Working with variants—overview

Variant configuration allows you to create options (for example, color) and allowed values for each option. You can then associate these options with an item revision. For example, you might create an option called color with allowed values of red and blue. You usually implement variant configuration against a top-level assembly, but it is possible to implement them anywhere in the structure. You can then define a variant condition on those occurrences subject to variant rules. A variant rule is a set of options and values (for example, color = red, material = cotton) that is stored in the database. For example, you can specify only load IF option color = red in the variant rule. You can also set multiple variant rules. These are then evaluated using an OR expression. For example, color = red or color = green. To configure a particular variant of the assembly or product, you must set the appropriate variant rules.

Although Teamcenter provides you with two methods to create variants, modular or classic, Siemens Digital Industries Software recommends that you use only classic variants when working with manufacturing. To ensure that the variant mode always opens in the classic mode, set the PSEVariantsMode preference to legacy.

For more information about creating variants, see Structure Management on Rich Client ─ Usage.