• CNs are created as non-plant specific objects in SAP.

• Change management is configured as enabled in SAP.

• If CNs are required by the distribution target and not used in Windchill PDMLink, Windchill ESI is configured to generate CNs.

• CNs are generated for revision updates to occur in SAP.

• Change Masters in SAP are created to allow changes to materials, BOMs, documents, process plan and resources.

• Document versions can change without CNs.

• CNs published from Windchill PDMLink always contain at least one or more of the following: parts, documents, CAD document structures, BOMs, process plans, and resources. They are not published without associated objects.

• A CAD document structure sent with a Change Notice is processed by ESI services provided the structure is a standalone object (i.e., not related to a part or to a manufacturing object). However, only the documents in the structure (but not their interrelationships) are published to SAP.

• CN numbers are always sent from Windchill PDMLink. Numeric CN numbers (for example, 67885466) fall within the out-of -the-box external number range for CNs, 000000000001 to 499999999999. There is no out-of-the-box external number range defined for alphanumeric CN numbers.

• If a CN number is not sent from Windchill PDMLink, SAP internally assigns the CN number to the next available number within the out-of -the-box internal number range for CNs, between 500000000000 and 999999999999.

• The material master that is the header of the BOM/Group BOM exists in SAP before the BOM/Group BOM is created.

• A process plan is created as a plant-specific object in SAP. The release of a process plan fromWindchill PDMLink can either be object centric or CN centric. A process plan released fromWindchill PDMLink generally has one or more of the following objects associated to it: BOMs, operations, sequences, documents, standard procedures and control characteristics. Operations associated to a process plan are always published. As for BOMs, sequences, documents, standard procedures and control characteristics, these are sent with the Windchill ESI response, provided that the relevant attributes are set on the distribution target. Operations and sequences are not releasable fromWindchill PDMLink unless they are associated to a process plan. Control characteristics are not releasable, unless they are associated to a part, to a process plan or to an operation. Documents associated to a process plan are sent with the Windchill ESI response, but are ignored by the middleware business logic. Documents associated to an operation or a resource are processed by the middleware business logic and published to SAP. Resources, including tooling, process materials and skills, associated to an operation are sent with the Windchill ESI response, provided the relevant attribute is set on the distribution target. While tooling and process materials are processed by the middleware business logic, skills are ignored.

• ESI services process only the top-level document in a CAD document structure upon releasing a manufacturing object that is associated to the structure. In other words, other documents that may be linked to the top-level document are ignored.

• Standalone resources, those that are not associated to any operation, are releasable from Windchill PDMLink. The release can either be object centric or CN centric.

• The objects associated to a process plan can be created or changed during the action of creating or changing the process plan.

• It is assumed that operations can have only one level of suboperations. If there are more levels of suboperations then the middleware must be customized to incorporate the additional mappings. By default thedistribution target attribute "Number of Levels of Sub-Operations to be Published when Publishing a Process Plan (or change notice)" is set to "1". If it is increased then it is assumed that the SAP business logic has been customized.