A model based architecture for time to market reduction and product optimization

The technical amount of enterprise system information, if efficiently managed, may represent a great support for the management in the definition of new product strategies. But, to get advantage from this knowledge, it’s mandatory to know which information is needed and where and how it can be reached. Explicit models of enterprise processes may represent the best way to provide an exhaustive view of enterprise information, easy to access and understand. But, enterprise processes may be extremely complex, involving several disciplines and responsibilities; therefore, it is quite difficult to combine the high level of detail, needed to understand and perform the process, with the overall vision needed to take strategic and planning decisions. The solution is an architecture integrating, by means of a common methodological approach, tools for the definition, validation and management of structured models, based on archetypes resulting from the abstraction of real enterprise processes, cross referencing detailed descriptions of specific activities, procedures, rules and any related information, wherever located inside the enterprise. Scope of this paper is to describe the methodological approach and the technological solutions adopted in the implementation of such an architecture to support the new products design process, enabling coherent interaction between different kinds of process actors, through a common reference model, with considerable advantages in terms of time to market and product quality.