How to enable collaboration in

product development and design

with cFolders 4.00

Business Process Development Collaboration

Sharing BOM and Documents
Sharing CAD Models and Product Variant Structures
Usage of Collaborative and Competitive Scenario
Standalone and Integrated Deployment Scenarios
Integration with SAP NetWeaver
New functionality in cFolders 4.00
Wrap-Up

The Importance of Collaborative Product Development

Doing collaborative product development across the

supply chain . (is) becoming as important, if not more
important than the logistics and production supply
chain.
As companies increasingly outsource manufacturing, the
same partners that produce parts or components for a
product are being delegated responsibility to participate in
the design of those parts and components
From CIMdata, Measuring PLM's Business Value, September 2003

SAP refers with the business process Development Collaboration to

Collaborative product development

SAP AG 2006, 3

The Importance of Collaborative Product Development

What is clear, however, is that best-in-class companies

those that most frequently hit their product development
targets for revenue, cost, and quality are actively
pursuing collaboration [].
Furthermore, they have more frequently automated their
collaboration processes with PLM tools that incorporate
or enable collaboration across the product lifecycle.
From Aberdeen Group, The Product Lifecycle Collaboration Benchmark
Report The Product Profitability X Factor?, June 2006

SAP refers with the business process Development Collaboration to

Collaborative product development

SAP AG 2006, 4

Collaborative Product Development The Challenge

Customer

Subcontractor

OEM
Intranet
INTERNET
Email

Subcontractor

SAP AG 2006, 5

Customers Pain Points in Product Development

n Classical collaboration via email, phone, fax, and

mail is more likely to be error-prone
n Classical collaboration requires a lot of face-to-face
meetings and travel
n With classical collaboration, the consistency of data
is not reliable
n Classical collaboration supports, in most cases,
only unstructured data
n Classical collaboration is not able to manage the
access of external parties to product data in a
secure and economic way

SAP AG 2006, 6

Reasons Why Collaboration May Fail

I did not receive the
most recent version!

I did not find the relevant

information!

The document was

deleted by somebody!

I did not know whom

to forward the information!

SAP AG 2006, 7

Central vault!
Structure!

Authorizations!

Status
Management!

cFolders Value Proposition

n Substitutes classic communication via e-mail, phone, fax, and
face-to-face meetings with virtual team work
n Reduces misunderstandings and communication deficiencies
and improves consistency of reliable data
n Substitutes unstructured communication with structured data
(with redlining, mark-ups, data sheets, and secure areas)
n Provides synchronous communication capabilities
(graphical information, redlining)
n You save the following:
nReduction in travel, meetings, and conference calls
nFewer errors due to improved communication with vendors and
customers
nReduced time-to-market
nIncreased capacity due to faster time-to-market
SAP AG 2006, 8

cFolders In a Nutshell
n

Structured collaboration on: documents, CAD assemblies, data sheets,

materials, BOM, technical assets, manufacturer part numbers, product
variant structures & custom-defined (generic) objects

Sophisticated authorization concept for access control

Integrated visualization and red-lining/mark-up tool for 2D/3D object

viewing redlining/markup tool for 2D/3D object viewing

BOM comparison & extraction

mySAP PLM
cFolders
(Collaboration
Folders) is a vertical
collaboration
application which
enables users to work
on design and
development projects
in virtual teams with
external business
partners

SAP AG 2006, 9

cFolders In a Nutshell (cont.)

n Integration to SAP PLM (DMS,) & SRM (Strategic Sourcing,)
n Search functionality (Search in file content supported)
n Notification and status management for process control
n Support of distributed content server architecture
n Large file handling via FTP

Feature Overview Sheet:

http://service.sap.com/~form/sapnet?_FRAME=CONTAINER&_OBJECT=011000358700000690252002E
SAP AG 2006, 10

Authorization Concept: Object Authorization

Authorizations:
n Administration
n Write
n Read
n None
n Create/Delete

Folder
authorizations are
passed on to
subordinated objects
mode can be overwritten for selected
objects

User-dependent object authorizations:

Authorizations can be assigned to

users, user groups and roles
SAP AG 2006, 11

Authorizations can
also be controlled
automatically by using
the cFolders
application
programming interface

Backend Integration: cFolders 1 ECC/R/3

n

Exchange of documents
between cFolders and mySAP PLM
Document Management System
(mySAP PLM DMS is part of
ECC/R/3)

Exchange of material BOMs,

product variant structures,
CAD assemblies between
cFolders and SAP back-end
system

Backend Systems
External
External
user
user

(DMS, BOM Processing,

CAD Desktop, iPPE
on SAP R/3 or ECC,...)

