“Synergy is the creation of a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts.” - Wikipedia

“The interaction of elements that when combined produce a total effect that is greater than the sum of the individual elements, contributions, etc.; synergism." – Dictionary.com

Setting up Engineering Collaboration (EC) connector is a process that has to be done with achieving a plan that has the goal only to add and never subtract. With that target it is mandatory that the team involved in making initial configuration choices for EC include the different business participants as resources in the effort. With that in mind, here are some of my top tips for achieving synergy between your MCAD and Agile PLM with EC as the catalyst! These tips cover the gamut from initial interaction between the CAD authoring tool and Agile and collaboration within design teams.

• Because it really does bear repeating, start with a cross functional team. Agile administrator, PLM manager, CAD manager, and CM all need to be represented.

Even if this isn’t a green field implementation, all of the in-house suppliers and customers of Agile and MCAD designs should have representation. Achieving the desired synergy is more than just acceptance of the choices made in the configuration of EC but full and active ownership of the choices.

• Avoid the revolving door syndrome.

Decide early on in the planning process what attribute values will be owned by Agile and which by the CAD tool (Custom Property/Parameter values in the CAD file.) MCAD Initial and Update Save events (to Agile) can send values to Agile. Values can also be written from Agile to the MCAD 3D and 2D files. Avoid having the same attributes sending values to and from Agile on competing events!

• Become Agile centric and 3D centric.

Agile is the system of record for many bits of information that add value to the 3D model. If there are values that need to be in the 3D model and maybe on the 2D drawing, write the value from Agile to the model and then use the model’s value on the drawing. Do not do manual typing to enter values like Revision or Lifecycle or even Description on the drawing title block.

• Take advantage of the functionality of EC Solution Pack

Within Agile the Item Part is the object of record in PLM and is what is released and redlined on an Agile Change. Use EC Solution Pack PX (process extension) to use triggering events in Agile to update the related Design Folder’s corresponding value from Item: Title Block and Change: Affected Items. I have found EC mapping from Agile Designs to MCAD works better. Use Solution Pack to update the Design and map the Design attribute to MCAD. Trigger the push from Agile Design to CAD by using the drop menu Agile>Update Properties in CAD.

• Set DefaultViewOnSave in ~\ini\CAXConfig.xml to “Items”

The default value for this variable is “Base”. Changing this value sets the Save Preview table to “Item Assignments”. This table shows more information about the Item in Agile and allows objects to be added to a Change in Agile without extra mouse picks.

• Use >SITE< setting in ~\ini\CAXConfig.xml

This is a variable specific to EC connector and is not the same as Sites concept in Agile. The default value for SITE in CAXConfig.xml is MCAD. This value determines the naming for the Design Folders where attributes.xml, preferences.xml and mappings.xml are saved in Agile. Using SITE, you can support different preferences and mappings for different design teams, different locations or different use cases, such as ad hoc migration.

• Use CAD Startparts in Agile

Enable object creation from the Agile drop menu in MCAD by setting up %SITE%-START-%CADSYSTEM% structure in Agile with the start files for MCAD. This structure can support multiple EC Sites to have different start files for different design team locations and projects. Using start part structure in Agile improves uniformity and eases administration of the CAD templates. Using Agile>Create in MCAD and the Create Object window allows direct selection of values for Agile list driven attributes.

• Set >checkRequired< to TRUE in ~/CAXConfig.xml

Setting this TRUE requires a value for required Agile Attributes at check in and Create New Object ensuring synergy between the MCAD authoring and Agile record.

• Take advantage of EC 3.4’s context sensitive Check Out in the CAD tool Tree to avoid check in conflicts

Avoiding stomping on another’s Design version and avoiding unnecessary check in of files to Agile by taking advantage of the right click Agile>Check Out from the tree in CAD. An excellent practice, and so easily done in EC 3.4 is to Check Out Designs on the fly in CAD from the feature/model tree in CAD before making a change.

I’m sure there are many other great ideas to help develop synergy in the interaction and use of EC with Agile PLM than these. These are some of my guiding precepts for initial configuration and daily use that can improve adoption and use of EC with MCAD and Agile. What are some of your best and favorite rules, preferences or settings?

[Edit: Repost from 2015]

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