New Siemens PLM Software Solution Ensures Product Compatibility across U.S. Department of Defense

Award-Winning Teamcenter Software Module Integrates DoD Architecture Framework into Early Stages of Product Development Process for all Military Branches and Contractors.

PLANO, Texas - Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of the Siemens Industry Automation Division and a leading global provider of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and services, today announced a new capability in its Teamcenter® software portfolio that will help ensure compatibility across all products supplied to any branch of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Developed in conjunction with Siemens Government Services (SGS), authorized reseller of Siemens PLM Software, the new functionality supports the DoD Architecture Framework (DoDAF), an architectural standard which mandates that all products delivered to the DoD include common architecture documentation for evaluation as part of the product development process.

“Today’s announcement will enable the U.S. military and its contractors to efficiently incorporate a common architecture into their products at the earliest phase of the development process,” said Steve Bashada, vice president of Teamcenter Applications, Siemens PLM Software. “Using an intelligent diagramming environment, Teamcenter provides modeling tools that understand connections between elements. As a result, a common product architecture is built-in and documented throughout the development process, and product compatibility among all branches of the military is ensured.”

Providing an “intelligent” link to product design

Due to a number of interoperability problems among various branches of the military services, congress passed the Clinger-Cohen Act which requires product architecture be considered and reviewed as a part of defense acquisitions. Subsequently, the DoDAF was established and includes a number of standard deliverables that describe the operations, system and data architecture of a product.

Initially this demand was filled by a variety of 2D diagramming tools which create good visual images but without an “intelligent” link to the product design. The DoDAF template for Teamcenter integrates a state-of-the-art diagramming environment with an intelligent database that supports not only the capture and delivery of DoDAF information but also the intelligence of the relationships – creating a multi-user decision support system for use by the services.

This new Teamcenter functionality is available immediately and played a key role in helping the United States Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) win last year’s DoD Enterprise Architecture Achievement Government Organization Award.

As described in an announcement issued by USJFCOM Public Affairs on April 18, 2008, this award recognizes the Joint Command and Control Architectures and Capability Assessment Enterprise (JACAE), which maps out the available various command and control (C2) capabilities and how joint task force headquarters (JTF HQ) can bring them together to support a JTF and its networks.

This award marks the second time the command has won an award for enterprise architecture excellence. They previously won in 2005 for developing the Joint Battle Management Command and Control Joint Capability Mapping Environment, a tool which JACAE replaced. A press release describing the 2005 award and its link to Teamcenter can be viewed here.