Vault Revision Table Workflow Questions

[swalton]

Is there any way to get Inventor to display properties in the Vault Revision Table before a drawing is pushed to a Released state?  

We are having issues checking that we are entering the correct data for the table before it is released.  It would be helpful to see it on screen before the Job Processor runs.

We are also having issues where updating the drawing iproperties from Vault overwrites data in Non-Vault Revision tables.  Is that because we kept the Revision Block name the same in the historical template and the new template?

Is it possible to configure the Vault Revision Table to pull data from the model iproperties, not the drawing iproperties?  We have always assumed that the model iproperties ruled, and the drawing iproperties did not matter.  We had to add iLogic to our drawings to ensure that the model properties were always copied to the drawing properties.  Existing drawings don't have this rule, so we have several manual steps to get a released drawing that displays the correct data.

[ihayesjr]

@swalton 

The Vault Revision Table is based of Vault User-defined properties.

The User-defined properties can be mapped to iProperties to make sure they match.

If you have the drawing checked out and change the iProperty value, that value is not reflected in Vault yet so the table will not show it. 

If you perform an Update Properties at this point, the Vault properties will overwrite the iProperties and show the old value.

If you want to show the new value, you need to perform a check-in, but keep checked out operation.

During check-in, assuming your property mapping is correct, the new iProperty value is written to the Vault property.

After that perform another Update Properties in Inventor and the Revision table should reflect the new value.

It is not possible to have the Vault Revision Table read the iProperties.

[CGBenner]

@swalton 

Mark Lancaster and I did a class on this very topic at AU2019... before the world went crazy,.... take a look at this, there may be a few good tidbits in there for you.

[swalton]

@ihayesjr 

Inventor part, assembly, presentation and drawing files all have independent iproperties.  There are no out-of-the-box tools to keep the drawing or presentation file iproperties synced with changes to the source part or assembly models.

Historically, we have viewed the properties in the part or assembly file as true, and ignored the drawing and presentation file properties.  Our drawing templates are configured to display the model properties in the titleblock and Parts Lists.  

We have bi-directional mapping for these properties between Inventor and Vault.   It does not appear that we can set our property mapping by Inventor File Type.  We have many models where the part or assembly has different iproperty values than the drawing that documents the respective component.

What do we have to do so that the Vault Revision Table uses the Vault properties that are mapped from the part or assembly file that is documented in that drawing file, not the drawing or presentation file iproperties?

[ihayesjr]

@swalton 

Thanks for clarifying. The Vault properties for a file are mapped to that file, not to the children files.

Therefore, the user-defined property values represent the iProperties of the file it is associated with.

You cannot have the Revision table go and pick the values from a part or assembly.

If you can defined, using a formula, the drawing iProperty to pull the value from the associate part or assembly, that value could be used because it is the value in the drawing.

[ihayesjr]

@swalton 

Try this.

Open an idw/dwg file and go to Tools -> Doc Settings -> Drawing -> Copy Model iProperties. Then the drawing iProperties will be copied from the first model source doc.

[swalton]

@ihayesjr 

We have that setting enabled, but it is not a complete workflow.  

Inventor will copy the model iprops to the drawing when placing a view the first time.  It will not copy any model iprops that have changed. 

For example, I might use the Engineer iprop in the model to track who has design responsibility for the the part.  My coworker Sally used to own the part, but left our employ after winning the lottery.  I now have to assign Ralph to the part, and he updates the model iprop.  By default, the drawing iprop will still say Sally until someone manually copies the data from the model to the drawing.  If Ralph does not make the change, the drawing will be released with Sally in the Vault Revision Block. 

Not only that, but Ralph won't be able to see that the Rev Table is pulling the wrong data until after the Job Processor updates the Table during the Release process.  At that point he has to either bump a rev to unlock the drawing and model, or use Quick Change, or have an admin user check out both files.  Once the files are editable, he can update the drawing iproperties and re-Release the documents.  

It would be helpful to have some sort of way to review the changes that the Job Processor will make upon Release before users change to that state.  Is that possible?

I have added an iLogic rule that copies the Model iprops to the drawing before save.  This will automate new drawings, but does not help with any drawing that already exists.  We have 100s-1000s of drawings that may cause issues in the future.

[ihayesjr]

It is not possible to review the changes the Job Processor is going to make. 

Keep in mind that if the drawing doesn't have any property compliance issues, whatever is showing in the Properties grid will be what is used by the Job Processor, other than updating the lifecycle state of the drawing.

[swalton]

That is true, but that step requires changes to our historic workflow.

The issue is that my checkers are reviewing the drawings prior to release using Inventor or on paper. They have not changed their workflow to include looking at Vault. We have lost the WYSIWYG nature of Inventor and paper in the process.

Is the following a reasonable workflow?  I think it will populate the Vault Rev Table when we move from Drafting to Review, but not require a rev bump if the checker needs a change to the files before actual release.

Current Lifecycle States

• Modeling
• Drafting
• Review
  • Locked
  • Release State
  • No Rev Bump to move back to Drafting or Modeling
  • No Rev Bump to move forward to Released
  • No other move possible
• Released
  • Locked
  • Release State
  • Rev Bump is required to move back to Modeling
  • No other backward moves possible
  • Move forward to Obsolete
• Obsolete

[ihayesjr]

@swalton 

Do not make the Review state a Released state.

Other than that, the flow should work for you.

[ihayesjr]

@swalton 

You may want to add a Quick-Change state.

This may be helpful if someone makes a small mistake. 

[swalton]

Making the Review state a Released one seems to be the only way to make Job Processor display the Vault properties in the Vault Revision Table.   

Why shouldn't Review be a Vault Released state?  

[ihayesjr]

When you go from one of the previous states, into the Review state, make sure you have the action to Synchronize properties is checked.

The Review state isn't a Release state. Other actions and searches react to a state being considered a "Released State." Leave that setting for the true Released state.

[swalton]

@ihayesjr 

I'm not having any luck using the Synchronize Properties command to fill out the Vault Revision Table for NON-RELEASED states.

Is that the expected result? Or should I submit a support case to address the issue?

[ihayesjr]

@swalton 

Can you show the Revision Table mapping dialog?

[ihayesjr]

@swalton 

You can also edit the Revision Table and add iProperties. 

Right-click on the table and click Edit.

In the Revision Table: Drawing Scope dialog, click Column Chooser (the first icon on the left).

[swalton]

Sure.

See attached.  

Should the Drawn By, Engineer, and Rev Description columns not be mapped to Vault Data?