Best Practices for Managing Your Documents in Windchill

Best Practices for Managing Your Documents in WindchillScott MorrisWindchill Product ManagementJune 2012#Personal Introduction.

This presentation is an eclectic mix of best practices, tips & tricks and a capability overview.

When we are through with this presentation, you will have learned 3 things:The conceptual model that serves as a foundation for Windchill's document management capabilities.How to best leverage the different capabilities and features to work with documents in Windchill.And, how to best work with Microsoft Office Documents in the Windchill environment.

1Document Management Best PracticesAgendaIntroductionCreating a New Windchill DocumentCore Capabilities for Document ManagementCreating Documents with Subtypes vs. AttributesWindchill Desktop IntegrationWindchill Document Management Best Practices#The presentation is organized into 5 sections...

2Document Management Best PracticesAgendaIntroductionCreating a New Windchill DocumentCore Capabilities for Document ManagementCreating Documents with Subtypes vs. AttributesWindchill Desktop IntegrationWindchill Document Management Best Practices#3What Documents Should I Manage in Windchill?Your Product RecordStandard Operating ProceduresQuality Specifications & StandardsSupplier Qualifications & ContractsComponent Inspection DocumentationCompliance Records & ReportsVerification Plans & Testing ResultsRequirements & Design Analysis

Windchill Document Management Best PracticesBut..#Windchill should be used to manage any type of documentation that describes or defines your product, and needs to be part of your 'Product Record'. For instance, customers use Windchill to create, manage and control documentation related to:

What kind of documentation you manage as documents in Windchill really depends upon the process maturity level of your organization in specific areas. For example, organizations that are at a lower maturity in their requirements management process may manage Requirements Specifications as documents in Windchill, but the real best practice for organizations that want to achieve a higher level of requirements management maturity is to stop locking up requirements in documents and start using a system like Integrity to manage requirements. There are many other examples of this in the areas of systems engineering, quality management and compliance.

Consider the A3s story.

A3s is a lean tool used to succinctly capture critical knowledge regarding problems encountered and countermeasures taken. They are a centerpiece in toyotas lean engineering principles. Customers think it makes sense to manage these documents in Windchill so they can be configuration managed, formally change controlled and linked to the upstream problems they solve (problem reports) and downstream evidence they are based on (design documentation, configurations, test results, etc)

So, these are considerations for you to think about as you decide what documentation to manage in Windchill. For the next 30 minutes or so we'll be discussing how to best manage documents in Windchill, regardless of what those documents might represent.

4Managing Documents in WindchillWindchillClientWindchill Document Management Best Practices#The process begins on your local machine where content is authored or edited, typically, but not necessarily, in one of the Microsoft Office applications. The output of this first step is a file that contains your content.

The next part of the process happens in Windchill, where this file becomes a Windchill Document containing rich business information. This is when business attributes are captured, access control is defined and lifecycles manage the content, and collaborators review the content. This isn't really a sequential process because there is a lot of back and forth between each of the steps. As we get toward the end of the process and weve completed a review and markup phase, those markups can then be incorporated back into the primary content and re-published for distribution.

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Windchill Document ModelIn Windchill, a document canReference other documentsName:TechSpecCreated By:Albert AuthorCreated:12/01/2010Last Modified:05/14/2011Modified By:Ed EngineerHave properties and attributesHave a structureBe used byUsesHave primary contentHave attachmentsHave history and versionsA.2B.1References or describe partsHave markups

Be lifecycle managed

Be automatedA.1Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Windchill documents are relatively simple buy have complex connections. So, let's start by talking about a Windchill document located here in the center of the slide.

Starting on the right and moving counter clockwise, we can see that a Windchill document has primary content and attachments, it can have properties and attributes, can be lifecycle managed, can be published for viewing and markups, automated by workflow, and can reference other documents.

We can also get information from the Windchill document by following the green dotted lines. I can see where its used, if it document belongs to a structure, and if it describes or references parts. I can also see if there are other documents this document uses, and I can see the complete iteration and revision history from the document.

6Document Management Best PracticesAgendaIntroductionCreating a New Windchill DocumentCore Capabilities for Document ManagementCreating Documents with Subtypes vs. AttributesWindchill Desktop IntegrationWindchill Document Management Best Practices#Many folks think that creating a document in Windchill is difficult. We've done a lot of work in the last couple years to make it simple, and the system only needs a few pieces of information from you before it creates the document. Let's take a look.

