It was in this environment that ITT Fluid Technology, a division of ITT Industries, Inc., began to shape its new strategic vision: Design Anywhere. Build Anywhere. Sell, Service and Integrate Everywhere. At the core of this business strategy is the concept of a common, integrated set of data—or what we called “Single Source Data”—from customer management to product planning to product definition to product modeling to sourcing to manufacturing planning to production and maintenance/repair. To be truly successful, there must be a smooth flow of information throughout the process since “cracks” in this product data circle cost time and money.

The Strategic Vision (click to enlarge)

To accomplish our objective, we first needed to standardize on a set of master tools that define our “product” interface for all transactions, while leveraging a shared knowledge base without translation. Minimizing translations, and hence error (defect) opportunity, reduces the need for rework, saves costs, and improves customer satisfaction. Furthermore, using an integrated set of tools from design to aftermarket maintains data integrity, which in turn allows design reuse, common sourcing, and common part numbers, components and materials.

The key concepts here are that process redesign is the foundation and technology is the enabler. In business today, you must substitute information for assets. Information lying dormant or unreachable is as expensive as excess inventory lying forgotten in a warehouse.

At the time, though, key information remained hidden from both businesses and users, making its value difficult to measure. Indeed, a corporate culture that does not appreciate the value of integrated product information was, and still is, the biggest roadblock to a "Single Source Data" strategy. Looking back, it was a monumental undertaking and only a few of us were prepared to face the challenge—or even see the vision.

The Challenge

ITT Industries is a $4.7 billion enterprise with over 30,000 employees located in hundreds of sites around the world. Together, these operations supply advanced technology products and services in key markets that include fluid and water management; electronic interconnects and switches; defense communications; opto-electronics; information technology and services; and other specialty products. The enterprise is structured by “value centers,” or groupings of companies that develop, create and manufacture products for a specific market segment.

Because the organization was built primarily by acquisitions, many ITT companies had their own CAD, messaging, and other systems. Clearly, managing many vendors or applications is much more difficult than managing just one. But implementing different software or technology is often a painful experience in terms of company culture. For example, business processes that have evolved around a particular tool often need to be reengineered. In addition, the data created in the original system can be expensive and time-consuming to recreate or maintain, which slows the transition to new systems.

Back in 1998 when our global product data vision was approved and our efforts really gained momentum, the data access scenario looked like this: lots of digital information, but also plenty of paper and individual intellectual knowledge. We clearly had a fragmented IT environment. We therefore had to start by attempting to maximize the tools of the time, which were primarily ERP and messaging. We developed our businesses and business processes to be ERP-centric and used e-mail as both a workflow and content management tool.

Since there were few collaborative applications available, the technology foundation didn't exist to support the vision. As 2000 rolled around, we attempted to leverage connectivity through various connectors for e-mail, ERP and the Internet. The information that was such a cornerstone of our efforts, however, still remained obscured. The lack of true workflow and knowledge management tools and platforms made demonstrating the value very difficult, and the hidden information made buy-in from the businesses and users a significant barrier to overcome.

But by 2001, new "spaces" and terms like the Collaborative Commerce Model (CPC) came into vogue. This was an important milestone because it meant industry as a whole was beginning to embrace the concept we had developed almost a decade earlier. To us, CPC is based on core processes—product development, demand creation, order acquisition, and so on. These in turn are built on basic Infrastructure processes such as plant maintenance and network management. They are managed with governing processes, including strategic planning, capital allocation, and budgeting—all glued together by connectivity and information.