Discussions
A discussion in PTC FlexPLM is similar to an online forum or message board. Discussions allow team members to record an ongoing exchange of ideas in a secure space while referencing specific objects within PTC FlexPLM. Discussions can also be particularly useful for teams that include members in various sites and locations, or teams that include external suppliers. Discussions allow those team members to engage in conversations outside of email and conference calls. When discussions are created, users can choose other team members to participate in the discussion. This allows recipients to be notified of new messages.
• Discussions in PTC FlexPLM have a few minor differences when compared to discussions in Windchill. For more information about discussions in Windchill, see the “Discussions” topic in the Windchill Help Center.
• Discussions can be specific to certain data, such as products or a BOM for a given product. Discussions can also be general, without being associated to specific data. General discussions are limited to the discussion creator and selected participants.
• Discussions consist of topics and comments:
◦ Topics—A topic is essentially a heading for a specific forum thread, allowing you to organize comments based on subject matter. Any team member can create a new topic and any number of topics can be created for data-specific discussions or general discussions. Accessing a topic allows team members to view and create comments associated with that topic. For more information, see
Creating Topics.
◦ Comments—A comment is a message posted under the selected topic or in reply to a previous comment. Comments can include attachments to local files and URL links. For more information, see
Creating Comments.
• You can view and contribute to discussions from the
Discussions and
My Discussions tables. For more information, see
Using Tables.
• Several actions for topics and comments are available to users, depending on their individual access and permissions. For more information, see
Using Actions.
• The following objects can have associated discussions:
◦ BOM (for both product and material)
◦ Business Object
◦ Color
◦ Construction (product-construction sets, not construction library template data)
◦ Cost Sheet
◦ Country
◦ Document
◦ Document Collection
◦ Effectivity Context
◦ Image Pages
◦ Last
◦ Material
◦ Measurements (product-measurement sets, not measurement library template data)
◦ Media
◦ Order Confirmation
◦ Palette
◦ Placeholder Product
◦ RFQ
◦ Sample
◦ Season
◦ Season Inspiration
◦ Season Line Plan
◦ Season Line Sheet
◦ Season Silhouette
◦ Specification
◦ Supplier