Three Services,
and a Clear Line Between Them
Someone has to decide what should be built, someone has to build it, and someone has to keep it running. Most integrators blur those three into one proposal. We contract them separately, so you know exactly what you are ordering and where each one stops.
The order above is how a project usually runs, not a package. Plenty of companies arrive at step two with a finished specification, or at step three with a system that already works.
What Each One Covers,
and Where It Deliberately Stops
Each service is scoped and contracted on its own. You can take one, two, or all three, and the boundary between them is written down rather than left to interpretation.
Consulting
Deciding what should be built and why, before a platform is chosen or money is committed.
Explore Consulting- Process assessment of how the work actually flows today
- Future state design, agreed with the departments who will run it
- Requirements specification written so a vendor can be held to it
- Integration architecture with interfaces and directions defined
- Phased roadmap covering what to do first and what to skip
- Business case with cost, effort, and expected return
System Implementation
Building it, in five phases where each one has to meet an exit criterion before the next begins.
Explore Implementation- Solution blueprint confirming the design before anything is touched
- Environment and configuration built to that blueprint
- Data migration, including the decision on what stays behind
- Integration development, with at least one interface in the first phase
- Acceptance testing run by your users, on your real data
- Phased cut-over and hypercare, with our people on site
Managed Services
Keeping it running, under an agreement with defined response times rather than best effort.
Explore Managed Services- System administration and day-to-day configuration
- Updates, upgrades and security on an agreed schedule
- Access and business rules, maintained as your teams change
- Integration and data flows, including failed transfers
- Monitoring and licence optimization around the clock
- Custom development where the standard setup falls short
None of the three requires the others. Consulting is often bought on its own by companies who then implement internally. Managed Services regularly starts on a system somebody else built. The sequence exists because that is how a full project runs, not because the services are sold as a set.
Find Your Situation,
Not the Service Name
The right service depends on how far along you already are. Six positions companies are usually in when they call us, and where each one sensibly starts.
We know something has to change, but not what.
The symptoms are clear enough. Data nobody trusts, handovers that always go wrong, reports that arrive too late. What is not clear is whether the answer is new software, a different process, or both.
Management wants a business case before approving anything.
You are reasonably sure what the project should be, but the board wants cost, effort, and expected return in a form they can weigh against other investments. Vendor brochures are not that.
The decision is made and the licences are bought.
You have a platform, a specification, and internal approval. What you need is someone to configure it to your process, migrate the data, connect it to the ERP, and get people actually using it rather than working around it.
A project started with someone else and stalled.
Something is configured, some data is migrated, and the status reports stopped matching reality a while ago. The first useful step is an honest assessment of where the project actually stands, and then a decision on whether to continue, rebuild parts, or stop.
The person who runs our system is leaving.
One engineer configured it, maintained it, and holds all the knowledge about why it works the way it does. Nothing is documented, and the handover window is measured in weeks.
The system works, but upgrades keep getting postponed.
Every version behind makes the next migration bigger, and nobody internally can spare the weeks it would take. Meanwhile licences renew on last year's number and nobody has tested a restore in over a year.
Your situation is not on the list?
These six cover most calls, but not all of them. Describe where you actually are and we will tell you which service applies, or whether the honest answer is that none of them does yet.
Six Things That Apply
Whichever Service You Contract
The scope differs between the three. The way of working does not, and these six are the part worth checking against any proposal you receive, including ours.
We look before we quote
Nothing is priced before we have seen the environment or understood the process. A figure given earlier is either padded to cover the unknown or renegotiated later, and both outcomes damage the relationship.
The boundary is written down
What is in scope, what is not, and what stays your responsibility. All three go into the agreement rather than being settled later by whoever pushes harder. Unclear boundaries cause more friction than any technical problem.
The same team throughout
The people who assess your process are the ones who configure the system and answer the phone afterwards. Nobody hands you over to a delivery team that has to be told everything again, and no recommendation is made by someone who will not have to deliver it.
Nothing is built to lock you in
Your data stays yours and stays in your environment. Licences are contracted in your name. Configuration is documented, and the handover pack is written so that another partner could pick it up without starting over.
A date means something
Schedules are committed after the first phase, not in the proposal. Before that we give a range and say plainly that it is a range. A confident date quoted before anyone has seen the system is a guess in a suit.
We say when the answer is no
If the assessment shows the project should wait, the scope should shrink, or the process needs fixing before any software does, that is what the report says. A project sold on the wrong premise becomes our problem too, usually about eight months in.
Use this list on any proposal, not only ours
These six are not difficult to promise, which is why they are worth asking about specifically. Who exactly will be on the project, what happens to the documentation, and when the date becomes a commitment are questions any serious partner should be able to answer in one sentence each.
Which Systems
Each Service Applies To
All three services cover all four systems, but what each one involves differs by platform. Here is what that means in practice.
| System | Consulting | Implementation | Managed Services |
|---|---|---|---|
| Windchill PLM PLM PTC | Data model, BOM structure, and change process designed before configuration begins | Full deployment, data migration, and ERP integration, on-premise or in the cloud | All six service areas, from administration through custom development |
| 3DEXPERIENCE PLM Dassault Systèmes | Role and licensing design, collaboration model, and cloud or on-premise decision | Platform setup, governance rules, collaborative spaces, and migration | All six service areas, including licence utilization analysis |
| InfoBiro WMS Warehouse InfoBiro | Location structure, process role split, and lot, SSCC, and FEFO rules | Configuration, equipment setup, ERP interface, and a controlled go-live | Administration, monitoring, and upkeep of the ERP interface |
| DigiPro System MES Production DigiPro System | Which machines go first, work order structure, and what counts as a stoppage | Device mounting, machine connection, configuration, and onboarding | Ongoing support as you add machines and extend the knowledge base |
The service is the same, the depth follows the system
On the PLM side we work at the level of the platform itself, including custom development. On the warehouse and production side, the vendors build the product and we handle process design, deployment, integration, and support around it. If a specific requirement falls outside that, we will say so during the assessment rather than discover it later.
One Conversation,
Wherever You Are Starting From
You do not have to know which of the three you need before you call. Describe the situation and we will tell you which service applies, including the case where the honest answer is that none of them does yet.
Consulting
"We know something has to change, but not what."
Three weeks for the assessment, ending with a written report on the state of your environment. Yours regardless of what you decide next.
Explore ConsultingImplementation
"The decision is made. We need it built."
A fixed fee for the blueprint phase, then a fixed price against it. Five phases, each with a condition that has to be met before the next begins.
Explore ImplementationManaged Services
"It runs, but nobody has time to look after it."
An assessment of the current environment, then a service agreement with response times in writing. Take two areas or all six.
Explore Managed Services