SAPPLM
PLM
SAP
cFolders
cFolders

(needs only
(needs only
Web browser)
Web browser)
HTTPS

RFC
(SNC)

InternalUser
User
Internal
HTTPS

Internet
SAP AG 2006, 12

Intranet

Data Security:
Externals have
access to data in
cFolders only
- no access to
back-end system
necessary for
externals

Business Process Development Collaboration

Sharing BOM and Documents
Sharing CAD Models and Product Variant Structures
Usage of Collaborative and Competitive Scenario
Standalone and Integrated Deployment Scenarios
Integration with SAP NetWeaver
New functionality in cFolders 4.00
Wrap-Up

Document Handling - Overview

n Direct editing
of all file types
supported by
front end PC
n Documents
are locked
during
check in/
check out
n Integrated
2D/3D viewer
with redlining
capabilities
Note
Exchange of documents
between cFolders and
SAP R/3/ECC backend
system (release. 4.6B or
higher) is possible, if at
least SAP R/3 Plug-In
2001.2, SP 2 or higher is
installed

SAP AG 2006, 14

n Mass up-/
download of
files from PC

Bill of Material (BOM)

n External users
without an
R/3/ECC system
can
maintain/create
material BOM
(only browser
required)
Note
Exchange of material
BOM between
cFolders and SAP
R/3/ECC back end
system
(Minimum
Requirements:
SAP R/3 Release 4.7
or
4.6C SP33 + Note
546617) is possible, if
at least SAP R/3
Plug-In 2002.2 is
installed)

n BOM can be
published from
backend to
cFolders
n Number of
active
material & BOM
attributes
defined in
system settings

In addition Reference Designators (component location information used in

High Tech Industry) can be made available in BOM item long text in cFolders.
SAP AG 2006, 15

Business Process Development Collaboration

Sharing BOM and Documents
Sharing CAD Models and Product Variant Structures
Usage of Collaborative and Competitive Scenario
Standalone and Integrated Deployment Scenarios
Integration with SAP NetWeaver
New functionality in cFolders 4.00
Wrap-Up

Integration to CAD Desktop

n Export of CAD assemblies
to cFolders (originals as
documents & product
structure information as
xml-file)
n Export of CAD assemblies
from cFolders to CAD
systems of external users
can be realized by SAP CAD
partners on customer
project base
n Import of changed CAD
assemblies from CAD
systems of external users to
cFolders and reconciliation
with CAD assemblies
managed by CAD Desktop
can be realized by SAP CAD
partners on customer
project base

Note

Integration works for ERP 2005 (ECC 6.0), ERP 2004 (ECC 5.0), R/3 Enterprise Extension Set 110 & 200,
R/3 4.6C (for all releases besides ERP 2005 the implementation of R/3/ERP support packages released
in Q2/2005 is necessary)

SAP AG 2006, 17

Business Process Development Collaboration

Sharing BOM and Documents
Sharing CAD Models and Product Variant Structures
Usage of Collaborative and Competitive Scenario
Standalone and Integrated Deployment Scenarios
Integration with SAP NetWeaver
New functionality in cFolders 4.00
Wrap-Up

Collaborative versus Competitive Scenario

Collaborative Scenario

Competitive Scenario

Supplier

Party A

Party B

Customer

Supplier

Supplier

SAP AG 2006, 19

Collaboration Structure
Two-scenarioconcept
n Collaborative
scenario:
One public area
for all team
members
n Competitive
scenario:
Additional
supplier work
areas with
individual
authorization
settings
n can be used
together with
SAP Bidding
Engine (mySAP
SRM)
SAP AG 2006, 20

Business Process Development Collaboration

Sharing BOM and Documents
Sharing CAD Models and Product Variant Structures
Usage of Collaborative and Competitive Scenario
Standalone and Integrated Deployment Scenarios
Integration with SAP NetWeaver
New functionality in cFolders 4.00
Wrap-Up

Backend Integration: cFolders 1 ECC/R/3

n

Exchange of documents
between cFolders and mySAP PLM
Document Management System
(mySAP PLM DMS is part of
ECC/R/3)

Exchange of material BOM,

product variant structures,
CAD assemblies between
cFolders and SAP back-end
system

Backend Systems
External
External
user
user

(DMS, BOM Processing,

CAD Desktop, iPPE
on SAP R/3 or ECC,...)

SAPPLM
PLM
SAP
cFolders
cFolders

(needs only
(needs only
Web browser)
Web browser)
HTTPS

RFC
(SNC)

InternalUser
User
Internal
HTTPS

Internet
SAP AG 2006, 22

Data Security:
Externals have
access to data in
cFolders only

Intranet

- no access to
back-end system
necessary for
externals

Integration into Project Management

n cFolders is
integrated
into
cProjects
cProjects is
the SAP
application for
phase-based
project
management
Export/
Import of
Documents
to/from
cProjects
from/to
cFolders

SAP AG 2006, 23

cProjects and cFolders Sample Architecture

Design
Design
Engineers
Engineers

Technical
documents
(drawings,
structure
information)

External
External
Partners
Partners

Technical
documents
(drawings,
structure
information)

cFolders
cFolders

Backend Systems
(DMS, BOM Processing,
CAD Desktop, iPPE
on SAP R/3 or ECC,...)

Links

Exchange of
documents

Internet
SAP AG 2006, 24

Project
Documents
(checklists,
minutes of
meetings)

Intranet

cProjects
cProjects

Project
Project
Managers
Managers

Windows File Explorer Integration

n Exchange of
folder
structures
between MS
Windows
Explorer and
cFolders with
drag and drop
n Save-as
from MS
Windows
applications
directly to
cFolders

cFolders is shown as a virtual drive in the MS Windows Explorer

SAP AG 2006, 25

n Open and
change files in
cFolders
directly from
MS Windows
File Explorer

Integration of cFolders in SAP NetWeaver KM

n Read, change,
and create
documents in
cFolders via
Knowledge
Management is
possible using
the WebDAV
interface of
cFolders
n The WebDAV
Repository
Manager of KM
is used for
connecting KM
and cFolders

For more information on the WebDAV standard see www.webdav.org

SAP AG 2006, 26