Glossary
B
BOM o Bill of Material: it is the list of components that combined create a product. It can be multilevel and can be Engineering or Manufacturing.
C
CAD: computer-aided design, it is a computer graphics software to support design activities.
Concept (phase): a phase of the product lifecycle dedicated to the conception of the proposal, to the collection of the customer’s requirements, or to the technical and market feasibility analysis.
Configuration Management: it’s the process of maintaining systems, such as software and servers, in a desired state. it is necessary to ensure the functionality of a system despite changes over time.
D
DMS: Document Management System, digital document archiving software.
E
ECM: engineering change management, it is the process of requesting, evaluating and managing changes to a product.
Engineering/Design (phase): product lifecycle phase dedicated to 3D product design, in this phase you have a virtual representation of the final product.
Engineering (department): office or department dedicated to product design, commonly called technical office. It is also identified as the team of engineers involved in research and development.
ERP (Engineering Resource Planning): It stands for enterprise resource planning. It's software that manages a company's financials, supply chain, operations, commerce, reporting, manufacturing, and human resource activities.
ETO engineering to order: process for the creation of a new product on order that means the creation of a single product for a specific customer.
H
Harmonization: it is the process of minimizing unneeded or conflicting standards which may have evolved independently. For business it finds common standards and simplifies the process of meeting requirements.
K
KPI: Key Performance Indicator, is an index of the progress of a business process.
M
Manufacturing (phase): product lifecycle phase dedicated to product production.
Manufacturing (department): office or department dedicated to the production and assembly of the product.
MASS serial production: process for creating products that will be launched on the market on series production.
P
PDM: Product Data Management, software no longer used for the management of technical documentation of the product, usually CAD files.
PLM: Product Lifecycle Management, process or even software to manage the lifecycle of the product from the concept phase, passing from the phases of engineering and manufacturing up to market launch and customer service.
Platform: a platform is a set of software and the surrounding ecosystem of resources that help manage the business.
Portfolio: a portfolio is the collection of projects and programs both executive and proposals, it is used to assess the overall impact they have on the company in terms of financial and resource capacity.
PPM: Portfolio and Project Management, a platform for managing new product development projects in terms of time, cost and resources. Through centralized processes, it optimizes resources and brings new products and services to market faster.
Product Management: this is a discipline that deals with the management of a product's lifecycle, from idea to end of use. It includes defining the product's strategy, planning its features, and monitoring the product's performance in the market.
Product Manager: is the product manager responsible and works closely with the product development team to ensure that the product meets customer needs and achieves business objectives.
Program: it is a collection of related projects that share a common goal and need to be managed and monitored collectively.
Project: a temporary action taken to create a unique product, service or outcome with defined resources and timelines.
Project Management: is a discipline that deals with the planning, organization, and control of resources to achieve specific goals in a project. It involves identifying the project's objectives, planning how to achieve them, and managing the resources needed to complete the project efficiently.
Project Manager: is responsible for planning, organizing, and managing the resources needed to complete a specific project. The goal of project management is to deliver the project within the agreed-upon time, budget, and scope, and to meet the project's objectives.
S
Sales (phase): product lifecycle phase is dedicated to the market launch of finished products.
Serial Number: is a unique character string assigned to specific products to uniquely identify them. They can be used for many purposes, such as traceability of products, warranty management, or digital rights management.
Service/Maintenance (phase): product lifecycle phase is dedicated to customer support and product maintenance.
Silos: referring to data management, identifies the compartmentalized way of organizing product information without having any connection and overview of the other offices/departments involved in its life cycle.
Stakeholders: stakeholders are a group of people with an interest in a company; stakeholders in a corporation include investors, employees, customers, and suppliers.
T
Time-to-market: the time between the start of the product development and its distribution on the market.