Collaboration Made Easy on the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform

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It can seem like an endless struggle to keep everyone involved on a project on the same page, especially in product development, where approvals from critical stakeholders quickly become bottlenecks that impede fast and efficient delivery.

Consider the engineering department alone: Constant challenges include knowing who is working on what project, when each project is due, why delays occur, and how to resolve problems. On top of this are the needs for effective communication within and among the engineering, management, marketing, and manufacturing teams.

Also, keeping an audit trail of all communications, not to mention the design data generated during a project, can feel overwhelming and practically impossible.

The 3DEXPERIENCE® platform provides a cloud-based product development environment for efficiently working with people inside and outside your company, including customers, suppliers, and manufacturers. Based on permissions, users from any location with an internet connection can access live product content via collaborative apps from a single framework.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the functionality on the platform that can benefit your organization.

Dismantle Communication Barriers

Stakeholders outside of engineering often do not have access to CAD or PLM systems. Even if they do, the complex nature of engineering tools often prohibits collaboration. Therefore, in-person or online meetings, data extractions, screen captures, emails, phone calls, spreadsheets, and more rule the day.

Companies can eliminate communication silos by enabling all stakeholders secure access to product and related data via collaborative apps on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. Communities on the platform enable you to make posts, discuss projects, create tasks, and more. Customized dashboard views enable you to display only the information you need to get your job done.

Design reviews also become super easy on the platform. No need to install additional plugins to review and discuss SOLIDWORKS® models and even non-CAD users can participate. Decisions tend to be made more quickly when all stakeholders—especially non-engineers—can easily view, interrogate, and comment on the 3D models.

Simplify Data Management

In today’s business environment, companies must continuously innovate regardless of where their employees and suppliers are located geographically. Work is conducted from homes, offices, and on the road. Managing the influx of files and storing them in a single location is only the beginning of the challenges. Duplicate files are often saved in multiple locations in the same database; released files get reworked without permission; and changes made in one location are not updated in all locations. What’s more, file naming conventions are often obscure and confusing to everyone in the organization. Technology that captures and shares maturity states and controls file access, permissions, and privileges is no longer optional.

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform provides built-in data management and a host of apps that help you methodically and efficiently manage product life cycles from creation to obsolescence. The platform dramatically simplifies the process of defining and conducting project tasks. With all the data in the same place, everyone is up to date with access to a single source of truth. And because you always access live data, there is no risk of being out of sync on model revisions or assembly configurations. Version-management capabilities should include automatic detection of out-of-date assembly components, enabling accurate and fast updates.

Conquer Product Change

Every person in development knows that product changes will happen and are necessary, whether they like it or not. In fact, the process of innovation is often about managing changes from the earliest stages of design through delivery. Before any work is done, all stakeholders need to sign off. During the heat of design and development, products may change on a day-to-day basis. Changes must not only be captured but recorded and stored for easy access in the future. Proposed changes also need to be reviewed by all key stakeholders to assess the value and benefits to the organization.

The tools on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform make it easier to track and manage product changes. Tools provide a controlled, clearly defined process to manage products and production during the development process. Creating, assigning, and managing change actions for all project stakeholders is simple, including for employees working remotely, vendors, and suppliers. Attaining peer validation and approval, updating changes of scope, and tracking proposed or completed work is all contained within a framework where everyone on the team has visibility into the change status and the actions assigned to them.

Envision Something Better

The 3DEXPERIENCE platform makes it easy to work with all stakeholders. There is no software to install or download, updates happen automatically, and IT management is streamlined.

Think of an environment where it is easy to communicate concerns, identify issues, and propose resolutions. Promoting product ideas becomes a snap because all team members, from engineers to managers to executives, can participate in the design review process. Potential issues are discovered earlier in the process, so they are less costly to resolve. Designers have instant access to updates made by other contributors. This enables real-time concurrent design, enhanced decision-making, and faster design maturity.

The platform provides the technology infrastructure to manage the people, data, and documents among your entire team, including partners, customers, suppliers, and manufacturers. As designs change, the shared common data updates automatically, so everyone stays in sync. Plus, you can securely manage and share CAD data and access it from any location with an internet connection. And, all stakeholders can see the latest status at their convenience.

If you have any questions regarding the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, please contact your local reseller.

Salih Alani

Salih Alani

Salih Alani joined SOLIDWORKS in 2013. He held SOLIDWORKS technical support position focused on core SOLIDWORKS, DraftSight, licensing (Online Licensing), and Lead Technical Support of 3D CONTENTCENTRAL, Technical Support Account Manager for Enterprise Subscription Services (ESS) customer account and lead organizer for VAR Performance Tuning Workshop in Dassault Systèmes Waltham before he joined the SOLIDWORKS Product Management Team in 2020. He is now focused on 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS and SOLIDWORKS cloud roles along with collaboration on the 3DEPERIENCE Platform. Salih Alani is Graduate of the University of Technology, Iraq - Baghdad with BS in Mechanical Engineering, graduate of Northeastern University with a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in mechanics and design.