While legacy product lifecycle management (PLM) and quality management system (QMS) platforms focus on engineering and quality teams, a modern solution enables company-wide collaboration that can quickly identify and respond to customer needs.
Managers rely on both of these platforms to streamline business processes, implement corrective or preventive actions (CAPA), and optimize product quality through all stages of product development.
Legacy QMS and PLM systems eventually become obsolete as PLM software vendors take longer and longer to upgrade systems. This forces companies to retroactively change their processes to work with the constraints of outdated technology—increasing inefficiencies—instead of proactively using the latest developments to ensure regulatory compliance, improve operational efficiency, and create a customer-centric workflow.
With best-in-class cloud software, replacing these systems is easier than ever, allowing quality and product teams to spend more time preparing for future opportunities.
3 Reasons to Move to a Modern, Connected PLM/QMS
Whether you’re a new manager or a top-level executive, understanding the motivations to move beyond PLM and QMS legacy systems into the digital age can help you communicate your vision to the rest of the team.
Here are some of the top reasons to make the move to replace legacy systems:
- Highly flexible: Cloud-based software solutions are limitless data management tools that allow organizations to take creative approaches to product innovation and workflow optimization. With the scalability to accommodate growth, you can deploy across entire organizations or choose only select teams.
- Fast deployment and ease of upgrade: Cloud systems don’t require physical server space and make scaling across the organization easy. A connected, modern PLM and QMS system should also offer robust onboarding, automation, and seamless API integrations to simplify data migration from your existing system.
- Collaborative features: Your product management and quality teams should always work from the same real-time data. With seamless CRM, ERP, and case management integration, having a single version of truth for all teams at all times is easier than ever.
Benefits of Modern PLM/QMS Platforms
Keep your business ahead of rapid changes and new market trends through efficient product data management, with cloud-native platforms providing a connected database of risk assessments, compliance documentation, and automated quality processes.
Complex processes can be completed faster and more cost-effectively as communication across teams becomes streamlined and accessible. High-stakes processes, such as CAPA and audits, can also be automated where possible, reducing inefficiencies and saving time.
Tracking progress improves the decision-making process, resulting in faster new product development cycles, increased product quality, and reduced project costs.
These platforms also integrate suppliers at every step of the way, helping synchronize the workflow of teams across multiple organizations.
Key Capabilities of a Modern PLM/QMS Platform
As you research new QMS/PLM vendors, you’ll want to look for specific capabilities that stand the test of time. Your new platform must be designed for change to stay resilient in the face of industry-wide disruption. These platforms should prioritize real-time data availability, support APIs for seamless integrations, and maintain data integrity to ensure accurate decision-making.
Modern platforms should also have visible and accessible options built in to oversee all stages of development processes, including:
- Document management
- Project management
- Supply chain management
- Quality management
- Requirements management
Features might include collaborative documents, configurable templates, support for multiple data formats, automation tools, and integration with external productivity applications like Excel.
Challenges of Replacing Legacy PLM/QMS Platforms
Conventional solutions may be challenging to upgrade because they rely on hard-coded business and data models that are extensively customized to meet business needs. Data migration from these old systems is often complicated by fragmented formats, risking data integrity if not handled properly.
Time and cost are essential resources that must be managed properly to replace your existing legacy system. Service outages and schedule changes will be inevitable as teams adjust to new systems and workflows.
Keep in mind that even the most powerful modern platforms cannot fix broken processes. PLM and QMS tools can only be as effective as the business operations and quality processes they are introduced to.
Best Practices for Legacy PLM/QMS Replacement
When introduced successfully, new PLM and QMS solutions can improve product quality while lowering development costs. However, be careful not to get overly ambitious, as connectivity is a core benefit of these platforms. Focus first on connecting core systems and users before replacing any individual components.
When your business gets prepared for replacement, calculate the cost and determine the predictability of implementation before replacing your legacy software with a new platform. Work to make it co-exist with the old system, and only switch over when you’re sure that every feature you need is aligned with business objectives and functional for all users.
Understanding the capabilities and limitations of these systems will help your company grow and remain competitive in the marketplace.
Propel provides a hub for all product and quality information, effectively integrating customer, supplier, and product data across their entire value chain.
Read about how medtech company ASP successfully moved off legacy systems, combining six business applications into one completely integrated PLM and QMS platform.
5 Steps for Legacy PLM/QMS Replacement
- Pre-Implementation: Spread awareness about the benefits of modern PLM and QMS platforms. Get stakeholders to buy into the need for replacement by introducing key features like scalability, automation, and APIs while also providing training on any new systems you plan to introduce.
- Prepare a Roadmap for PLM/QMS Replacement: Determine what functionalities can be upgrades of existing features and what new ones need to be implemented. Identify what data will be impacted during migration and the steps needed to maintain cybersecurity and data integrity.
- Carry out configuration, data, and file migrations: Move data off legacy platforms and into the cloud in a way that causes minimal disruption to end users. Request exports of external data from supply chain partners to keep all resources in one place.
- Transfer existing integrations from legacy solutions to the cloud: Work to ensure compatibility by testing and refining processes that utilize APIs, external applications, and data formats.
- Carry out performance tests and go live: Maintain a service-oriented focus by stress testing new systems to ensure they improve your workflows. Communicate constantly with team leaders at all levels of your organization to ease the stress of deployment.
Strategies to Improve PLM/QMS Replacement
Organizations have to consider what they need from PLM and QMS platforms on a project-by-project basis. Engaging in continuous digital transformation is the best way to ensure future success.
As you consider these changes, ensure that any potential replacement can organize data throughout the product lifecycle while also functioning as a hub for product information with tools to automate business processes and ensure data integrity.
Find a service provider that specializes in solutions for your specific industry to get the most value out of the replacement process. Worthwhile providers will be prepared to discuss your specific business needs and enthusiastically tailor their services to those needs or create new solutions.
What’s the Future of PLM/QMS Platforms?
With Propel Software—the future is now. Here are the benefits of moving to Propel’s seamlessly connected PLM and QMS platform:
- Add new features faster: Legacy PLM system and QMS system providers push new upgrades once a year—if that. Propel pushes seamless updates at least every quarter.
- Configurable, scalable, role-based user interface: Propel’s extensive configuration options allow you to set up the platform without custom development, and those configurations can be quickly updated by users—with clicks instead of code.
- Top-rated migration consulting services: Your business is only as good as your processes. Get help developing modern processes with Propel’s leading in-house experts who’ve collectively performed dozens of migrations off of the most commonly used legacy systems.
Companies that manufacture goods are modernizing every piece of their business. Don’t fall behind in the digital age with a legacy QMS or PLM solution.
Empower your teams with Propel’s real-time collaboration, automation, and scalability to drive innovation and ensure compliance.
