SofTech, Inc. News
SofTech and NorthRidge Software Introduce New User-Configurable ProductCenter Web Portal, ProductDashboard
New ProductCenter PDM Web Portal Delivers Personalized Product Information to Every UserTEWKSBURY, Mass., August 5, 2003 — SofTech, Inc. (OTCBB: SOFT), a leading provider of design-through-manufacturing productivity solutions, announced the availability of ProductDashboard™, a new user-configurable PDM (product data management) Web portal, now available for SofTech’s ProductCenter™ collaborative PDM solution. ProductDashboard is the first in a series of integrated PDM applications, developed by SofTech partner NorthRidge Software, LLC, to expand ProductCenter capabilities and speed of deployment for customers.
With ProductDashboard, users can create their own personal portal Web pages or view into ProductCenter to access PDM data and functionality in support of their specific role in the product planning and development process. Similar to My Yahoo!® or other Web portals, ProductDashboard is easy to set up and use, offering flexibility and ease of use out of the box.
“Today's PDM challenge, met uniquely by ProductDashboard, is to transform complex product data into more valuable information, organized in a context that is more relevant to individual and diverse information consumers,” states Jay Pappas, ProductCenter product manager. “Literally anyone in a company that can get around a Web page can create their own ‘custom’ PDM interface with ProductDashboard.”
“Our objective for ProductDashboard is two-fold,” comments NorthRidge partner Mike Turcotte. “First and foremost is to provide a consumer friendly interface into ProductCenter, with particular emphasis on the casual user. In addition, ProductDashboard provides a portal framework that can easily be extended to integrate with other product lifecycle data sources beyond PDM.”
What ProductDashboard provides is a very powerful, low-cost alternative to toolkit-developed, specialized Web clients. It requires no programming and adds significant value to a company's PDM implementation by:
- Presenting important product information in user specific context
- Reducing the number of pages needed to navigate to get to desired information
- Minimizing user training required to access product information
- Promoting use by infrequent users, maximizing information use and reuse
- Reducing ongoing support and programming costs
Although data usage is maximized throughout the enterprise, intellectual property is protected with standard ProductCenter user, group, or role permissions. No one can access information, reports, or other data without authorization, making it easy and secure, for example, to provide select access to ProductCenter data and functionality to suppliers or other partners.
ProductDashboard is now available. For pricing information contact SofTech at (978) 513-2700 ext. 222 or visit the SofTech web site at www.softech.com for more details.
About NorthRidge Software, LLC
NorthRidge Software, LLC provides solutions and consulting services that allow customers to realize the full potential of their Product Lifecycle Management (PLM/PDM) investment. Benefiting from over 15 years of experience in applications and technologies that support the product development process, the NorthRidge team extends the capabilities of PLM by delivering highly specialized, Web-based clients to meet the end user's specific requirements. For additional information on NorthRidge software and its capabilities, visit the company’s web site at www.nridge.com.
About SofTech, Inc.
SofTech, Inc. (OTCBB: SOFT) provides design-through-manufacturing productivity solutions with its computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and product data management (PDM) products including CADRA®, DesignGateway™, Prospector™, and ProductCenter™ (through SofTech’s Workgroup Technology Division). SofTech’s solutions optimize product lifecycle management at the lowest cost by fostering innovation, extended enterprise collaboration, product quality improvements, and compressed time-to-market cycles.
SofTech has more than 100,000 users benefiting from its solutions, including Boeing, FlightSafety International, General Electric Company, Goodrich Turbine Fuel Technologies, Honeywell, Millipore Corporation, Siemens, Sikorsky Aircraft, U.S. Army, and Whirlpool Corporation.
Headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, SofTech (www.softech.com) has locations and distribution partners throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
SofTech, CADRA, DesignGateway, ProductCenter and Prospector are trademarks or registered trademarks of SofTech, Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries. SofTech is a trademark of SofTech, Inc. All other brands, logos, products or company names are the copyrights and/or trademarks of their respective holders.
