Effectively utilizing project, product and process knowledge

Improving project management, product development and engineering processes is for many companies crucial to survive in a fast changing environment. However, these activities are rarely integrated well due to the diversity of stakeholders with individual knowledge about projects, products and processes. This case study shows how Alcatel-Lucent over time achieved effective interaction of engineering processes, tools and people on the basis of a knowledge-centric product life-cycle management (PLM). Starting from identifying project, product and process knowledge, we show how they can be effectively integrated for best possible usage across the enterprise. The case study provides insight into how to best embark on PLM and how to effectively integrate product development with supportive tools. It describes how the concepts can be transferred to software engineering teams and IT departments in other companies. Concrete results from several product lines, such as efficiency improvement and better global development underline the business value. 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.