Under the Hood

PLM Tip of the Week - Linking Workspaces in PLM 360

“That rug really tied the rooms together,”   -The Dude Lebowski

Today’s post will cover some best practices in tying linking data together within PLM 360. Items from one Workspace can call upon and provide a link to items in another Workspace. There are a number of ways to do this, and the advantages include ease of navigation, removing duplicate data entry, and (intended) transparency of information within PLM 360. First, we’ll examine the use of picklists to draw Workspaces together:

Linking Picklists

A Picklist is a drop down of predefined values used during data entry. They display in a variety for forms such as single choice, radio button, check box, and multiple choice to name a few. The advantage is the predefined nature of them, allowing user to select rather than type in values. A Linking Picklist takes that a step further and provides access to Items in another Workspace of your choice. During configuration of a field, choosing Linking Picklist will lookup values available in the other Workspace and establish a link, thus the name.

What’s even better is that Picklists are global in your PLM tenant. Meaning good, well built Picklists that reference other Workspaces can be used over again in another field, another Workspace.

 

Relationships Tab

The Relationships tab is yet another way to establish links between Workspaces. This tab is enabled through adding permissions on the role of a Workspace. Once enabled, anyone with permission can add a direct link to an Item from another Workspace and establish this as either bi-directional or uni-directional from the active to the related Item.

Workspace Relationships setting on the Workspace

Building upon the previous paragraph, the Workspace Relationship setting on each Workspace allow the administrator to link multiple Workspaces to each other. Certain tabs actually lend themselves to Item relationships as in the image below. Project Management tabs need other projects, tasks, and activities to link to, forming a project gantt chart. Bill of Materials needs BoM items, Revisioning Workspaces need Revision controlled items, and the Relationships tab needs well, something to relate to.

Scripting

Finally, Workspaces can be tied together through the use of an action script that spawns a new item in a difference Workspace. This in turn provides a direct link back to the item from whence it came. A great example of this is an Inspection that leads to a Non conformance, which leads to a Corrective action.

This can even extend from the Corrective action to a Change Request and onto a Change Order. At each step, a link back to the item record that spawned it is available for audit trail purposes.

 

-Brian Schanen

PLM 360 Video Spotlight - Lifecycle Management

Hello all PLM 360 fans, enthusiasts,and aficionados. This week’s video spotlight is on Lifecycle Management. This video is timely as the Vault to PLM 360 Sync tool is now live on Autodesk Subscription Center. http://subscription.autodesk.com/

Lifecycles are a key part of Items in PLM 360 that go through revision changes. Items in PLM 360 that are in a Revision Controlled revise though the use of a Revisioning workspace that follows a defined Lifecycle definition. Within the Lifecycle route are states and transitions that define the behavior of the Items.

This video takes a behind-the-scenes look at the Lifecycle editor and how to advance Lifecycle states using a Change Order in PLM 360.

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/PLM_360/enu/community/Videos/Lifecycle_Management_Guide

-Brian Schanen

Calling all PLM and Data Management Experts

The Autodesk University Call for Proposals site is now open! This year we have even more to talk about than ever. With the launch of Autodesk PLM 360, there is already the expertise out there, and we anticipate another great year at AU. So, if you’re an implementation expert or a customer with an Autodesk PLM/PDM solution you’d like to showcase, feel free to submit a class proposal for the updated track: “PLM, Data Management, and Collaboration. Be sure to check out the Tracks section and look up PLM, Data Management, and Collaboration for details on our vision for this. Here’s what we are looking for on this track:

This track addresses those who are involved in configuring Autodesk PLM 360 software for product lifecycle management (PLM), Autodesk® Vault software for data management (PDM), and Autodesk Buzzsaw for project collaboration.

PLM themes include getting started with Autodesk PLM 360, workspace configuration, and process modeling. Data Management themes include deployment, care, and maintenance of the Vault server and client applications and connections to PLM 360 and Buzzsaw. Collaboration themes include exchanging project information and supporting BIM workflows on the desktop, mobile devices, and web with Buzzsaw and Buzzsaw Mobile.

Track topics should offer examples of unique or advanced applications of Autodesk PLM 360, a behind-the-scenes look at Autodesk Vault, and workflows supporting Buzzsaw. Topics for more advanced classes should aim to educate those who are responsible for populating these applications with data, ensuring compliance, and routing or delegating work, as well as first-level support for each department’s manager.

In addition, we seek topics to address the needs of people who are responsible for creating, authoring, or consuming data—of any kind—and incorporating that data into processes that meet the needs of people who rely on these systems to be successful.

 

Looking forward to another great Autodesk University! See you there.

-Brian Schanen

PLM 360 Video Spotlight - Creating Reports and Charts

If you have been following along with the videos tutorials on PLM 360, building out Workspaces and creating data, then be sure to check out the video on creating reports and charts. With some data on your tenant, you can create a variety of reports and display them several ways: HTML, Excel (export), and as a Chart.

