What's a good naming policy?

[Julian.F]

Hi.

I am wondering what the best policy is when it comes to name, file name and number?

For reference we use a separate Bill of Material application nor do we put BOMs on drawings.

As of late I have begun putting a "-" on name simply to make copy/pasting parts and assembles a tiny bit quicker. But I am wondering if it is necessary to add the file extension part to file name/new number? See attachment.

Does it make any difference? What are your policies and guidelines at your workplace? All feedback welcome.

We are using Creo 7.0 and Windchill 11.1

Thanks!

[BenLoosli]

These are part of what I send to new users.

1. Creo requires 2 pieces of information when creating a new file:
   1. The Name field (Limited to 31 characters with no spaces)
   2. The Common name field (Tested with 123 character name length)
2. These get mapped to 3 items in Windchill:
   1. The Name gets mapped to Number and File Name
   2. The Common name gets mapped to an internal parameter, PTC_COMMON_NAME, which is displayed in Windchill as the Name
3. The File Name is what shows up in your Model Tree.
4. The File Name MUST be unique in Windchill.
5. The Common Name field when mapped to PTC_COMMON_NAME shows up in the drawing title and in the Name field of an assembly BOM table.
6. The Number column in a BOM is created by a relation that takes the internal parameter of rel_model_name and maps it to the PDM_NUMBER parameter used in the BOM. If you rename a file in Windchill, you must open the file in Creo, regen and then resave it to get the PDM_NUMBER to update. Once the part is done, the BOM of the assembly will update.
7. While PTC allows the same name for an assembly, part and drawing, we do not. Only the drawing may have the same name as an assembly or part. A part may never have the same name as an assembly. Use a dash numbered part to distinguish the parts.
8. Dash numbered parts may be used for details of an inseparable assembly (weldment) that are detailed on the same drawing as the weldment. Dash numbered parts may also be used for Framework generated files that are referenced by the base number of the assembly. These parts are to be named with the base number of the assembly, a dash, and then the dash number of the component.
   1. Example base assembly: X-6525-9582-MP
   2. Component names begin with: X-6525-9582-MP-
9. Dash numbered parts for a weldment or framework assembly may NOT be used in another assembly. Create an individual part and drawing for a common part.
10. There may be some dash numbered parts that are in a family table where the same basic part is designed but to different parameters.  These will require a drawing of the generic part with a table for the different features. Examples would be: Pipes of different lengths, wires of different colors, etc. Usually a single parameter differentiates the dash numbers
11. When a file is checked into Windchill, the system creates a WTpart, which consists of a Number and a Name field, but no file name field, as it only exists as a database entry.
12. When renaming files, be sure to rename both the CAD file and the WTpart information. The name and number fields should be identical for WTpart and CAD part. For CAD parts, the file name and the Number field should be identical. A renamed file must be opened in Creo and regenerated to update the PDM_Number field from the file name, if that was also renamed.

[Julian.F]

Thank you for your reply.

For 1, is common name strictly required in our case? It's not something I or my colleagues has been filling out... Could be some kind of setting that automatically mirrors the file name?

For 7, why not let part and assembly have the same file name? We make quite a few welded parts and are only interested in the top number because the assembly will be done out of the house.

[BenLoosli]

When using Windchill, you need unique numbers and we strip the extension from the number when it is checked-in. That would give the part and the assembly the same number and Windchill will fail to allow the check-in due to the conflict. We handle weldments with the #8 item. The assembly has the number (which will match the drawing) and the details of the assembly use the base assembly number with a dash suffix.

12345678.drw

12345678.asm

   12345678-01.prt

   12345678-02.prt

[Hari_Vara]

Hi,

Just adding my experience here in brief. Most of the things explained by Ben.

File name extension addition to the "File name" is the best practice. otherwise you will be trapped with  12345.prt and 12345.drw conflicting each other and you will be forced to depart from traceability!

Coming to Number, if you have the above setup, then the "CAD document Number" is generally mapped to the CAD File name to carryover the uniqueness and traceability.

The above 2 can be easily set up in preferences.

Usually, the Related WT Part gets the file name without the extension. This can be easily achieved by preferences.

Sometimes, a CAD document should not build a WTPart , example a place holder assembly. Or its child should not build parts, for eg., a bought out item that has been modelled as ASM (Eg., Motor, shaft set).

In the above cases, we can use  the preference "Part Structure Override Attribute Name".

Does your company use significant Numbering system or Auto Numbering? This is another adjacent topic.

Cheers

Hari

[Julian.F]

Thanks for your reply.

I will contiune the use of adding file extensions, I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the CAD document number though? Do you mean that it simply should be the same as the file name?

We do not use auto numbering. We create BOMs in our external program, where each part has its own number unless we are talking welded parts. We then manually match Creo to this program.

[Hari_Vara]

Hi,

CAD Document number is the "Number" of the CAD document.

As you mentioned about your BOM creation process, Iam wondering on if you can create the BOM first in Windchill and use "Create CAD Document" for each WTPart. You can control the CAD Document "Number" to be same as your WTPart if you want(for traceability).

Try that. It will avoid your manual "matching".

Cheers

Hari