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Windchill 10.

2 Business
Administration
Understanding Primary Business
Objects
 Primary Business Objects represent a class of objects that typically store
information from the business domain.
Understanding Policies, Processes, and
Participants
Windchill enables administrators to set up policies and configure processes for various
participants.
 Domain Policies – Are composed of administrative rules for managing access control and event
notification for an object.
 Life cycles – Are composed of sequential states that represent the maturation stages of
objects, such as how a document that is in work differs from a document that is obsolete.
 Workflows – Provide the automation of business processes during which tasks and/or
information are passed from one participant to another for action, according to a set of
procedural rules. Workflows are usually used to drive an object from one life cycle state,
such as in work, to another life cycle state, such as released.
 Participants – Represent business entities, such as users, groups, and organizations. Domain
policies, workflow tasks, and other data and process management aspects of Windchill
reference designated principals when defining system behavior.
 Roles – Are used to identify performers of a certain task (or tasks) within the system. For
example, the reviewing activities may be assigned to a Reviewer role.
 Teams – Map participants to roles. For example, a team would specify that John Smith is a
reviewer for a particular context, process, or object.
Role of the Business Administrator

 The Business Administrator role exists to manage the Windchill environment


and to apply business rules to the data controlled by the system.
 This includes, but is not limited to, managing users, groups, and
organizations; administering products, libraries, projects and teams; defining
access control, and notification policies; automating processes by using
workflows and life cycles to map to your company’s business rules; generating
system templates for administrative reuse; administering numbering and
versioning schemes, perhaps with the assistance of a system administrator or
application developer; and performing general system configuration changes
to meet business needs.
Planning a Windchill Implementation

 The statement, “Who can


access what data, when,
where, and how,”
encompasses the elements of
one of the largest tasks
Business Administrator’s must
perform: access control. Each
who, what, when, and where
element represents a specific
piece of administration. Once
those pieces are defined, the
elements are used to identify
the access control policies
that build the how element.
Common Windchill Objects
Identifying a Data Storage Strategy
It is the responsibility of the Business Administrator to define which users are designated as context creators. After the
initial business environment is established, the context managers conduct much of the day-to-day administration of
their contexts.
 Each Windchill installation has one Site context. This context is for the administration of the Windchill server and
its organizations, and should not contain design data.
 The site context may contain one or more Organization context. The Organization context is similar to the site
context in the respect that it is administrative, and should not contain design data. Most installations have only
one organization unless they support multiple, completely separate business units.
 The Organization context may contain one or more Product contexts. A Windchill product is designed to contain
information representative or descriptive of a physical product or product line. Although the implications of
creating a product within Windchill are more complex, you can think of it as creating a location in the database
where all the information ever related uniquely to that product is stored. Windchill then provides the functionality
that enables you and other users to add to, modify, and explore the product data and navigate to information
related to it, such as design specifications or test plans.
One of the implications of having this product context is that it provides the opportunity to apply product specific
access rules. For example, if you create a document in the context of a product in Windchill, only users who have
access privileges to that product can view the document data stored in that product.
 The Organization context may also contain one or more Library context.
Windchill libraries are intended to store objects that are not related to a particular product. For example, all
engineering department policies and procedures can be grouped in a library.
Identifying Business Processes
Identifying a Notification Strategy

 They may be workflow-based, triggered by the completion of a workflow


activity.
 They may be event-driven across a domain, such as when a document in a
specific context changes state.
 They may be subscribed to, which is an event-driven notification on a specific
object. Generally, the user decides which objects they subscribe to.
Managing Participants

 In this module, you learn methods for managing Windchill participants.


