Among other things, our company provides services for the standards-compliant testing of materials in the automotive industry. We are looking for a suitable software solution for comprehensive, straightforward capacity planning and forecasting to enable us to capture, calculate, and display relevant data, such as complex testing processes and the associated capacity requirements for testing equipment.
The software should meet the following requirements:
MUST criteria
- Simple, redundancy-free input and output of data (groups) such as:
- Locations (laboratories/facilities, partner laboratories)
- OEM delivery specifications
- Standards
- (Collective) methods
- Method classification based on laboratory certification/accreditation
- Test systems / equipment
- Vehicle(s), modules, assemblies, components, materials
- etc.
- Mapping of document (e.g., standard) issue date and additional information indicating whether it is a new creation, modification, extension, or deletion
- as well as fields in all areas for special information, descriptions, and comments
- Ability to establish and display “intelligent” relationships between this data, if necessary also graphically in/via e.g., Gantt charts, network diagrams
- Simple query options for desired data combinations (if necessary, pre-selected options, such as by country, company, test systems, time, …)
- Backup of the database and the frontend and backend (manually via a button option and optionally with a reminder function, especially for major changes)
- Categorization of standards, methods, etc., e.g.
- according to method classifications (A, B, C) as mentioned above/
- optionally according to test type (flame, UV, mechanical material testing, etc.)
- optionally by internal service areas and test stations (=work area)
- optionally by material types (plastics [PU, PP, etc.], wood, leather, textiles [natural and synthetic fibers, etc.], composite materials, etc.)
- Assignment and display of how much time is required per testing device/system for a specific material or component, given its characteristics and the method(s) used
- NOTE: Methods are often divided into several work steps, to which testing devices and times are in turn assigned
- Output/export of all views/data should be possible in common formats (Excel, PDF, print, and email if applicable)
- Import of Excel files
WISH-LIST criteria
- History of when, who, and what was changed or newly entered (in some cases, display this directly) and, if applicable, the option to provide a reason for the changes
- Automatic updating of calculations and, in some cases, output of clear graphics:
- such as described earlier regarding the relationship structure
- show how much capacity of a test device would be required and, if applicable, how much (optionally also where) is available = capacity coverage
- how many of the total (filtered) methods are accredited at a laboratory and, respectively, what is the status of the methods’ implementation
- values in absolute and/or relative terms
- Linking of vehicle modules to standards and delivery conditions based on aggregate queries or, if necessary, separately possible, and the option to implement images of the modules, etc.
- Optional (may be tracked in another tool) Breakdown of laboratory method implementation into multiple steps with planned and actual dates, and display of status (e.g., sorted by method) showing the difference between planned and actual, as well as display/tracking of planned status as a to-do list with due dates (sorted by date)
- Output can also be filtered and displayed graphically (with charts)
- Tool access only with username and password
- Optional (if more users are added later): User profiles with different access rights (read, write, both, delete, all [front-end and back-end]) or: generally open each level in read-only mode and only enable editing via a button and, if necessary, a password
- Lock data in the search/output screen to prevent accidental changes
- Web-based if necessary, so that management can access it from any location, including other workstations and devices (tablet)
- Screens and user interface customizable without significant programming effort or knowledge
- Software/tool preferably open source
- At least bilingual (German and English) if possible
All requirements summarized briefly:
- Data entry (input forms, Excel) (text, numbers, images)
- Data grouping
- (Multiple) categorization
- (Multiple) linking / relationships
- Time assignment
- Calculation (capacity)
- Output / Query / Display (tabular, graphical [dashboard, charts], Excel, PDF)
- Backup
- Change history
- Simple change protection
- Web-based if applicable
For top management, including assistants, 2–3 software workstations are planned for the time being.