Project Background

China Mobile Internet of Things Co., Ltd. (CMCC IoT) is a wholly-owned subsidiary established by China Mobile Communications Group. In alignment with China Mobile’s overarching strategic layout, CMCC IoT specializes in operating dedicated IoT networks, developing and operating the IoT connectivity management platform OneLink and the IoT application enablement platform OneNET, designing and manufacturing IoT-specific modules and chips, and delivering industry-focused terminal solutions—including smart networking, smart security, smart home, and smart wearable devices. The company has established a comprehensive “Cloud-Pipe-Device-Edge” IoT architecture and built a business portfolio spanning five key strategic directions.To provide society with higher-quality IoT technologies, products, and services—and to drive industrial development—CMCC IoT works closely with China Mobile’s provincial subsidiaries and specialized units. Guided by an open, collaborative, and shared development philosophy, the company actively engages in extensive partnerships with both domestic and international enterprises. Operating independently under market-oriented mechanisms, CMCC IoT strives to become a leading IoT enterprise rooted in China while serving global markets, accelerating large-scale IoT adoption across industries.

Project Objectives

Through the implementation of the SIPM/PLM project, the following objectives are to be achieved:

Requirements Management: Standardize requirements management based on actual business processes to meet the requirements of all teams.

Project Management: Implement standardized product development processes and other related business processes within project management modules; integrate defect management with requirements management for strong data correlation;

standardize the management of input, output, review, and other process documents (all files should be complete, well-organized, and easy to access) to ensure that each development process is recordable and traceable, thereby strengthening project management capabilities.

R&D Management: Achieve integrated R&D tool management, test case and result management, defect management (internal, external, etc.), and other core functionalities, ensuring interconnection among various sectors’ data.

Material and Supplier Management: Unify material coding systems and material management attributes, implementing a "single code throughout" system within the enterprise (spanning the entire business process), providing robust material management support for the in-depth promotion and application of production systems. Collaborate with supplier management sectors to achieve integration of supplier introduction, certification, qualification, and disqualification processes.

BOM Management: Establish a data model centered around BOMs, linking technical data from R&D outputs (including diagrams) with peripheral systems for seamless information exchange.

Product Design Management: Covering product categorization, component association, change management, design outputs and status management, as well as management of design drawings and documents (including technical and quality documentation).

Process Management: Gradually establish electronic notification, approval, and review mechanisms; enable approval, electronic signatures, and distribution of drawing files within the system to ensure document effectiveness and compliance.

Knowledge Management: Develop standards for lifecycle knowledge management using a knowledge base module to construct a support database for R&D (lessons learned, technical literature, patents, etc.) and a standard document module to build a standard library for R&D (national standards, corporate standards, etc.). Accelerate the visibility of knowledge assets through management measures guided by implementation.

Process Management: Achieve structured data construction of process routes through process analysis, while standardizing foundational process libraries (standard procedure libraries, equipment libraries, etc.), paving the way for the integration of upstream and downstream business system process data within the enterprise.

Peripheral Interfaces: Ensure SIPM provides complete data output from the automotive quality management system so it can be utilized by peripheral systems.

System Business Function Implementation

Through on-site research conducted during the blueprint design phase by the PLM project team—and by combining China Mobile IoT’s actual business requirements with SIPM’s extensive consulting experience—the SIPM team has developed a precise product R&D management model tailored specifically for China Mobile IoT.

Diagram of China Mobile IoT's Management Model

1. Requirements Management

By integrating the functionality of a third-party requirements management platform into the PLM system, the solution enables structured and standardized input management for requirement pools, usability suggestions, and supporting requirements. It also establishes downstream business associations (e.g., R&D projects and R&D tasks). The system automatically tracks the execution status of downstream activities and provides real-time feedback on requirement processing status, thereby enabling transparent, end-to-end platform-based management of requirement entry, feedback, and tracking.

2. Project Management

Project Template Management:Through implementation, R&D project types have been categorized and standardized. Specific project templates have been defined for different project categories:Class A: Corporate strategic planning projects；Classes B, C, and D: Projects driven by requirements, defects, and customer complaints, respectively。This standardization ensures controllable project execution and consistent, well-defined deliverables.

Multi-dimensional Project Monitoring Dashboard:Provides visual tracking tools for leaders at all levels of the company, enabling timely oversight of project progress and efficient resource allocation.

Project Dashboard

Statistical View

Review Management:A customized review management module has been implemented for key project milestone checkpoints. The entire review process—from initiation and workflow execution to conclusion and report generation—is managed online, significantly improving both review efficiency and quality.

Delivery Management:Previously, interactions with customers during R&D—such as document sharing and communication—were handled offline via email, which posed risks to data security and traceability. The PLM system now includes a tailored delivery management module that provides end-to-end control over the delivery process: from collecting deliverables and obtaining approvals, to automatically sending emails and enabling secure customer downloads. This enhances engineers’ productivity and reduces the risk of corporate data leakage.