Participants are defined as organizations, user accounts, and groups.
Participant Architecture
 In Windchill, participants are Users, Groups, and Organizations. Participant
objects are unusual architecturally. Most Windchill objects are stored entirely
in Windchill. However, participants are typically shared with other enterprise
applications by storing participant information in an enterprise directory
server.
 Attributes of the participant that need to be shared across enterprise
applications are stored in the directory server. Examples are the participant
name, the phone number, e-mail address, group membership, and
organization affiliation.
 However, Windchill also needs Windchill-specific information about a
participant, such as the access control the participant has, the teams a
participant belongs to, and the Windchill context the user belongs to. This
information is stored in the Windchill database.
 The Windchill database also contains a pointer to the participant in the
directory server. This enables a query to Windchill to retrieve both the
Windchill attributes and the directory server attributes.
Best Practices for Organizations,
Users, and Groups
There are several best practices when working with organizations, users, and groups.
 First, base your user account requirements on your Windchill implementation plan.
 PTC recommends using a single organization context for average-sized Windchill implementations.
The use of multiple organizations is typically for enterprises that have distinct and separate large
divisions that typically do not share a great deal of data. If you need to perform significant data
sharing between your organizations, it is generally better to use one Windchill organization.
 Identify whether your implementation uses a pre-established directory server already in service or
creates and populates a new directory server. Windchill does not require write-access to the
enterprise directory server to operate, but failure to have write-access causes some functions of the
principal administration tool to fail and users have to be partially maintained using a third-party
tool.
 Every user should have a valid e-mail address specified in the directory server. Although this is an
optional attribute, failure to have an e-mail address causes all Windchill notifications to fail and
causes the user not to be found in several Windchill tools.
 When you create or edit Windchill users, you may specify the users’ administrative domain. The
default domain given is almost always correct. Changing this may result in users that do not work
properly.
 Groups are generally organization-level sets of users. If you need project or product-level sets of
users, use teams instead of groups.
 Regarding the directory server, If your company uses an existing corporate directory server for user
authentication, the Windchill Directory Server bundled with Windchill still must be used as the
administrative directory server for Windchill properties.
Managing Objects, Object Types, and
Object Attributes
After completing this module, you will be able to:
 Identify Windchill object names and their corresponding object type class
names.
 Create Global Attributes.
 Add Attributes to a Windchill Type.
 Create Windchill Types.
 Constrain Windchill Attributes.
 Create Display Layouts.
Types of Attributes

There are five kinds of object attributes in Windchill:


 Modeled attributes are programmed in Java and cannot be created using the
Type and Attribute Management tool.
 Global attributes are configured without Java code, are stored in a table
separate from the parent type, and may be used by more than one parent
type.
 Standard attributes are configured without Java code, are stored in the same
table as their parent type, and may not be used by more than one type.
 Calculated attributes are derived from existing attributes using mathematical
formulae.
 Alias attributes are not directly attributes of their parent type, but navigate
Windchill links to acquire attributes from related types.
Windchill Object Typing Capability
 Windchill’s runtime typing capability enables you to augment out-of-the-box
business objects by adding additional attributes, or by adding new object types
with different attribute sets without changing the object model or writing code.
Runtime typing capability can extend a type to add attributes to it, or create a
subtype that has different administration and access controls. Both extended and
subtypes are non-modeled and do not require recompiling or interrupting
operations.
 Although non-modeled types are limited in possible logic or functions, they do give
you the capability of customizing the information that you capture in the system,
enable you to set type-specific policies, and enable you to configure rules that
govern the business behavior of each object type.
 In contrast, modeled types take a longer time to implement and require extensive
Java experience, but may provide advanced functionality such as specialized
application integration, statistical analysis, or any other function that can be
coded in Java. Additionally, modeling requires the additional purchase of Windchill
Information Modeler for Windchill.
Creating Global Attributes

 When creating a new attribute, there are several important fields, including:
 The Name is an internal name that cannot contain spaces. This name is not
normally viewable in Windchill user interfaces.
 The Display Name may contain spaces and special characters. It is used by most
Windchill user interfaces.
 The Hierarchy Display Name displays in the Type and Attribute Manager when the
attribute is displayed as part of a hierarchy.
 The Logical Identifier should be unique across the site. It is used by application
developers when accessing the attribute programmatically.
 The Data Type may be a Boolean, String, Integer, Real Number, Real Number with
Units, Reference to a Windchill Object, or URL. References require the class name
of the object they are referencing. Real numbers with units also require the
quantity of measure, or type of units, and how those units should be displayed in
the measurement system.
The Type and Attribute Manager

 The Type Manager displays object classes in a


structured hierarchical format. Within the
Managed Types area, all of the modeled classes
that can be typed are exposed to the Type
Manager. The Type Manager enables you to
create subtypes from the modeled classes, add
attributes to the modeled classes or newly
created types, and set constraints on attributes.
Subtypes are created and displayed as children
to the modeled classes in the structural
hierarchy, such as the Agenda and General
documents in the figure. When subtypes are
created, they inherit all the attributes of their
parent type.
Managing Object Type Behavior

 In this module, you learn about configuring the behavior of business objects
through the use of object initialization rules.
Object Initialization Rules

 A business administrator configures object initialization rules in order to


control the behavior and associations of an object upon its creation
(instantiation). The rules are written in XML, assigned to a specific object
class, and can be defined at all of the context levels. You can set up object
initialization rules to affect any of the following object attributes: object
numbering, object versioning, folder path, life cycle association, and team
template association.
LifeCycles & Workflows

 Life cycles are composed of states that correspond to the business stages an
object reaches as it matures. Life cycle states are used to help regulate user
interaction with an object. Workflow templates are used to deliver the
activities and manage the events required to promote the object from one
stage of maturity to the next.

