The first (OSLC - Approach for simplifying integration between ALM-PLM systems) of two OSLC sessions at Siemens PLM Connection 2012 was hosted in a packed (smallish, but perfect for an interactive session) room by Vaithyanathan Krishnan and Steve Nykerk of IBM. Participants from about a half dozen companies engaged a lively discussion of the problems of keeping hardware and software design processes in sync (among other things). The consensus was that the OSLC approach is right, and the Change Management and Requirements Management workflows are hitting their targets.
One participant shared some of their positive experiences with OSLC for integrating DOORS and RTC. A key take-away from it was: start by understanding your process. Another appreciated how even though there is some “overlap” between Siemens and IBM they were cooperating on solving the problems around ALM-PLM integrations.
Mike Loeffler from GM, who will be delivering the second OSLC session (OSLC ALM-PLM Interoperability Proof of Concept) at the conference, jumped in to explain some of the details of OSLC workgroups and the roadmap for standards (especially Linked Data Basic Profile W3C member submission). Mike also took the chance to plug his Thursday morning session, especially since there was a lot of interest in requirements management and he shows some of that in the session.
One of two OSLC sessions at PLM World is in the books as a success (and there is every reason to expect the second to have a super outcome too!). There are more people are aware of OSLC, and they agree that it is taking the right approach. They are also pleased to see companies they sometimes view as competitors collaborating through OSLC to help improve collaboration across tools and disciplines in their own companies.
Hopefully some of the roundtable participants have been inspired by Mike to expand their participation to OSLC workgroups!
With files from Mike Loeffler and Steve Nykerk.