I-PROCESS is a general process workflow system which supports a wide range of engineering, manufacturing and administrative processes, and can be used to facilitate any collaborative process where document routing, signatures or tasks are required.

An excellent example of I-PROCESS in application is as a Design Control or Engineering Change Control System. In many industries, it is critical that manufacturers control their design processes to assure the visibility and traceability of all information and decisions.  This is important both for the efficiency of the product development process itself, as well as the ability for the manufacturer to satisfy industry regulatory requirements.

Such design control can be viewed as having both a content loop — the evolution of data that describes the design, and a process loop — defining in what order activities are conducted and capturing all decision points when the content is formally approved.  The process loop is captured and controlled using the WAMware I-PROCESS product... while content is accessible to the enterprise using our companion I-FIND product.

For most manufacturers, especially those of small to medium size, I-PROCESS will fully address the desired process improvements and compliance with industry regulations.  Large companies with an existing, extensive IT infrastructure can connect I-PROCESS with existing enterprise applications, such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), and customer relationship management (CRM) systems as well as perhaps with enterprise-level product data management (PDM).  I-PROCESS together with the eCenter product from the ECS WAMware Group provides the platform for such comprehensive enterprise integration.

View and print the I-PROCESS 1-page overview

View and print the white paper Design Control Solutions for Medical Device Manufacturers

View a Case Study Project for I-PROCESS -- solution defined, installed, configured and up-and-running in 5 days!

Testimonial Comments from I-PROCESS Customers

We are pleased with the improvement we have made as a result of our implementation of I-PROCESS.

Keith Neubauer, Product Engineering Manager, Williams Controls, Inc.

In less than 45 days after installation of I-PROCESS, we had already fully recouped our software investment. Our ROI comes primarily from cost reductions in order processing labor and a dramatic increase in accuracy of orders. Our sales team now refers to the software system as "I-can-do-PROCESS".

Dan Brunet, National Sales Manager, Vermax Inc.

Training for the I-PROCESS admin functions took less than a day. Training for end users takes a few hours at most. With I-PROCESS we're able to model our processes ourselves without any programming or database knowledge, all through a simple web interface. The ability for I-PROCESS to extract our parts and BOM information directly from our existing databases greatly simplified the implementation and requires no additional maintenance to keep the information up to date. While I-PROCESS is significantly less expensive than alternatives we looked at, the real savings come with the independence we now have to configure the software quickly and easily with our own staff.

L. Charles Force II, Plant Manager, Brazeway Mexico Facility, Brazeway Inc.

Without any programming, we defined our bid package process, installed and configured I-PROCESS, and had the solution up-and-running in 5 days! The elegant simplicity of I-PROCESS has been key to the rapid and eager user acceptance of our process automation project. Update:  In less than 45 days after installation of I-PROCESS, we had already recouped our software investment.  Our ROI comes primarily from cost reductions in order processing labor and a dramatic increase in accuracy of orders.

Rodney Pack, IT Specialist, Vermax Inc.

We switched in April2002 from a paper-based engineering change (EC) system to an electronic EC system.  We have a user base of about 50 users so we weren't looking to go full blown PDM like Metaphase, Agile, etc.  We couldn't justify the expense and maintenance effort of such a system. We went with I-PROCESS from WAMware.  It's a web-based EC system that we use for routing and approving changes to all kinds of documents; drawings, specs, policies, etc.  We can attach any electronic file in an "As-Is" and "To-Be" condition so the users can see them side by side.  We use I-PROCESS in conjunction with I-FIND (also from WAMware) which creates PDF's of our CAD drawings, so that non-CAD users can still view the drawings. The system is easily configured, simple to use, and very stable.

Corey Hinman, Senior Engineering Systems Specialist, Brazeway Inc.

Process stages for an Engineering Change Order, with progress bars indicating completion status.

Each stage in the process can be either an ‘action’ (e.g. create, implement) or ‘approval’ step.  It is of course critical that the design control system automatically capture the fact that certain actions were conducted and that certain individuals approved the action and its related data content.  Likewise, managers and executives can engage in the process and stay on top of progress conveniently from their web browser.

Task status within the Board Review and Implement stages of the ECO process.

In general, each action step can have connected with it certain data content in the form of ‘related’ and ‘affected’ documents.  Affected documents represent elements of the design itself (e.g. released drawings or 3D models) that are impacted or altered by the action.  Related documents capture all supporting materials such as specifications, cost estimates, simulation models, test results, and inspection procedures.  Any of these documents can of course be directly launched in their native application by simply clicking on the file name.

Design Content: Related Documents that retain design and ECO details.

Of key importance to manufacturers is that I-PROCESS:

	is a “thin” tool that places minimal requirements on the computing environment, with project managers and administrators as well as end users requiring only a standard web browser,
	captures process and design information that directly supports the design control requirements,
	is flexible in its ability to fit and adapt to company- and industry-specific procedures — yet can be implemented rapidly.

The functionality and flexibility of the I-PROCESS product extends beyond just the initial implementation and allows active processes to evolve during project execution to fully capture realities of the ‘as-designed’, 'as-built' and 'as-processed' product.

Process Evolution: Project managers can easily edit or add process steps and capture as part of the design history file.

 

Packaging and Pricing

I-PROCESS is provided on a server-license basis without limits on the number of users that can access the system from a given server.  All users (project managers, administrators, end users) require only a standard web browser to access the full capabilities of the system.  Contact us to learn about the attractive pricing and investment returns with I-PROCESS.

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Simply click on the I'm Interested button below and we'll contact you to provide more information, provide a web-based demonstration, and propose an I-PROCESS solution that fits your company.

Year 2000 Compliance

WAMware is a registered trademark of WAMware Ltd.; I-PROCESS, I-FIND and BOM Broker trademarks of WAMware Engineering Solutions LLC;  and ECS a trademark of ECS GmbH.  All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective holders.