Online Spare Parts Catalog for Your Customers

The challenges in spare parts sales are diverse. One key issue is the high level of manual effort required to maintain spare parts catalogs. Updating data manually is time-consuming and prone to errors, which can lead to inaccurate information and potentially to delays in delivery.

Another problem is that CAD models are often not transferred from the engineering department to the spare parts catalogs. This leads to inconsistencies and makes it much more difficult to identify and order spare parts.

In addition, many companies still rely on outdated media for spare parts sales. The use of modern technologies such as digital catalogs and online platforms can not only improve user-friendliness, but also facilitate access to information. By implementing these technologies, companies can support their customers more effectively and make spare parts sales more efficient.

With Cideon Sparify, your CAD models from the engineering department are reused and made available to your customers in an appealing way. In addition, all required metadata from the PDM system is provided so that your customer can clearly identify the required spare part. Your customer can place the spare part in a shopping cart online and then send a request to you.

Cideon Sparify simplifies spare parts management for you and your customers.

Your customers can order clearly labeled and distinctive spare parts via our application. The optimal user experience saves your customers time and minimizes incorrect orders. Customer loyalty is strengthened.

The digital spare parts viewer is filled by simply uploading your existing data and 3D models. In order to be able to upload your data and models to the application, an interface to your PDM system, ideally Autodesk Vault, is created. All information on spare parts is maintained there. This creates a standardized data source and reduces the maintenance effort.

Cideon Sparify is based on the Autodesk Platform Services (APS). APS is a collection of cloud-based services for agile product development. The cloud solution combines a variety of APIs and services that can be used to develop, adapt and extend individual applications. Above all, the Autodesk Platform Services offer a basic framework on which software developers can create their own applications.

This is how Cideon Sparify was created. The Viewer API of Autodesk Platform Services was used as a basic framework. We used this interface to develop our spare parts viewer, having previously worked with the interface in customer projects and experienced positive results.

The end user of the solution only needs an internet-enabled device, an up-to-date internet browser and a mail client to submit an offer request. The supplier of the spare parts obviously needs the corresponding CAD model in its original or neutral format and the spare part data, such as spare part identifiers and other descriptive data. This can be stored in a PDM system, such as Autodesk Vault Professional 2023 or more recent versions. However, we also support many other systems as part of a customer solution. An identity provider in accordance with the OpenID Connect standard is also required - the most common solution is an MS Entra Active Directory.

When developing our standardized software solution, we already took customer-specific requirements into account. In most cases, Cideon Sparify can be used right after a simple configuration. If you have special requirements, our consultants will be happy to propose an extension.

The exploded view in the 3D viewer only displays the data that is necessary for the clear identification of the spare part. During development, we have taken all possible measures to protect your know-how in Cideon Sparify, so the uploaded models are deleted again after a conversion process. Of course, you can also use simplified models that you have prepared using your CAD technology.

Yes, this is generally possible. In addition to CAD and PDM data, Cideon Sparify can also be filled with metadata from other systems.

Yes, Cideon Sparify can be configured for different languages. By default, the languages German and English are available. It is also possible to use multilingual spare parts data.

Cideon Sparify is filled with your CAD data and metadata. Once you have made changes, the upload to Cideon Sparify can be started again at any time to update the data. The upload can also be integrated into an automatic process as part of a customer solution.

Firstly, the security of Cideon Sparify is guaranteed by the identity provider in accordance with the OpenID Connect standard. The solution is based on Autodesk Platform Services with the corresponding data conversion in the background. The data is hosted via the Microsoft Azure cloud computing platform.

You do not necessarily need a PDM/PLM system to use Cideon Sparify. The data can also be provided from other sources, e.g. Windows Explorer.

Any source can be used to visualize your 3D CAD models with the spare parts information. These include PDM/PLM systems, ERP systems, but also Excel lists.

Our experience with Cideon Sparify has been consistently positive, even with large assemblies. You are welcome to test this yourself with a test account.

Cideon Sparify currently exclusively supports the visualization of 3D assemblies. In this way, we provide your customers with an optimal display for the identification of spare parts and a high level of security in the ordering process. However, 2D drawings can still be used alongside this.

We offer our standardized software solution Cideon Sparify as "Software as a Service" (SaaS). We will be happy to provide you with the current monthly fee for this service on request.