MetaKON... Metaphase Pre-KONfigured... will dramatically shorten your PDM implementation time.  This document can serve as a pre-proposal to define a typical pilot project that will clearly illustrate, in your environment, the significant time and money benefits that result.

Our approach is to work with you to quickly define the initial "target" PDM implementation, conduct a "vertical slice" pilot project, and then rollout the implementation to the targeted users.  Typically, once you've rolled out the target implementation you will be a long way toward your ultimate full-coverage corporate implementation.

The time period for this target definition and pilot project can certainly vary by site, but our experience is that you can be up-and-running with production PDM within 1-2 calendar months.

This pilot/target approach has been applied to more than a dozen MetaKON implementations.  In the table below, the lower seat number reflects the current implementation status and the upper number represents the near-term target implementation. Most of these accounts began in the second half of 1997 and are now beginning the second "wave" of implementation.

Step 1 -- Define Target Implementation

Now we select a subset of the target users as our "vertical slice".  This might typically be:

	2 mechanical CAD data "authors"
	1 mechanical CAD "editor"
	1 office automation "author"
	1 manager "explorer"

A MetaKON implementation consultant will work on-site with your people to setup and conduct the pilot project, including such steps as:

	install Oracle, Metaphase, and MetaKON
	perform initial customization of the MetaKON configurations for company-specific nomenclature and work process
	train the system administrator
	train end users
	"release" the pilot implementation
	monitor results of pilot and adjust as appropriate

We will work with your people to prepare a report summarizing the results of the pilot project, and then participate in presenting this report to your management team.  In addition to results from the pilot project, this presentation will also provide specifics of the rollout to the target group, including:

	end user training required
	on-going system administration requirements
	required licenses for Metaphase and MetaKON

The objective of this management meeting is to get approval for rollout of the target implementation.

We provide the following cost estimates in the spirit of a pre-proposal.   We will be pleased to iterate this with you in order to prepare a formal proposal specific to your needs.

Note:  MetaKON pricing is heavily discounted as the number of users increase, with steps at 10, 20, and 50 users.  The pilot project of course does not reach these threholds... but for production implementations, we have normally seen that the license costs for MetaKON are roughly 50%-60% of the Metaphase/Oracle license costs... offset (and then some!) by the dramatic savings in implementation time.

Software Licenses for the Pilot:

Metaphase and Oracle Run Time	3 authors 1 editor 1 explorer	approx. $12,000
MetaKON	5 named users	approx.  $10,000

Implementation Services:

Implementation Consultant	approx. 1 person month	est $21,120
Travel/living costs within US	at cost	est. $ 3,000

Estimated Total Costs for the Pilot Project:  $46,120

Let's compare this pilot cost, to the production target implementation of Table 1, and to a corresponding Metaphase-from-scratch implementation:

MetaKON Pilot Project Metaphase/Oracle licenses MetaKON licenses Services Total   $12,000 $10,000 $24,120 $46,120 MetaKON Target Implementation (additional) Metaphase/Oracle licenses MetaKON licenses Services (training) Total   $100,000 $ 60,000 $ 15,000 $175,000     Metaphase-from-scratch    (source: Kalthoff Spring '98:        > 5x PDM license cost) >$560,000

WAMware is a registered trademark of WAMware Ltd.
Metaphase is a registered trademark of Metaphase Technology, Inc.