A Configuration System for Supportive Purposes in the Middle of a Product Lifecycle

This paper presents a new way of using configuration systems. Traditionally, these systems have been use for decision support for sales. The aim is now to support "Middle-Of-Lifecycle" (MOL) processes, which means that the decision support system is targeted for the customers and the manufacturer (field services, technical support and after sales). This is especially interesting, as manufacturing companies are increasingly focusing their operations on service operations. The background for this idea is that companies often experience a lack of information between the initial sale and the following service operations. For instance, the sales info regarding a product is often obsolete due to changes in the product setup since installation/implementation, and considerable amounts of time are wasted on inefficient updates. To support the daily blusiness we suggest using configuration systems for supportive purposes in the middle of a product lifecycle. By doing so a product in operation (including maintenance) could be administrated more effectively. At the same time it is a good opportunity to hand over important runtime information and thereby create a basis for general improvements of the manufacturer's service operations. A company case is shortly described in the second half of this article.