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Agile Product Lifecycle Management Product Collaboration User Guide
Release 9.3.3
E39292-01
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C Appendix C

Configuring Variant Management

This chapter provides information about administrator settings for Variant Management.

C.1 Administrative Settings for Variant Management


Note:

The information in this section is referring to the Java client only.

C.1.1 Privileges for Variant Management User


Note:

You require the 'Administrator' privilege to configure the necessary privileges.

In order to change the preference for the internal or external Configurator for Variant Management, you require the Modify privileges with the criteria My User which has to contain users.Preferences.BOM Variant Configuration Preference.

Additionally, to be able to create the Instance BOM, you will require the same privileges as are needed for creating a BOM, and the Save As privilege for Parts (Models).

To be able to modify a Model Option BOM, the fields Parts.BOM.Max Qty, Parts.BOM.Min Qty, Part.BOM.Mut Excl, and Parts.BOM.Optional also have to be assigned to the Modify privilege.

To create Instances on the Instances tab, the field Items.Instances.Item Name has to be assigned to the Modify privilege.

In order to launch the Instance Manager, the Configure Instance privilege, as well as the Read privilege for the field Items.Instances.Item Name is required.

In case the Title Block tab of Models or Instances contains a description, the Modify privilege on Items.TitleBlock.Description is also required to create the Instance BOM.

The privileges to use the Propagate button on the Instances tab are the same as the privileges to use the Add and Remove buttons. To be able to use the Propagate button, you do require the same privileges.


Important:

We strongly recommend to have the Read privilege for BOM attributes that are used in the Instance Manager.

C.2 Activating 'Internal Configurator' - Instance Manager


Important:

To change the preferences of the client, you require the rights to modify this setting on a user.


Note:

In order to work with the Internal Configurator, each user must have the correct preference configured. This is set to Disabled by default.

To activate the 'Internal Configurator':

  1. Login to the Web client.

  2. Click the My Settings button, or open the user which has to be configured.

  3. Select the Preferences tab.

  4. In the System Preferences section make sure the BOM Variant Configuration Preference is set to Internal Configurator.

C.3 External Configurator - Oracle Generic Configurator User Interface

Some basic information about how to use the Oracle Generic Configurator User Interface can also be found in this guide.


Note:

When creating a Model Option BOM, please make sure when a BOM item has the same minimum and maximum quantity value, the Quantity has to have the same value as well. If Min Qty = Max Qty <> Qty value, then the Change Order (ECO), through which this BOM is released, causes an error in the Application Integration Architecture (AIA) queue and will not be sent to Oracle eBusiness Suite (EBS).

C.3.1 Activating 'External Configurator' - Generic Configurator User Interface


Important:

To change the preferences of the client, you require the rights to modify this setting on a user.


Note:

In order to work with the External Configurator, each user must have the correct preference configured. This is set to Disabled by default.

To activate the 'External Configurator':

  1. Login to the Web client.

  2. Click the My Settings button, or open the user which has to be configured.

  3. Select the Preferences tab.

  4. In the System Preferences section make sure the BOM Variant Configuration Preference is set to External Configurator.

C.3.2 Admin Settings for the External Configurator


Note:

This information is referring to the Java client only. To be able to perform these settings you need to have administrative rights.

To provide Agile 9 Model Option BOM data in the external Configurator, settings have to be made in the Java client. For detailed information regarding these settings, please see: Agile PLM Integration Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite - Design to Release 2.5 - Implementation Guide (http://aia.oraclecorp.com/products/agileplm2billPIP.html).

C.4 Event Management in Variant Management

To support a higher flexibility in Variant Management, and also because not all customer use cases are covered by the defined validation rules, the user can define its own validation rules for a Model Option BOM.


Note:

Once the Variant Management event types are enabled, they replace the corresponding default behavior for the affected objects and do not extend it.

C.4.1 Variant Management Event Types

The Variant Management Event Types are triggered for Models only:

The six Variant Management Event Types:

  • Create Variant Instance

  • Derive Variant Model Option BOM

  • Update Variant Configuration

  • Validate Variant Configuration

  • Validate Variant Instance Selections

  • Validate Variant Model Option BOM

C.4.2 Examples of Variant Management Events

This section provides brief information on how the administrator might tailor Event Subscriptions to benefit users in Variant Management. You must read the chapter "Event Management" in Agile PLM Administrator Guide. Developers of the (Java and Script) process extensions used by the Events framework must read appropriate chapters in Agile PLM SDK Developer's Guide.

