Publish Extended Data
Extended data is a versioned, workable object in Windchill that is used to store data that needs to be published to an ERP system. The extended data can be published in the ESI response to a distribution target using the ERP connector.
To publish the enterprise data, enable the preference Publish Enterprise Data Information by setting it to Yes.
To publish plant data, set the preference Publish Plant Data Information preference to Yes. Setting this preference to Yes also publishes department data. You can set this preference by navigating to > > .
To know more about extended data, see the topic Extended Data.
Restrict Publishing based on Parent BOM’s Distribution Target
The Restrict publishing based on parent BOM distribution target preference controls how child components of a BOM are published through Windchill ESI. When set to True, the child parts are only published to the distribution targets assigned to the parent BOM. This helps maintain consistency and prevents child components from being sent to unrelated distribution targets, ensuring data integrity in downstream systems.
The following example illustrates how the Restrict publishing based on parent BOM distribution target preference affects publishing behavior in Windchill ESI.
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Setup
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Action
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Result
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• Component and their assigned distribution targets:
◦ Parent_Part_B → DT_ERP_SAP(Detroit)
◦ Child_Part_2 → DT_ERP_SAP(Seattle), DT_MES_Proprietary1, and DT_MES_Proprietary2
• Preference Restrict publishing based on parent BOM distribution target is set to True.
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Publish Parent_Part_B via Windchill ESI
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• Parent_Part_B is published to DT_ERP_SAP(Detroit) along with its BOM structure.
• Child_Part_2 is not published to its individually assigned distribution targets.
• If the distribution target finder is set to com.ptc.windchill.esi.tgt.ESIRootInheritTargetFinder, Child_Part_2 inherits the distribution target of the parent and is published to DT_ERP_SAP(Detroit).
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By default, the preference, Restrict publishing based on parent BOM distribution target, is set to False, which means, the child components are published to all distribution targets assigned to them individually. This occurs regardless of the distribution target assigned to the parent BOM, as long as the child components share the same Client and System ID (for SAP) or DSN (for Oracle) with the parent BOM.
You can configure this preference by navigating to > > > > . Locate the preference Restrict publishing based on parent BOM distribution target and set it to either True or False based on your publishing requirements.
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• To publish version information either from the Part or from the associated Enterprise Data, set the property com.ptc.windchill.esi.useVersionInfofromPartOrED in the esi.properties file as preferred. The valid values for this property are PART or COMMON_ENTERPRISE_DATA. For example, to publish version information from the Part, set the property as <Property default="PART" name="com.ptc.windchill.esi.useVersionInfofromPartOrED"/>.
The default behavior is to publish version information from the Enterprise Data.
• The attribute Distribution Targets (in the elements Destination and TargetID that appear in the ESI response) identifies the distribution target in which the part should be created or changed.
• Windchill PDMLink passes the Part Date Effectivity in the format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS.
• When using the object-centric mode of publishing a part, with the distribution target attribute Publish Related Documents when Publishing a Part set to Yes, documents associated to the part are published as well.
• For change notice or promotion request publishing of extended data, if common enterprise data, plant-specific enterprise data, and associated parts are included, only the specific version of the part referenced in the change notice or promotion request is published. Other associated parts of different versions are not published.
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Department Data
The department data attributes are published along with the part or resource attributes in the ESI response from all the relevant department data objects associated with the plant data.
For more information, see the topic Department Data Overview.
Publishing Part based on the Extended Data View
When a publishing request includes only the extended data (plant data), Windchill ESI determines the view from the extended data object and uses the configured View to Distribution Target Mappings preference to restrict publishing only to those distribution targets mapped to that view. For parts that include plant data in multiple views, only the distribution targets mapped for the initiating extended data view are considered for that transaction. This is applicable for Promotion Request and Engineering Change Notice flows.
Publishing data to a distribution target that is not valid for the determining view are prevented in accordance with the mapping preference.
Publishing a part that may or may not include extended data in the request follows the standard behavior. The part is sent to all distribution targets associated with the part through its configuration or context, regardless of any view mapping. In other words, the system does not apply any filtering based on plant views in this case.
Consider the following example to publish plant-specific information for a part by including extended data (plant data) in the request so the target is determined by its associated view.
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Setup
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Action
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Result
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• Part: Part123(Design view)
• Plant Data (Extended Data)
◦ Plant Data (Plant1)
◦ Plant Data (Plant2)
• Distribution Targets: DT1, DT2
• View to Distribution Target Mappings (preference):
◦ Plant1 → DT1
◦ Plant2 → DT2
These mappings govern which distribution targets are valid for a given plant view.
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Publish plant-specific information for a part by including Extended Data (Plant Data) in the request so the target is determined by its associated view.
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ESI uses the extended data from Plant1 to determine the relevant view and checks its distribution target mappings. The transaction is published only to DT1 because DT1 is mapped to Plant1.
Even though the part includes data for Plant2, DT2 is not published since it is not mapped to the selected view.
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Release Activity Creation for Extended and Department Data
The creation of release activities for extended data and department data follows the same behavior as their associated parts during ESI publishing. This behavior is governed by the releaseActivityNeeded property on the part. When this property is set as:
• False—Release activity is not created for the part, extended data, or department data.
• True—Release activity is created for the part and all associated objects.