The capability to efficiently manage product-variety is nowadays a critical success factor for many companies. However, existing models still lack a suitable support for mapping and analyzing variant productions. The paper contributes to this area with a comprehensive but practicable approach. Product families are defined through common attributes with differentiating characteristics. Product structures and process plans of variants belonging to the same product family are represented using generic "plan skeletons". It is shown how the approach can thereby reduce modeling efforts and enhance the clarity of the resulting model. Furthermore, linking such a model to a simulation allows for assigning performance indicators to the product family's attributes instead of many product variants. Variant-induced costs can thus be disclosed as additional costs compared to a base product for each characteristic.

Handling the complexity of Information Management (IM) is a very challenging issue-especially in global organizations. Such organizations consist of several entities with different strengths and weaknesses. They have to decide on common goals and agree on coordinated measures for improving their IM activities. However, many organizations lack the abilities to define and operationalize relevant goals. In addition, the complexity of existing measures makes it difficult for them to decide on those measures that are best suited for meeting their IM goals. This paper presents a methodology to structure goals and measures for improving IM. It starts on a strategic level and operationalizes both, goals and measures down to an application level. By considering human, organizational and technical aspects all relevant factors are included and interdependencies are highlighted. Organizations can benefit from the methodology since it supports the design of their IM activities and takes their specific strategies into consideration