Shared Fields
Because problems are often used to group FRACAS incidents with the same or similar failure causes, you can share many Problems fields with FRACAS Incidents fields that have the same default names. You set up the sharing of a Problems field in the Project’s Data Definition file. Besides being able to share a Problems field with a FRACAS Incidents field, you can share a Problems field with a FMEA Worksheet action field.
Shared fields are tied together so that modifications can be made only from the Problems table. Any change you make to a shared Problems field is made to the tied field in all associated FRACAS incidents and/or FMEA actions.
No Problems fields are shared by default. When you open the Project’s Data Definition file and select Problems as the table type at the top of the upper pane, a Shared Field column is shown. You can select the checkbox in this column for a field or select the Shared field property in the lower pane for the active field. You cannot share Attachments fields or the Problem Identifier field.
To share Problems fields with FRACAS Incidents field, no other setup is necessary. The Share field with property in the lower pane becomes available, and FRACAS Incidents is selected by default. The Problems field is automatically mapped to the FRACAS Incidents field with the same default name.
To share Problems fields with FMEA Worksheet action fields, Multiple Actions must be selected as the hierarchical data structure in the Project’s FMEA Design file. Once you set up a Problems field as shared, for the Share field with option in the lower pane, you would select Actions or FRACAS Incidents and Actions. Because no action field with the same default name exists, Shared field becomes available so you can select the action field to tie to this Problems field. Choices include only action fields having the same data type as the Problems field.
When you select any table type other than Problems in the Data Definition file, the properties for setting up shared fields are still visible in the lower pane; however, they are display-only. You can set up the sharing of Problems fields only when Problems is the selected table type.
When you insert shared Problems fields in child tables and forms in the System file, they are display-only and shown in the color specified by > in the Options window.
When using the FRACAS module, you might place Analysis fields from the FRACAS Incidents table on FRACAS Incidents forms and shared Close-out fields from the Problems table on Problems forms. If you set up the Closed? field in the Problems table to be a shared field and then place it on a Problems form, selecting Closed? on this form closes not only the problem but also all incidents associated with this problem. If desired, you can place shared Problems fields, such as Description, Incident, on both Problems and FRACAS Incidents forms, even though you can modify them only on Problems forms.
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In the FRACAS Incidents table and FMEA Worksheet table and on their forms, you can insert the Problem field. For any FRACAS incident or FMEA action, you click this field to make a selection control available. Clicking the control opens a window, where you click the problem you want to associate with the active incident or action. You can associate an incident or action with only one problem. The identifier for the selected problem is shown in the Problem field. If you want to remove the association, you can clear the Problem field.
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