HOW TO ENABLE MODELCHECK GATEKEEPER IN WINDCHILL ?

[hsuryaprakash]

HOW TO ENABLE MODELCHECK GATEKEEPER IN WINDCHILL ?

I found the below statement in ptc forum, but I am unable to find the location inside preference management.

PTC Creo Modelcheck Validation—Specifies whether to perform PTC Creo Modelcheckvalidation at check in. The default is NO. Enables the PTC Creo Modelcheck Gatekeeper when set to YES.

[Toby.Pettit]

Hi Haris,

There is a page in the Windchill help documentation that is reasonably good at explaining it. You can find it here:

http://www.ptc.com/cs/help/windchill_hc/wc102_hc/index.jspx?id=ProEWCIntegCustCheckInConfig&action=show

If that does not work I copied the contents of the page below - minus some other check in configurations that are not relevant to your query:

Configuring Check In

The following sections describe preferences used with the Check In action.

Managing ModelCHECK Validation during Check In

Creo Parametric allows you to use ModelCHECK™ as a "gatekeeper" to the Windchill database, which means that to be successfully checked in, models must meet ModelCHECK criteria. This gatekeeper functionality is controlled by the Windchill server, which references the read-only ModelCHECK parameters contained in the models.

Configuring ModelCHECK in Creo Parametric

To enable the gatekeeper functionality, you must first edit the ModelCHECK configuration to enable ModelCHECK to add the required parameters to the data. From the ModelCHECK Configuration window within Creo Parametric, edit the initialization file (config_init.mc) and change the following objects:

• Set MC_ENABLE to YThis enables ModelCHECK, and is required even if the config.pro option modelcheck_enabled is set to ‘yes.’
• Set RUN_MODE to YThis enables individual run modes of ModelCHECK: Interactive, Batch, Regenerate, and Save. At least one run mode must be enabled.
• Set ADD_DATE_PARM to YThis creates a parameter called MODEL_CHECK in the model files of all models that are checked. This parameter contains the date and time when ModelCHECK was last run.
• Set ADD_ERR_PARM to YThis creates a parameter called MC_ERRORS in all models that are checked. This parameter contains the number of errors found in the model when ModelCHECK was last run.
• Set ADD_CONFIG_PARM to YThis creates a parameter called MC_CONFIG in all models that are checked. This parameter contains the names of the ModelCHECK configuration files used for a final check of the model.
• Set ADD_MODE_PARM to YThis creates a parameter called MC_MODE in all models that are checked. This parameter contains the mode in which ModelCHECK was run on the model.
• Set ADD_VERIFIED_PARM to YThis allows the creation of a parameter called MC_VERIFIED in all models that are checked.

After editing the settings, save the configuration. As a result of this change, anytime you run ModelCHECK, these new read-only parameters are added to the data files.

NoteFor more information, see the ModelCHECK Help Topic Collection documentation.

Configuring ModelCHECK in Windchill

After configuring ModelCHECK in Creo Parametric, configure Windchill as follows:

1. In the Windchill Type and Attribute Management utility (Site ▶ Utilities ▶ Type and Attribute Management), expand the Manage Types node and find and select the CAD Document subtype of EPM Document. Click Editfrom the Action menu for the type to enter edit mode, and click the new attribute icon on the Attributes tab to access the New Attribute window and proceed to create attributes with following names and attribute types:
   • MC_ERRORS -- (integer)
   • MODEL_CHECK -- (string)
   • MC_CONFIG -- (string)
   • MC_MODE -- (string)
   • MC_VERIFIED -- (boolean)

