Most of the businesses these days are working on the cyclic methods of PLM and ALM. Businesses have integrated these for better results, and more businesses are using this method for achieving successful engineering practices. Huge and dynamic systems like Large Hadron Collider have been made possible and easy by the application of PLM-ALM integration.
PLM is an approach designed by American Motors Company (AMC) in the year 1985 to build hardware products with or without a software approach. Mostly PLM aims to manage product lifecycle right from its inception, engineering till manufacturing. PLM allows us to connect, organize, control manage and track product-centric activities. Adopting the PLM method is quite successful with the aeronautical and defense organizations.
ALM deals with more intangible aspects of the development of systems. Application development requirements like gathering and defining scope, code development, testing and deployment enabling them to be available on the working environment are one of the core fundamentals of ALM.
The know-how of PLM-ALM Integration
PLM is definitive when it comes to implementation. PLM is like a project management software and deals with tangible hardware components like drawings, materials, costs, resources, people and subsidiary tools. The basic focus is on better managing the objects, ranging from initiation to product configuration and all the intangible software aspects that deal with the completion and application of the software.
The different aspects of PLM
PLM deals with the points as mentioned below:
- BOM Management
- Computer-Aided Design (CAD)
- Collaboration
- Change Management
- Document and Information Management
- System Engineering life cycle
- Compliance
ALM method deals with intangible and intellectual aspects of the development cycle. This includes stories, Sprints, tests, etc. ALM core building includes a set of requirements files, test cases, defects and application codes. ALM focuses more on the effectiveness and impact of how the work is being done for the entire project.
The different aspects of ALM
ALM deals with the points as mentioned below:
- Requirement and Management
- Quality Assurance and Test Management
- Demand Management
- Change and Configuration Management
- Build and Release Management
- Variant Management
- Audits, Reporting, and Metrics
- DevOps and SysOps
The requirement for PLM-ALM integration
The completeness of modern products demands a new and better method of the developmental approach. In other words, product innovation and manufacturing are done in two separate streams for hardware and software. These are mostly done in total or semi-isolation. With the advent of complex technologies software and hardware come together to make a tightly-bonded system. Traditional methodologies can no longer help to handle complex structures. More agile methods are being pulled in to make sure that this works cohesively.
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Utility applications like Salesforce, Service Now, and Amazon Kindle are trying to use a combination of PLM and ALM with the object of scaling multiple business verticals.
Gaming consoles like Xbox and Sony PlayStation are a milestone for successful PLM and ALM integrations. A sleek and seamless process of PLM-ALM is used here because the integration of software and hardware over multiple platforms makes the entire business a huge success. Commercially and technologically, these businesses have broken the conventional working methodologies so that the requirements of customers, their subsequent clients, and different business verticals can be dealt with easily.
Conclusion
Integration between PLM and ALM systems can be done on a point-to-point basis or it can be done based on the ESB model. This also helps in making the entire working model more scalable. Complex systems that comprise hardware and software integration often come together under one umbrella for a smooth PLM and ALM integration. Businesses, therefore, should be looking for PLM-ALM integrations for advancing in the right direction.