Straightforward PLM software
Updated November 19, 2019
Straightforward PLM software
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Arena
Arena is being used company-wide but mainly by the Hardware and Design department for tracking products, BOMs as well as NPI projects. It's a good tool for keeping track of any changes made during a product life cycle as well as sharing product/project information with customers and suppliers.
- Possibility of setting approval flows.
- Visibility of products across departments and cross-continent teams.
- Tracking of changes.
- Cannot be customized, it's a rigid software and cannot be adapted to all of our business needs.
- Doesn't auto-create item numbers upon new import.
- Improved Quality
- Product Reputation
- Third-party Reviews
Quite easy to deploy and train on.
I was not the decision maker during the selection process.
Lessons for Success
1. Setting a solid process from the get go (use of projects/quality/training, deciding on milestones, product revision)
2. Ensuring to hire a professional to perform the integration with the ERP, consultants who have deep knowledge of the NPI, PLM process rather than technical knowledge of the software.
2. Ensuring to hire a professional to perform the integration with the ERP, consultants who have deep knowledge of the NPI, PLM process rather than technical knowledge of the software.
Building searches with multiple parameters, using advanced operators (like and/or/not), then keeping those searches saved on your page gives quick access to the KPIs and Controls defined
Watching the videos available on the platform and using the help extensively, there are many functions that are not exactly intuitive. Participate in webinars and events
Using Arena
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Relatively simple Easy to use Technical support not required Consistent Quick to learn Familiar | Do not like to use |
- Arena is not that customizable as a software, which makes it quite straightforward to use (due to its rigidity) but also means that some of the processes in your company might have to be adapted to the way the platform operates
- Easy to configure approval flows (customers, suppliers approval included)
- Platform is not flexible, if your company has a product life cycle / NPI process that doesn't comply to the universal best practices, Arena might not be for you
- We found the quality module too stiff to use for our purposes