How to inventory your data across ERP, MES, QMS and CMMS

The inventory template, one row per system#

The inventory template uses one row per system, including retired systems and the spreadsheets that stand in for missing modules. Every row answers the same seven questions, which keeps even a sprawling plant on a single sheet and makes gaps obvious.

The example entries below are typical starting points to replace with your own answers. Where nobody knows, write unknown; an honest gap is cheaper than a wrong guess about history depth.

Step by step: running the inventory#

Running the inventory is a sequence of short conversations followed by a few counts, and nobody exports record content along the way. The order below starts with the people who know where decisions get recorded.

• 1Step 1: list every system, including retired ones and spreadsheets that replace a missing module.
• 2Step 2: interview each system owner using the seven columns, writing unknown where nobody knows.
• 3Step 3: have IT run record counts by year for the main record types in each system.
• 4Step 4: test the keys between systems with counts, such as how many NCRs carry a valid job number.
• 5Step 5: set rights flags with the quality manager, the controller and counsel.
• 6Step 6: mark each row keep, review or exclude, and date the sheet.

How to measure years held without fooling yourself#

Years held should measure history you can still open, query and export, not the age of the company or the date a module was bought. The two often differ by a migration or two.

Ask three questions for each system. When did the current system go live, and what history came across? Has a purge, an archiving job or a retention setting removed older records? Is the previous system still installed, backed up and openable, and who holds its license?

Historians and MES platforms need special care. Many keep full-resolution data for a limited period and compress or delete older data according to settings someone chose at installation. Record those settings in the row, because they decide whether older sensor history exists at all.

Which keys connect ERP, MES, QMS and CMMS?#

The keys that connect a plant's systems are the job or work order number, the part number and revision, the lot or serial number and the asset ID. Records that share these keys can be joined into a chain from order to outcome; records that lost them stand alone.

Test each key with counts rather than files. If nearly every NCR carries a valid job number, quality history connects to production; if few do, the inventory should say so plainly.

Rights flags to set on every row#

Rights flags mark anything in a row that could limit how its records are used or shared, and they belong in the first draft. A flag is not a decision; it tells the reviewer where to look.

• 1Customer-owned design: drawings, models, specifications or inspection plans supplied by customers, often stored as attachments.
• 2Export-controlled: parts, programs or technical data your compliance lead has classified, plus anything nobody is sure about.
• 3Personal data: operator names, badge IDs, technician notes and email addresses in comments.
• 4Confidential commercial terms: customer pricing, quality agreements and supplier cost data.
• 5Vendor terms: software or equipment maker terms that limit export or claim rights in data.
• 6Third-party documents: supplier certifications, outside lab reports and contractor service reports.

Illustrative: a metal stamping supplier maps four systems#

Illustrative: a fictional metal stamping company that supplies brackets and welded assemblies to appliance and truck makers runs a cloud ERP, an MES on its press lines, a QMS for NCRs and PPAP files, and a standalone CMMS. Its COO wants to know what the plant holds before an ERP upgrade.

The inventory shows that NCRs link to jobs reliably, but the CMMS names presses by location while the MES uses numbered machine IDs, so downtime and repairs cannot be joined. A maintenance planner's spreadsheet maps one to the other and becomes the crosswalk. Customer-owned die drawings sit as ERP attachments and are flagged.

The COO marks NCRs, press downtime and maintenance work orders as keep, marks PPAP files as review because they contain customer specifications, and asks IT to preserve the old ERP database before the upgrade starts.

Mistakes that make an inventory useless#

The most damaging inventory mistake is turning it into an export project. Once people start pulling samples, the work slows, sensitive files spread across laptops, and the questions that matter most, about keys and rights, get skipped.

Other mistakes are listing record families without the system they live in, recording years since founding instead of years held, leaving retired systems off because nobody logs in anymore, and treating spreadsheets as noise. A schedule board kept by one planner may be the only record of how the plant handled changes.

How SourceX uses a system inventory#

SourceX reads a system inventory as the starting point for a metadata-only fit check, and nothing is shared during that initial assessment. Rows carrying customer-design or export-control flags are set aside, and the rest are weighed with the SourceX Enterprise Data Value Framework, including uniqueness, human-generated signal, recency, data cleanliness and rights.

Systems that clear the fit check move through the SourceX five-step transaction of Supply, Rights, Preparation, Approval and Delivery, with the manufacturer signing off at each step. Large histories, such as historian archives, stay in the manufacturer's own storage or ship on encrypted drives.