Additional Windchill Capabilities > Manufacturing Process Management > Using the Manufacturing Associative Part Structure Browser
  
Using the Manufacturing Associative Part Structure Browser
You use the Manufacturing Associative Part Structure Browser (MAPSB) to view and manage the structure and associative relationships of parts or assemblies within the context of an upstream engineering BOM, and its downstream manufacturing BOM.
To open a part or assembly in the Manufacturing Associative Part Structure Browser:
1. Navigate to the Windchill MPMLink product folder where your object is stored.
2. Right-click in the object’s row and select Open in > Open in Manufacturing Associative Part Structure Browser from the menu.
The Manufacturing Associative Part Structure Browser opens and displays the part structure.
When using Windchill MPMLink associative part structure browsers, parts and assemblies can be copied and pasted, or dragged and dropped, from the upstream design structure to the downstream manufacturing structure. These actions create Equivalent Links between upstream and downstream objects which serve to complete BOM Transformation actions. The upstream filter is taken from the assembly displayed in the upstream structure pane and the downstream filter is taken from the assembly displayed in the downstream structure pane.
You can also use the associative structure browser tabs to perform other ancillary tasks such as:
• Adding parts to the structure
• View and remove equivalent links
• Manage enterprise data
• Work with a visualization representation of the object
• Add documents, process plans and alternate BOMs
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You can customize the table view to display the enterprise data and plant-specific functional data attributes associated with a part. However, only the unique attributes associated with the enterprise data and plant-specific functional data objects are displayed. The attributes with the same names within common enterprise data, view-specific enterprise data, or plant-specific functional data for a part are not available when customizing the table view. For more information, see Customizing Table Views.
Available Actions in the Associative Structure Browser
The following actions are available in the tool bar at the top of the upstream and downstream structure panes.
Structure Pane Task Tool bars
Icon
Action
Description
Editing
Use to add parts to the selected assembly, or edit the selected part.
The Editing action can also be used to perform BOM transformation actions, such as duplicating a part or assembly, or updating an alternate BOM.
Version Control
Use to checkin and checkout parts or assemblies.
Clipboard
Allows you to cut, copy, and paste objects in the system.
Viewing
Allows you to modify the existing display so that you can easily work with selected objects, or display certain types of objects, such as enterprise data.
• Highlight Selected Rows:
Highlights the selected parts in the structure pane, for easier viewing when multiple parts have been selected in a large assembly.
• Clear All Highlighted Rows:
Selects the equivalent part of the selected part in the opposing structure pane.
• Expand by:
Opens a window where you can enter the number of levels (1–12) by which you want to expand selected assembly.
• Show/Hide Specific Information:
Use to select the information to display.
New/Add
Use to perform BOM transformation actions, such new downstream parts, BOMs, or branches, and to add enterprise data.
Filter
Use to view or change the Path Filters in an Associative Structure Browser.
Tools
Use to view selected parts in either the upstream or downstream display, or in Creo View. You can also use this action to select an existing equivalent part in the other view.
Refresh
Updates the structure of the selected object according to the filter.
Table Views
Use to customize a Table View.
The following actions are available in the middle pane tool bar when working in dual structure mode.
Middle Pane Tool bar
Icon
Action
Description
Update Equivalent Consumption Status
Displays the usage status between an upstream part and its equivalent downstream part. For more information, see Equivalent Usages.
Build Structure Cache
Use to build a cache. The icon is visible only if the Enable Structure Cache preference is set to Yes.
Reconciliation Assistance
Use to reconcile differences between upstream parts and downstream parts.
Generate Downstream Structure
Generates downstream structure from an upstream structure based on a custom logic. For more information on the action, see Generating Downstream Structure.
Create Equivalent Link
Creates an equivalent link between the part selected in the upstream structure pane, and the part selected in the downstream structure pane.
Create Equivalent Usage Link
Create Equivalent Occurrence Link
In the usage mode, creates an equivalent usage link between the part selected in the upstream structure pane and the part selected in the downstream structure pane.
In the occurrence mode, creates an equivalent occurrence link between the part selected in the upstream structure pane and the part selected in the downstream structure pane.
Synchronize Structure Associativity
Updates a downstream BOM structure with the latest information from the upstream BOM to solve basic discrepancies between structures. The following synchronizations are performed:
• Update quantities for all parts in the downstream BOM based on the quantities in the upstream BOM.
• Add and remove parts in the downstream BOM that have been added or removed from the upstream BOM.
• Propagate options and variants from upstream parts to equivalent downstream parts. To change this default behavior, set the Propagate options and variants preference to no.
A message listing identified changes confirms whether you want to proceed.
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If a downstream part cannot be checked out, it skipped and the other downstream parts are synchronized.
Update Quantity and Usage Attributes
Updates a downstream BOM with the usage quantity and usage attributes of an equivalent upstream object. Both the selected upstream and downstream objects must be equivalent.
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This action is only enabled when the structures are displaying usage. If the Show Occurrences icon is toggled to display occurrences, then Update Quantity is disabled.
If the parent object is checked out to another user, then the action cannot be completed.
Update Position
Updates the “out-of-position” status for the selected part occurrence based on the current position of the upstream equivalent.
Update Assigned Expressions
Propagates option sets and assigned expressions from the selected upstream object to the selected downstream object.
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Propagation occurs only if an equivalent context is found by the system.
Show Occurrences and Hide Occurrences
When selected displays each occurrence of a part as a separate object. If hidden, the number of occurrences of a part can be determined by the Quantity column.
An MAPSB session, by default, opens in usage mode. Click to switch to occurrence mode.
New Downstream Branch Variant
Creates a new iteration at a new specified downstream branch, and transforms the selected upstream iteration into the new downstream iteration. The resulting new downstream iteration shares a master with the selected upstream iteration.
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If there are several downstream iterations, select the iteration to use from the list that appears.
New Downstream Part Variant
Creates a new part at a specified branch, and transforms the selected upstream part iteration into the new downstream part.
Assemble As
Copies an upstream part and pastes it in the downstream BOM. It also creates an equivalent link between the upstream part and downstream part. BOM gets iterated.
For more information, see Manufacturing Associative Part Structure Browser Task Tabs