The trend toward modular, composable PLM architectures places high demands on the openness of individual software components. Enforcing this openness – and thereby simplifying the integration of IT applications into corporate networks and IoT environments – is the core purpose of the Code of PLM Openness. The CPO is a prostep ivip initiative operating under the patronage of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK).
The CPO links user requirements with technical requirements for IT solutions, enabling companies to assess the openness of software vendors and their products. The criteria catalog covers measurable criteria across categories such as interoperability, infrastructure, extensibility, interfaces, standards, architectures, and partner relationships. In cooperation with the German Accreditation Body (DAkkS), prostep ivip is developing a certification program that will also formally attest to the openness of software solutions.
In 2025, the CPO project team focused primarily on two workstreams: in collaboration with DAkkS, making the existing organization-centric CPO certification more efficient and establishing it as an international standard; and, in coordination with the prostep ivip Standardization Strategy Board (SSB), laying the groundwork for a product-level CPO certification for software solutions. To incorporate openness requirements from additional industries, the CPO project team is set to be gradually expanded to include user companies and software vendors from those sectors.
Progress was achieved across all three areas. A revised version of the organizational CPO certification was developed and approved by DAkkS. The project team worked intensively on a potential assessment framework for software products, resulting in a significantly expanded CPO Self Assessment for vendors covering their relevant products. Products are differentiated by supported application domains – aligned with the outcomes of the SSB working group on standards and application areas. The current draft will be completed by vendors for the first time in 2026.
Regarding the expansion into additional industries, the international Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group was successfully brought on board in 2025.
The topics addressed are technically highly complex and require intensive consensus-building between users and vendors. The CPO project group has therefore been looking beyond its immediate scope and engaging with the more user-oriented SSB working group – an alignment effort that requires coordination mechanisms not previously foreseen, comparable to those of a workflow group or implementor forum.
In the current year, the CPO project group aims to put the new CPO Self Assessment template into practice and deploy it across multiple vendors and software solutions. Significant effort will also be dedicated to exploring how the CPO relates to other initiatives such as GAIA-X, CATENA-X, and data spaces, as well as topics such as the Asset Administration Shell and the Product Passport – and how potential collaboration could be structured. To adequately reflect user-side requirements, the group will intensify its collaboration with the SSB, which represents a broad base of user companies.
In addition, the first joint activities with the international Aerospace & Defense PLM Action Group are planned.
"Cohesion and collaboration within the CPO project group were excellent, allowing us to make real progress – particularly on the CPO Self Assessment. The shift to fully virtual meetings had no negative impact on our work."
"Especially with regard to software assessment, we need more input from user companies. That is why we plan to further intensify our collaboration with the SSB this year."
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