Object Data Management
(ODM) provides effective data management solutions in a product development
scenario with embedded data management functionality. LN ODM ensures that the
product data is handled properly and that the most stringent product lifecycle
management processes are applied. ODM provides fully integrated document
management, change management and folder management facilities for LN users. The package
includes an object browser and an advanced query and report functionality. You
can attach documents to LN objects, and view the corresponding files attached to
documents.
You can use Object Data
Management (ODM) to manage data related to ERP.
The main functions and features of Data Management are
described in these topics:
Document Management provides
general document management facilities to LN. Document Management ensures the efficient and secure use of consistent and reliable document
information.
Document Management provides the following features:
Documents contain
physical files or Hard Copies. Hard copies can be attached to a document revision. A document
is a logical entity if no hard copies are attached to the document and is used
to group other documents.
A document revision enables you to track the life cycle
status of document. Document revisions are created by default when a document
is created. A document revision is uniquely identified by a document ID and
document type.
The lifecycle of a document from concept stage to completion
stage. The document lifecycle involves various phases, such as In Design,
Submitted, Approved, Released, Withdrawn, Expired, and Rejected.
Assigned to every document. Each document type is assigned a
revision mode that is applicable to all documents of that document type. The
document mask and document revision mask can be dependent upon the document
type. The document types determine whether the hard copies and files attached
to document revisions must be assigned revisions. Examples of the type of
documents a company keeps can be, safety regulations, assembly documents,
wiring diagram, maintenance instructions, drawing documents and standard
documents.
You can save the contents of a document in one or more
electronic files. To register any type of electronic file, you can link the
electronic file to a document revision with the status In Design. The document
type of the document revision determines whether the files are assigned with
revisions, if any. The files must reside in directories that are registered in LN by the LN administrator.
The capability to import files to ODM enhances the document
management functionality, enabling the user to import the files from a legacy
system to ODM. You can link all the imported files to a single ODM Document or
can link each of the files to a unique ODM Document. Additionally, you can link
ODM Documents to LN entities like service order, purchase order, engineering items and so
on.
A document and the documents contents can be stored as a
hard copy in the form of paper, polyester film, and so on. The hard copies are
stored in a specific location, depending on the ease of use and requirements.
The definition of a hard copy includes the specification of the storage medium
and the location.
Change Management
Change Management
Change Management deals with the
fundamental concept of change. This module controls the processes of product
changes. Change, particularly in industry, is a constant and critical factor.
Effectively, in the real time scenario, the frequent upgrade and customization
of products--due to quality improvements, cost reductions, manufacturing
innovations, and customer satisfaction issues--requires an accurate and
foolproof method to manage the change implementation process.
The change request is the preliminary step in a change process. You can initiate
change from various sources (internal or external to the organization) in the
form of change request. These requests are processed by eliminating trivial
requests, or by combining similar requests. An authorised user can create a
change request.
The change refers to
the change header. All related change requests are linked to one change. If you
create a new change, the first version of change proposal is created
automatically. You can also create a change without a change
request.
The change proposal is a version-controlled entity of a change. A new change
proposal is created by default when a change is created. The proposal can be
approved or rejected. When the proposal is approved, the status of change
changes to Approved. If the proposal is rejected, the status remains the same (
Created). If the proposal is rejected, you can create a new proposal with all
the linked entities.
A version of the change proposal has a list of proposed
effectivity dates, which are recorded as change orders. A change order can exist independently of a change proposal.
Change orders are linked to the change proposal. A change order can be selected
for effectivity dates. To control the effective and expire dates of more than
one change order, you can define a parent child dependency between two change
orders. The hierarchical dependency between two change orders, creates a bill
of change orders (BOCO). A BOCO has two levels of hierarchy. You can link the
change orders in BOCO to the change proposal.
Change committee
The committee of a chairperson and reviewers who implement a
change using change management. Only authorized users can create a change
committee. the reviewers of the change committee submit the change proposal for
review. The reviewers provide their recommendations and the final decision lies
with the chairperson of the committee.
Folder Management
Folder Management
You can use Folder Management to maintain folders. Folders simplify the management of
product information. You can use folders to group-related information of
various types, for example, engineering items and drawings, which enables
simple and fast information retrieval.