   NoteIf you click Apply after creating an attribute, the New Attribute window stays open for creation of the next attribute. When you have created all the attributes, click Done to exit the New Attribute window. You are returned to the edit mode for the CAD Document type, with the information page for the last-created attribute open in the right-side pane. For more information, see Creating a New Attribute.
2. When you are done creating the attributes, in the attribute information page for the last created MC_<ERRORS/CONFIG/MODE or VERIFIED> attribute, select the Visibility tab. In the Screen Type column find the screen types, Create New, Edit, and EPM Upload, and set the value for each of the screen types to Value Hidden. Then click Save.
3. Repeat the setting of Value Hidden in the screen types of Create New, Edit, and EPM Upload for the remaining MC_<ERRORS/CONFIG/MODE or VERIFIED> attributes. When all four attributes have had their visibility values set, click Done to exit the edit mode of the CAD Document type page. You can then close the Type and Attribute Management utility. For more information on attribute visibility, see Viewing and Setting Attribute Visibility.
4. Set the preference Operation ▶ Check In ▶ ModelCHECK Validation to yes (the default is no) to enable ModelCHECK.
5. Set the appropriate modelCHECK preferences (also in Operation ▶ Check In) to configure ModelCHECK, as follows:
   • Set ModelCHECK Number of Errors to specify the maximum number of ModelCHECK errors allowed. The default is 0.
   • Set ModelCHECK Number of Hours to specify the maximum allowable hours between a ModelCHECK verification at the client and the actual model checkin to Windchill. The default is 24.
     NoteWildfire 4.0 M100 and Windchill PDMLink 9.1 M030(1) change the behavior of ModelCHECK Gatekeeper and mark files as out of date with ModelCHECK based on the Workspace status, not a time increment. The status is stored in the MC_VERIFIED parameter/global attribute when available. ModelCHECK Number of Hours is still required for any software combination where at least one component is using an older date code.
   • Set ModelCHECK Mode to specify the run mode used to execute ModelCHECK: Disabled, Interactive (default), Regenerate Explicit, Regenerate Implicit, Regenerate Always, Save, or Batch.
     NotePrior to PDMLink 9.1 M030(1) ModelCHECK Mode is not a valid ModelCHECK Gatekeeper option and is not available to be set.Executing VDA Checks will set the MC_MODE value to MC_VDA. This value of MC_MODE is not supported by ModelCHECK Gatekeeper.

• SetModelCHECK Configuration to specify the ModelCHECK Configuration files to be used for validation for each LifeCycle name in a specific syntax.(For example:<Lifecycle_1>:<mch_file1>,<mcs_file1> <Lifecycle2>:<mch_file2>,<mcs_file2>...The configuration specified by the "Default" life cycle state is fallback behavior. Typical examples are as follows:
  • Default:check/default_checks.mch,start/nostart.mcs,constant/inch.mcn
  • Basic:check/basic_checks.mch,start/basic_start.mcs,constant/inch.mcn
  • Release:check/release_checks.mch,start/release_start.mcs,constant/inch.mcn
  • Approval:check/approval_checks.mch,start/approval_start.mcs,constant/inch.mcn
  • Review:check/review_checks.mch,start/review_start.mcs,constant/inch.mcn

Note

You need to configure the ModelCHECK conditions in Creo Parametric to obtain the appropriate configurations for the respective LifeCycle Name. A typical example to configure condition.mcc is as follows:

• IF (PTC_WM_LIFECYCLE EQ Basic) config=(check/basic_check.mch)(start/basic_start.mcs)(constant/inch.mc n)(status/basic_status.mcq)
• IF (PTC_WM_LIFECYCLE EQ Release) config=(check/release_check.mch)(start/release_start.mcs)(constant/inch. mcn)(status/release_status.mcq)
• IF (PTC_WM_LIFECYCLE EQ Approval) config=(check/approval_check.mch)(start/approval_start.mcs)(constant/i nch.mcn)(status/approval_status.mcq)
• IF (PTC_WM_LIFECYCLE EQ Review) config=(check/review_check.mch)(start/review_start.mcs)(constant/inch. mcn)(status/review_status.mcq)
• ELSE set the fallback (CADDocument OIR - LifeCycle Name at context level)
• ELSE config=(check/basic_check.mch)(start/basic_start.mcs)(constant/inch.mc n)(status/basic_status.mcq)

Note

The Windchill OIR (Object Initialization Rule) pertaining to a CAD document for a context should be examined for the default LifeCycle Name. The fallback value of conditions.mcc for a workspace should match that of the OIR Lifecycle Name.

Regards,

Toby

[hsuryaprakash]

Thanks for your reply.

I dont find the option for adding data type(integer) inside epm doc.

Please find the att.

[Toby.Pettit]

I first created the global attributes - where it is obvious where to set it as Integer.

You then just reference it here. There is a section in the Windchill User Guide on how to create attributes. Clicking the question mark on that screen shot will probably take you to the right place.

[hsuryaprakash]

Thanks Buddy

I will try .....

[arobinson-2]

Hello,

Can this be done at the product level?

[MikeLockwood]

You may see some other posts on this topic from me.  I'm violently opposed to the way PTC has provided this functionality - preventing check in.  In general, you want all data to be checked in, and to allow users to freely develop concepts w/o having to run disciplined checks.

Instead, it makes sense to force use of ModelCheck and no errors before release.  Can easily set up to have a workflow process branch based on the ModelCheck attribute values.

Preventing checkin is the last thing you want to do if someone doesn't know how to fix the errors.

[dschenken]

I agree. I've had users simply delete features that gave errors because they didn't know how to fix them, usually from problems they had created. This snow-balls into other areas that were previously OK, making for hours of work to save one user a few minutes to figure out.

[MikeLockwood]

Just goes to show that in general PTC doesn't use their own software and doesn't understand what is important to businesses that use it.  No CAD admin / CAD user would have ever even proposed to prevent check-in as the way to enforce checking.

[arobinson-2]

Here's the scenario where I work now...

We design engines, so lots of complex parts, surfaces & datum features.  Correct mass & C.O.G is very important.

If the above items are correct then it can still be a pain even at an early stage of the design. Waiting until the parts are released is often too late and just means more work to correct the items at a later stage.

Although we request that users checkin the models in a certain quite often they forget or cant be bothered.

I have configured model check to only check the bare minimum of what we require:

Layer status, material assignment, mass > 0, parameters, start datums, etc.

I think it's too difficult to police bad modelling methods so I've removed all associated options.

I have also set up conditions so if the part is a concept/scheme part then it wont run model check.

All parts that are physically made have a certain numbering scheme and will be subjected to a modelcheck.

I think this setup would be OK to use with the windchill gatekeeper and no doubt the modelcheck settings will be tweaked once the users have been using it for a while.

[STEVEG]

@arobinson-2

If you disable MC for objects at the concept level (State I  assume?) then what's to stop your users from checking it in that way then changing the state afterwards?

Same question for the numbering scheme.  I am assuming if the files are not the correct scheme then MC won't run?  So the users check the files in without the correct scheme then rename the files afterwards.

[arobinson-2]

Been on solidworks for the last 6 months so need to refresh my memory on this topic.

When I say concept I mean't parts or assemblies that were purely for testing out a design or analysing something.

In these files users tend to perform quick modelling tasks to achieve their goal so don't want to be hindered by exact requirements like layer status or masses stopping them checking it into to pdm.

It did seem to work quite well once users understand the differences between the two naming conventions.

It was never left too late before a proper number was required on parts that were intended for manufacture so after that they were subjected to the normal MC checks & stopped by the gatekeeper.

To be honest I would rather not have gatekeeper enabled but I've worked at so many companies that use ProE/Wildfire/Creo over the years where at least half the users leave the models in a bad state when checked in. 

[ptc-4779205]

Hi,

I'm facing similar issue. I could not able to unable the modelcheck gate keeper in windchill, Please let me know did get the solution. below is the snap I could see. I didn't find site tab.

Thanks

[MikeLockwood]

I've commented on this before but can't help doing so again.

PTC has provided the ModelCheck Gatekeeper with good intent, but the mechanics are that it prevents check-in, which I personally think is absolutely the wrong place to put the control.  The designer may not know how to get rid of the error, and is not able to check in, allowing someone else to fix it.  Also, development in general should be allowed with any errors, allowing free conceptual work.

What we had in place at Alcon for years, and now have at Edwards is code in workflow (promotion / change) that branches on the value of MC_ERRORS > 0.  Very easy to do, and allows the control to be only at / after release without hindering free development in any way.

Can also add code that pays attention to the related attributes (when ModelCheck was run, what config files, etc.) since those are all written to CAD File parameters, and available as CAD Doc attributes.

In my humble opinion, PTC should really revisit this, eliminating the GateKeeper as is and instead provide standard workflow code.

Note: We started soft - allowed users to acknowledge ModelCheck errors for a time and go on, then later having a hard branch to require rework.

[STEVEG]

@ptc-4779205

FYI...The picture did not come through.

[ptc-4779205]

Steve,

Here I have attached the pictures, In the windchill preference management operations I couldn't find any model check options and trying to understand whether my organization has to customize the settings? 

Thanks,

Naidu

[arobinson-2]

Hi Steve,

Been a while but I think I remember doing it at the site admin settings.

HQ was in China so we asked the pdm admin guy there to enable it.

[arobinson-2]

https://community.ptc.com/t5/Windchill/HOW-TO-ENABLE-MODELCHECK-GATEKEEPER-IN-WINDCHILL/td-p/227906

This link above explains it in some detail