Team Center Question

[Kenja824]

Is it possible to add a component to an assembly as a "read only" file?

We have some files that are ready to be released but the leader likes to release them at the same time. So while we are waiting for them to be released, it would be great if we could add them to our assembly to get a jump on what we need to do if we could add it as read only so we use their info but not worry about accidently saving on them.

I think of Excel. I think if you hold shift down and right click on the file, you have the option of open as read only. This only makes it read only to you. Anyone else could still open the file and save in it.

I know Team Center has the whole release thing, but sometimes you need info from a file that is not released yet, but dont want to allow even a chance you could save over it. Logically it just seem this should be possible.

Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.

 

[cowski]

If someone explicitly checks out the CAD dataset it will be read-only for everyone else. Now you only have to worry about 1 person accidentally saving it.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[Kenja824]

Hi cowski

Thanks for replying.

There is a problem with this answer though. Team Center forces us to close out at the end of the day. If you keep it open, it will session out and you lose connection. When someone closes down for the night, it automatically checks in the files they have checked out.

Now we are counting on that person to be here first so they can check the files out before we open the assemblies that would have those files in them. If he is late or forgets to check them out, we are then able to save those files.

This wouldnt be just ne file either. We need to do work on all the different areas of the vehicle. Underbody, Motor Compartment, Front Floor, Rear Floor, Bodyside inner, Bodyside Outer, etc.... So he would have to be here first and go through and check out all of the different files for each area every day. This leaves way too large of a hole in the security of those files. It becomes way too easy for something to go wrong and someone to save.

It actually kind of blows my mind that there is no way to open a file that is not released as read only. It just seems like a clear and logical security measure that is ignored to me.

Mind you, this is not the typical situation. We typically have all of the files released before using them. But once in a while the customer will request for us to get certain jobs done in the work that I do, before they are finished making these other files, so they are still unreleased. The work they still need to do would not affect what I will need from them. Its not the typical situation but the fact it does happen tells me there really should be a way to load an unreleased file as read only.


Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.

 

[cowski]

Perhaps it depends on your setup. In my case, if someone explicitly checks out a dataset, it remains checked out to them until they explicitly check it back in. We also make use of implicit checkout; this will check out a part to you if you open it and modify it and no one else already has it checked out. In this case, the part will be checked in automatically when you close the file.

Other possible options:
Submit the parts to the workflow, but don't approve them yet. Since it is in a workflow, it will be read-only to everyone until the workflow is completed or cancelled. The first step in our release workflow is a "self-check"; it won't move on to the checker until the person that submitted it gives the OK. If you have something similar, you could start the workflow, but not actually submit the part until it is ready.

Use a different workflow to freeze the part before release. We use the "30" status to freeze designs that we've sent out for quote or prototypes, but is not released for production. Perhaps you can use one of these to freeze the parts and then release them later.

This will depend on your setup, but I think the group of the file owner has read/write access and other groups only have read access. If this is true in your setup, the admin could change ownership of the parts to another group (perhaps a dummy group that only the admin belongs to) to make them read-only. This sounds like a lot of work and will depend on your current settings; it isn't what I'd call a good solution.

www.nxjournaling.com

 

[Kenja824]

I will admit that the WORKFLOW idea sounds very intriguing. I really have no understanding of what it is.... yet... but I like how you explained it. I am going to copy and paste this solution to my leader.

Could you direct me to a good place to read up about how to set up a workflow and such?

Thanks very much for the help.

Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.

 

[SDETERS]

Try looking into your customer defaults. There is a switch you can lock at the site level. Look into the check-in/check out policy in NX customer defaults. This will help and make sure to force you check the part if you really really want to modify. Look into the Manual Check -out settings.

Also there was a setting in teamcenter called Intelligent Save. Or something like this. So when you close or try to save an assembly, NX will notify you that the parts that have been modified, what do you want to do with these parts? There is an option you can set in Teamcenter that turns this feature on and off. I do not remember this feature or option.

 

[Kenja824]

Thanks SDETERS

I was just looking at the Checkin policy as you said. I could see where that may be an option if we used the Manual Check-out, Check-in on close. I can see 2 possible problems.

1) It would set this across the board and not just for that file. So any file we do need to save, we will have to manually check it out every time we open it? Might be a little annoying but a possible solution.

2) To my understanding, GM gives our company a group and we are all in our company) a part of that group. We dont get individual groups. So if this was set at the site level, wouldnt that make it so everyone had to do this?

Or do we have the ability to create other groups of our own?

Currently the only one who has SITE level privileges is the IT person.

ALSO, currently we get the notification asking us if we want to save other files when we try to close assemblies. We always say NO to this unless we see one of our own files that need to be saved. The problem is when we save our files. One gentleman here accidentally saved on one of the files we shouldnt and claims he never did anything but load it and unload it. I struggle to believe that. lol I recently had something similar happen but I believe my mistake was that I had added the file to my released assembly then realized I still needed to rev it up. In the rev up I believe it did a save to everything.

Personally I think as long as we rev up first, then add the files and only save using Save Work Part Only, we would be okay. Unfortunately people make mistakes (especially when some of the older guys are not very computer savvy) and the leader of the files that keeps getting saved, is the short tempered impatient type. lol So I am trying to find a way to keep his files safe from the start. Im just thinking of his health here. Really.


Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.

 

[SDETERS]

1) It would set this across the board and not just for that file. So any file we do need to save, we will have to manually check it out every time we open it? Might be a little annoying but a possible solution.
"This will set it across the board for every user in that group and depends on how you set your customer defaults up, on who you force this option to, ha. We leave it open, so if a user wants it set one way, vs a different way we leave this open. Many users like the manual check out check-in option.

2) To my understanding, GM gives our company a group and we are all in our company) a part of that group. We dont get individual groups. So if this was set at the site level, wouldnt that make it so everyone had to do this?
"We are not in automotive, I control our company customer defaults, so I have the power to set options for different groups. We give a lot of freedom to users."

Also, do not forget Teamcenter keeps so many different "versions" of a file. This will depend on how your Teamcenter is configured. For example, if you accidentally save a file once, you could always try to go into Teamcenter select the NX dataset, and go to file then open with. At the top of this dialog box, there is a version drop down. Now if you save this file 5 or 6 different times, you may be hosed up a bit. Ugh

You can always create your own groups, this will depend on how your NX admin has things configured for different groups.

The workflows like Cowski mentions work also, this is all configured by your teamcenter admin within the BMIDE>.

 

[Kenja824]

I have a question on workflows.

When my leader read cowski's reply about the workflow, he said it looks like nobody would be able to work on the file. Even those who needed to. Is this right?

For example, we have what we call an MDM group. MDMs are files that have a Product assembly, a Weld Spot assembly, a Datum Assembly and a Sealer Assembly all in one file. For my job, I will load this MDM to a new file and work strictly with the Weld Spot and Product file only. So if they are still working on Sealer or Datums, but the Welds are set, I would be able to use the MDM if I can make it so I cannot save it.

Would the MDM group be able to submit the MDM file to a workflow where they can continue to work on the datums, but I would not be able to save the MDM file?

Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.

 

[Kenja824]

SDETER

Personally I think the version drop down would be all that is needed. If one of us do accidentally save over it, they can still retrieve the previous save. Getting that across to the hot headed leader is the problem. I may need to talk to another leader on this first. lol

Its funny because I learned how to retrieve a previous saved version once before a long time ago. The last couple times I wanted it, I could not remember how to do it. lol

Unfortunately when I try your directions it doesnt do as I expect. When I go to OPEN WITH, the window that pops up has a small drop down for application. The only application available is Structure Manager. No matter what I select inside the window, they are all Structure manager.

Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.

 

[SDETERS]

I do not know if these images will turn out.

This is how it works with our teamcenter, yours may be set up a bit differently. I think there a couple different ways to get to these versions, someone else may know this solution.

https://community.sw.siemens.com/s/...ossible-to-retrieve-a-previous-saving-of-file

This thread above also has some other things you can try, to get back to your earlier versions.

 

[Kenja824]

That helped. I was able to see the exact file type I needed to click on. I was clicking on the upper level where it gave the file number and rev level. Im guessing this was my lack of knowledge when it came to what exactly a NX Data Set is. lol

Thanks.

I am going to make sure the leaders know this is possible so that if something does get saved, they should be able to revert to the previous version.

Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.

 

[SDETERS]

The only way this does not work is if someone gets really save happy, and saves over all of the older versions. We only keep three versions, so this happens easily for us. Also I think if you run certain workflows, these versions get blown away too. I do not know much about teamcenter and how this works.

this has saved us in the past a couple times. It is one of those things that is easily forgotten about until you need it.

 

[Kenja824]

I just talked to a leader I like. He mentioned that very thing. He knew we could retrieve earlier saves but he said that usually when they try to do that, they get a version that is the same thing because they saved too many times.

I explained that this should not be the case with our particular situation.

We do a lot of updates to our own files. When saving, we never do a regular save. We only save work part only. The MDM file should never get saved. But because we usually use released files, we get into a bad habit.

I often open our own released file, bring in the new MDM and start working. Then when I see there are real changes to record, I finally rev up our file to a new revision with the MDM file already in the assembly. Revving our file up I think does a regular save and saves the files inside the assembly that are not released as well. So on the rare occasion we have to use unreleased files, I end up saving on those files when I rev up.

I and a couple others need to learn to rev our own file up before adding the latest MDM as a component. But if the mistake does happen out of habitual working, it should be no problem for that leader to roll back one save and get the original back.

However, I think that reviving one save back will save us in the end. In the future if we realize we have saved on the MDM, I will talk to one of the people in his group who wont go berserk and just ask them to revive the past save so one o their names is on it. lol

Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.

 

[Kenja824]

Cool. I talked to someone in the MDM group.

In the future, we will have to rev up our own file before loading the MDM. But if a mistake does happen again, I can go to that person and they will retrieve the previous save so that someone in the MDM groups name is on it and the leader wont freak out.

Its amazing what you need to do just to keep peace sometimes huh? lol

Thanks for your help.

Ken

http://www.OneGodLogic.com

My brain is like a sponge. A sopping wet sponge. When I use it, I seem to lose more than I soak in.