A custom data model called a product hierarchy is a type of structure which can organize information by product categories. Examples of using product hierarchy to organize product data include product family and product sales model. These product hierarchy structure types are implemented as subtypes of Part (WTPart), and their context constraints are defined in the Type and Attribute Management utility.

In Service Information Manager, the relationship between a service structure and product hierarchy is defined by a service effectivity object set on the root of the service structure. The service effectivity context is a product hierarchy node. The service effectivity type is configured in the Type and Attribute Management and specified in a properties file.

Publishing can be launched from the product hierarchy root or one of its nodes. When publishing to a bundle, the user can set the filter criteria and choose a publishing rule to be applied.

The product hierarchy can be used when navigating the published information in Servigistics InService.

Sites can define their own product hierarchy types through the configuration defined as follows. You need to define at least one root type and one or more child types.

Product hierarchy structures are subtypes of WTPart. For example, you would need to define the following at a minimum:

You can create WTPart subtypes of these product hierarchy subtypes.

Setting up product hierarchy structures is documented in the Servigistics InService Utilities Configuration Guide.

After defining the product hierarchy subtypes, you need to add them to the Service Information Manager.xconf properties configuration file. The properties configuration file identifies the basic subtype and child subtypes. Using the xconfmanager utility, update the following file and then stop and start the method server:

For more information on the xconfmanager, see About the xconfmanager Utility in Windchill Help Center.

After setting up a product hierarchy, you can link a service structure to it by assigning the product hierarchy or a product hierarchy node as a Service Effectivity context on the service structure. The Manage Applicability dialog box has a Service Effectivity type of applicability, where you define the relationship by choosing product hierarchies and product hierarchy nodes for the service structure.

To link a service structure to a product hierarchy structure or node:

When generating a publication structure from an information structure, the Service Effectivity link to the product hierarchy is preserved in the new publication structure.

By default, the list of all Part (WTPart) subtypes are presented to the user. You can control the list of subtypes by specifying the Service Effectivity contexts in the configuration file. The context configuration applies to the Service Effectivity section of the Manage Applicability window and the Service Effectivity tab of the Edit Filter window. Be sure to read Customizing Service Effectivity for information on how to deploy service effectivity context configuration for your site using this file:

Setting Up a Directory Structure for Managing Customized Files and Text Tailoring provides more implementation information.

Specify the type definition that is used in sis.properties.xconf in your entry. The context entry takes the form:

A product hierarchy is published separately from a service structure (product hierarchy is a custom model type, and publishing is enabled as part of the customization). A publishing rule also needs to be set up for users to choose when they create a New Representation from the product hierarchy.

Metadata attributes can be configured for publishing in the publishable_attset.xml. For more information, see Defining Attribute Sets.

The publishing payload for a service structure contains the relatedContexts.xml file, which defines the relationship between the service structure and the product hierarchy. The file contains the following attributes:

Publishing supports XML bundle publishing and XSL publishing output from a product hierarchy or product hierarchy node that is linked to a service structure using a service effectivity context.