Product Requirement Document: Product Lifecycle Management System

Blog post description.

10/8/20242 min read

Key Components

1. Product Vision

The Internal PLM System aims to revolutionize our ERP product development and management processes by providing a comprehensive, collaborative platform that streamlines the entire product lifecycle of our ERP modules, from ideation to retirement, enabling our teams to develop higher quality ERP solutions faster and more efficiently.

2. Business Requirements

  • Cost Efficiency: Develop in-house to avoid licensing costs of commercial PLM solutions

  • ROI Metrics: Reduce time-to-market for new ERP features by 30%, improve bug resolution time by 40%

  • Resource Allocation: Dedicate an internal team for development and maintenance

3. Target Users and Categorization

Internal teams within our ERP company:

a) Product Managers: Oversee ERP module development, use reporting and analytics b) Software Developers: Primary users of version control and code management features c) Quality Assurance Teams: Utilize testing management and bug tracking tools d) Customer Support: Access documentation and customization records e) Executive Leadership: Use high-level dashboards for strategic decision-making

4. Product Scope

Modules and Features:

  • ERP Module Data Management

    • Centralized repository for all ERP module information

    • Module dependency mapping

    • Customization tracking for client implementations

  • Version Control and Development

    • Integration with Git for code version control

    • Feature branch management

    • Code review workflow

  • Release Management

    • Release planning and scheduling

    • Deployment tracking across different environments (dev, staging, production)

    • Rollback mechanisms

  • Quality Assurance

    • Test case management

    • Automated test integration

    • Bug tracking and resolution workflow

  • Customization Management

    • Client-specific customization tracking

    • Impact analysis for updates on customized installations

  • Documentation Repository

    • Version-controlled technical specifications

    • User manual management

    • API documentation

  • Analytics and Reporting

    • Development efficiency metrics

    • Product usage analytics

    • Customizable dashboards for different roles

5. User Journeys

Example: A product manager initiates a new feature for the Financial module, assigns tasks to the development team, reviews code changes, collaborates with QA on testing, and finally approves the feature for inclusion in the next release, all within the Internal PLM System.

6. Technical Requirements

  • Built on our existing microservices architecture

  • Integration with current development tools (Git, Jira, Jenkins)

  • Real-time data synchronization across all PLM modules

  • Role-based access control aligned with our organizational structure

  • High availability with 99.9% uptime

  • Scalable to handle our growing product portfolio

7. UI/UX Design Requirements

  • Consistent with our internal tools' design language

  • Customizable dashboards for different user roles

  • Intuitive navigation between different modules and products

  • Dark mode option for developer preference

  • Responsive design for access on various devices

8. Project Timelines

  • Month 1: Requirements gathering and system design

  • Months 2-3: Core data management and version control development

  • Month 4: Release management and QA module implementation

  • Month 5: Documentation repository and analytics development

  • Month 6: Integration with existing tools and initial testing

  • Month 7: User acceptance testing and feedback collection

  • Month 8: Refinements and performance optimization

  • Month 9: Final testing, documentation, and internal launch

9. Acceptance Criteria

  • Successful integration with our Git repositories and Jira projects

  • Ability to manage data for all current ERP modules and future scalability

  • Reduction in release cycle time by at least 25%

  • Positive user feedback from internal teams (minimum 8/10 satisfaction score)

  • Successful tracking of at least 95% of customer-specific customizations

10.Future Roadmap Considerations

  • AI-powered predictive analytics for development efficiency

  • Integration with customer feedback systems for direct feature request tracking

  • Expanded analytics for product usage and performance in customer environments

  • Potential commercialization of the PLM system as a new product offering