Connecting the Dots; Realizing the Full Value of PLM with Enhanced PPM
August 2025
When I was much younger, I enjoyed “connect the dot” puzzles. It was always fascinating to see the picture emerge as you worked through the puzzle and connected all the dots. As I reflected on the challenges of optimizing product development with Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) applications I was struck with the idea that we are dealing with an incomplete “connect the dot” puzzle. The challenge we are faced with is that product development processes go beyond the purview of PLM and therefore it is impossible to truly optimize product development just working with PLM. It should be noted that the product development processes in PLM are often applied to project implementation (such as Engineering, Procurement, and Construction) where the work products for implementation are products that go through a lifecycle of development just the same.
Typically, product development companies will use a variety of tools for project management alongside their PLM system and sometimes use the product portfolio management (PPM) module built into their PLM system to manage some tasks directly related to processes and information created and controlled in PLM. The external project management tools can run the gamut from tools like Microsoft’s Excel or Project to more sophisticated and expensive dedicated project management applications like Oracle’s Primavera or OpenAir. The challenge with these tools is that they all deal with fragments of the process and do not provide a complete view of the product development process. Most companies that have project managers overseeing the documentation of activities do not empower these managers with any authority over resources so their ability to impact the projects is minimal. The best you can hope for is that there is some documentation about what is happening but trying to look forward is almost impossible.
While there are always political and authority issues around the resources of product development, the lack of a way to view and manage the processes inside and outside of PLM is the most insurmountable challenge. If you don’t truly understand your resource allocations, the cost of resources, the timelines that are in place et cetera then you will struggle making good decisions about how to best optimize your process. Data is power in these situations and having a complete picture is critical to adjusting to the constant variables that present themselves. PLM offers a valuable resource of real time information that most project management tools ignore, instead relying upon manual entry of information, which is all too often unreliable, incomplete and too late to help. PPM tools inside of PLM systems lack the full feature set needed to truly manage a complete development project. They are oriented toward the specific activities that occur inside of a PLM system but do not address financial and resource allocation for external elements; although some attempt to stretch features into these areas, the attempt is typically hindered or even clumsy.
The ideal approach to resolving this challenge is to leverage a project management tool that has the features needed to address all aspects of the product development process that is fully integrated into your PLM environment to ensure timely updates to key fields needed for real product development management. A system that has the granularity to manage all aspects of a project while syncing with your execution systems will ensure that the picture is complete. Managers can see real time where things are "stuck" as well as what different issues will do to schedules and cost and can adjust or add resources as needed to meet corporate objectives for profitability and time to market. This approach enhances the value of the PLM system because its information is driving real time actions and directly impacts your ability to bring products to market more quickly and successfully. Moreover, you are generating a valuable dataset that can be leveraged to support future decisions. Most companies aspire to incorporate Artificial Intelligence (AI) into their tech stack to enhance their product development capabilities. Robust and complete datasets are essential for AI to be effective in these environments. Few organizations possess the datasets necessary to support meaningful AI initiatives but a complete dataset from a comprehensive PPM solution would contribute greatly to getting to a place where AI could make an impact.
Connecting the dots in product development is critical to future success. Having the ability to fully understand capacities, bottlenecks, and expenses will go a long way in allowing companies to meet financial goals. Timely and accurate data capture of activity progress propagated by business systems will ensure up to date statuses to keep projects on track and to allow for course corrections. Fully integrated systems will keep things flowing smoothly and empower all levels of resources to drive toward success. Who knew connecting the dots would be such a powerful way to optimize and enhance product development?
Zero Wait-State has been hard at work addressing this issue with our recently acquired PMware solution. To illustrate the point, we have integrated PMware with Salesforce based Propel PLM and will be demonstrating the power and capability achievable through a comprehensive product development management solution. The blending of these capabilities provides a powerful solution to allow companies to effectively navigate the many challenges we experience in the product development space. Click here to attend our webinar “Connecting the Dots: Enhanced PPM for Product Development” on September 9th, 2025 at 2:00 pm EST to learn more.