Product definitions

Use the Administration Console to create and set up Dimensions CM products, and assign product roles, such as Product Manager, Change Manager, and Parts Controller.

Guidelines for defining products

In the Product Definitions section of the Administration Console, you can add, modify, or remove products in the base database.

To open Product Definitions, go to Administration Console > Product Administration > Product definitions.

For details about the areas and options of Product Definitions, see Product Definitions main window.

Guidelines:

  • To add new products, you need the Create Product privilege.

  • You create a product based on an existing product or the $GENERIC product. Object type definitions and privilege assignments are copied from the base product.

  • When creating a product, you must assign a registered user to the Product Manager role. You can also assign users to the Change Manager and Parts Controller roles.

  • You can define values for any product attributes displayed on the Attributes tab. The attributes must have been previously defined for the product on which you are basing the new product.

To define product attributes, go to Administration Console > Configuration Object Management > Object type definitions, and assign attributes to the PRODUCT design part category.

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Define a product

In the Product Definitions section of the Administration Console, you can create new products.

To create a product:

  1. In the Administration Console, go to Product Administration > Product definitions.

  2. In Product Definitions, click New on the toolbar. The New Product dialog box opens.

  3. On the General tab, specify the details of the new product:

    Field Description

    Product ID

    Specify the identity of the new product. The ID must be unique within the base database.

    Use up to 10 alphanumeric or underscore characters.

    Based On

    Select a product on which to base the new product. The process model and attributes of the base product are copied to the new product.

    By default, the new product is based on the $GENERIC product.
    Description Enter a description of the product, up to 240 characters. The description is used throughout the Administration Console.

    Variant

    Specify the default variant to use for the product whenever new design parts and items are created. Use up to 240 characters.

    If you do not want to use variants, accept the default A value.

    PCS (revision no.)

    Specify the default part change status (PCS) to use for the product whenever new design parts are created. Use up to 3 characters.

    The PCS specifies the version number of the product.

    Product Manager

    Select a Dimensions CM user to be the Product Manager for the product.

    The Product Manager is also the product's PCMS Role Manager and PCMS Part Manager:

    • The PCMS Role Manager can make user role assignments.

    • The PCMS Part Manager can perform design part operations.

    You can assign both the PCMS Role Manager and the PCMS Part Manager roles to other users at particular levels in the design tree structure.
    Change Manager (Optional) Select a Dimensions CM user to be the Change Manager for the product.
    Parts Controller (Optional) Select a Dimensions CM user to be the Parts Controller for the product.

    Copy the design part structure from the base product

    (Optional) Select this option to copy the design part structure from the base product.

    By default, the new product is created with a single top-level design part with the same name as the product ID.

  4. To define values for the user-defined attributes copied from the base product, select the Attributes tab.

  5. Click OK.

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Modify or delete products

In the Product Definitions section of the Administration Console, you can delete products and edit a product's description and attributes.

To modify or delete a product, you need the Modify Product or Delete Product privilege respectively.

Note: When you delete a product, Dimensions CM deletes all information about it from the database and removes any reference to a product's items from within a project/stream. However, the contents of the libraries themselves are left intact. The Tool Manager can back up or delete these files using standard operating system commands.

To edit or delete a product:

  1. In the Administration Console, go to Product Administration > Product definitions.

  2. In Product Definitions, in the navigation area, select the product to edit or delete.

  3. To edit a product, click the Edit button in the content area.

    In the Edit Product dialog box, you can change the description and any user-defined attributes.

  4. To delete a product, click the Delete button in the content area, and confirm the deletion.

    Note: To delete your current product, switch to another product first. To change the current product, click the product name link in the status area at the bottom of the screen.

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See also: