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Clients & References Case Studies Websites Showcase	Client Black & Decker Project Black & Decker Overview Client quote "I just wanted to also thank you and the PDMS team for a ton of hard work that resulted in a product that is incredible. The reception, not only at our meeting but by everyone that sees it is excellent. It is a great tool for our portfolio and will help to maintain our Best of the Best Image." Larry Losh Program Manager, Black & Decker USA World class solutions for the industry leaders background Black & Decker is the world's largest producer of electric power tools for domestic DIY and commercial use. In addition to the Black & Decker brand name, they also manufacture the Elu, Dewalt and other branded power tools. Their products and services are marketed in more than 100 countries and they have manufacturing operations in 14 countries around the world. As world leader in their market, Black & Decker provide comprehensive support to all their service and repair customers, located in service centres around the world. A key element of this support is service information - Black & Decker were looking to modernise the collation and distribution of their service information with a new electronic based Service Information System (SIS). The objective of the new system was to improve the ease and speed of access to information on all Black & Decker products. The investment in the new system reflected not only Black & Decker's level of commitment to their products, but also to their customers in the service centres. challenges As well as requiring a high quality product with service standards to match, Black & Decker were also keen to establish a long-term business relationship with a supplier who had the ability to maintain the standard and quality of data management and electronic publishing services now and in the future. Following an open tendering process, Black & Decker selected PDMS in preference to several European and US companies. PDMS worked closely with Black & Decker from the outset to define the business objectives for the project and to capture the requirements. In essence the new SIS is a massive service and repair workshop manual - including repair instructions, parts lists and complex technical drawings. It is an invaluable source of information to the thousands of technicians in service centres across the world who, in order to service or repair a product efficiently, need logical and easy access to all of the relevant information. Black & Decker required a system which incorporated sophisticated viewing and zooming of diagrams and quick and easy linking between diagrams and parts information. An essential requirement was for the new system to act as a stepping stone for all Black & Decker's current and future electronic publishing requirements. Although the initial requirement was for the publishing of information to three different media (CD-ROM, Internet and Intranet), the system also had to be capable of integration with stock, sales and distribution systems to provide an end-to-end solution in due course. Black & Decker also identified a requirement for a Bill of Materials (BoM) system for the control and maintenance of product, part and bill of material master data which would feed information into the Service Information System. The BoM system needed to manage changes to data electronically and link all of Black & Decker's repair-related documents including exploded-view artwork, wiring diagrams etc. It was a requirement that the new system be implemented in user friendly formats on CD-Rom and a Bill of Materials website so that all of the data could be viewed across the corporate Intranet. Importantly, the system had to integrate with Black & Decker's existing systems and applications, both in Europe and the USA, including their various warehousing and distribution systems and Extranet system. The system also had to cope with multilingual data with a requirement to provide standard translations for commonly used terms. service information system PDMS' task was to develop an integrated Service Information System that incorporated all of the company's service information stored in a variety of formats and originated from many different sources. The information - data and documents, including parts lists, 'exploded' service illustrations, repair and wiring diagrams - is available for over 3000 products with a total of 210,000 parts. Other features required included searching for parts or products, compiling orders and viewing order history, linking part details to hotspots on service illustrations, and printing. Importantly, the information had to be available in seven different languages to meet the demand of Black & Decker's world-wide service centres. Some of Black & Decker's parts are specific to certain markets and pricing is also market sensitive, consequently it was a requirement the end user had to be able to view parts and prices for their specific market or for all markets. The system developed by PDMS met all of Black & Decker's requirements through a combination of an object oriented database and client-side XML-based publishing. It was designed to provide the vital stepping stone in the transition from distributing information via traditional media to digital media. PDMS implemented their own multi media publishing solution which can publish to any media, traditional or digital, from a single database, providing an ideal basis for all Black & Decker's future electronic publishing requirements. As the content