1. Complex User Interface especially for infrequent users
2. Cumbersome Navigation
3. Slow Performance & Speed
4. Customization Limitations
5. Limited Task Support & Access for departments outside of Engineering
6. Lack of Workflow Synergy between multiple departments

• Run pre-configured reports and saved reports
• Save new reports
• Access pre-built report dashboards that utilize the Windchill search engine

1. Why do I need to do regular maintenance on my PTC Windchill system?

Critical systems, like Windchill PLM, must be available to users. This is why it is so important to do regular maintenance on your PTC Windchill system. Windchill system outages can be costly and impact system adoption and usage.  Therefore, it is recommended that you complete regular, preventative maintenance to identify and resolve issues before they cause performance problems or service interruptions.

2. What is included in the Alliance program?

We start by assessing your department and company’s needs. We combine the assessment results with our understanding of successful Windchill implementations and deliver recommendations and a plan for a stable, high-performance Windchill instance. The flexibility of the Alliance program allows us to configure an engagement as needed. This gives us the ability to tailor the program specifically to your company.

3.  Can my staff complete the Windchill maintenance activities?

Certainly!  Keep in mind that preventative Windchill maintenance tasks are commonly an afterthought, and other projects are likely to take precedence.  As the staff becomes busier, their dependence on a functioning Windchill system increases.  These would be times when a system outage during a critical project could prove to be disastrous.

4. Can you train my staff to complete Windchill maintenance tasks?

Yes, in fact we would love to help train your staff how to complete Windchill maintenance tasks.  EAC has PTC certified instructors that are available to deliver all of the Windchill Business and System Admin training courses offered by PTC.  After attending these classes your staff will be ready to take on their new Windchill responsibilities.  Additionally, we can provide mentoring with our Windchill experts to answer all of your Windchill maintenance questions.

5. What are some benefits of using the EAC Alliance program?

One of the core benefits of the EAC Alliance Program is the ability to take a proactive approach to maintaining your Windchill system – ensuring high availability and performance.  By completing regular system maintenance and software updates you are able to better leverage your PTC investment.  You can also eliminate the need to maintain a staff of Windchill Administration experts by assigning these system and business admin tasks to our EAC’s expert consultants.  Our Windchill consultants have years of experience and complete these same activities on a daily, weekly and monthly basis for many Alliance Program customers.

6. Are Windchill system updates and upgrades included in the Alliance Program?

Yes, the EAC Alliance Program can be structured to include Windchill system updates and upgrades. When you include this in your Alliance Program you can easily budget a fixed cost over the upcoming months and years.

7. Can you support my Global company?

Yes.  While EAC is based in the United States, we are part of the PTC Strategic Partner network giving us access to many additional resources overseas.  We call on these partners to help with implementation, training, and support services local to international facilities.

8. Are you able to provide 24/7 Windchill support?

Yes.  We can provide your company access to our support case submission system, which will allow your Windchill users to log cases at any time of day.  If emergency Windchill support is required (noted by the priority level assigned to your case), our team will be notified immediately and begin support.  If you require overseas support, and international support is included in your Alliance Program agreement, we will coordinate with a local PTC partner to address the issue.

9. Doesn’t my PTC Maintenance agreement include similar Windchill services?

No.  Your PTC maintenance agreement covers all Windchill updates to software that you have purchased as well as technical support should you have a problem that requires resolution.  It does not include the services necessary to update, upgrade and maintain your Windchill system.

10.  How much does the EAC Alliance Program cost?

This varies based on the complexity of your Windchill environment and the level of support you would like to include in your service level agreement (SLA).  This can be determined by having a quick conversation with your team and proposing a solution that correctly addresses your needs. Contact us today for further information!

There’s no question about it, in business, we all have an area for improvement- and for many companies, this ‘area” has to do with service. Here’s how to deliver higher levels of service. 

According to PTC, and this infographic, a recent survey of more than 100 service leaders by Tech-Clarity discovered 54% of respondents experience poor customer satisfaction due to poor service information.

Think about how poorly managed service information could be impacting your customers and costing your organization money. It’s time to deliver higher levels of service. We can’t wait to show you how.

1. ---

   Look at Current Processes

The first step to improving service delivery and documentation requires an in-depth analysis of how you currently manage service information. In order to successfully achieve higher levels of service, you must evaluate all aspects of your current people, processes, and technology.

2. Recognize Areas for Improvement Needed to Deliver Higher Levels of Service 

There is always room for improvement! For example, do your service leaders need to search multiple locations to gather all required information? Have you ever-experienced situations where changes made during production were not documented? Would you say that your information is intuitively structured for service? Do you fully understand how product changes impact service? The list goes on and on, but it’s important to recognize the areas your organization may struggle with in order to take your service delivery to the next level.

3. Realize the Costs of Your Challenges

Try to quantify what service challenges cost your organization. Companies dealing with poor service information management face real financial repercussions. Some of these business costs include poor customer satisfaction, extended downtime, high service labor costs and even damaged service and brand reputation and more. You must realize the cost your organization faces from poorly managed service information if you ever intend to achieve higher levels of service.

4. Determine Your Needs in-order to Achieve Higher Levels of Service 

This is the part where you align business goals with initiatives. Perhaps for your organization, this could be as simple as getting product information to the field sooner. Maybe your company would flourish by connecting technical information to product support and field operations. What would happen if your company could ensure engineering CAD models remain linked so that information never became outdated? How might a new focus on improving technician productivity by getting the right people the information and parts at the right time, benefit you? Could your organization greatly benefit from an ability to leverage existing engineering data to produce service content? Whatever your needs are, it’s important to define them in order to achieve higher levels of service throughout your organization.