7 Create New Windchill Document Type

Type Manager

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#First, you must tell Windchill what type of document you want to create.

Document types are a way to categorize documents and specify specific business attributes that need to be captured for that type of documents.

Document types are also associated with object initialization rules, which control the document numbering and naming rules, revision scheme, lifecycle states, and workflows.

Document types are defined by your system administrator through the Windchill Type Manager utility, which makes it really easy to create new document types. We'll spend a little more time talking about document types later in the presentation

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Create New Windchill Document Templates

Single New Document interfaceTemplates filtered by Doc TypeWindchill Document Management Best Practices#Once you've selected the type of document you want to create, Windchill knows how to populate the rest of the new document creation wizard. All required information that needs to be provided can be filled in through this single New Document interface.

So, next you can - optionally - select a document template. Document templates are associated with the document type so that only the appropriate or applicable templates are shown. We'll come back to template management later in the presentation.

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Create New Windchill Document Content

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Next, you specify the "primary content" for the document. Think of a Windchill Document as a "shell" that captures all the important business and system metadata about the document, and the "primary content" as the "yolk" that is surrounded by that shell.

Typically, users upload primary content from their local file system. But you could also link to a document managed in a remote system or point to a document managed offline is some archive room.

Most importantly, you could complete the New Document creation process without providing any content, which allows the Windchill Document - and the meta data captured in its shell - to begin participating in business processes before the content is created and uploaded to the system.

Note: You can quickly finish the new Document creation process by selecting a template, choosing 'no content' and providing a name.

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Drag-n-DropBrowse Create a New Windchill Document Local File

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#There are two ways to upload document content to Windchill, and these methods are controlled through user preferences. Windchill supports typical browser upload methods, and alternatively supports 'drag n drop' upload to a 'drop target' that is enabled by a java applet.

Additional benefits of using the Java applet to upload files include:Support for the Default File Path user preference when browsing for filesSupport for multi-select file browsing using Shift-click or Ctrl-clickYou won't need to re-browse when re-uploading a file that hasn't changed location

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Create a New Windchill Document Attributes

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Fill out the standard system attributes. Depending upon the type of document, there could also be a separate section of custom business attributes that also appear at this time.

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Local FileURLExternal Storage Create a New Windchill Document Attachments

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#And, the final optional step is to upload or specify any attachments, or secondary content, related to the primary content that don't need to be separately managed.

13Windchill Document Info Page

Tab Based Info AccessUser Configurable!Thumbnail Preview &Document ViewerSystem & User Defined Attributes

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Let's take a look at the result, and this is something I'm sure you are all familiar with. The Document Information Page is divided into several tabs of information, and users can create their own custom tabs showing only what they want to see.

All Document-related actions can be found from the action drop down. You can also find a subset of relevant document actions in the action row on tables and by right mouse clicking a selected document in a table.

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Document HistoryWindchill Document Management Best Practices#15SearchSimple keyword searchPowerful attribute searchAccessible from all pagesIndexed content search Search History & Saved SearchesEasy access to recent and saved searchesEdit recent searches Manage Saved SearchesAdvanced SearchRedesigned for enhanced usabilityIntegrated into navigatorSimple criteria definitionPowerful Search

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#SearchSearch of the entire systemSearch for all types or specific typesVisible on all pages Menu with recent searches Search History & Saved SearchesEasy access to recent and saved searchesEdit recent searches Manage Saved SearchesGlobal Visibility, Group AccessHide/ShowImport/ExportAdvanced SearchRedesigned for enhanced usabilityIntegrated into navigator

16Powerful SearchWindchill Document Management Best Practices

#SearchSearch of the entire systemSearch for all types or specific typesVisible on all pages Menu with recent searches Search History & Saved SearchesEasy access to recent and saved searchesEdit recent searches Manage Saved SearchesGlobal Visibility, Group AccessHide/ShowImport/ExportAdvanced SearchRedesigned for enhanced usabilityIntegrated into navigator

17Document Management Best PracticesAgendaIntroductionCreating a New Windchill DocumentCore Capabilities for Document ManagementCreating Documents with Subtypes vs. AttributesWindchill Desktop IntegrationWindchill Document Management Best Practices#So, now that we're grounded in fundamental concepts, let's talk about how to use some of the core document management capabilities.

