Cloning and Caching Work Definitions
Cloning creates a copy of the work definition in Operator Advisor, including all child work definitions and related entities (materials, control characteristics, related documents, related illustrations, and so on). A work definition from which clones are copied is known as a "cached" work definition.
Since
a work definition can be linked to only one job order, cloning allows you to create copies that can be linked to other job orders. Multiple copies of the same work definition can also be linked to a single job order, if multiple instances of the work definition are needed.
Once you have imported a work definition into Operator Advisor, you do not need to import it again unless it has been updated in the source system. It can be cloned as often as needed.
When you clone a work definition, all child work definitions and related entities are copied. If
custom properties have been added to any of the entities, those properties are copied as well. You can clone any work definition, whether it is the root level work definition of a set of work instructions or a child work definition within a set of work instructions. All children of the work definition being cloned are copied, along with all related entities.
Cloning a Work Definition
To clone a work definition, complete the following steps:
1. Navigate to the default production order manager (PTC.SCA.SCO.DefaultProductionOrderManager).
2. Under Services, launch the CloneWorkDefinition service. This service calls the related services needed to clone the work definition and all related entities, including any binary files in the Operator Advisor repository.
3. As service input, provide the UID of the work definition that you want to clone.
4. Click Execute. The service output displays the root work definition for the clone. If the service fails, all entries that were added to the database and all binary files that were added to the file repository are removed.
A work definition metadata entry is automatically created for the cloned work definition, specifying the UID of the original work definition as the SourceWorkDefinitionUID. If there are child work definitions in the clone, a work definition metadata entry is created only for the top-most work definition that was cloned.
Marking a Work Definition as Cached
To mark a work definition as being cached, create a work definition metadata entry for the work definition or update the work definition metadata entry for the work definition, if one already exists. Set the IsCached value to true. It is not necessary for a work definition to have a work definition metadata entry with an IsCached value of true in order for the work definition to be cloned.