Identifying Problems with Parts
This section describes common problems and possible causes that relate to parts. A bulleted list of common problems follows. You can use the links to go directly to the information for the problem you are experiencing. If you do not see the problem you are experiencing in the list, or the suggested course of action does not completely solve the problem, contact your system administrator.
• Can’t create a part
• Can’t change a part
• A part in Windchill has a future effectivity date, but SAP shows the present date
• Can’t see alternate parts
• Can’t see a part revision
• Changes to a part were applied across all plants
• A subtype attribute or its value is not rendered in the response file
• Business object attributes do not match between Windchill ESI and Publication System
• The part create or change operation appeared to be successful but there are warning messages (40129, 40130)
• Re-releasing a part after it has been published using CNs causes data inconsistencies
• Distribution target does not get automatically assigned to a part during publication
• An error message appears when associating a certain distribution target to a part
• A part gets sent to a certain distribution target as a changed one in the ESI response, although the part was neither iterated nor revised
• A certain global attribute added to the type Enterprise Data does not get sent with the ESI response when the corresponding part is published
• A certain global attribute added to the type View Specific Data does not get sent with the ESI response when the corresponding part is published
Can’t create a part
The following can cause this problem:
• Windchill release to manufacturing workflow has not started
• Publishing status is incorrect in Windchill
• Incorrect or invalid ESITarget plant(s) assigned to part
• User is looking in wrong ESITarget plant(s) in SAP
• Multibyte characters in part number field in Windchill
• Invalid or missing unit of measure, part type, or part source
• The same part contains different values for key elements like Source, Type or Effectivity in the same plant. This is considered ambiguous and the ESI Response is not processed.
• Multiple versions of the same part are not supported. This is considered ambiguous and the ESI Response is not processed.
Can’t change a part
The following can cause this problem:
• Windchill release to manufacturing workflow has not started
• Part doesn’t exist in SAP in the ESITarget plant(s)
• Release status is incorrect in Windchill
• SAP does not allow modification of the attribute(s) part type or default unit of measure
• Part is locked in SAP (table MARA and/or MARC)
• Incorrect or invalid ESITarget plant(s) assigned to part
• User is looking in wrong ESITarget plant(s) in SAP
• Multibyte characters in part number field in Windchill
• Invalid or missing unit of measure, part type, or part source
A part in Windchill has a future effectivity date, but SAP shows the present date
This is expected behavior. Windchill ESI sets the part effectivity date to the current date.
Can’t see alternate parts
• SAP does not support alternates at the material master level
Can’t see a part revision
The following can cause this problem:
• Windchill did not send a CN with the part (SAP does not support part revisions without CNs)
• Revision management is not enabled in SAP or the ESI BusinessWorks application
Changes to a part were applied across all plants
The Windchill user changed a part attribute that is a non-plant-specific basic attribute in SAP
A subtype attribute or its value is not rendered in the response file
This problem could occur if:
• The mapping is incorrect.
• A unique identifier (internal name) is not defined for the subtype attribute.
• The unique identifier (internal name) is not the source attribute name in the Map element defined for parts in the ESI response meta information file.
Ensure that the mapping is correct. For example, if a subtype attribute has been defined for wt.part.WTPart then the mapping could be as follows;
• Attribute name: Volume
• Unique identifier: org.ptc.volume
• Mapping: <esi:attributeMapping sourceAttribute="org.ptc.volume">Volume</esi:attributeMapping>
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Add the above to the Map element for parts in the ESI response meta information file.
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Business object attributes do not match between Windchill ESI and Publication System
The following can cause this problem:
• Incorrect locale assignment in TIBCO Adapter for SAP
• Truncation of part number due to field length differences between Windchill and SAP
• Leading zeros truncated from object key (such as part number)
• Attribute is not mapped by ESI
The part create or change operation appeared to be successful but there are warning messages (40129, 40130)
40219: SAP returned a functional error so ESI EAI software components assume revision level already exists and continue processing while attempting to create a part
40130: SAP returned a functional error so ESI EAI software components are assuming revision level already exists and resuming processing while attempting to change a part.
Revisions for parts in SAP are not plant-specific; therefore, revisions sent to multiple ESITarget plant(s) in the same system and client cause Windchill ESI to send redundant messages to SAP that can be safely ignored.
Revision management is enabled in the ESI BusinessWorks application; however, the Windchill user did not publish a CN with the part.
