What Is the Cost of STAEDEAN's PLM-ERP Integration for Dynamics 365?

Integrating your PLM and ERP systems is crucial to ensure the right products are being manufactured exactly as you envision.

A key factor in evaluating the right PLM-ERP integration solution for your company would be the cost associated with it, so you can determine which solution is worth investing in.

With over 19 years of experience, at STAEDEAN we have been integrating PLM systems with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Supply Chain Management (F&SCM) as well as the previous Dynamics AX versions.

In this article, we’ll discuss the cost of our PLM integration with Dynamics 365 F&SCM as the ERP, the pricing factors, and what you will gain, should you choose our solution.

So, how much does our PLM-ERP integration cost?

Well, to be honest, it depends. As vague as it sounds, the final price of the software is subject to changes depending on multiple factors. However, we’ll be discussing ballpark figures for the investment required so that you have an overview of what our solution costs.

What is the cost of our PLM-ERP integration solution?

Broadly speaking, the costs of our PLM-ERP integration are divided into two categories:

1. Software licenses

2. Software services

1. Cost of integration software licenses

We offer intuitive, configurable PLM integrations with Dynamics 365 ERP. The licensing cost for our PLM-ERP integration solution is based on the size of your company. It includes a base price, and to define the size of your company, we take the number of users you require for your business as a calculation unit.  

The base price of our solution is €1000 per month and includes a certain number of support tickets. For calculating the license cost related to the size of your company, we calculate the price for the first 50 user licenses at €20 per user per month. The price for 51 users and beyond is €10 per user per month.

Please note that the minimum number of licenses for Dynamics 365 F&SCM is 20 users.

Let's see an example of how to calculate the pricing for a manufacturing company that requires 56 user licenses. You must add the base price with the pricing for the first 50 users and the pricing for the remaining 6 users: 

€1000 + (50 x €20) + (6 x €10) = €2060 per month

To get the pricing of the PLM-ERP integration software license in USD, carry out a conversion based on the current exchange rate. 

The PLM-ERP integration software license fee includes:

i) Software usage rights: The license gives you the right to use the PLM-ERP integration solution. You can read about the benefits of our PLM-ERP integration for Dynamics 365.

ii) Standard support: This support package provides our customers with easy access to our support portals, internal knowledge hub, and a minimum support level. We also offer additional support services; contact us to find out more about them.

iii) Software updates: At STAEDEAN, we comply with the Microsoft Dynamics 365 release policy. Software errors, if any, are identified and fixed with the subsequent releases of the integration software.

2. Cost of integration software services

The software consulting services include installation, implementation, and training. On average, the services cost anywhere between €4,000 to €14,000 with an estimated duration between 3 days and 2 weeks.

However, the price and implementation time could vary depending on several factors based on the scope of work defined by the customer and the implementation partner.

The software services fee can include:

• A one-day workshop on the solution
• Training on how the integration works with a ‘train the trainers’ model
• Education on the engineering process and software solution
• Hands-on support for the technical activities of the software implementation

What is the implementation time for our PLM-ERP integration?

We offer standard out-of-the-box PLM-ERP integrations for the PLM systems PTC Windchill and Siemens Teamcenter with Dynamics 365 ERP. The implementation duration for such standard integrations is 3 to 4 days.

We also provide configurable integrations for other PLM systems such as 3DX Dassault, Autodesk, Ansys, and other PDM or CAD systems. The implementation duration for non-standard integrations begins at 6 to 7 days.

That’s talking numbers. But how do you know what these price ranges are dependent on? As mentioned previously, the cost of the PLM-ERP integration solution is influenced by several factors, which we have discussed below.

What factors influence the price of software services?

i) PLM output format: Some PLM systems do not have a standard output mechanism in a defined format such as XML or Excel. In such cases an output mechanism must first be created to pick up the data from the PLM system, impacting the final cost.

ii) Bidirectional data flow: Most manufacturing companies require data to flow from PLM to ERP. However, some manufacturers also want data to flow from the ERP back to the PLM system. In such cases, an additional effort is required to allow a bidirectional data flow, thereby influencing the costs.

iii) Type of the PLM system: We offer standard integrations that easily support output formats for two PLM systems – PTC Windchill and Siemens Teamcenter. Since the PLM-ERP integration is available out-of-the-box, the data export is a quick process, therefore reducing associated costs.

For non-standard PLM-ERP integrations, we offer a ‘PLM integration framework’ which is easily adaptable and configurable to connect to PLM, PDM, or CAD systems. However, for such PLM systems, the file output format must be defined through certain data guidelines and should be provided by the customer or the implementation partner.

Since there is an additional step of defining and providing PLM data sets, you can expect it to influence the final price of the solution.

What are the indirect costs associated with PLM-ERP integration?

1. Dynamics platform in use

You must be using Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&SCM (or Dynamics AX) as an ERP system to use our PLM-ERP integration as we carry out PLM integrations with Dynamics 365 ERP. If you are interested in Dynamics 365 as an ERP, the ERP software license cost is applicable.

2. ECM in Dynamics 365

Engineering change management (ECM) is pivotal to integrating your PLM with Dynamics 365. A minimum deployment of ECM consisting of product engineering must be activated, which receives data from the PLM. This ECM setup can be taken care of by us at STAEDEAN or handled at your end through an implementation partner.

ECM activation for newly adopted Dynamics 365 F&SCM does not have additional license costs. However, if you are an existing user of Dynamics 365 F&SCM, but do not have ECM, ECM setup costs would be involved as it includes large amounts of siloed data to be migrated to ECM.

3. Internal costs to your company

With a new integration software in place, you can expect product data to change in your PLM and ERP systems. All the teams concerned — engineering, manufacturing, purchasing, distribution, etc. must follow the best practices and be trained on the change in the format and ownership of the product data.

In order to ensure successful integration, you may have minor costs around:

• Change management
• Education of the system to the end-users
• Cleaning up of the PLM database

Is a PLM-ERP integration for Dynamics 365 the right investment for you?

Now that you've understood the cost of our PLM-ERP integration software embedded in the Dynamics 365 F&SCM environment, and have an overview of the pricing factors, you will be better positioned to decide whether it is the right solution for your manufacturing business.

Buying a standard integration solution like ours can streamline your manufacturing processes in a quick and easy way without any hassles of designing, coding, maintenance, and associated costs.

The table below offers you a quick overview of the cost, time, and effort you’ll save on buying our standard integration over developing it.

It’s crucial you select a vendor with the right Microsoft experience and a strong track record of successful integrations, for a smooth implementation. STAEDEAN works closely with Microsoft and is an expert on the ECM component that’s now part of the standard Dynamics 365 F&SCM offering.

If you want a quick solution that ensures data quality while integrating your PLM and ERP systems, then our standard PLM-ERP integration might be just what you’re looking for.

Please note that the final integration solution costs depend on several factors. We recommend you get in touch with our sales experts to get more clarity on what the investment would look like for your manufacturing business.