Administrator Initial Setup

Before users can start using Windchill, an initial setup must be performed to configure certain business processes and to establish a seamless data exchange between Creo Parametric and Windchill. The next sections describe necessary configurations performed by an administrator.

You must map the attributes and parameters of Creo Parametric to Windchill attributes. This mapping ensures that attributes and parameters are propagated and properly updated in both Windchill and Creo Parametric.

Windchill attributes were created during the Windchill PDM Essentials installation, using the Windchill Setup Assistant. For more information, see Attributes.

For more information, see Mapping Parameters to Attributes and About Attribute Mapping.

In addition, you may need to manage system attributes and parameters, and customize out-of-the-box Windchill attributes, or those you created during the installation of Windchill PDM Essentials, to create the necessary additional CAD attributes.

For information about managing Windchill reusable attributes, see Managing Reusable Attributes.

When the data in Creo Parametric is managed by Windchill, you must select a CAD document template used by Windchill to create a new object. A CAD document template determines the attributes that you need to specify when creating a new CAD document.

CAD document templates are created and managed from the Templates pages in Windchill, which are accessible only to administrators. The CAD document templates can be created in the context of a product, library, project, program, organization, or site.

For more information, see About CAD Document Templates.

Both Windchill and Creo Parametric use default template files when creating a new object. In Creo Parametric these objects are called start parts and in Windchill they are referred to as CAD document templates. Creo Parametric start parts can be managed in Windchill so that both applications use the same set of template files. For more information, see CAD Document Templates and Creo Parametric Start Parts.

Before users start working on a new design, you typically create a new product or library in Windchill to manage the new product’s data. Within this product, users can then set up a workspace to work on their portion of the design.

To learn about creating a new product or library, see Working with Products and Libraries.

By default, the workspace may not be listed in the Windchill navigation pane in the embedded browser or in a standalone Windchill window. To display the workspace link in the navigation pane, set the preference Workspace to yes using the WindchillPreference Management utility.

For more information, see Displaying the Workspace.

In order for users to work with Windchill, they must register a Windchill server and select an active workspace on that server. On the WindchillHome

page, the browser address bar contains the server name and location; everything before “/app/” in the address. For example, http://servername.ptcnet.ptc.com/Windchill. Email this server address to each CAD user.

During the Windchill Setup Assistant for Windchill PDM Essentials, Windchill custom attributes were specified to be associated with CAD models. Additional Creo Parametric designated parameters can be mapped to Windchill attributes. Attribute mapping transfers parametric information from the CAD models created in Creo Parametric to the Windchill system.