Aras On-Line RFP - General

Question	Response
What is the Aras Innovator Suite and what does it do?	The Aras Innovator Suite is an Enterprise Software. The Aras Innovator Engine is the common foundation, upon which Engineering Business Solutions are developed and deployed as Modules. The Aras Innovator™ Suite delivers six integrated modules that provide manufacturing enterprises with a comprehensive set of Engineering Business Solutions for managing information across the product lifecycle.
What happens if my needs change?	Aras Innovator changes with your needs. Aras Innovator is designed to be flexible and grow with your needs, and utilizes a revolutionary deployment methodology. All of Aras Innovator's functionality is structured for incremental deployment, and your business priorities determine the scope and pace of implementation. Systems are easily modified which significantly reduces the amount of work required before rolling out your solution because changes to the running production system are made in moments.
What method would be used for project team members to access the system?	Internal users will access the Innovator server via their Web Browser (Internet Explorer)\|
What method would be used for suppliers and outsourced manufacturers to access the system?	External users and suppliers will access the Aras Innovator with Internet Explorer connecting to the server through either a secure Reverse-Proxy Server connection or a VPN connection.
What methods could be used to alert people of status changes, actions required etc.?	Assignment of action items, workflow activities, and overdue tasks is made through both email (supporting any SMTP compliant email system such as Exchange) and through an In-Basket within Aras Innovator. Users who do not have access to an Email account will be able to logon to Aras Innovator and view a real-time task list.
Do you support automated actions? Based on what criteria?	Aras Innovator is able to automate certain actions such as preparing and sending data to an ERP system, automating the check-in of files released from a PDM system, or distributing a report. These automations are called “Methods” and they are triggered by “Events” on either the server or the client. Aras Innovator has a robust set of Events that the administrator can use as triggers for business process automations, including: approval of a document, modification of data, completion of a project assignment, or the receipt of a SOAP message from an external system.
What are the requirements for running your system?	Aras Innovator is a .NET based Web application. A Microsoft based server, network and a Microsoft based PC workstation or laptop running Internet Explorer are required. See the Technical Specification
Provide a numbering tracking system for corporate and site documents (policies, procedures and test methods).	Fully compliant. Innovator has automatically assigned document sequence numbers dependent on document type or classification.
Software must be a global system capable of being accessible through an Internet web browser.	Fully compliant. Innovator has been developed from the beginning as a web based enterprise application. It is accessed thru Internet Explorer, with no local software needing to be installed on the client.
Have the ability to provide external view to suppliers and contract manufacturers.	Fully compliant. This will be based on the permissions that are provided to external users. All Innovator transactions are XML/SOAP messages between client and server, using HTTP or HTTPS. Any standard technique for allowing remote access to a web site (VPN, tunneling, reverse-proxy servers) can be used to allow supplier logons.
The software must have a powerful data base with extensive search capabilities using key words or phrases.	Fully compliant. Innovator is a .NET application using SQL Server for persistent data store. Queries can then extract required data.
Software must be user friendly (easy to use) and not require a lot of formal training. It should have dashboards, icons, drop down menus and other visual tools to help navigate through the system. An on-line tutorial would also be beneficial.	Fully compliant. This is best observed during a demonstration.