is separate from the presentation there is unlimited choice about how information is presented to customers. Data and design are merged as required in real-time when publishing the CD, web site or microfiche. The system's database acts as a repository for all the service information, regardless of its origin. This solved another of Black & Decker's prime requirements; bringing all of the information such as parts lists from the SAP system, plus documents and technical drawings, together into a central database. PDMS designed a system that can be used to perform data integrity and consistency checks on the information as a whole. The CD version of the Service Information System utilises a customised version of the PDMS Browser. This tool is essentially an XML browser which looks and operates just like a standard web browser. The use of eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) allows complete flexibility of presentation for branding purposes. In addition, it provides versatile searching options which are tailored to Black & Decker's specific requirements. Information for both the CD and Internet versions is filtered according to market sector in real-time as required, ensuring that components such as motors display the correct operating voltage for that country. In the UK market, for example, a lead cannot be ordered without a plug to meet the 'fitted plug' regulations. Market specific pricing is selectively provided to customers by floppy disk and automatically integrated into the information presented on-screen. The system's web engine runs a web server and will provide Black & Decker's customers with live access to the same central database across the Internet. Results of searching and browsing are therefore generated real-time. Both the Internet and the Intranet version have now been successfully implemented. The system was successfully rolled out in Europe and PDMS were soon approached by Black & Decker in the USA to develop a similar system which could be implemented across the States. Black & Decker's USA's requirements were for a Service Information System published to CD-Rom which would allow for rapid and easy access to product information. PDMS developed a customised solution for the USA to meet their specific requirements with additional features such as a CD Publisher which allows them to collate and integrate data and produce their own updated CD-Roms on a regular basis. bill of materials PDMS set about designing a Bill of Materials and document management system based around a very flexible data handling system. Fundamental to the success of the BoM system was the creation, processing, recording and distribution of Service Change Notes (SCN's). Black & Decker Service change notes provide a detailed and traceable record of changes to a Bill Of Materials and are also used to communicate these changes to interested parties within the Black & Decker network of companies and service centres. PDMS developed a system which allows for quick and easy searching of SCNs as well as traceability and email distribution to a user defined mail list. One of the unique features of the PDMS system is the compiler which is used to convert a copy of Black & Decker's production database into a highly optimised and pre-indexed binary file to give maximum performance and security on both CD-ROM and Intranet systems. PDMS also developed a new applet to allow the entry and maintenance of "hot-spots" on the images used by the BOM system. These "hot-spots" allow areas of the image to be mapped to particular item numbers on a Bill of Materials. The BOM Web site uses these "hot-spots" to display part information when "clicked" with the option of adding to a shopping basket on the CD. The system is designed to be administered by Black & Decker staff who are not IT specialists so it was important that it was as user friendly as possible. PDMS were involved in the roll out process both in Europe and at Black & Decker's USA headquarters in Maryland providing on-site assistance, testing and training. benefits The overall benefit to Black & Decker of both the Service Information and Bill of Materials systems is one of streamlining their information production process, cutting costs, and accelerating the business process. The turnaround time for producing new versions and upgrades is significantly shorter and there is no requirement for different versions according to language, sector or windows version. The object database means unlimited changes and additions to content and structure can be made without compromising the database, whilst XML provides a seamless interface between components of the system and into other business systems. The customers benefit by being given more power to access the information they need, creating an inevitable 'feel good' factor, and in turn drawing less from the Black & Decker support team. The feedback from the end users in service centres across Europe and the USA has been extremely good. Fewer mistakes are made as the orders are generated electronically. PDMS solution supports integration with Black & Decker's back office systems which will provide the opportunity for the Service Information and Bill of Materials systems to evolve. It also supports full electronic XML-based business-to-business transactions, widely seen as the basis for all future Internet solutions. As the system can publish to any existing or future media, Black & Decker will be able to maintain their competitive edge by being at the forefront of technology and meeting their customers' developing needs.

