Managing patents in Windchill

[MikeLockwood]

We recently went thru an exercise developing how we will manage patents in Windchill going forward. The key needs that we see are:

a) Manage the listof allpatent numbers apply to the business and make the patent documents readily available, along with their status (e.g. MOI status only, patent Pending Issue, PatentIssued, Patent Expired).

b) Manage the relationships between patent numbers and the Part Numbers / Product End Items where they are used.

To this point, we have used a ProjectLink project with a very simple process. In the project, we've stored all PDF's of patents (issued by external parties) as regular WTDoc's, and used aspreadsheet also stored in the project with manual entries for all columns.

Going forward we intend to use the following. Hoping to get ideas on optimizing this from others prior to implementing. Note: Happy to send details of this to anyone interested (we have a detailed Word doc and PowerPoint on it).

1. Create Subtype of WTDocument called Patent Document; apply several attributes: Docket Number, Issue Date, Inventors, etc.

2. Create Library just for these documents (all are actually .pdf, issued by external parties); folder specified in OIR at Org level for this type exists only in this Library - prevents them from being created anywhere else.

3. Apply a simple Lifecycle to this subtype with these states: Issued, Reviewed, Expired. Library Managers use simple Set State action to change states (may make this Promote in the future).

4. Create a saved Search available to all with Search Table View specific to patent documents with all attributes as criteria;Query Builder report also specific to Patent Documents, with all attributes as parameters.

5.Create ProductView watermarking specific to these states (document collaboration option in use by all).

At this point, we had all covered but the relationships. In general, we need to build relationships between the patent documents and one or more WTParts, without changing (iterating) either. One possibility is to create another WTPart to which both are linked. This didn't seem optimum. Exploring all other methods, we came to the conclusion that using Baselines was the best we could think of as the "glue" between the patent doc's and the Parts to which they applied.

6. Process: For each Patent Document, create a Baseline, named "<patent number="> usage." Make the patent document the "top object" of this baseline. Add all WTParts on which this patent is used to the Baseline. Manage the Locked and Protected status of the Baseline (tbd here).

7. CreateQuery Builder report for the baselines, with a criteria that filters on the Name, returning only this type of Baselines. In the report,includinghyperlinksto both the patent documents and all WTParts in the Baseline, providing single click access to the document and all related WTParts from the report.

Note -WTParts can be: End Items, Label parts on which the patent is listed, software in which the patent is displayed, other parts (generally assemblies) whose design relies on the patent.

So, just interested in any other comments before we implement in production - from both other users and PTC.

thanks in advance

[ptc-1499334]

We implemented a similar kind of solution. Security was of most concern.
Using the combination of Document Subtypes, Library and Sub domains, we were
able to restrict access to pending Patents. The Patent development and
approval workflow process would programmatically move an approved patent
from a restricted domain into a public access domain. Instead of a using a
baseline, the part and or specification numbers were entered as attributes,
and verified prior to the patent approval within the workflow.



Did you try adding a Soft Attribute to categorize the Baseline used to hold
the relation between Patent? Category attribute may allow you to filter
against other potential uses of a Baseline.



Hemant Jatla | Datafrond LLC - hjatla@datafrond.com | Fax: +1 480.247.5908

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[Cosmo]

Hi Mike,
I am in the process of implementing items 1-4 and 7 on a project at my company so I would certainly be interested in seeing the document for reference.
Our plan to connect the parts and the documents is to use an attribute field that is the same field name in both object types and has the same value. It's basically a auto-generated unique tracking number created when we create the document (patent in your case). Then we copy the number manually and paste it into any and all CAD objects that are related to the document. This way we can search on that number and find all items related to that number.
What's different in our situation is that we have the ability to modify the objects and edit the attributes....but I believe there is a way to add an attribute to an object such that you can edit the attribute without iterating/modifying the object. I looked into this last week as an option. It's adding an attribute to the Master. This is a customization in 9.1 but OOTB functionality in 10.0. Obviously this attribute would have the same value for all iterations so it may or may not work for your needs.
In our case, using the normal attribute functionality seems like the simplest and easiest approach for our end users.
Mike -

[RussPratt]

Mike,

Your solution concept sound quite valid. I am interested in more understanding of step 5; particularly why you feel that the creation of the part/patent associations should notiterate either object? The baseline approach appears, on the surface, to be more complex than necessary just to avoid iterations.

Russ