Create Variant Instance

  • Purpose

This event type retrieves the Instance BOM object from the storage and creates the Instance BOM in Agile 9. The entry state of the created Instance on the Instances tab is a Part without a BOM. This Instance becomes the root element for the Instance BOM when clicking the Create Instance button in the Instance Manager.

The event handler code traverses the logical structure. With this event:

  • Parts get created that will replace Models

  • All BOM relations get created


Note:

Items of the logical structure and their relations between each other contain only BOM attributes that are necessary for Variant Management, e.g. minimum/maximum quantity, optional, mutually exclusive. Any additional attributes have to be processed and copied in this code.

  • Triggered

This event type is triggered once for a specific Instance after the successful processing of the Validate Variant Instance Selections and the Derive Variant Model Option BOM event types.

  • Errors

Errors are displayed in a pop-up window.

Derive Variant Model Option BOM

  • Purpose

This event type creates an Instance BOM object in the storage. This Instance BOM object already contains the configurations for the final Instance BOM, without actually creating new items or changing the BOM table of an item. The derivation adds the selected parts to the BOM, replaces all models by parts (except for the top level model), Option Classes will get replaced by their options, and the quantities will be calculated for all parts.

  • Triggered

This event type is triggered once for a specific Instance when pressing the Create Instance button in the Instance Manager, after the successful validation of the Validate Variant Instance Selection event type.

  • Errors

Because the Model Option BOM should be already validated, there should be no errors displayed at this stage. In case errors need to be displayed, they are displayed in a pop-up window.

Update Variant Configuration

  • Purpose

This event type checks every line item of the Model Option BOM when launching the Instance Manager and in the Instance Manager, e.g. checkboxes for mandatory items are already set, certain quantity fields become read only.

The input data containing the quantity and the status of the checkboxes (selected/deselected) is passed to the event handler.

With this event:

  • Configuration options are added or removed

  • Propagation is processed

Checks for the correct dependencies between child and parent for updated options.

  • Triggered

This event type is triggered once for every modification of the Configuration Graph for a specific Instance, and for preselections (e.g. mandatory items) when starting the Instance Manager. It is also triggered when pressing the Copy Configuration or Reset Configuration button.

  • Errors

Errors are displayed for each line item in the Instance Manager, at the beginning of each line.

Validate Variant Configuration

  • Purpose

This event type checks if the already created Configuration Graph is still consistent with the current Model Option BOM. In case of inconsistencies, the Configuration Graph will be updated.

  • Triggered

This event type is triggered once for a specific Instance when opening the Instance Manager for an Instance with Configuration Graph and after the successful processing of the Validate Variant Model Option BOM event type. This event type is not triggered for preselections (e.g. mandatory items) or if no Configuration Graph is available.

This event type is also triggered when pressing the Copy Configuration button.

  • Errors

Errors are displayed in a pop-up window.

Validate Variant Instance Selections

  • Purpose

This event type validates the Configuration Graph, e.g. to check for min/max violations, or if an Option Class has sufficient selected child options.

  • Triggered(This event type is triggered once for a specific Instance when):

    • Clicking Launch Configurator on the Instances tab.

    • Modifying a line item (select, de-select, edit quantities) in the Instance Manager.

    • Clicking the Validate button in the Instance Manager.

    • Clicking the Create Instance button in the Instance Manager.

    • Clicking the Reset Configuration button in the Instance Manager.

    • Clicking the Copy Configuration button in the Instance Manager.

  • Errors

Errors are displayed as guide icons for each line item, or when clicking the Validate button in a pop-up window.

Validate Variant Model Option BOM

  • Purpose

This event type validates the Model Option BOM, e.g. to check for min/max violations, or if an Option Class has sufficient number of child options.

  • Triggered

This event type is triggered once for the top level Model of the Model Option BOM, when selecting the Check Model Option BOM menu of the BOM tab of a Model, or when clicking the Launch Configurator button on the Instances tab.

  • Errors

Errors are displayed in a pop-up window, and prevent the Instance Manager to open.