5. Realize That Technology Is Your Key To Success

The truth is, the right service information management solutions can greatly improve your service levels. You could avoid many costly challenges by using software that dynamically publishes and delivers service information based on engineering and product data within a Product Data Management (PDM) or Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system.

Just imagine, if your company implemented the right technology to manage service information, you could:

• Enable your technicians to find, understand and trust your product and part information.
• Reduce customer downtime by improving first-time fix rates.
• Increase service and technician efficiency.
• Significantly lower overall service costs by reducing unnecessary repeat service visits.
• Improve your brand reputation through superior service.

By selecting the right software, your technicians will improve their ability to find, understand, and trust product parts information. Doing this will help your organization achieve higher levels of service and increase revenue. So what are you waiting for? It’s time to achieve higher levels of service and success.

Download the Service Transformation Journey Ebook

To create accurate, up-to-date technical information, 84% of OEMs reuse engineering data – converting engineering bills of materials (eBOMs) into service bills of materials (sBOMs). 

This eBook details the successes companies in the aerospace, automotive, and other industries have experienced as a result of transforming their eBOMs into sBOMs. Download now to read their stories.

Help us help you! We know your Windchill System is critical, that’s why we designed a program just for you.

Some estimate that 70% of companies do not regularly perform routine maintenance on their Windchill System. Were on a mission to change that.

In an effort to provide on-going technical support, business process consulting and adoption services; EAC offers the Windchill Alliance Program (Services). This is a service package intended to provide professional Windchill maintenance and administration services, regardless of a customer’s stage of adoption.

Our team of expert technicians will improve your system performance, optimize server and license configurations, and ultimately maintain a stable PLM environment for your organization.

After receiving your FREE Windchill System Checkup and becoming a customer, here’s what you will receive:

System and Application Administration 

This includes everything from starting and stopping your Windchill environment to cleaning up unreferenced files and cache folders. Let our team do the busy work of monitoring and managing your system so you can get the most out of your Windchill investment.

Database Administration

The EAC Alliance team will review, restore, and analyze your database growth and performance. Our database administration covers anything and everything from network administration, security administration, and backup services. Put us in-charge of performing and verifying your scheduled system backups to ensure your system is running properly.

Business Administration

We will take care of all your Windchill business administration needs such as adding new roles, updating accounts, operating system maintenance, network administration, license usage reporting and more.

End-User Support

Our end user support consists of everything from help desk support, to advice on best practices, to user mentoring, to Alliance Program review meetings and more. We want to help you with all your system questions and needs.

Still want to learn more? Check out our article on the Top 10 Questions we get about our EAC Alliance Program.

Also,  Here’s what customer’s see with our Windchill Managed Services and what you can expect as an EAC Alliance Customer!

Our goal is to help you increase your Windchill system uptime, eliminate corrupt workspaces, improve sluggish system performance, safeguard your security, and guarantee your system is up-to-date. Take a proactive approach to maintaining your Windchill environment today!

Managing a new enterprise system can be a daunting task. It can test your staff’s knowledge bases and affect the top and bottom line of your business. That being said, many companies have invested in some sort of PLM or PDM tool (learn more about what ERP, MRP, PLM, and PDM are in this post). This post is for everyone that has invested in a PLM/PDM tool and wants to make sure they’re getting the most out of the investment.

Here are five signs it is time to invest in PLM consulting.

1. You use your PLM /PDM system solely for data management 

Many people purchase PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) systems and struggle to use them to their full potential.

They relegate these amazing systems to simple file vaults.

But, they paid for so much more.

If you’re implementing a PLM tool and use it as a  data vault, you’ve essentially taken on 100% of the investment to recognize 20% of the benefit.

Without full understanding and utilization of your PLM system, you’re missing the opportunity to capture the main benefits of these investments.

When fully implemented and adopted, these systems integrate people, data, processes and much more.

2. You don’t fully understand your PLM system 

I hope none of you that relate to this point think I’m calling you dumb.

PLM is just…a lot.

A good analogy is a car.

We all understand the basics; four wheels, seats, steering wheel, engine.

It is obvious why I want a car, the benefits are clear to me.

That doesn’t mean I know how to troubleshoot, install, and maintain an ignition system.

It is not uncommon to have the wrong idea of PLM system complexity.

They do a lot: data management, process management, lifecycle change, and much more.

This could be why 70 percent of PLM investments are failing to meet manager expectations.

When PLM systems are implemented correctly, they allow your company to further maximize productivity.

3. You Find Yourself Re-Inventing the Wheel

Product lifecycle management solutions are enterprise level systems.

When you attempt to utilize optional configurations, they become complex quickly.

Due to this, many companies find themselves reinventing the wheel around correct PLM configurations.

When this happens, you are only taking more steps backward.

This can easily be avoided with the help of a knowledgeable PLM consultant who is familiar with your situation and has the ability to direct you down the right path.

4. You have multiple issues with PLM system stability 

With so many companies investing large amounts of money into PLM enterprise systems, it is important for them to be working correctly.

If your PLM system is continually going down or needs to be restarted, this is another sign you should look into PLM consulting.

A product lifecycle management consultant with experience could locate and diagnose the root cause of your PLM system’s problems, allowing your company to avoid them in the future.

5. Your users complain about general PLM system usability

If your team is constantly complaining about the general performance and interaction on of your PLM interface, odds are that your system hasn’t been properly configured.

Complaints are one thing, but an inability to address the cause and improve user’s situation— that can have a dramatic impact on employee satisfaction and productivity.

User complaints are typically symptoms of larger PLM issues.

An experienced PLM admin can typically decode user feedback and develop a plan to dramatically improve productivity and UX.

The need for ongoing product lifecycle management system administration and maintenance is often overlooked by many companies.

For PLM systems to properly evolve, it is important to partner with system experts who can help your business succeed.