Who is this guide for?
You lead R&D, Product Development, Quality, or Regulatory at a food and beverage company. You know your current systems — spreadsheets, shared drives, disconnected databases — are holding your team back. You’re evaluating PLM and asking the right questions:
- How long will this actually take?
- What does my team need to commit?
- When do we start seeing results?
- How is this different from our last ERP implementation?
This guide is the planning companion. It covers what you prepare, who you commit, and what you decide before the first implementation conversation. For the timeline itself — how long each scope takes, what happens in the five delivery stages, and what slows implementations down — see the companion article below.
Looking for the timeline? How long a food and beverage PLM implementation takes, the five delivery stages, the first 90 days, and what causes delays — all covered in full in our blog here.
How do you use this guide?
Four sections, four jobs. The business case is what you take to your executive sponsor. The commitment section is what you agree with your team before you sign. Data migration is the workstream that most often moves the date, so it gets its own plan. The readiness checklist is the document you bring to your first vendor conversation.
What goes into each phase?
Phase 1 — Foundation: Projects, ingredients, packaging, formulas, finished products. Regulatory compliance is often included in Phase 1, though some organizations move it to Phase 2. The rules it has to satisfy sit outside the platform — EU Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers, the Codex Alimentarius standards on nutrition and labelling, and in the US the FDA Food Traceability Final Rule.
Phase 2 — Expansion: Supplier collaboration, test management, quality management. These build on the foundation established in Phase 1.
The phased structure means your team starts seeing value before the entire system is live.
KEY TAKEAWAYPhase one is the value milestone. Build the business case around it, not around final rollout. |
What is the business case for executive sponsors?
PLM is a business platform, not an IT installation. Three things decide whether the investment returns value at enterprise scale.
Integration footprint. Trace One runs 200+ integration endpoints connecting PLM to ERP, CRM, LIMS, and other enterprise systems. 72 active customers have PLM integrated into their IT ecosystem.
Governance ownership. The earlier business teams take ownership of processes, governance, and adoption, the faster the organization realizes value.
Phased value. Multi-business-unit and global programs are delivered in phases. Value starts at the end of phase one, not at final rollout.
KEY TAKEAWAYPLM is a business platform, not an IT installation. Integration reach and governance ownership decide the return. |
What does your team need to commit?
PLM implementation requires real involvement from your organization — but it’s structured to ramp up and down by phase, not consume your team for the entire duration.
How much time does each role commit?
| Stakeholder | Initiation | Implementation | Closure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Sponsors | 50% | 20% | 10% |
| Project Manager | 75% | 50% | 50% |
| Business Team (R&D, Reg, QA) | 50% | 50% | 30% |
| IT Team | 50% | 30% | 30% |
Who needs to be in the room?
Subject matter experts from R&D, Regulatory, Quality, Supply Chain, and IT are involved during design and validation stages. A broader audience participates during user acceptance testing before rollout.
How does training work?
Model: Train-the-trainer. Your key users are trained on the end-to-end PLM process — from raw material sourcing through product commercialization. They then train end users across departments.
Format: On-site or remote sessions, ranging from half a day to multiple days per workstream.
Bonus: Conference Room Pilots double as hands-on training, so your key users build familiarity with the system through real scenarios before go-live.
KEY TAKEAWAYThe project manager is the constraint. Without 75% availability at initiation, the timeline moves. |
How do you plan data migration?
Data migration is one of the most underestimated workstreams. Here’s what to plan for:No big-bang data loads required. The platform is designed for iterative, incremental data loading — avoiding the risks and rigidity of large one-off imports. A “create or update” model supports repeated test cycles, complex cutover strategies, and phased go-lives across brands or business units.
Strategy is defined early. The data import strategy is addressed during the Global Design phase, with joint analysis of technical prerequisites, business processes, and deployment scenarios.
Template-driven imports. Predefined import templates are mapped to specific data entities (raw materials, recipes, formulations, vendors), ensuring consistency and repeatability. Where product data is also published to retail trading partners, those structures need to align with GS1 Global Data Synchronisation Network standards.
Clear responsibility model. Your team owns data transformation, cleansing, and quality control. The implementation team owns accurate execution of the import process and guaranteed loading of validated data.
KEY TAKEAWAYMigration is incremental and template-driven. You own data quality. We own the load. |
What do you prepare, and when?