The CN number associated with the part revision is invalid.
Re-releasing a part after it has been published using CNs causes data inconsistencies
When re-releasing a part to a second organization after it has been published once using CNs, data inconsistencies exist between Windchill PDMLink and SAP. SAP does not show the second CN but Windchill PDMLink shows that the second CN was created successfully
In SAP, one revision for one material master record can only be associated to one change master record. One revision of one material master record cannot have different change master records in different plants; therefore, a material master record can only have one change master record and one effectivity date associated to it.
If a material is published by Windchill ESI from Windchill PDMLink in Plant A with Change Master A and then published on another date in Plant B with Change Master B, the material in SAP is not updated with the information from Change Master B. It will maintain information (for example, effectivity date) from Change Master A, although in Windchill PDMLink the material is associated to Change Master B.
This business practice is acceptable in SAP because it is common for SAP users to ignore the effectivity dates of materials. One BOM in SAP can have different change masters and different effectivity dates across multiple plants. Revisions and effectivity dates of materials are controlled at the master level, whereas they are controlled at the plant level for BOMs. It is common for SAP customers to ignore the effectivity dates of materials and maintain the effectivity dates of BOMs. The effectivity date of the BOM controls the MRP cycle in SAP; therefore, the material effectivity date is irrelevant.
Furthermore, SAP does not provide an API that allows a customer to schedule materials with future effectivity dates. Materials can only be created immediately with the available material and change master APIs. With Windchill ESI, all materials are created with an effectivity of today, independent of the effectivity date assigned in Windchill PDMLink. It is assumed that customers of Windchill ESI will find this functionality acceptable. If the functionality needs to be modified, customers may employ manual workarounds to modify the effectivity dates of materials or perform a customization in SAP, Windchill ESI, or both.
Windchill ESI may be utilized to create and change BOMs with future effectivity dates as well as dates that are different across plants for BOM.
Distribution target does not get automatically assigned to a part during publication
Distribution target does not get automatically assigned to a part during publication, although the attribute Default for Context on the target is set to Yes and the target belongs to either the same context as the part, or to a higher level context
This can occur when the Windchill ESI preference View To Distribution Target Mappings is not set appropriately. For example, if the part in question is created in the Design view, the preference must be set to a value such as Design:001, in order for a distribution target with number 001 to be automatically assigned to the part when publishing the latter. Alternatively, the preference can have a value that makes no reference to the number of the target.
An error message appears when associating a certain distribution target to a part
This can be caused by any one of the following:
• The Windchill ESI preference View To Distribution Target Mappings is not set appropriately. For example, if the part in question is created in the Manufacturing view, the preference must be set to a value such as “Manufacturing:002”, in order for a distribution target with number 002 to be assignable to the part. Alternatively, the preference can have a value such as “Plant1:002” (where Plant1 is a child view of Manufacturing) or one that makes no reference to the number of the target.
• The distribution target is already assigned to the part.
A part gets sent to a certain distribution target as a changed one in the ESI response, although the part was neither iterated nor revised
This can be caused by any one of the following:
• Date effectivity was set for the part or was changed since the part was last successfully published.
• The lifecycle state on the part was changed since it was last successfully published.
• The Windchill ESI preference Publish Common Enterprise Data Information is set to Yes and the ERPMaterial object that represents the part was modified since the part was last successfully published.
• The Windchill ESI preference Publish View Specific Enterprise Data Information is set to Yes and the ERPPartSpecificPlantData object that represents plant specific data for the part and target was modified since the part was last successfully published.
A certain global attribute added to the type Enterprise Data does not get sent with the ESI response when the corresponding part is published
This can be caused by any one of the following:
• The Windchill ESI preference Publish Common Enterprise Data Information is set to No.
• No attributeMapping entry exists for the global attribute in the ESI response meta information file used for the publication.
• An entry exists for the global attribute in the ESI response meta information file, but the XML attribute erpMaterialAttribute for the entry is not set to true.
A certain global attribute added to the type View Specific Data does not get sent with the ESI response when the corresponding part is published
This can be caused by any one of the following:
• The Windchill ESI preference Publish View Specific Enterprise Data Information is set to No.
• No attributeMapping entry exists for the global attribute in the ESI response meta information file used for the publication.
• An entry exists for the global attribute in the ESI response meta information file, but the XML attribute plantSpecificAttribute for the entry is not set to true.