18TEMPLATES

TEMPLATES

TEMPLATES

Standardization Document TemplatesCumulative DistributionSiteOrganizationPRODUCT

PROJECT

LIBRARY

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Windchill supports templates for lots of different elements in the system ranging from project and product container templates to lifecycle templates. Document templates provide a default starting point for the primary content of a Windchill Document.

Document templates are created and managed by administrators, and can be defined at the site, organization or container level. Creating a document template is almost identical to creating a document. During creation, administrators select the document type that the Document templates is associated with.

Document templates are documents so iterations can be managed and history tracked. Updated versions can be easily deployed.

NOTE: Project templates use case. Companies like to seed ProjectLink templates with content. Hard to use document templates in this use case. Best practice is to ??Difference b/w Office Templates and Windchill Templates.Dotx...automatically makes a new copy of itself to do something with. So, put standard office documents in (docx) in windchill as templates.

19LibrariesLow collaboration, high distributionSOPs, Quality StandardsProductsBest for product specific documentsQuality Records, SpecificationsProjectsCreation, Collaboration, SharingTemporary storageOrganization Choosing a Home

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Lets take a look at the 3 Windchill containers and discuss the appropriate document management uses of each:

LibrariesBest for documents that are used across products and projects, like Reference & Standards such as ISO documentation. Documents that are most appropriate for library management are those where there is low collaboration but high distribution.

ProductsAre best for product specific documents, such as test results, compliance audits, quality records. Documents that are most appropriate for products are those where there is high collaboration and low distribution.

ProjectsProjects are temporary containers for project collaboration or design sandboxes with internal and external participants. Documents should be moved to Library or Products when complete. Documents can be shared from Libraries or Products for quick access.

20Defines parent-child relationships Filters by latest or baseline versionsMakes It easier to collect or shareOrganization - Document StructuresWindchill Document Management Best Practices

#Document structures are typically used to make it easier to add a set of documents to a package or a project. This makes it easier than searching for all related documents in the collector. NOTE: Packages use the 'old style' collector, which has some issues with this use case. For example, if the 'seed' object for the collector isn't a document in the structure, it can't collect structure related documents. So, for example, if the seed object is a part, and you want to collect the entire document structure for a document related to that part, it can't be done in the package collector.21Organization - Document Structures

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Document structures are typically used to make it easier to add a set of documents to a package or a project. This makes it easier than searching for all related documents in the collector. NOTE: Packages use the 'old style' collector, which has some issues with this use case. For example, if the 'seed' object for the collector isn't a document in the structure, it can't collect structure related documents. So, for example, if the seed object is a part, and you want to collect the entire document structure for a document related to that part, it can't be done in the package collector.22

Viewing RelationshipsWindchill Document Management Best Practices#Somehow discuss this:

Links. Please see the following diagram to understand the difference between "References" and "Describes" links:Additionally, OOTB ACLs do not expose Reference documents to end users unless Released (or at least they use to). References links only show the latest released version of the referenced document, unless no released version exists, then the latest version will be displayed, meaning the in work version. (JCA confirmed this works)

23Document PublishingPublish Microsoft Office Documents to PDFControl & Protect Primary ContentWatermark & CoversheetsLeverages Adobe LiveCycle

Document CollaborationAuthoring Application not RequiredView & Markup any Published DocumentMulti-user MarkupSupport Design, Review and Approval ProcessesDistribute Released VersionsLeverages Adobe Reader w/Creo ViewDocument Publishing and CollaborationAdobe LiveCycle & Creo View w/Adobe ReaderWindchill Document Management Best Practices

#"Publishing" refers to the creation of a PDF viewable at some point during the document management process for a Windchill Document whose primary content is a standard MSFT Office file . Standard access control can be configured to protect the primary content so that document 'readers' or 'reviewers' can only access the "Published" PDF viewable.Publishing is configured through WVS. By default it publishes with every iteration. But it can be configured to publish manually (on demand) or only at certain points in the document's lifecycle (e.g. Ready for Review or Released).Markup control is managed through LiveCycle. We can publish a markup enabled PDF that can be marked up through Reader.We currently use Adobe LiveCycle Server. Previously we used Adobe Distiller, which required the use of Acrobat for markups.Reader Extensions Server is not directly around publishing, other than it allows a customer to configure Adobe Forms for things such as review processes. The end user can be presented with an Adobe Form in which you to electronically capture the entries that the user enters through their own local adobe reader. So think doing approvals where the end user never really has to work with the Windchill UI and Tasks. Open Form, file out, save, done.

