Method and system for accessing and managing information

A method executing on a processor coupled to a memory, for managing and accessing information, comprising:

• querying a search engine to search for both managed and unmanaged items, to obtain a result of one or more search engine items that corresponds to a managed or unmanaged item in a virtual repository associated with the search engine, wherein each item is data that represents an item in the real world, the item in the real world having a corresponding product lifecycle management (PLM) business object that represents information and process that is of importance to a business in the context of executing and planning functions for one or more product life phases, encompassing both the information and a definition of the process, wherein some of the items are managed and some are unmanaged, wherein a managed item's revisions are automatically controlled such that revisions to the managed item may only be made according to defined business rules, and wherein an unmanaged item's revisions are not automatically controlled and wherein querying the search engine is from within a selected particular context;
• and
• upon demand based on an indication resulting from user input via a user interface, of an unmanaged item in the obtained result from the search engine, establishing a persistent reference to the indicated unmanaged item such that the indicated unmanaged item to be managed as a business object within the selected particular context by making the business object's revisions automatically controlled, and make accessible product information via business objects.

A tangible computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for execution by a computing system comprising a processor coupled to a memory, the instructions comprising:

• querying a search engine and obtaining therefrom an identifier that identifies a search engine query;
• associating the identifier of the search engine query with an unmanaged business object via a tuple stored by a component arranged to manage and make accessible product information via business objects, wherein business objects represents information and process that is of importance to a business in the context of executing and planning functions for one or more product life phases, encompassing both the information and a definition of the process, wherein some of the business objects are managed and some are unmanaged, wherein a managed business object's revisions are automatically controlled such that revisions to the managed business object may only be made according to defined business rules, and wherein an unmanaged business object's revisions are not automatically controlled and stored, and wherein querying the search engine is from within a selected particular context of a business process;
• and
• receiving an indication, based on user input, of the unmanaged item to which the identifier of the search engine query has been associated and establishing a persistent reference to the indicated unmanaged item such that the indicated unmanaged item to be managed within the selected particular context as a managed business object upon demand, wherein a managed business object's revisions are automatically controlled and stored.