How are companies managing engineering documentation? Let’s talk about that next. 

Our Findings

Today we wanted to share with all of you some findings from a study we conducted a couple of years ago. It shows, what companies have started to use in terms of enterprise systems to manage their engineering documentation. With this finding, it’s actually split up by company size because we saw so much differentiation there. First off, the blue outline that you see here, it’s referring to the use of just desktops, laptops, and shared drives to manage engineering documentation, which is the most predominant method utilized today. As you go up to the large companies, you can see it tails off pretty dramatically. Due to desktops, laptops, shared drives being widely accessible, you are going to use what is most available in very small companies.

Let’s shift and look at software systems combined with other technologies, and then look at software systems exclusively. As shown in the study, only in the very large companies, $5 billion dollars and over, do you see any real kind of significant representation of those software systems. Some organizations manage work in process on their desktops and shared drives. As soon as they release it, they upload it to ERP or PLM or PDM. That’s what is represented in that yellow band. You will also find work in process items in the green band. This is because your work in process items are being managed within that enterprise system. Such companies, as you can see, are truly dedicated to it, even earlier on. Based on this study, it can be determined that we’re nowhere near the stage where there is a widespread dedication to enterprise systems to manage engineering documentation in these solutions.