Working with Traces
Traces provide the ability to track relationships between external items and Windchill traceable objects. For example, a trace might describe the relationship between a requirement that is managed in Windchill RV&S and a part in Windchill PDMLInk. Traces are established by associating, or linking, an external item to a Windchill object.
Traces help project managers and engineers understand these relationships. Using trace links can improve your understanding of the design intent and help you assess the impact of changes.
Trace Link Types
Following are the types of trace links that can exist between a Windchill PDMLInk object and an external item:
• Allocate—Assigns a high-level part or assembly to a high-level external item. Allocate indicates that the data fully or partially fulfills the obligations of the traced item. Examples might include a requirement document, a specification document, or a section.
• Satisfy—Specifies the Windchill PDMLInk object that fulfills the traced item, indicating that the purpose of this object is to complete or fulfill the traced item.
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The Allocate link is best used early in the design process to assign an external item to a high-level part, such as an end item or assembly. Later in the design process, you can use the Satisfy link to associate an external item to a specific part within the assembly.
For example, you can link a requirement document to an assembly using the Allocate link. Later, you would assign a component within that assembly to an individual requirement item using the Satisfy link.
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Copy Forward Functionality
When a Windchill object iterates to a new version or revision, the following occurs:
• The trace links that are added to a object are copy forwarded.
• Satisfy and Allocate links adhere to the following conditions:
◦ Allocate link is copy forwarded to all versions of a revision. For example, if a part iterates from A1 to A2, then version A2 carries all the trace links forward.
◦ Satisfy link is available on the version it is added to and on the later versions. For example, if a satisfy link is added on version A2, then it will be available on A3 but not on A1.
Similar to copy forward, copy backward works as following:
• Allocate link is copied backward to all versions of a revision. If a allocate link is created on version A2, it is also available on version A1. It is not available on earlier revisions.
• Satisfy link is available on the version it is added, it is not available on the earlier versions or revisions.
Suspect Links
For users, who are working with downstream objects, suspect flags on trace links indicate that modifications were made. Marking links as suspect, provides an easy way to notify other users that their object definitions may need to change, based on changes to the traced item.
You can manually mark a trace link as suspect. After reviewing a suspect trace link, use the Clear Suspect action to remove the suspect flag.
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Mark As Suspect  and Clear Suspect  actions are available only on the latest version of a revision. |