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Client

Black & Decker

Project

Black & Decker

Overview

Client quote

"I just wanted to also thank you and the PDMS team for a ton of hard work that resulted in a product that is incredible. The reception, not only at our meeting but by everyone that sees it is excellent. It is a great tool for our portfolio and will help to maintain our Best of the Best Image."

Larry Losh

Program Manager, Black & Decker USA

World class solutions for the industry leaders

background

Black & Decker is the world's largest producer of electric power tools for domestic DIY and commercial use. In addition to the Black & Decker brand name, they also manufacture the Elu, Dewalt and other branded power tools. Their products and services are marketed in more than 100 countries and they have manufacturing operations in 14 countries around the world.

As world leader in their market, Black & Decker provide comprehensive support to all their service and repair customers, located in service centres around the world. A key element of this support is service information - Black & Decker were looking to modernise the collation and distribution of their service information with a new electronic based Service Information System (SIS). The objective of the new system was to improve the ease and speed of access to information on all Black & Decker products. The investment in the new system reflected not only Black & Decker's level of commitment to their products, but also to their customers in the service centres.

challenges

As well as requiring a high quality product with service standards to match, Black & Decker were also keen to establish a long-term business relationship with a supplier who had the ability to maintain the standard and quality of data management and electronic publishing services now and in the future. Following an open tendering process, Black & Decker selected PDMS in preference to several European and US companies.

PDMS worked closely with Black & Decker from the outset to define the business objectives for the project and to capture the requirements. In essence the new SIS is a massive service and repair workshop manual - including repair instructions, parts lists and complex technical drawings. It is an invaluable source of information to the thousands of technicians in service centres across the world who, in order to service or repair a product efficiently, need logical and easy access to all of the relevant information. Black & Decker required a system which incorporated sophisticated viewing and zooming of diagrams and quick and easy linking between diagrams and parts information.

An essential requirement was for the new system to act as a stepping stone for all Black & Decker's current and future electronic publishing requirements. Although the initial requirement was for the publishing of information to three different media (CD-ROM, Internet and Intranet), the system also had to be capable of integration with stock, sales and distribution systems to provide an end-to-end solution in due course.

Black & Decker also identified a requirement for a Bill of Materials (BoM) system for the control and maintenance of product, part and bill of material master data which would feed information into the Service Information System. The BoM system needed to manage changes to data electronically and link all of Black & Decker's repair-related documents including exploded-view artwork, wiring diagrams etc.

It was a requirement that the new system be implemented in user friendly formats on CD-Rom and a Bill of Materials website so that all of the data could be viewed across the corporate Intranet. Importantly, the system had to integrate with Black & Decker's existing systems and applications, both in Europe and the USA, including their various warehousing and distribution systems and Extranet system. The system also had to cope with multilingual data with a requirement to provide standard translations for commonly used terms.

service information system

PDMS' task was to develop an integrated Service Information System that incorporated all of the company's service information stored in a variety of formats and originated from many different sources. The information - data and documents, including parts lists, 'exploded' service illustrations, repair and wiring diagrams - is available for over 3000 products with a total of 210,000 parts.

Other features required included searching for parts or products, compiling orders and viewing order history, linking part details to hotspots on service illustrations, and printing. Importantly, the information had to be available in seven different languages to meet the demand of Black & Decker's world-wide service centres. Some of Black & Decker's parts are specific to certain markets and pricing is also market sensitive, consequently it was a requirement the end user had to be able to view parts and prices for their specific market or for all markets.

The system developed by PDMS met all of Black & Decker's requirements through a combination of an object oriented database and client-side XML-based publishing. It was designed to provide the vital stepping stone in the transition from distributing information via traditional media to digital media. PDMS implemented their own multi media publishing solution which can publish to any media, traditional or digital, from a single database, providing an ideal basis for all Black & Decker's future electronic publishing requirements. As the content is separate from the presentation there is unlimited choice about how information is presented to customers. Data and design are merged as required in real-time when publishing the CD, web site or microfiche.