This video tutorial also shows how to share reports with others in your organization and pin these reports to your Dashboard in PLM 360.

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/PLM_360/enu/community/Videos/Creating_Reports_and_Charts

 

-Brian Schanen

Autodesk Vault and PLM 360 Integration

Great news for Autodesk Vault and Autodesk PLM 360 users! The Vault/PLM360 synchronization utility is in the final rounds of testing, and I have compiled a sneak peek video on the integration  - here – out on the PLM 360 Wiki Video page.

The first phase of the integration will provide a seamless push of Vault Professional (2013) Items to PLM 360 upon moving to the Release state. In the image below, this Bill of Material has been 'Released' in Vault Professional, and is sent to Autodesk PLM 360 (next image).

All Item, Bill of Material, structure, rev level, and quantity will be sent to PLM. In addition, select Item properties (UDP’s) will populate and update Items in PLM 360.

The sync configuration will involve setting up an optional Vault user account (similar to ‘Job User’), choosing a PLM 360 tenant, configuring a Workspace, and mapping Vault Properties to PLM 360 fields. Please see the video for more details. This is for Vault Professional 2013 only, and due out shortly.

In the mean time, consider brushing up on Vault Professional Items (hint, hint). To help prepare you, I’ll be reviewing Vault Item theory on this blog and calling up posts and AU papers from the past.

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/PLM_360/enu/community/Videos/Autodesk_Vault_Professional_to_PLM_360_Synchronization

Enjoy!

 

-Brian Schanen

PLM 360 Video spotlight - Creating New Items

Hello PLM 360 fans. This week’s video spotlight is the next step in using PLM 360. By now you’ve seen the administrative side, setting up your site, users, workflow. Now I’d like to take you on a tour of creating and using Items created in a workspace. Also discussed is the Main Menu of Categories, Cloning Items, and the Left Search view of any given Workspace.

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/PLM_360/enu/community/Videos/Creating_New_Items

Please note that these videos will also be posted to the official Autodesk PLM 360 YouTube channel.

Enjoy!

 

-Brian Schanen

Autodesk Vault Upgrade Documentation

Attention Autodesk Vault administrators, consultants, power users, and fans. New documentation is available that outlines best practices for upgrading Autodesk Vault. An F.A.Q. along with a white paper on the recommended procedures are all included on the Autodesk Vault Wiki site.

Details on upgrading Autodesk Vault can be found on our Wiki http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/Vault/enu/Help/Help/0206-Autodesk206/0261-Upgradin261

Special thanks to Ross, Irvin, Martin, and Sara. Nice work!

PLM 360 Video Spotlight - Workflow Modification

Time for the next Autodesk PLM 360 video. If you’ve followed along, you should be able to configure your site, make some users and groups, and even tweak the pre-built sample Workspaces within PLM. This week’s video covers the next step after Workspace modification or cloning: Editing and modifying Workflow.

Each Workspace has the option to leverage a unique workflow map. This tutorial covers a sample Workspace with an existing workflow, and how to use the Workflow Editor to modify it. Enjoy!

 

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/PLM_360/enu/community/Videos/Modifying_the_Default_Workflows

 

-Brian Schanen

PLM 360 Video Spotlight - Customizing the Default Applications

This week’s video spotlight on PLM 360 covers how to tailor existing applications in your site to your company’s needs. All sites are created with a set of default Apps (Workspaces) that you have the freedom to modify. Topics covered in this video include Workspace cloning, field editing, and adding tabs through permissions and roles. Enjoy!

http://wikihelp.autodesk.com/PLM_360/enu/community/Videos/Customizing_the_Default_Applications

-Brian Schanen

PLM 360 Tip of the Week - Grid Grouping Options

This week’s PLM 360 handy tip involves the Grid tab. Now, the grid tab is very useful for adding fields onto columns, and providing unlimited rows for you to add data to cells. Field types can vary from single line text to dropdown Picklists to integer and money fields. Taking it to the next step, we can create a field with a calculated value, as seen in the image below. This is an example of a field ‘Sub Total that is a calculated field, representing Qty * Price.

The result is a sub total column, and within the field edit window, you can add up all field values by selecting Sum from the Aggregation Type, and give it a title of ‘Total’. The results are in the image below, with the grand total at the bottom of the Sub Total column.

Fun, eh? Ok, now let’s go a notch further and look at grouping like-fields together to create multiple totals. In my example, I went into the Type field (picklist) and checked the Aggregation Sort Grouping box.

This option combined identical fields, and with the calculated field above for Sub Total and grand total on the bottom, creates total calculated per type. Note the image below where we still have an overall grand total of all values in the grid.

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-Brian Schanen