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Document Publishing and CollaborationWindchill Document Management Best Practices#Document CollaborationUse of Adobe Reader ReaWith special PTC extensionsReduced footprint compared to AcrobatSupports WatermarkingPDF MarkupBatch Print

"Publishing" refers to the creation of a PDF viewable at some point during the document management process for a Windchill Document whose primary content is a standard MSFT Office file . Standard access control can be configured to protect the primary content so that document 'readers' or 'reviewers' can only access the "Published" PDF viewable.Publishing is configured through WVS. By default it publishes with every iteration. But it can be configured to publish manually (on demand) or only at certain points in the document's lifecycle (e.g. Ready for Review or Released).Markup control is managed through LiveCycle. We can publish a markup enabled PDF that can be marked up through Reader.We currently use Adobe LiveCycle Server. Previously we used Adobe Distiller, which required the use of Acrobat for markups.Reader Extensions Server is not directly around publishing, other than it allows a customer to configure Adobe Forms for things such as review processes. The end user can be presented with an Adobe Form in which you to electronically capture the entries that the user enters through their own local adobe reader. So think doing approvals where the end user never really has to work with the Windchill UI and Tasks. Open Form, file out, save, done.

25Configurable Coversheets for ViewablesCreated with WVS via Adobe LiveCyclePublishing initiated upon state changeCoversheet content controlled by HTML delegateSupports Windchill Attributes

Document CoversheetsNew in Windchill 10.0 M04064bit!

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Another new feature shipping in M010. Developed through a PES engagement with EADS. This enables users to configure a cover sheet to display as the first page of published content. It can pull a range of soft and modeled Windchill attributes for display.Typical use cases include adding revision history and approval history to documents. However, there is a long list of information that cover sheets have access to that can be configured into the page, including the ability to pull information from a set of related documents. A "Delegate" is the HTML file that controls what is in the cover sheet: text, images, layout, attributes to pull from Windchill, and other configuration information. Configured by object, by release level for the whole site. 26Define Document Effective DatesSet through Change ProcessTrack Effectivity ApprovalsCan Set Manually Timestamp GranularityResolves in Product StructureFor Documents on Reference LinksDocument EffectivityNew in Windchill 10.1 F00 & M010

Windchill Document Management Best Practices# Implemented the WC effectivity model for documents. Only date effectivity is supported. Users can provide a date or date range for which a document is effective. This was first implemented in 10.1 FCS. The main use case is for customers operating in highly regulated industries, life Med Devices, to set document effectivity during the change process. This enables customers to capture the signoffs and approvals to get it to that effectivity date.

An initial limitation was that the product structure explorer didn't support date effectivity, so if you filterer a BOM by effectivity date in PES, it would still show documents that weren't yet in effect. This is addressed in 10.1 M010"Time Stamp" is also new in M010. This enables users to set a specific time at which a document becomes effective.27User PreferencesDefault File PathDocument NameFile Download BehaviorKeep Document Open After Check InSend Local File to Recycle Bin

Site PreferencesName Uniqueness Validation TypesDocument from Template FilenameCheck Out New Document from TemplateWindchill Preferences of Interest

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Original Header: Attachments

28Default File PathSpecify a directory for uploading and downloading files when using Java Applet or DTI on Windows. Default isMy DocumentsDocument NameUse document name of attached file for NameFile Download BehaviorChoose Open or Save when using Java Applet or DTIKeep Document Open After Check InKeep document open in Office application after Check InSend Local File to Recycle BinSend Checked In document to Recycle BinWindchill Preferences - User

AttachmentsWindchill Document Management Best Practices#Original Header: Attachments

29Name Uniqueness Validation TypesWarn the User (check within the same folder) DefaultWarn the User (check within the same context)Force unique names within the same folderForce unique names within the same contextDocument from Template FilenameCombination of the following modifiers, , , stringEx. - - Check Out New Document from TemplateDetermine whether or not the new document should be checked out by the creatorWindchill Preferences - SiteDocuments

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Document Management Best PracticesAgendaIntroductionCreating a New Windchill DocumentCore Capabilities for Document ManagementCreating Documents with Subtypes vs. AttributesWindchill Desktop IntegrationWindchill Document Management Best Practices#IntroductionCreating a New Windchill DocumentStep-by-Step ProcessCapabilitiesTemplatesSubtypes & AttributesPTC PDS ExampleFolder StructuresDocument StructuresPreferences User & SiteSearchDocument Publishing & CollaborationWindchill Desktop Integration

31Defined in Type ManagerCreate additional Types from standard DocumentContractProposalDesign BriefTest ResultsEtc.