Ownership is explicit throughout the program. This is what sits on your side, and where.
| Stage | What to have ready | Owner |
|---|---|---|
| Before kickoff | Name the internal project manager and confirm 75% availability for initiation. | You |
| Before kickoff | Confirm the executive sponsor and their 50% commitment through initiation. | You |
| Before kickoff | Identify SMEs from R&D, Regulatory, Quality, Supply Chain, and IT. | You |
| Before kickoff | List the enterprise systems PLM will integrate with. | You |
| Before kickoff | Define which business units and sites are in scope for phase one. | You |
| Blueprint and design | Locate product data across current systems and assess its condition. | You |
| Blueprint and design | Agree the data import strategy, technical prerequisites, and deployment scenarios. | Joint |
| Blueprint and design | Decide whether regulatory compliance sits in phase one or phase two. | Joint |
| Configuration | Own data transformation, cleansing, and quality control. | You |
| Configuration | Execute and guarantee loading of validated data. | Trace One |
| Validation | Release key users for train-the-trainer sessions and Conference Room Pilots. | You |
| After go-live | Run the user onboarding strategy and the end-user feedback loop. | You |
Are you ready for a PLM implementation?
Bring this to your first vendor conversation. Organizations that can answer these questions run shorter, cleaner selection processes.
| ☐ | Question |
|---|---|
| ☐ | What is the specific business problem we need PLM to solve first? |
| ☐ | Who will serve as our internal project manager with 50–75% availability during initiation? |
| ☐ | Which SMEs from R&D, Regulatory, Quality, Supply Chain, and IT can commit to design and validation? |
| ☐ | Where does our product data live today, and how clean is it? |
| ☐ | What ERP or other enterprise systems will PLM need to integrate with? |
| ☐ | How many sites or business units are in scope for phase one, and for subsequent rollouts? |
| ☐ | Are we willing to adapt our processes to industry best practices, or do we need to replicate existing workflows? |
| ☐ | What does success look like at 6 months—not just at go-live? |
| ☐ | Do we have executive sponsorship committed through the full implementation timeline? |
| ☐ | Have we planned for post-go-live adoption support and end-user feedback? |
| ☐ | Do we have a user onboarding strategy in place after rollout to production? |
| ☐ | Is our team prepared to take ownership of processes and governance, not just the technology? |
Why do food and beverage companies choose Trace One?
| By the numbers | Details |
|---|---|
| 150+ | Implementation experts dedicated to understanding your challenges and delivering tailored solutions. |
| 100+ | Projects successfully delivered on time and within budget, supported by client partnerships exceeding 10 years. |
| 30+ | Years of proven industry experience across Food & Beverage, Chemicals, and Cosmetics. |
| 72 | Active customers with PLM seamlessly integrated into their IT ecosystem. |
| 200+ | Running integration endpoints connecting PLM to ERP, CRM, LIMS, and other enterprise systems. |
Trace One Devex PLM comes with preconfigured templates tailored to your industry — including master data, formulation and compliance tools, workflows, security profiles, and documentation — so your team starts on a platform built on proven best practices, not a blank canvas.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much of my team’s time will a PLM implementation take?
Commitment moves by stage rather than running flat. The internal project manager carries the heaviest load at roughly 75% during initiation, easing to 50% afterwards. Executive sponsors commit around 50% at initiation and 20% during implementation. The business team stays near 50% through both. IT sits at 50% at initiation and 30% thereafter.
Who needs to be involved beyond the project manager?
Subject matter experts from R&D, Regulatory, Quality, Supply Chain, and IT participate through design and validation. A wider group joins for user acceptance testing before rollout. Key users are trained first and then train their departments under a train-the-trainer model.
Does our product data need to be clean before we start?
No. Data condition affects the timeline, but a full cleanup is not a prerequisite. Loading is iterative and template-driven, built on a create-or-update model that supports repeated test cycles and phased go-lives. Your team owns transformation, cleansing, and quality control; the implementation team owns accurate execution of the load.
Should regulatory compliance be in phase one or phase two?
Most food and beverage organizations keep it in phase one. Including it adds scope up front but removes a second change cycle later. The decision is made jointly during blueprint and design.
What should we decide before talking to a vendor?
Which business problem PLM solves first, who the internal project manager is and whether their time is available, which enterprise systems PLM integrates with, how many sites or business units are in scope for phase one, and whether the organization is prepared to adapt processes to proven practice. The readiness checklist above covers the full list.
What does success look like at six months?
Product data, specifications, and change history centrally governed and traceable, with evidence retrieval replacing document chasing in regulatory and quality work. Consistent audit-readiness across a wider organization takes longer and depends on data quality, scope, integrations, and adoption.
Ready to plan your implementation?
This guide gives you the framework. The next step is mapping it to your organization’s specific needs — your data landscape, your integration requirements, your team’s capacity, and your timeline.
Let’s Get in Touch
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