CMstat
Organizing the Maze of Complex Product Configuration

Year 1989 marked the establishment of CMstat—a company that became a renowned provider of Commercial off-the Shelf (COTS) Hardware Configuration Management (CM) and Data Management software for the aerospace and defense industry. The blaze of their success intensified for CMstat when they developed the first COTS CM solution for companies that were rapidly shifting from mainframe computers to adopt cost effective client-server architectures. In 2002, TPT Technologies, Inc. Database Administrator CMstat was formed to purchase the assets of the CMstat Corporation. With revamped capabilities and expanded forte, CMstat applications were transformed into a new CMstat PDMPlus. This CM software supports Oracle and SQLserver, databases, and provides an end-to-end product data management console in a web-enabled environment.

“PDMplus delivers the functionality needed to manage product data through various phases from concept development to its retirement,” says Andrea Pignataro, CEO, TPT. “Back this up with smart, industry-accepted processes, and organizations can have a one-stop-shop to record and update their hardware and software information.” PDMPlus is the application of appropriate resources, processes, and tools to establish and maintain consistency between the product requirements, and associated product configuration information. Various organizations have come to acknowledge the expertise of PDMPlus in ensuring proper tracking, and realizing the needs of complex products and processes.

This made Santa Barbara Focalplane (SBF) to choose CMstat to resolve their CM issues. SBF, a merchant vendor of the very latest in infrared components, was looking for a robust CM solution that could be rapidly deployed with minimum IT assistance. Using CMstat database fields as a guideline, “Impact Assessment Forms” were developed outlining thought-provoking questions to stimulate thorough analysis of proposed change activity. “And document archives were maintained in the secure CMvault and were associated electronically to the change document authorizing the change,” says Andrea. The Production Operations team was also able to run the “Item Library” report, which is a numeric listing of Item/Parts by the selected Contract and Project. Using this report, the team pulled various database reports, and integrated Planned Engineering Changes into their Production Planning Process.

PDMplus delivers the functionality needed to manage product data through various phases from concept development to its retirement

In-step with the latest industry standards, SAE-EIA-649, PDMplus continues to expand as per the feedback obtained from customers. “Leveraging their input, we have enhanced PDMplus, making it a prolific project data management tool that meets the demands of customers in all respects,” says Andrea. PDMplus, built upon the solid foundation of CM core principles and best practices, is a first choice of many as it specializes in simplifying the complex process surrounding the product configuration.

CMstat also developed Bills of Materials (BOM) management solution to assist supply chain partners find and access product data. CMstat’s BOM software solution provides a Central Database of Authority, providing organizations and its supply chain partners a secure web-based access to product and project metadata, documents and drawings in support of the change review process.

To complement their rapid deployment configuration and data management solutions, CMstat offers a wide array of services designed to maximize customer’s investment. “With CMstat, organizations can know the functionality they are getting and the total cost of ownership before any purchase,” says Andrea. “Our implementation services are broken up into fixed-price tasks and are detailed prior to our customer’s investment.” In the days to come, CMstat intends to diligently take the efficacy of these services and solutions to a new height and build a flamboyant reputation in the landscape of CM.