Application Layer

Based on the PIM platform we introduced our Product Information Management aimed at B2B dealers and manufacturers of technical products. This complete solution is designed for medium and large suppliers and brings together the entire process chain from data acquisition to information management to automated publication and distribution of printed and electronic catalog data in one standard software solution.

User productivity when processing large amounts of data is critical for the success of a PIM solution. Global providers are increasingly recognizing the positive effects that an automated PIM solution can have on sales and costs. In a climate of fierce international competition, companies can only achieve their goals with structured, standardized processes for producing and distributing their product information.

This section is intended primarily for readers who have not used a product data management system before, or have only dealt with some aspects of product data management. Product Information Management refers to media-neutral management of product and business information for various publication channels. Three major scenarios are distinguished:

A company is a manufacturer and sells its products to other companies ("manufacturer scenario").

A typical feature of the manufacturer scenario is that a relatively small number of products normally has to be handled. The quality of the product data can vary from "rather scant" to "perfect". In the manufacturer scenario, the preparation of product data is often left to specialist firms, since it is not generally a part of the company's core processes.

A company buys products from other manufacturers to use or consume themselves ("purchasing scenario" or "e-procurement scenario").

The e-procurement scenario primarily involves optimization of the purchasing processes (key issues here are "streamlining the supplier structure" or "optimizing the approval workflow") and is less concerned with perfect representation of product data. Product data management systems must provide supporting functions. Software products in the e-procurement scenario are therefore often called "content management systems" because the objective of product data management is to prepare available items for use in the e-procurement system.

A company buys products from other manufacturers to sell them on ("dealer scenario").

The dealer scenario is the most complex and – from the perspective of a product data management system – most demanding scenario, as the handling of product data is one of the company's core processes. The objectives in the dealer scenario are to provide simpler and faster read and write access to data volumes that in some cases may be enormous, as well as more flexible interaction with interfaces for importing and exporting data.