Configuring structures by using Product Configurator variants

Configure with guided variant configuration (active validation)

Guided configuration mode is primarily used to simulate the configuration behavior for customer interactions. The users of this configuration want to be sure that there is a valid configuration path for every planned product variant. Similar to manual configuration mode, validated configurations can be saved and used to track primary configurations.

If your system is configured with the global constant that points to Name as a primary business property, the Variant Configuration view displays Name instead of ID in the corresponding areas.

Procedure

Search for the structure in My Teamcenter, and click Open. Select it, right-click and select Send To→Manufacturing Process Planner.
To open the Variant Configuration view, in the View Menu on the view toolbar, select Configure Variants.
Set a revision rule, effectivity, and rule date by clicking the corresponding hyperlink.

If an unconfigured feature exists in a configuration, such as after applying a saved variant rule, the system displays a question mark symbol in front of the selected feature.
Click to use guided validation by clicking Guided configuration mode on. (The validation mode always defaults to manual when you open a new session.)

By default, Teamcenter displays the Variant Configuration view in the Overlay configuration mode. To switch to the Order configuration mode, click Overlay Configuration Mode . When you switch between the Overlay and Order modes, Teamcenter resets the system selections that were derived based on rules prior to switching the mode. If you hover the cursor over the button in the order mode, the tooltip displays Order Configuration Mode. Your administrator can change the default configuration mode using the Cfg0DefaultValidationMode preference. By default, it is set to Order mode.

Observe that the header of the view displays the completeness check indicators. The icons appear active or inactive based on the results of the validation.
```
Valid and complete product configuration 

Valid and complete means that the BOM is targeting a complete structure,
 that is, a 100% BOM. When a configuration is valid and
  complete, you could take this configuration input and perform a cost or a weight rollup,
  compute the center of gravity, or perform a digital analysis of that product.
On the contrary, if you do not see this completeness icon, you should not
 typically do any of the above actions. It means that you have less content or more
 content.
When a configuration is valid and complete, it assigns a value to every
 family. This is irrespective of whether the family is mandatory or discretionary. 


Valid and incomplete product configuration 
In the guided mode, Teamcenter does not
 provide a list of incomplete mandatory families. 
Tip 
 To locate a list of missing required families, switch to the manual
  mode. For the valid and incomplete product configuration  in the manual mode, Teamcenter generates a tooltip with a list of incomplete mandatory families.



Invalid product configuration 
```
Teamcenter shows a list of groups with the first in bold and arrows above and below the list. Any features that violate constraints are indicated. The families and features of the group are displayed in the right pane. A red asterisk next to the family indicates that a variant feature is required. Once you make a selection, next to the family disappears.
```
A
  symbol is displayed next to the
 system-assigned available features.
It indicates that the displayed features are enforced in the current
 configuration. Typically, features configured due to include, exclude, and availability
 rules are shown as system-assigned.
A system selection is only shown for families with exactly one
 solution.


A  symbol indicates
 that the presence of the selected feature is denied by the system due to configurator
 constraints, such as inclusion, exclusion, or availability rules.


A  symbol is displayed
 next to the default features when the selection is enforced by: 

 
  A default rule.
  The applicability of the default rule is satisfied either directly by a
   user–defined criteria or by a system selection enforced by include, exclude, and
   availability rules. 
 
 
  An include rule.
  The applicability of the include rule is satisfied through a default
   rule.
 



A  symbol indicates
 that a selected feature is denied by the system due to the default rule. 
```
If you have an imprecise configuration displayed using manual validation, you cannot switch to the guided (active) mode. The system generates an error message stating that the active validation mode only supports the precise configuration. Guided configuration displays variant data within one group at a time. These are user-created groups. Every configurator context contains a default Unassigned Families group. As this group is system-generated and not manually created by a user, it is not displayed in a guided configuration mode. Thus, the variant data within the Unassigned Families group is also not displayed in a guided mode. However, in a manual mode, both the Unassigned Families group and its variant data are displayed. Families and features become visible in a guided configuration mode, once you create a new parent group or move the unassigned families with the corresponding features to an existing group. Standalone features and dynamic families with standalone features are also displayed, if available.

The system displays all of the available Boolean features and features from the multi-select families, only if they are made explicitly available. Note

Product lines, summaries, summary models, and families that reside in the Unassigned Families group are not displayed during the guided validation.
Click the cell to select the variant condition you want to use to define the configuration.
```
Click one time to display a green check mark  to include the variant condition when defining the
 configuration.


Click two times to display a blank cell to indicate the variant condition
 is not used when defining the configuration.


Click the , , or  system-assigned features once to change them to the
 user-assigned selections.
```
If the cell is positively selected with a green check mark , it means ANY. If it is negatively selected with a red circle backslash , it means NONE.

Multiple variant conditions are connected using a logical AND operation in the variant expression that defines the configuration.

