Once you create a CAD document structure (model assembly) in your authoring environment and save it to a workspace, an enterprise product structure can be created in Windchill. You do this by associating a Windchill part to each CAD document (model) in your structure, and then checking that structure into Windchill.

The association process is configurable and may be accomplished:

Upon check in, the build process can use the CAD document relationships to build an analogous enterprise product structure composed of Windchill parts.

For more information, see Automatically Associating CAD Documents and Windchill Parts and Editing the Association of CAD Documents and Windchill Parts.

The term owner association (or owner link) indicates that an association is a primary kind. An owner association is recognized by the build process and allows the creation of a part structure, the passing of part attributes, and the definition of the default part representation. The term content association (or content link) refers to a secondary kind of association (for example, that of a drawing to a part) where the CAD document describes the part, but does not drive any information on the product structure. In between these two kinds of association are several other association flavors that you can use to define other relationships between the CAD and part structures as determined by your business needs.

For more information, see About Association.