The system's database acts as a repository for all the service information, regardless of its origin. This solved another of Black & Decker's prime requirements; bringing all of the information such as parts lists from the SAP system, plus documents and technical drawings, together into a central database. PDMS designed a system that can be used to perform data integrity and consistency checks on the information as a whole.

The CD version of the Service Information System utilises a customised version of the PDMS Browser. This tool is essentially an XML browser which looks and operates just like a standard web browser. The use of eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) allows complete flexibility of presentation for branding purposes. In addition, it provides versatile searching options which are tailored to Black & Decker's specific requirements.

Information for both the CD and Internet versions is filtered according to market sector in real-time as required, ensuring that components such as motors display the correct operating voltage for that country. In the UK market, for example, a lead cannot be ordered without a plug to meet the 'fitted plug' regulations. Market specific pricing is selectively provided to customers by floppy disk and automatically integrated into the information presented on-screen.

The system's web engine runs a web server and will provide Black & Decker's customers with live access to the same central database across the Internet. Results of searching and browsing are therefore generated real-time. Both the Internet and the Intranet version have now been successfully implemented.

The system was successfully rolled out in Europe and PDMS were soon approached by Black & Decker in the USA to develop a similar system which could be implemented across the States. Black & Decker's USA's requirements were for a Service Information System published to CD-Rom which would allow for rapid and easy access to product information. PDMS developed a customised solution for the USA to meet their specific requirements with additional features such as a CD Publisher which allows them to collate and integrate data and produce their own updated CD-Roms on a regular basis.

bill of materials

PDMS set about designing a Bill of Materials and document management system based around a very flexible data handling system. Fundamental to the success of the BoM system was the creation, processing, recording and distribution of Service Change Notes (SCN's). Black & Decker Service change notes provide a detailed and traceable record of changes to a Bill Of Materials and are also used to communicate these changes to interested parties within the Black & Decker network of companies and service centres. PDMS developed a system which allows for quick and easy searching of SCNs as well as traceability and email distribution to a user defined mail list.

One of the unique features of the PDMS system is the compiler which is used to convert a copy of Black & Decker's production database into a highly optimised and pre-indexed binary file to give maximum performance and security on both CD-ROM and Intranet systems.

PDMS also developed a new applet to allow the entry and maintenance of "hot-spots" on the images used by the BOM system. These "hot-spots" allow areas of the image to be mapped to particular item numbers on a Bill of Materials. The BOM Web site uses these "hot-spots" to display part information when "clicked" with the option of adding to a shopping basket on the CD.

The system is designed to be administered by Black & Decker staff who are not IT specialists so it was important that it was as user friendly as possible. PDMS were involved in the roll out process both in Europe and at Black & Decker's USA headquarters in Maryland providing on-site assistance, testing and training.

benefits

The overall benefit to Black & Decker of both the Service Information and Bill of Materials systems is one of streamlining their information production process, cutting costs, and accelerating the business process. The turnaround time for producing new versions and upgrades is significantly shorter and there is no requirement for different versions according to language, sector or windows version. The object database means unlimited changes and additions to content and structure can be made without compromising the database, whilst XML provides a seamless interface between components of the system and into other business systems.

The customers benefit by being given more power to access the information they need, creating an inevitable 'feel good' factor, and in turn drawing less from the Black & Decker support team. The feedback from the end users in service centres across Europe and the USA has been extremely good. Fewer mistakes are made as the orders are generated electronically.

PDMS solution supports integration with Black & Decker's back office systems which will provide the opportunity for the Service Information and Bill of Materials systems to evolve. It also supports full electronic XML-based business-to-business transactions, widely seen as the basis for all future Internet solutions.

As the system can publish to any existing or future media, Black & Decker will be able to maintain their competitive edge by being at the forefront of technology and meeting their customers' developing needs.