Easily create complex data maintenance processes

For a product configurator to work successfully, correct and current product data and rules must be available. General product information are mostly retrieved from the ERP or PPS systems, whereas dependencies between different components and complex price relations are often not very well formalized. In these cases, CAS Configurator Merlin uses a special tool developed to deal with configuration data: with CAS Configurator Merlin Maintenance, you have a modular maintenance tool which is build especially for dealing with complex data maintenance processes.

Typical requirements in a maintenance process

Most of the time, several data managers edit the set of rules at the same time. Each of them is an expert in one of the subareas of the products. CAS Configurator Merlin Maintenance meets the following requirements:

• Based on the high complexity of Boolean rules, dependencies are to be saved in a form that is known to the rule managers, for example, because it describes their domain more naturally or is more intuitive to use ("Model driven approach").
• Likely are models which visualize dependencies, display them in tables or enter them using natural languages.
• The set of rules can be edited separately, but should be made available centrally and displayed in the same form for all data managers.
• Old statuses of the set of rules are to be logged and made accessible ("revision management").
• Adjustments to the system of rules can be checked for consistency and correctness by each data manager.
• The system of rules must always be compatible with product information from other sources.
• The system of rules is constantly and automatically checked for correctness with the help of reference products (e.g. with "regression testing" in nightly test runs).
• Changes in the system of rules are not visible to the public. Before installing the data on the live system, it must go through a defined release process.
• Dependencies can also be imported from existing data sources (e.g. Excel tables or databases).

CAS Configurator Merlin Maintenance solves your problems

With the modular design based on the Eclipse Rich Client Platform, the requirements mentioned above can be met using plugins. The same applies to specific maintenance processes that are implemented with plugins. We can here benefit from our experience in the area of data provision processes for product configuration.

Publikations

• Michael Klein, Thomas Genßler: CAS Configurator Merlin: Model-driven data maintenance to achieve the full potential of a configuration system – Focus on the Aviation Industry  ( on request). White Paper. May 2009.

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