The folder is an
entity that can contain other LN objects defined in LN ODM. Folders are containers that carry LN objects for
communication or grouping purposes. Any LN entity can reside
inside a folder. A folder is a data item that can contain a group of related
objects.
When you create a
new folder, the folder receives the Design/Created status and you can change
the contents of the folder. If the folder is in Design/Created status, use the
content profile to place the objects defined in LN ODM, in the folder.
After the initial design stage, you must lock the folder. The folder status
changes to Locked and you cannot modify the folder's contents and properties.
To change the properties or content of a folder, the folder must be unlocked
and the folder status changes to Design/Created.
Query
Query
The Queries and Reports generates timely and essential
information, which provides strategic advantage to an organization. Reports
help present information in a structured format.
The Queries and Reports module provides the following
features:
Define and execute
queries for all ODM objects.
Define, implement,
track, store, and display the query conditions for ODM objects.
Store the query result
sets and re-run the queries on the stored data
Enabling the filtering
of the session data, based on the query result set, for both base and linked
queries.
Enable setting the role assignments based on
queries.
The main objective of queries is to provide a framework to
facilitate query based object search mechanism. The Report functionality
enables you to view the results of a query in the form of a report in various
formats.
System tables (Setup)
System tables (Setup)
The System tables (Setup) provides administrative facilities for the LN ODM . The ODM
configuration sessions enable the ERP administrator to
maintain tables that contain organization data, and to configure the system to
reflect organization requirements, including determining the functions that
different types of users can perform on different types of ODM objects.
Some of the ODM
configuration objects are specific to the Document Management, some
of which are used by multiple modules in the package, and some are LN system configuration
objects that are included in the System tables (Setup) module for completeness.
The ERP administrator must maintain the
following types of configuration data:
Use the object browser to define and categorize relationships between objects in LN ODM. The Object
Browser offers a hierarchical view of multiple level objects, and the relations
among the objects.
To indicate
relationships between objects, you can create links between the objects. You
can set up links between objects of the same type, or between objects of
different types. The LN ODM system configuration determines the type of objects that you can
link.
Object masks enable you to automatically generate unique object identifiers and
with a constant format. The LN administrator sets the object mask configurations to generate
identifiers in the format the organization uses.
You can define mask codes for every object defined in ODM.
One or more mask codes can be defined for every object. The mask code is system
data that identifies the mask configuration to be used for the object
attribute. If more than one mask code is defined for an object, LN determines which
mask configuration of the active mask code will be used in each situation. One
exception applies to the doc_rev and folder objects that will have two mask
codes. These two mask codes are required to generate the temporary revision and
permanent revision in case of document revision and folder ID and folder
revision in case of folders.
The task group function enables you to maintain the task group and the group's
linked tasks. Each task group can have a unique user role, the user role's
attached objects, and the summarized attributes of tasks, such as total tasks,
tasks completed, estimated cost, and total actual cost.
Reviewer are defined for a committee. The committee can
be a change committee or a document management committee. A chairperson heads
the committee who is authorized to add or delete the reviewers for that
committee. This committee can be used in Change Management or in Document
Management or in both scenarios.
A computer that the Document Management module accesses is
defined as a host. Client computers from which the LN sessions of Document
Management module are invoked, computers with file servers, as well as all the
computers in which the vault server component is installed are defined as
hosts.
The vault server is an essential component of file
management in the Document Management module. The vault server is responsible
for transferring all files to and from the PC's hard drive, mounted drives, and
other protected areas. The files are moved and copied between various
areas.
All directories accessed from document management must be
registered as areas. The directories include the directories in which users
edit files, as well as the directories that document management uses to store
protected files.
The mount area is the work area that must be loaded/mounted
on the client computer of the user who must access or save the files in that
work area. The work area is located on a remote host. When a mounted area is
used, the files are registered and saved in the work area specified in the
definition of the mount area. The path you see on the local host can be viewed
when a mount area is defined.
An object family consists of related objects and is used to maintain links between
objects. Use the Object Families (dmsys1512m000) session to define a new object
family.