If you select features that define a model, validation automatically selects a model. When you select a product model or a feature package, then the system adds the corresponding product model or feature package members, respectively, to the configuration.
If the feature is a free-form text, perform the following steps to set the feature:

Click to the right of the cell under the corresponding feature to display the edit pencil symbol.

Click to type the values.

In the Free-form Value Input dialog box, type the values to set the variant condition.

Click OK.
```
If the entered value contains any validation or formatting issues, the
 free-form feature is displayed in red in the feature text field and flagged with an error
 message.
```
If a family is defined as a free-form string, perform the following steps:

Click to the right of the corresponding cell under the free-form string family.

Enter values directly in the cell.
During guided validation mode, for enumerated and free-form non-string families, the system displays allowable ranges by considering all of the configurator rules.

The system displays the updated range and considers all possible subranges. The tooltip displays the disjointed ranges, if present.
To remove all variant expressions, click View menu and choose Clear Expression.

The system re-evaluates the configuration and displays features that were hidden based on the previous selections.
Set the type of violation messages to be displayed by the system as follows:

Click Set Info level violations to be fetched while applying validations to switch between displaying and enforcing or hiding and dropping of all informational messages.

Click the Set Warning level violations to be fetched while applying validations to switch between displaying and enforcing or hiding and dropping of all warning messages.

Error level violations are always displayed.

The severity of the rule is honored when the system displays the available features in active mode. For example, if you set a minimum error severity of warning , then the features that violate the information severity rules are also available for selection in active mode along with the features that do not violate any other rules.
Select families, one group at a time, making modifications and resolving violations.

Click or to switch groups to select families, one group at a time. If you deselect the Allow Validation Rules to Expand button, system selections based on validation rules does not occur after selection in the guided mode.

Teamcenter applies constraints to each group according to your previous selections. Each time you select a different group, it:

Displays only valid available features. Features that are not available are hidden. If no model is selected, the system shows all features that are available to any model in the configurator context. Once a model is selected, the system only shows the features that are available to the selected model. Similarly, if you select a feature prior to selecting any models, then the system only shows the models where that feature is available.

Note Because configuration validation is automatically done whenever you navigate to a different group, you can make modifications to resolve the violations.

Validates the current selections and identifies the validation result with appropriate symbols.

Determines valid selections in the next group and applies constraints. If there are no valid selections for a family in the next group, that family is not included. If the family is required, it displays an error message. The system preselects features based on defined configurator rules. It also hides the features that are excluded as a result of constraints. If multiple features apply, the system does not suggest a selection. In this case, you can create a default configurator rule to define a preferred selection. Selection of features through inclusion rules during configuration rules out other features. Whereas selection of features from default rules does not rule out other features. You can only select features that are available and selectable, if no other rules create any conflicts.

Applies system-assigned features and defaults to the families in the next group. You can change the selection from a system-assigned to a user-assigned feature. For example, if a Music Player feature is set to a system-assigned DVD feature, you can choose an MP3 feature instead, as an upgrade.

The system allows you to validate configurations by specifying operators only for free-form families. You can only use = and != operators for text and free-form string features.

Note While computing a valid and complete configuration in the guided mode, the system selection of features within families in a group is only honored for that group. Switching to a new group makes the system selection ineffective for the previously selected groups. After switching groups during the guided mode, you can switch to the manual mode to view the system-selected features that impact the completeness of your configuration.
If you want to apply constraints, select Apply constraints. By default, this option is toggled off.

If selected, constraints are applied while applying the variant rule expression on the content.

If deselected, only user selections are applied.

You can toggle on this button by setting the Cfg0SetApplyConstraintsToggle user preference to true. By default, it is set to false.
If you do not want validation rules to participate during criteria expansion, deselect Allow validation rules to expand. By default, this option is toggled on.

If selected, allows validation rules to participate during criteria expansion.

If deselected, only violations, if present, are reported. The system selections based on validation rules does not occur in the expanded criteria.

You can toggle off this button by setting the Cfg0SetAllowValidationRuleExpandToggle user preference to false. By default, it is set to true.
Click to save the custom rule.

If you started from a blank view, Teamcenter displays the Save Product Configuration dialog box; otherwise it saves the changes to the existing configuration. If you exit the Variant Configuration view without saving, you are prompted to save the changes.
To save a new configuration, in the Save Product Configuration dialog box, type a name and description, and click OK.

Teamcenter creates a custom product configuration with the specified name and variant configuration. The system adds the name of the saved variant rule to the title bar.
To clear previously loaded custom configuration, click View menu and choose Clear Variant Rule.

The system removes the name of the saved configuration from the title bar and then resets user and system selections to the initial state.
(Optional) Click View menu and choose Clear Un-configured Feature to remove unconfigured features.

The expression on the unconfigured feature in the view is removed. Also, the row holding the unconfigured feature is removed.

Source: https://docs.sw.siemens.com/en-US/doc/282219420/PL20251212545240207.mse/xid490489 · retrieved 2026-07-11