DaimlerChrysler cuts 75% off document creation cycle with composite framework system

Dubbed Xfy, the system supports what Jake Sorofman, senior vice president of marketing and development at Just Systems, describes as structured, unstructured and semi-structured documents – meaning that anything from any system of record “can be mashed-up” to create live documents. “Users get the best of both worlds,” says Sorofman. “People want documents because they’re portable, they can be shared, they persist and they provide rich content – but the problem is they’re always a snapshot, not connected to the systems of record, so they’re quickly out of date. “On other side, traditional business applications, such as ERP or PLM [product lifecycle management], contain more authoritative information, but lack the portability, rich context and persistence. “So with Xfy, we bring those two together, attached to any system of record, and users get this document-centric experience, but with the information now dynamic and interactive.” He gives the example of PLM, where users become better able to create and share information around complex designs, both internally and with partners, such as design specialists and contract manufacturers – always confident that they’re dealing in live data. “That’s very important in the parallel phases of product development, where there’s a very high cost around inaccurate information,” insists Sorofman. “But it’s also important in MRO [maintenance, repair and operations], particularly in high tech, and aerospace and defence, where the issue is access to up-to-date complex manuals for maintenance personnel distributed all over the world.” Which brings us back to Daimler Chrysler, now using Just Systems to transform production of its product catalogues. “We’re helping the organisation to improve the quality of its content and to speed up its production cycle,” says Sorofman. “They used to produce two catalogues per year, but now the time involved has reduced by 75% while proofing is down 99%, so they have much more flexibility. ROI there was one year.” It’s a similar story at Cambridge Silicon Radio, which has cut time to market for its products by integrating Just Systems to improve its reviewing processes for documentation – slashing the review cycle by 80%, according to Sorofman. Just Systems is currently working with Siemens PLM Solutions (formerly UGS) on the XmetaL project, which provides an intuitive environment for creating valid XML for reuse of content in any language. Beyond that, Sorofman says that Just Systems’ environment will work with any system of record, whether PLM or ERP, at the relational database level, “so long as there’s an API”.