Leveraging Google Cloud Search to Provide a 360 Degree View to Product Information Existing in PTC® Windchill® and other Data Systems

Most organizations have silos of content spread out amongst databases, file shares, and one or more document management systems. Without a unified search system to tap into this information, knowledge often remains hidden and the assets employees create cannot be used to support design, manufacturing, or research objectives.

An enterprise search system that can connect these disparate content stores and provide a single search experience for users can help organizations increase operational efficiencies, enhance knowledge sharing, and ensure compliance. PTC Windchill provides a primary source for the digital product thread, but organizations often have other key systems storing valuable information. That is why it is critical to provide workers with access to associated information regardless of where it is stored.

This past August, Fishbowl released its PTC Windchill Connector for Google Cloud Search. Fishbowl developed the connector for companies needing a search solution that allows them to spend less time searching for existing information and more time developing new products and ideas. These companies need a centralized way to search their key engineering information stores, like PLM (in this case Windchill), ERP, quality database, and other legacy data systems. Google Cloud Search is Google’s next generation, cloud-based enterprise search platform from which customers can search large data sets both on-premise and in the cloud while taking advantage of Google’s world-class relevancy algorithms and search experience capabilities.

Connecting PTC Windchill and Google Cloud Search

Through Google Cloud Search, Google provides the power and reach of Google search to the enterprise. Fishbowl’s PTC Windchill Connector for Google Cloud Search provides customers with the ability to leverage Google’s industry-leading technology to search PTC Windchill for Documents, CAD files, Enterprise Parts, Promotion Requests, Change Requests, and Change Notices. The PTC Windchill Connector for Google Cloud Search assigns security to all items indexed through the connector based on the default ACL configuration specified in the connector configuration. The connector allows customers to take full advantage of additional search features provided by Google Cloud Search including Facets and Spelling Suggestions just as you would expect from a Google solution.

To read the rest of this blog post and see an architecture diagram showing how Fishbowl connects Google Cloud Search with PTC Windchill, please visit the PTC LiveWorx 2019 blog.