Using Packages to Import and Export Data for Offline Collaboration
Windchill packages provide collaboration opportunities with people that work outside of your Windchill installation. There are many variations to these collaboration scenarios, but there are two main categories of collaboration: between two separate companies and between two installations within a given company. The primary difference in these collaboration scenarios is the intended recipient of the Windchill data. Windchill packages provide different capabilities to meet the needs of these two collaboration scenarios.
In many business scenarios, two companies might need to collaborate on a specific configuration of a single product. For example, a car manufacturer might sign a contract with a company that manufactures tires to use in their vehicles. If the tire manufacturer wants to provide tires that will work with a particular vehicle model, the car manufacturer will need to share some information about the exact configuration of their vehicle design. For example, the car manufacturer could send the axel specifications, wheel well sizes, and other details so that the tire manufacturer provides the appropriate tires for that configuration. An easy way to share that sort of information as part of a managed process is by delivering a package to the partner company.
Packages can also be used for other business cases. These business cases commonly require the ability to collect a set of related information, may include review processes matching the business requirements, allow delivery to an external partner, and provide audit capabilities of actions. The recipient may have some of the following means to receive the information:
• Recipient has no access to the Windchill installation, but receives the information through an email attachment, an external FTP site, or on physical media (such as a DVD)
• Recipient has limited access to the Windchill installation through a project and receives information once it has been shared to the project
• Recipient has full access to the Windchill installation and is able to access the information directly
Once the recipient has the information, they will either use the application files directly in their native application (via the offline viewer) or they will import the information into their Windchill installation.
The other scenario where Windchill packages can be used to improve collaboration is between two Windchill installations within the same company. For example, a company might have two Windchill instances for security (such as an unclassified and a classified installation) or geographical considerations with the desire to replicate a common part or document library between them. A replication package can be used to replicate the information in these libraries from one system to the other.