The Eplan Platform 2027, first unveiled at the Eplan Next26 event held in May, is now available. Users of the engineering software benefit from faster results across the different stages of the process: pre-planning, electrical engineering, and control cabinet design. Another major feature is the integration of Eplan Copilot into the software. This new AI assistant, now built into version 2027 of the platform, provides valuable support in everyday project work. In addition, the Eplan Platform is now even easier to integrate into existing IT environments.
Despite the more than five hundred improvements included in the new Eplan Platform 2027, they all share a common goal: making project work easier and speeding up engineering processes. One of the main innovations is the integration of Eplan Copilot into the new platform. This AI-based assistant, which offers a wide range of functions, has been available since early September. First, it acts as a knowledge service that can be accessed directly from the Eplan software, providing structured access to Eplan’s internal knowledge and reliably guiding users toward the right solution, even for complex questions.
Eplan Copilot is also a powerful tool for tracking the use of devices and components. If engineers want to know which projects they have used a specific product or component in, they simply need to enter the article reference. The AI searches all projects stored in the cloud and provides direct links to the project pages where that device has been used. Whether for translations, simplifying menu navigation, creating bills of materials, or running quality checks, users can interact with Eplan Copilot through voice or text commands, allowing them to make the most of the wide range of Eplan’s functionalities.
New: centralized cloud-based device management
The new features in device management clearly place the strategic focus on end-to-end data consistency and efficient collaboration. With the new cloud-based device management and its associated synchronization capabilities, solutions provider Eplan addresses a fundamental need of modern, hybrid engineering environments, laying the groundwork for consistent master data, digital twins, and cross-system traceability. These core capabilities are complemented by specific improvements in search, selection, transparency, and data quality, which significantly simplify the day-to-day management of large inventories of items and components. Together, these improvements enable better-integrated working and significantly more efficient workflows throughout the entire engineering process and across the project lifecycle.
Cloud device management is now synchronized
Looking at current device and component management processes, we often find they are marked by discontinuities in the flow of information. In hybrid IT environments, companies use both cloud-based and on-premises systems in parallel. Different user interfaces, product data stored in multiple locations, and limited remote access often lead to inconsistencies, increased maintenance effort, and data gaps in the engineering process.
The new Eplan Platform 2027 brings greater clarity to this area and synchronizes processes. By retrieving data from Eplan Cloud, users get a consistent workflow within the interface, with clear benefits. Product data is maintained in a single place and automatically synchronized bidirectionally between the cloud and on-premises systems (keyword: data management). This applies to both device data and master data, such as formulas, page templates, and symbol libraries, which can now also be fully synchronized. At the same time, this workflow ensures access to up-to-date component information regardless of location. As a result, users achieve maximum data consistency, greater reusability, and reduced effort in device management.
By displaying information such as process flow direction or tank fill levels, Eplan Preplanning offers much more detailed insights, along with numerous new automation features.
End-to-end processes at the heart of the strategy
The Eplan ecosystem continues to expand through new, specific partner integrations. This expansion responds to the growing need to seamlessly connect engineering systems with automation solutions and ERP/PDM systems, in order to avoid information fragmentation. Enhanced integrations create end-to-end data flows between Eplan and leading partner solutions, such as Rockwell Emulate3D, to name one example. By importing Eplan data into Rockwell’s virtual testing and simulation environment, users can simulate and validate machine and plant designs — including the actual control logic (PLC) — long before the hardware even exists. Other integrations with ERP/PDM systems enable transparent, controllable device synchronization, significantly improving long-term data reliability.
Conclusion: connected, AI-assisted engineering
The Eplan Platform 2027 represents connected, AI-assisted engineering. Advances in pre-planning, improvements in data and device management, expanded collaboration and integration capabilities, and of course the inclusion of Eplan Copilot, all show that with the Eplan Platform 2027, users can access relevant information faster, use existing data more consistently, and focus more on their own engineering tasks.