PLM Product Data Replication
Purpose
Due to increasing globalization of companies, different business processes are often processed at different locations. The replication of
product data is becoming more and more important.SAP supports the following scenario: product development is always done in a central PLM system. Production and sales take place in independent, decentralized systems. At times dictated by the individual process flow of the company, the replication of product data from the central office to the decentralized production and sales locations is executed.
You can register production and sales systems for individual products. This ensures that the decentralized systems are provided with complete product data or changes. Users can also register for products, and are informed of product changes at the time of replication.
The replication of product data is based on consistent packets. Packets encompass the complete product and the objects belonging to it, such as classes and documents, or the changes made to the product since the last replication in the target system.
You can replicate the conditions belonging to products that have already been replicated at a later date. To do this, you use an SAP report that filters out the product data for which you want to replicate conditions, according to criteria you define.
PLM product data replication lets you control and monitor all the steps in the replication process.
Implementation Considerations
Before you can replicate product data, you need to define settings in Customizing for ALE, configuration management, and document distribution.
Features
The functions available to you in this solution support you across the entire replication process, starting with the collection of relevant objects, right through to the monitoring of the progress of replication in the target systems. This relieves you of many time-consuming routine activities.
Replication of a Complete Product
The solution described here allows replication of a complete product in several target systems. The objects belonging to the product (such as materials, bill of material, and documents) are collected in a consistent packet according to an individual strategy, and replicated together.
PLM product data replication has the advantage that you do not have to bother with replicating individual technical objects, unlike earlier solutions. Instead, the product model is the focus point: you work with product structures that contain business objects such as materials or documents. You start replication for the entire product, or a product version, not for individual objects.
Regular Replication of New Product Versions
After the first replication of a product, you can replicate new versions of a product with minimal effort, to keep the target systems provided with current data at all times. A new version of a product can, for example, include new information on a BOM item.
Simultaneous Replication in Several Target Systems
The simultaneous distribution of a product to several target systems can be controlled centrally. It does not matter whether all target systems have received the same version of the product at an earlier point in time. The source system determines dynamically which versions of which objects have been transferred to which target systems, and decides which objects to replicate in each target system.
Automatic Notification
Interested persons who have registered for a product, such as sales employees, can be automatically notified of each new product version.
Automatic Explosion of the Product Structure
A powerful function for exploding the product structure supports you in collecting the objects to be replicated.
Replication with ALE Distribution Units
The ALE distribution unit manages the objects to be replicated, collects them into packets, creates the necessary IDocs, and controls their replication in the individual target systems. Different mechanisms ensure the consistency of data and effectively prevent possible errors in inbound processing. For more information, see
ALE Distribution Unit.Monitoring and Transparency in the Overall Process
In the source system, integrated status management means that you can see at any time how far replication has progressed in the target systems. In addition, the processing of past replications is possible. You can trace at any time which versions of which objects were replicated when in which target systems.
Uniform User Interface
All of the functions that your require in the source system for product data replication are available in an integrated working environment, the
Replication Workbench.Business Benefits
PLM product data replication offers the following benefits:
Targeted registering of systems and users for products allows targeted replication of products and the objects belonging to them in the target systems. Each user or system receives only the product information that is really needed.
This avoids both redundant data maintenance and a piling up of unneeded data in decentralized systems, which reduces the administrative overhead, for example personnel costs, and the system load, thereby saving costs.
Targeted replication for registered systems and users reduces data redundancy and thereby the maintenance effort, by enabling the reuse of parts. Targeted registering also ensures that each user or system can rely on getting the data required. The continuity of business processes across system boundaries is also ensured.
The targeted choice of the replication time and packet set-up with the checking mechanisms involved ensure consistent, correct, and complete data.
The time of data transfer can be determined individually in the target system. This ensures that ongoing business processes (such as planning and production) are not hampered.
Targeted registration means that only the product information that is really needed goes to the users, and only the information they are authorized to see.
The logging of replication in source and target systems provides transparency and therefore monitoring functionality. The history of replicated data can be traced.