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BrentDrysdale12-Amethyst
12-Amethyst
March 21, 2016
Question

Non-product specific knowledge capture in Windchill?

  • March 21, 2016
  • 5 replies
  • 3577 views

Hi Folks,

Sure miss the days of the email exploder (ProE) as I so rarely remember to look at forums (yep, I am a dinosaur).

This is a non CAD question about capturing knowledge that is not part or product specific.  This is the sort of information you want to reuse for other projects across your organisation.  In a previous job it was silos of information kept in windows folders, some more easily accessed than others and others buried deep in somebodies personal HDD or even paper files!  In my present job we have specific software for this but it is a standalone system and I wonder about using Windchill for storing this design related non-part/product specific reference information as it is not related to PLM as such.

Some examples could be:

  • Bend Radii for different materials/thicknesses/hardness's (though this would likely be in a bend table in Creo where is the reference information for it?)
  • Reference articles on deep drawing of sheet metal
  • Reference information on various adhesives (some of which are not in any BoM)
  • Reference links to company products that have been researched
  • ???

Usually with Windchill we have a part or assembly number or possibly a process number to attach files of various types to.  But if there is no number?

My general thinking is to try and consolidate systems so that more people are more familiar with that one system so can better do their work.

Thoughts?

Regards, Brent

5 replies

D
doehr1-Visitor
1-Visitor
March 21, 2016

Hi there,

Various Report-type documents in a Public context that every user could read would work.

Note, when I say "Public" context I mean a context that has your primary Organization itself in the Guest role. Therefore every user whose account has been set into that Organization gets read access to it.

We have several Library contexts like this and you could easily link specific Report documents to the parts as reference docs if you wish.

Daryl

D
dschenken1-Visitor
1-Visitor
March 21, 2016

I've been using a Wiki for almost 7 years for this sort of thing. Low hurdles to add information.files, etc. Links inside and out of the Wiki. Very easy. The main thing is that links -within- pages to other pages can be made even before the other pages exist.

Downside - need a database and a web server.

Upside - everyone in the company can have access, subject to controls similar to those in Windchill, without a license.

tl;dr A Wiki is something you could build a veritable encyclopedia with.

D
doehr1-Visitor
1-Visitor
March 21, 2016

But aren't Wikis extremely difficult to control access to?

D
dschenken1-Visitor
1-Visitor
March 22, 2016

Depends on the Wiki, I guess. TikiWiki, for example, can limit access to particular articles, to the point they don't show up on searches by people without authorization. That should be good enough to let the top staff create and maintain a page called "layoff list" without tipping off the lower echelons. But at that point one needs an admin anyway.

Wikis are just a freeer-format content management system, so they can have all the protections desired. Windchill is primarily a work-flow and record management system, and is less focused on ease of access than access and process control.

Perhaps the fact that Wikis on the Web are often nearly unrestricted has hidden the level of control available for them.

M
22-Sapphire I
MikeLockwood22-Sapphire I
22-Sapphire I
March 22, 2016

If you install Windchill full text indexing (Solr) and index all ongoing, then it doesn't matter too much what structure or organization this info has - can pretty much just designate a Library or Product (or maybe a Project if you have ProjectLink enough for all), and have all info added there.  With indexing you can find any info pretty much like a Google search.

R
RandyJones20-Turquoise
20-Turquoise
March 22, 2016

Mike Lockwood wrote:

If you install Windchill full text indexing (Solr) and index all ongoing, then it doesn't matter too much what structure or organization this info has - can pretty much just designate a Library or Product (or maybe a Project if you have ProjectLink enough for all), and have all info added there.  With indexing you can find any info pretty much like a Google search.

In addition Windchill 11.0 adds the text preview functionality for indexed content.

S
21-Topaz I
STEVEG21-Topaz I
21-Topaz I
March 22, 2016

Brent Drysdale wrote:

Hi Folks,

Sure miss the days of the email exploder (ProE) ...

Two thumbs up. 

B
BrentDrysdale12-AmethystAuthor
12-Amethyst
March 28, 2016

Thanks Folks,

I see each posted reply has a green star and Correct Answer beside it for me to select the correct answer.  The reality is that I do not know.

  • Dave makes a persuasive case for using a Wiki format however we have this in another aspect of our organisation and searching in that is truly terrible.  Probably operator error (both original input and searcher) but not well liked.  It has the advantage of being readily understood by most folk.
  • Daryl mentions report type documents in Windchill.  I understand the desire to avoid the the high level of formality associated with actual Lifecycle information.  Mike and Randy added more Windchill information.
  • James mentions WordPress for creating a specific website.  Don't know this and maybe it is good however my thinking is to avoid another system and admin.

So I will leave it there for now with my thanks for your feedback.  Regards. Brent

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