Delivery Management Interface

Delivery Document Sending Interface

3. Product Design Management

Product Management:The SIPM/PLM system provides specialized CAD interfaces—including 2D CAD, 3D CAD, and ECAD (electronic CAD)—to integrate product data, significantly enhancing engineers’ design efficiency and data accuracy. Through product configuration list management, it enables cross-functional collaboration among mechanical, electronic, software, and packaging teams, ensuring unified management of their design outputs (including materials, BOMs, drawings, technical documentation, etc.).

Product Configuration List Management Interface

Product Data Query:To meet the diverse product data query needs of various roles, customized query views were developed during implementation, facilitating efficient data retrieval and aggregated analysis.

Product Data Aggregated Query

Material Certification Management:To meet product quality requirements, all materials used in the product structure must undergo quality testing and certification. The PLM system has been enhanced with a new material sample certification management module and associated certification workflows. Additionally, the system enforces a control rule that prevents the release of any production plan if all required material certifications are not completed.

Material Certification Interface

4. Production Plan Management

Before Implementation:After completing their designs, engineers from various disciplines manually compiled and uploaded output documents to a third-party production documentation publishing platform. Any changes required manual updates to the product BOM and change logs. The New Product Introduction (NPI) team was then responsible for releasing the information to manufacturing plants.

After Implementation:The PLG system now enables engineers to annotate release-ready documents directly within the platform. Once new or revised product documentation is archived, the NPI team automatically receives an email notification—accompanied by a system-generated alert highlighting the scope of impact on the production plan. Based on this notification, NPI can perform one-click publishing or version upgrades of the production plan.When product documentation is updated, the system automatically refreshes the detailed product BOM and generates a change record, which is then synchronized and published to the manufacturing plants.Through this implementation, end-to-end management of the entire production documentation workflow has been achieved—including automatic aggregation, publishing, and role-based access control for factory recipients.

Production Plan Interface Display

Production Plan Change Notification

Factory Production Plan Download

5. Test Management

The SIPM/PLM system integrates the functionality of a third-party test management platform to streamline testing activities. It supports the full testing workflow:Decomposition of test tasks→Task assignment→Collaborative test case execution (with view-based tracking by tester)→Test plan progress tracking and metrics calculation (including test plan completion rate, pass rate, and execution status of individual test cases)

Test Management Process

Test Management Interface

Test plans are tightly linked with defects, software versions, and projects, facilitating traceability of quality-related information.

6. Defect Management

The PLM defect management module establishes strong associations between defects and products, projects, software versions, customer complaint tickets, and test cases. Through workflow-driven controls, the entire defect lifecycle—including defect reporting, repair, and closure—is fully managed online, enabling transparent management and comprehensive data traceability.

Defect Management Interface

7. Customer Complaint Management

The PLM customer complaint management module enables end-to-end closed-loop management of the entire complaint handling process:Submission and approval of customer complaint requests
→ Creation of customer complaint work orders→Tracking of complaint resolution progress→Closure of complaint work orders。Structured data management of complaint work orders facilitates product quality analysis and supports performance evaluation of after-sales personnel.

Customer Complaint Request Management Interface

Customer Complaint Work Order Status and Handling Progress Interface

8. Software Product Management

As an integral component of the overall product, software is managed by China Mobile IoT’s software department using the PLM system’s software product module. This module supports the management of software products, software versions, and their corresponding release data, facilitating efficient iterative updates. Additionally, released software items are treated as materials and integrated into the product BOM structure.

Software Product Management Interface

9. Workflow Management

China Mobile IoT has leveraged PLM-based workflow management to standardize the co-signing, review, distribution, and archiving of corporate documents and business processes. This ensures effective process control, enhances cross-functional collaboration, reduces administrative time, improves work efficiency, and promotes standardized management. During the implementation phase, a total of 53 workflows were deployed across various business departments to support daily operations.

Workflow

During workflow execution, real-time querying and monitoring are supported, and the execution records serve as a data source for management improvement.

Workflow Monitoring

10. Change Management

All changes to materials, BOMs, drawings, and documents are centrally managed within the system, ensuring that document data is always up-to-date and valid in real time.

Standardized change processes for product data and documents have been implemented, enabling full traceability throughout the change lifecycle.

Project Change Management

BOM Change Management

11. Business Data Overview Dashboard

By standardizing and centrally managing the relationships and intrinsic business attributes of all objects within the PLM system, China Mobile IoT gains end-to-end visibility into the entire product development lifecycle. A dedicated executive dashboard interface was specifically designed during the implementation phase, fully demonstrating the strategic value of the PLM system.

Product Project Overview

R&D Task Breakdown Summary Chart

Requirements Management View

Defect Management View

Customer Complaint Management View

Material Certification and Supplier Management View

Production Custom Delivery View

Summary:

Through a five-month implementation, China Mobile IoT has integrated multiple system functionalities into the PLM platform, enabling comprehensive quality management across the entire product development value chain. The system is now operating stably, and business operations are progressing smoothly—clearly demonstrating the high scalability of SIPM/PLM. Additionally, the solution leverages both B/S (Browser/Server) and C/S (Client/Server) architectures to capitalize on their respective strengths, ensuring operational convenience across diverse business scenarios.