Engineering Management Application Tutorial

1. Log into Autodesk PLM 360.

2. Click My Dashboard.

The dashboard contains a report that depicts items by category in a pie chart. The pie chart shows a real-time view of all component parts within the organisation by their category.

3. Select the Enlarge icon at the top right of the pie chart.

4. Right-click on the chart and select Enable Rotation.  Using the left mouse button, drag the pie chart to rotate it.

5. Right-click on the chart and select Enable Slicing Movement.  Click the largest piece of pie labeled 50 - Off-The-Shelf … to separate that piece from the rest of the chart.

6. Right-click on the chart and select View 2D to see the chart in a flattened format.

7. Close the enlarged view of the pie chart.

Now let’s look in more detail at the bill of materials for a product, a flashlight assembly.

8. In the My Dashboard Links section, click the item 10-000565-01 - Ultrabright Flashlight (Red).

The information for the flashlight assembly is summarized across the various tabs in this workspace.

9. Select the Bill of Materials tab to view the subassemblies that make up the flashlight.

10. Expand the subassembly item 15-000562-01 - TS951LT Inner Body Assy [REV:A] to .

11. Select the Flat tab to view the bill of material as a line item-list.

12. Hold the cursor over any item in the BOM and then click on the Preview box which appears.  The details for that item are displayed in a data card.  Click the back and next arrows at the top of the data card to move through the data cards for the other items in the BOM.

13. Close the preview data card.

There is a problem with our flashlight product, and an engineering change needs to be made.  To do this, we will submit a change request to ask for a modification to be made.  A change request has already been started, so we will pick it up from here.

14. Click Main Menu >Engineering >Change Request to access the change request workspace.  Click CR000001-Flashlight body rubber insertsto open the change request already started.

Details of the change and the impact assessment have already been added, but we still need to identify the members of the approval board, or those who need to approve the change request. 

15. Select Edit and scroll down to theApproval Board section.  From the Available list, select Engineer, Ed, Projectmanager, Paul, and yourself and then add the names to the Selected list via the right arrow button.

16. In the Closeout section of the change request, select Yes for Spawn CO on Approval.

17. Click Save.

18. Scroll up to the top of the record and click the Workflow Actions tab.  This displays the process workflow map for approving a change request.  The change request will proceed through the workflow based on the actions of the approval board.  However, first, you need to submit the request for approval.

19. On the graphical map of the workflow, click the green Submit for Review transition arrow.  In the dialog box which then appears, enter a note that says: "This is a critical change request." and then click Save Step. The change request has now been submitted for approval by the board.

20. Click on the now green Request Under Review by Team status box.  This will confirm who the approval board is, or those who are need to sign this stage of the process off before it can proceed.

21. You are listed as one of the members of the approval board, so you now need to approve the change request.  On the graphical map of the workflow, click the green Approve transition arrow.  In the dialog box which then appears, enter a note that says: "This change meets with my approval" and then click Save Step.

The approval team also includes Ed Engineer and Paul Projectmanager. Both Ed and Paul need to approve the change request in order for it to be able to move to the next stage.

22. Log out of PLM 360 by selecting your name at the top right of the screen and Logout.  Log back in as Ed Engineer, with the password ed.

23. Open the My Outstanding Work tab.  This is a list of all tasks assigned to Ed Engineer by PLM 360.  Click on the item CR000001 - Flashlight body rubber inserts.  This is the change request which requires Ed’s approval.

24. The change request needs to be approved by Ed.  He needs to do this in the same way as before: Click the Workflow Actions tab, then, on the graphical map of the workflow, click the green Approve transition arrow and then Save Step.

Now both you and Ed have approved the change request.  However, because this step has to be signed off by the whole approval team, the item is still under review by the team until Ed Engineer approves it as well.

25. Log out of PLM 360 by selecting Ed Engineer’s name at the top right of the screen and Logout.  Log back in as Paul Projectmanager, with the password paul.

26. Open Paul’s My Outstanding Work tab.  Click on the same change request item, CR000001 - Flashlight body rubber inserts.  Click the Workflow Actions tab.

You will see that, this time, the ‘Final Approval’ transition in the workflow is highlighted in green, and the ‘Approval’ transition is not.  Because Paul is the last of the approval team to sign the approval task off, he can move the process on to the next stage.  PLM 360 now knows that the whole team is happy, and we can move forward with the change request.

27. On the graphical map of the workflow, click the green Final Approval transition arrow and then Save Step.

28. Click on theChange Request Details tab and scroll down to the Closeout section.  There is a link to the change order that was spawned upon approval of the change request. Click on the link to this change order.

You may remember that, when we created the change request, we specified that a change order be automatically created, or ‘spawned’, upon the approval of that change request.  This is the change order spawned as a result of the change request the approval team just signed off.  It contains some information automatically brought through from the change request, such as the description and reason for the change.

29. Ensure theItem Details tab is selected and click Edit.  As with the change request process, the names of the people who will need to approve the change order have to be added in the ‘Approvals’ section.  For the sake of this exercise, just add yourself as the sole approver.  From the Available list, select your name and then add it to the Selected list via the right arrow button.  Scroll to the top of the record and click Save.

A key element of any change order is to define the items affected by it, or what parts, assemblies or documents the change will be applied to.  In this case our affected item is a specific subassembly which has been identified as requiring modification to fulfill the change requested.

30. Select theAffected Items tab.  At present, there are no items subject to change, so we need to add the relevant sub-assembly.  Click Add. In the Add Items to Affected Items dialog box, search for, or find in the list 15-000562-01 - TS951ILT Inner Body Assy. You will see this is currently at Revision ‘A’.  Turn on the Select check box.  Select Next then Save and Exit to link the item to the change order.

31. We now need to specify the lifecycle step we want to move the sub-assembly on to.  We have the option of moving it on to the next revision (which will be Revision ‘B’), or making it obsolete.  We want to do the former, so, from the Lifecycle pull-down menu, select Production Revision.  Select Save.

32. Select the Workflow Actions tab.  On the graphical map of the workflow, click the green Submit to CCB for Review transition arrow (you will see you have authority to carry out a number of actions, but this is the path we need to take).  Click Save Step.

The Change Control Board (CCB) will now need to review the change, taking into account all of the information filtered down from the change request, and all the additional information, such as the sub-assembly added earlier, which has been input into the change order.

The CCB panel is that defined in the ‘Approvals’ section of the change order.  You will remember that, in this case, you defined only yourself as a one-person CCB panel, so you are able to sign the review step off yourself, as indicated by the green colour of the ‘Final Approval’ transition arrow.

33. On the graphical map of the workflow, click the green Final Approval transition arrow.  Enter Change Fully Approvedin theComments dialog box and click Save Step.

34. Click the green Change Order Implemented transition arrow  and click Save Step to complete the change process.

35. Click Main Menu >Engineering >Items and BOMs and select the item you have just changed, 15-000562-01 - TS951ILT Inner Body Assy from the list.  You will see this is now at Production Release ‘B’.

36. Select the Associated Change Orders tab.  You will see that there is a link to the change order you have just signed off, providing full traceability of why this was moved from Revision ‘A’ to Revision ‘B’, back up to the change request level.