Signatures on basic life cycle objects

[whitneyj]

Has anyone tried to apply or use the signature functionality on basic
life cycle objects? Or created a custom workflow that applies
signatures to the affected data of an CN?

I see how to apply signatures to objects with advanced life cycles that
have a workflow but would like to apply signatures to an object with a
basic life cycle. I would be looking at the three main objects, Parts,
CAD Docs, and Documents. We are hesitant to use an advanced life cycle
on these objects types because the PTC documentation recommendations
basic life cycles for performance reasons.

Thanks,

Jeff Whitney
USEC
865-425-6497

[rmp.pe]

Jeff,

We are going through some issues on this right now. I'll share what
we've learned thus far:

In order to apply the sig, you need to assign a task, and have the
"Signature required" option checked for that task.
In order to assign a task, you have to have a workflow.
The tricky part is when and how to trigger the workflow and thus assign
the task.

We set a phase workflow for the "Under Review" state. When the object
is placed in that state, the workflow kicks off, first assigning the
task to assign roles for the signatures, then actually assigning the
signature tasks. When the signature has been completed, the workflow
sets the state to "Approved", which can act as a trigger for sync robots
in parent processes. One of the primary reasons we did this was because
we are using the eSig PDF functionality in the Med Device template, and
the process to generate a document pdf is different than that for a CAD
file pdf, so we need different eSig workflows for the different object
types. Linking the workflows to the object lifecycles accomplishes
this.

The problem with this method however is that if you are using an
unrelated "parent" workflow to set the state of the primary business
object to "Under Review" (thus initiating the sig process), the system
is actually initiating this phase signature workflow and the initial
task is assigned to wcadmin instead of the actual parent workflow
creator.

What we are now considering is to set the eSig roles in the parent
process and transfer those roles through workflow variables to the child
eSig process. Each respective eSig workflow will process with the
appropriate roles, generate the appropriate PDF for their respective
object types, and then set state to approved which closes out all
workflows.

The other thing to consider is WHAT are you signing? If you are
applying the signature to an ECR or ECN, place the task in that
workflow. If you are applying the signature to a document or part, I do
not believe that the ECR or ECN signature will not show up on the actual
document or part... you would have to have a workflow to obtain
signatures where the document or part is the primary business object,
not the ECR or ECN.

Figure out how you want to initiate the process, then you can figure out
where to put the task.

Regards,

<http: www.steris.com="/> Robert M. Priest, PE, PMP
Lead Engineer / PLM Program Manager

[whitneyj]

Bob,

Thanks. It sounds like you cannot apply a signature to an object that
has a basic life cylce, it must have an advanced life cycle.

I am curious on how many people are using advanced life cycles on their
main objects (Part, CAD Docs, Documents)? And if so, has affected
performance?

BTW, we are on PDMLink 8.0 M020.

Jeff Whitney
865-425-6497

[rmp.pe]

Jeff,

I guess it really comes down to what you define as "Advanced".
You could still use the OOTB basic lifecycle of:

In Work | Released | Cancelled

and set your signature workflow to be a gate process for In Work. This
means that when you try to promote the object out of the In Work state,
this process would run, and that might solve your problem.

Regards,

<http: www.steris.com="/> Robert M. Priest, PE, PMP
Lead Engineer / PLM Program Manager

[whitneyj]

In talking with Jeff Zemsky, the concept of basic and advanced life
cycles must be new for 8.0. From what I understand, the advanced life
cycle in 8.0 is just the normal life cycle in 7.0 and earlier. The
basic life cycle in 8.0 only allows you to set transition states, not
Roles, Workflow or any of the other tabs. And with 8.0 OOTB, Parts, CAD
Docs, & Documents all have a basic life cycle.

My concern was that by assigning an advanced life cycle to the main
objects, there would be a big performance hit. But it sounds like prior
to 8.0, that all objects had an advanced life cycle. So it appears to
have a signature on an object, it needs to have a workflow and therefore
an advanced life cycle.

Jeff Whitney
865-425-6497