Create an alternative planning project

When you create an alternative planning project, you are creating it in a container known as a collaboration context (CC) object. The CC contains a production environment that you can use for supplier collaboration and other processes outside production, such as developing a new plan for a line or station. Production planning often requires many sets of data and views, so grouping the data under a CC umbrella is necessary.

Procedure

1. Open the production structures you want to use in your alternative planning project.

   Creating an alternative planning project involves cloning a complete or partial production plant bill of process (BOP) while referencing a bill of equipment (BOE), product, and product BOP. You can choose to include or exclude all but one of these structures. For example, you could create an alternative planning project that clones only a plant BOP and then create additional plant BOP projects. Cloning a plant BOP also includes automatically cloning Dynamic In-Process Assembly (DIPA) data.

   This example shows a product and process BOP at the top, and a production plant BOP and related BOE at the bottom (WorkareaA). The process BOP ProductBOP contains processes and operations. The production plant BOP shows the part and tool consumption from the product BOP.

2. In the plant BOP, select the top line and choose Tools→Update Flows.

3. In the Update Flows dialog box, select the Include Structure Sub-Hierarchies check box and click OK.

4. Select the objects to clone or reference from each production source or library and choose File→New→Alternative.

   Example Selected objects might include a process station containing a shared or isolated study.

5. In the New Alternative dialog box, in the Alternative Name text box, type a unique name for the alternative process plan (this will be the alternative CC name) and select the Open On Create check box.

6. If your administrator has set up dispatcher settings to create the alternative at a later time or in the background, select the Create In Background check box.

7. In the Alternative Scope list, clear any check boxes next to structures you do not want to include in your alternative project, and choose whether to partially or fully clone or reference structures.

   Note

   When Full is selected, you need not select partial steps further in the alternative planning creation process.
   
   
   Product and product BOP require a full structure, though both can also be referenced structures.
   
   
   If you create an alternative planning program with only a cloned plant BOP, the product BOP is excluded from the new alternative CC.
   
   
   Resources can only be referenced.
   

8. (Optional) If your system is set up to apply statuses, do one of the following to your alternative program:

   In the Release Status group, select a release status.

   Click Set Unit/Date Effectivity and define an effectivity for the process plan.

9. (Optional) To force the release status that you selected in step 8 upon any structure name in the Alternative Scope list with an existing status, select the Forced Release Status check box.

   Note

   If you did not select a release status in step 8, any existing statuses in the source CC are removed or cleared in your alternative CC and those objects will have no status. If you did select a release status, all existing statuses in the source CC are overwritten with that status in your alternative CC. 
   
   
   You can select a release status before or after selecting the Forced Release Status
     check box.
   

10. Click Next.

11. On Process Plan and Bill of Equipment Scopes, do the following.

    In the relevant process plan or BOE structure, select the line that you want to clone or reference, and in the relevant Scopes section, click to define the scope.

    Tip When creating a production environment, you need not select the top line. For example, you could select a process line as a plant BOP's scope, or a station or resource as a BOE's scope. BOE nodes such as stations, zones, and lines are cloned, while item-type resources are referenced. You can select multiple objects in your CC structures by pressing Ctrl and selecting them one at a time.

    Optionally, create a persistent in-process assembly (IPA).

    Select the Create Persistent IPA
      check box.
    Tip 
     You can also create or update a dynamic in-process assembly (DIPA) outside the New Alternative dialog box. The DIPA is cloned.
    
    
    
    Select a persistent IPA from your process plan and click  to define its scope.
    

    Click Next.

12. On Process Plan and Bill of Equipment, review your alternative structures' details and in the Name boxes, type unique names for the alternative process plan and BOE.

    Note Unique names are automatically provided if the ME_Alternative_Scope_Suffix preference is set to add a suffix to each source structure's default name. In this example, the selected product structure DUNE BUGGY BODY BOM is displayed as the Product Scope Name along with the ME_Alternative_Scope_Suffix preference value _Alter.

13. In the Summary group, review the structure summary.

    The Alternative Scope list shows the structures to be cloned or referenced in your project. In this example, the BOE and plant BOP structures are to be cloned, while the product BOP and product are to be referenced. The revision rules, variant rules, and effectivity of the original structures are carried over.

    The Configuration section reports the project's default release status and cloning rules, release status, and effectivity. Note Your administrator can define release statuses in the MEAlternativeDefaultReleaseStatus preference.

14. Click Finish.

    When you open the plant BOP and BOE, they reflect the structures you cloned but display the revision status and effectivity you accepted or selected. In this example, no effectivity was specified so Teamcenter uses the current date as the start date and defines no end date. Parts and tools are shared with the production structures rather than cloned, and do not display a revision status or effectivity.

    Note If you chose to create a persistent in-process assembly in step 11, the line you selected for it displays a icon in the production BOP and a icon in the cloned BOP.