Defined in Type ManagerAttach different attributes for each SubtypeCustomerProductLocationMaterialEtc. Document Subtypes & AttributesSubtypesAttributes

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Discuss this:

Soft attributes and layout of attributes are defined when defining the document type. Document Templates are associated to document types separately; The mapping from document template to document type is done during document template creation. Lifecycle template, Revision Scheme, Naming rules and numbering rules are defining in Object Initiation Rules (OIR); OIR are mapped from the OIR to the document type.

Considerations really are lifecycle states & workflows32Example: Custom AttributesSales Demo Catalog Library at PTC

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#PTC created a Demo Content document type to support their internal installation and configuration of the Sales Demo Catalog in a Windchill Library. 3312 Kinds of Documents Demo AudioDemo CAD DatasetDemo DataDemo OutlineDemo PicksDemo PresentationDemo ReadMeDemo SetupDemo Software BOMDemo Talk TrackDemo TBDDemo VideoStd Attributes for all DocumentsCategoryAudioDataOutlinePicksProductArbortextCreoIsoDrawLanguageChineseEnglishFrenchGermanProduct RevisionPrime 1.0WF 5.01.0Example: Custom AttributesPTC needed to categorize multiple kinds of demo documentsPresentationReadMeTalk TrackVideoItalianJapaneseKoreanSpanishMathcadMockupWindchill2000i26.2.610.0Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Original Header: Example Demo Content Document

When planning documents for Windchill, there are two tools used to organize them; Subtypes and Attributes. Subtypes allow you to define an alternative, classified, type of document to make it easier to distinguish it from other documents in the system. Attributes allow you to define specific information or characteristics of your documents. 34

Example: Custom AttributesThe result: UI to define new demo document with custom attributes

Why Attributes?Flexibility, SimplicityRobustEasy to Change, Update & MaintainAccommodate MistakesEasily added to Table ViewsEasily used to Filter Table ViewsValues exported from TablesInteractive Table SortingInstant Access

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Document Management Best PracticesAgendaIntroductionCreating a New Windchill DocumentCore Capabilities for Document ManagementCreating Documents with Subtypes vs. AttributesWindchill Desktop IntegrationWindchill Document Management Best Practices#IntroductionCreating a New Windchill DocumentStep-by-Step ProcessCapabilitiesTemplatesSubtypes & AttributesPTC PDS ExampleFolder StructuresDocument StructuresPreferences User & SiteSearchDocument Publishing & CollaborationWindchill Desktop Integration

36Fully IntegratedMicrosoft Office2003, 2007 & 2010Microsoft WindowsXP, Vista & 7Windchill Desktop IntegrationInterface with Windchill Documents through MSFT Office & Explorer

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Original Header: Microsoft Office and Windows Explorer

Fully Integrated with Microsoft Office 2003, 2007 & 2010Word, Excel, PowerPointOutlook Meetings

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Windchill Desktop IntegrationWindchill Document Management Best Practices#Original Header: Short Demo Browse, Open, Edit, Check In

38Windchill Desktop Integration

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Original Header: Short Demo Browse, Open, Edit, Check In

39Quick Links, Software Downloads, Accept, Choose Setup (32 or 64 bit)Follow Installer StepsChange Download Mechanism PreferenceNavigate to a Document with Browser & Download

Manual ConfigurationRMB Windchill Documents Add, Change or Remove Server(s)Windchill Desktop Integration (DTI) Installation & Configuration

Windchill Document Management Best Practices#Quick Links, Software Downloads, Accept, Choose Setup (32 or 64 bit)Follow Installer StepsChange Download Mechanism PreferenceUse Windchill Desktop Integration functionality to download filesNavigate to a Document with Browser WindowClick on Document Format icon to open Document DTI will be auto-configured for the current server!

Manual ConfigurationRMB Windchill Documents From Tree or WindowAdd, Change or Remove Server(s)

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