The manufacturing of complex technical products requires a multi-layered process environment in a number of different departments, from development and production right through to after-sales, with a large number of heterogeneous IT systems provided by numerous IT vendors.

Almost every one of these IT systems has to be linked with other IT systems. The amount of time and effort required by IT customers for IT integration is therefore extraordinarily high.

The openness of IT systems, especially the ability to integrate them into various IT system environments, is a key for reducing the amount of time and effort involved. This can be achieved most efficiently if the openness of the IT system is based on established standards as far as possible (cf. 2.5 Standards).

This Code of PLM Openness (CPO) is intended to provide a basic understanding of the term “openness” and describe the associated basic requirements by impartial, non-discriminating criteria graduated in Shall, Should and May. Those will be gradually enhanced and detailed to evolve PLM openness. The CPO will be updated by decision of the CPO Community to accommodate enhancement requirements.

The CPO is being created within the framework of a ProSTEP iViP project in a joint activity carried out by IT customers, IT vendors and IT service providers.

CPO-relevant definitions are defined in a glossary, which is a separate supplement to the CPO. Keywords that are defined in the glossary are underlined in the CPO.