 Workflow templates are used in advanced life cycles and establish the specific
events and tasks that occur in each life cycle state. Workflow templates
enable you to use business processes that are specific to your company or
industry to manage your data.
 Each workflow template is designed to manage a specific object type and is
then applied to the life cycle for that object type.
Managing Domain Access Control Policies
 The Full Control (All) permission executes all of the permissions listed, and any additional permissions defined in the future, with the exception of the
Administrative permission.
 The Read permission enables users to see an object listed in the system and to view the object.
 The Download permission enables users to download primary content and attachment files of an object, such as a document or drawing file.
 The Modify permission enables users to change attributes of an object, as well as other characteristics that are part of the object definition.
 The Modify Content permission enables users to modify a file, a URL, or an external storage for the primary content and attachments of an object.
 The Modify Identity permission enables a user to modify a subset of the attributes that determine the identity of an object.
 The Create By Move permission enables a user to move an object into an administrative domain.
 The Create permission enables users to create an object.
 The Set State permission enables a user to perform a set state operation where a state transition has been defined to enable the transition from the current life
cycle state to the new state.
 The Revise permission enables users to revise an object, thus creating a new version of the object.
 The New View Version permission enables users to create a version of an object for a specific view.
 The Change Domain permission enables a user to move an object out of an administrative domain.
 The Change Context permission enables a user to move an object out of a context.
 The Change Permissions permission enables users to access and change the permissions of other user accounts. Users, groups or Organizations granted with the
Change Permissions permission can change the permissions of other users to the permissions they themselves have, or to a subset of those permissions.
 The Delete permission enables users to delete an object.
 The Administrative permission enables users to perform certain administrative tasks such as break a lock or change an object's owner.
Managing organization templates
 User templates consist of document, CAD document, and note templates. All
of these templates are made available to a large portion of the user
community and provide users with boilerplate content files or text that can
be utilized in creating their documentation or engineering designs. Document
templates benefit the user community by providing the desired style,
structure, and layout for their documentation. For example, a contract
document template could provide a standard layout, a company logo, and
boilerplate text that should appear in each document of that type.
 Similarly, CAD document templates provide initial settings for CAD authoring
files. For administrators, user templates enforce corporate standards and
provide a single point to update and roll out changes to document style,
structure, and layout. Note templates provide standard boilerplate text for
frequently used notes for marking up designs and structures.
Promotion & Change Processes

 Windchill provides an out-of-the-box change management system. Windchill


has four change objects: the Problem Report, the Change Request, the
Change Notice, and the Change Notice Task.
 You use the Problem Report to describe a product problem or to suggest a
product enhancement. The Change Request describes a product defect or
proposed enhancement in detail so you can make a business decision. The
Change Notice establishes a work plan to implement the approved Change
Request. The Change Notice Tasks are a part of the Change Notice and
provide detailed steps on what needs to be accomplished to complete the
Change Notice.
Problem Report
Change Request
Change Notice
Windchill Security Audit Reporting

 The Security Audit Reporting tool enables you to author complex queries of
the audit logs based upon time, event, context or context type, object or
object type, and user. This query can be saved as a Saved Search and can be
accessed through the Security Audit Report Queries link. Once a query has
been created, you can generate an HTML preview of the report or generate
the full report as an XML or CSV file.
Preference Management

 Windchill enables users to set personal preferences for display, content,


searching, tables, visualization, configuration specification, workspace
management, default object types, and configuration options for the Product
Structure Explorer.
 As a business administrator, Preference Management enables you to set initial
values and control user preference modification. You can set preferences for
each context level and those preferences are applied to all lower-level
contexts. The Preference Manager also enables you to either enable or forbid
preference values to be overridden in contexts defined below the current
context. For example, preferences set for the Organization context may be
set as non-overrideable by preferences set for a product or project context.
Report Management

 A report is the output of a predefined search and is used for generating


statistics and metrics against business information.
User Profiles
Windchill has the capability of defining user profiles that
restricts access to actions. This feature enables the
creation of a simplified portal that can be used for a
specific set of users that only need to use a subset of
Windchill's capabilities. This way, they are not presented
with extra options that they do not need to use, and may
be confusing to them. When a new profile is created, an
administrator disables the display of various actions by
clearing the appropriate check boxes. In the example, this
profile is not permitted to Manage Security in any context.
Once the display profile is complete, you can associate
principals to it, limiting the display of actions when the
associated users log on to the system.
Calendar Management
As a business administrator, it is important for you to stress the importance of calendar
management to your user community. Proper calendar maintenance and the delegation of
tasks by the user community ensures that your business processes run effectively and in a
timely manner. Proper calendar management by the user community also reduces the amount
of administrative maintenance in reassigning tasks trapped in the assignments lists of
unavailable users. Proper calendar management is one of the primary administrative burdens
business administrators face in day-to-day system operations.

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