1. A system comprising a processor coupled to a memory, for managing and accessing data, comprising: a set of one or more data repositories arranged to store items, 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; a search engine arranged to search, within a selected particular context, for both managed and unmanaged items in the set of one or more repositories such that a result of the search may include both managed and unmanaged items from the set of one or more repositories; and a component arranged to track revisions to, store, and make accessible product information, the component further arranged to query the search engine to obtain managed and unmanaged items from the set of one or more data repositories, wherein the component is further arranged to receive an indication, based on user input to the system, of an unmanaged item in the result provided from the search engine, and to take the indicated unmanaged item from one of the repositories and establish a persistent reference to the indicated unmanaged item such that the indicated unmanaged item to be managed within the selected particular context, by automatically controlling revisions to that item, upon demand based on the received indication of the unmanaged item in the result provided by the search engine.