Item-Centric Data and Document Management

BlueStar PDM/PLM enables users to gather and manage product related data and documentation from different applications in one joint environment inside Microsoft Dynamics AX. By attaching data and product documentation to the relevant AX item records, users gain a single point of access to the pertaining data and documentation. By maintaining only one record of data and documentation with full revision control, duplicate data is prevented from causing confusion and errors.

Revision Control with Complete Audit Trail

BlueStar PDM/PLM incorporates revision control on items and documents featuring a full historic audit trail. Furthermore, the system allows users to distinguish between major and minor revisions.

Lifecycle Management

BlueStar PDM/PLM comes equipped with lifecycle control, meaning that the status of items and documents are always made available to users. This provides an instant overview of whether items and documents are undergoing design, have been approved or have been phased out. This enables users to easily manage and accelerate products through the different stages of the product lifecycle.

Product View

BlueStar PDM/PLM provides users with a complete overview of a products structure and the all the associated documentation for each BOM level in a single tree-based view. This provides project managers and engineers with a superior product overview and access point for all product related information.

Engineering Change Order

BlueStar PDM/PLM features an ECO system which enables users to capture ECO related information originating from different departments electronically in a central location.

BOM Configuration Management

BlueStar PDM/PLM allows users to manually tweak bills of materials by adding items and updating item quantities prior to releasing them to production. It also enables users to check for cycles by the click of a button in order to detect and prevent circular references in bills of materials.

BOM Release Management

Once a bill of materials has been configured, BlueStar PDM/PLM enables users to release it to Microsoft Dynamics AX for production. During the release process, the system will automatically create new items in Dynamics AX and/or update item quantities in order to prevent incomplete bills of materials in Dynamics AX.

BOM Reports

BlueStar PDM/PLM allows users to generate different BOM reports such as one-level BOM reports, multi-level BOM reports and summarized BOM reports.

Item Relationships

Designers and other engineers often have the need for determining where an item is used in different contexts. For instance, it may be necessary to take this into account before making a design change to an item. By the click of a button, BlueStar PDM/PLM provides an overview of the potential item parent and children for a complete overview of item relationships. Likewise, the system is capable of reporting whether items have been copied from other items or other items have been copied from the item. This is referred to as inherited parent and child item relations.

Item History

For each item managed in BlueStar PDM/PLM, a full historic audit trail provides users with an instant overview of the entire events in the history of the item.

Backwards Compatible Items

BlueStar PDM/PLM operates with backwards compatible items, meaning that changes made to an item will automatically be actuated in all the instances where the item is used.

Hierarchical Classification Tree

BlueStar PDM/PLM features a classification system which enables users to classify items according to a set of procedural rules for easy retrieval and reuse of existing items, designs and documents.

Access Rights and Activity Logging Tool

As part of the built-in security measures, BlueStar PDM/PLM incorporates an access rights system, which enables administrators to assign different user rights to users and/or user groups for individual projects or products. An activity logging tool ensures that no user can access data without being logged for full internal accountability.

Item Sign On/Sign Off

When multiple users work on the same projects there are multiple authors of data and documentation. Manufacturers therefore need a way of making sure that duplicate data is not created. BlueStar PDM/PLM solves this problem by introducing sign-on rights, which ensure that only the person signed onto an item or document can change it. This ensures that only one person can change items and documents at a time, preventing duplicate versions of data and documents from emerging. When someone is signed on to an item or document, other users can still view the item or document for optimum multi-user efficiency.