework of the project, the partners are developing a service concept for deriving simulation models from scans of the factory floors largely automatically. The idea is to use object recognition to convert, with a maximum of automation, the 3D scan data from production into digital models that can be mapped one-to-one in the simulation software. The aim is to make both the layout of the production facilities and the logic of the production processes transparent.  In the project, PROSTEP is responsible for transforming dumb point clouds of machines, robots, transport equipment, etc. into intelligent CAD models that can then be used to simulate the manufacturing processes. With the help of methods from artificial intelligence and machine learning, the solution uses the point cloud, or the network geometry derived from it, to identify similar system components, which are stored in a library together with their CAD models. It is intended that system components for which there is no equivalent in the library be converted into CAD models and parameterized with the help of feature recognition so that they can be prepared for simulation. This means that the simulation models can easily be adapted to take account of company-specific characteristics. PROSTEP’s data management team will make the services for object recognition, object harmonization and conversion available via the data logistics portal www.OpenDESC.com.  Production systems generally vary from company to company. Company-specific machine configurations and special chaining logic cannot, of course, be derived directly from the scan data, which is why the scientists at IFW query this data using standardized forms. This minimizes the amount of time and effort needed to adapt the simulation models, thus also ensuring that the concept remains attractive to small and medium-sized companies. The project partners need only a few days to create a digital twin that can also be adapted quickly in the event of changes to production. As this is a service concept, no programming knowledge is required on the part of the customer. By Dr. Josip Stjepandic
Agile methods in projects for major customersFebruary 1st, 2019 by Joseph Lopez
In today’s world, agile methods are the state-of-the-art when it comes to IT project management. Corporations also use them in large-scale IT projects that they implement together with service companies. The most common agile process model is Scrum, which has to a great extent replaced the conventional waterfall model and its variants. It does, however, require a redefinition of customer/supplier relationships.  In the past, large-scale IT projects involving external service providers were usually executed on the basis of service contracts and billed at a fixed rate. This model is incompatible with agile methods in that there is no longer a clearly defined scope of delivery that could be the subject of formal acceptance and billing at the start of the project. Instead there is a rough target (product vision), a timeframe and a team. This means that the customer’s management must make an investment decision without a detailed cost estimate, rather like a declaration of intent: We will invest the sum of x euros within a defined period of time in order to achieve a specific objective without knowing the detailed results in advance and without having a contractual basis for demanding the result should this become necessary. This not only requires a change in thinking when it comes to project controlling but also has a direct impact on the remuneration arrangement as measurable criteria for evaluating supplier performance need to be identified. There are basically two variants: billing for the number of hours worked (time and materials) or for deliverables (agile fixed price). The time-and-materials model is easier to implement from an organizational perspective, but it shifts all the project risk to the client. The deliverables-based model is in principle a fixed-price model with very small billing units (user stories), whose constraints are regulated by a framework agreement. It requires significantly more organizational effort when it comes to acceptance and billing but results in greater transparency and a more even distribution of risks. Conflicts can become problematic when assessing the overhead of user stories because the parties involved are more or less at an impasse. If the supplier estimates the overhead for a user story to be significantly higher than the client is willing to accept, neither side can force the other to accept their view of the situation. This means that assessment conflicts must be resolved constructively within the framework of the collaboration. A general feature of agile collaboration models becomes particularly apparent here: They require a high level of mutual trust and great willingness to resolve conflicts constructively. Proponents of agile principles will counter that this applies to the successful implementation of IT projects in general and that agile process models such as Scrum merely demonstrate a methodical way of dealing with them professionally and in a results-oriented fashion.  Scrum is in itself only designed for teams of up to nine people. Software relevant to industry such as PLM systems, however, require much larger development teams, thus giving rise to the question of how collaboration between a more or less large number of Scrum teams can be organized efficiently. The approaches proposed in the literature, such as LeSS and SAFe, are typically based on a multi-level model, with operational work taking place on the lower level and coordination on the upper levels. LeSS, for example, aims to minimize overhead. Here, the operational teams send representatives to the upper level teams and the Scrum process is only modified slightly. SAFe, which is currently the most widely used approach, introduces a total of three levels and numerous new roles and events. There are differing views on how well Scrum can actually be scaled in practice. There is no simple solution to the main problems that arise when coordinating creative work in large organizations. It is, however, becoming evident that, as the size of the project teams increases, binding content-related and technical definitions that are valid for all actors and a deep, shared understanding of the overall objective become critical success factors. Conveying them is more important than finding the supposedly perfect scaling method.  Using an agile process model poses certain risks if more comprehensive digitalization measures are to be implemented in a company’s extensive IT landscape. It could be tempting to launch larger projects without sufficiently clarifying the objectives and constraints and hope that it will be possible to clarify these points during the course of the project. This often leads to expensive dead ends. Unfortunately, the methodology does not provide any clear recommendations as to what should be clarified and defined in advance and with what level of detail. The project participants must therefore make this decision based on their own experience and strike a balance between creative chaos and over-specification à la the waterfall model. Experience shows that a lack of process knowledge and inadequate analysis of the data model in particular can result in expensive abortive developments, which could be avoided or at least reduced with a little more conceptual preparatory work. It can therefore be concluded that sufficient attention also has to be paid to the process and data model description when using an agile approach in order to ensure that a solid conceptual basis for implementing the desired functionality is available at an early stage. This information should then be communicated to all project participants so that the creative scope that an agile approach creates can also be exploited in the context of the overall objective. By Norbert Lotter, PROSTEP |
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