As you can see in the picture, we currently have a state called "Model Released" where we release the models while the drawings are still being created. We usually try to avoid this but it sometimes becomes necessary due to timing. We have machining that needs the stp files for the parts, but the drawings won't be needed until QAQC needs them weeks later.
At "Model Released", we have powerjobs create stp files and lock down our ipt/iam and stp while leaving the idws unlocked. We do this by having a job that changes the file state to "released" but leaves the drawing as "WIP".
Then when all the drawings are ready to release, we'll change the state of the item to "Released" and that locks everything down.
This also works the other way as well. If we need to modify a drawing but nothing has changed in the model, we would go back to "Model Released" and the drawings would become available for modifications. This revs up the rev number by 0.A. If we were to go back to "Work In Progress" from this state or from the "Released" state, the rev number would increase by 1.
It would save time and remove jobs if we could set the security for associated files of items based on file type or extension. Then we could have a lifecycle state that releases the file and stp associated with the item but leaves drawings and pdfs unreleased. And then a full released would lock down all.
I know one option is that we could work from just project explorer, but we use the items to create all our BoMs and exports.
