This topic is contained in the PDXpert help file, available from the application's Help menu (or press the F1 key). It describes the current PDXpert PLM release and may differ from earlier releases.

Setup: General collections

The General collections define properties that are typically applicable to multiple items.

• Item Lifecycle Phases: PDXpert defines all document and part lifecycle phases into this collection. Lifecycle phases should reflect a set of well-defined business rules and practices based on an item's maturity. For instance, a lifecycle phase may represent the number of units that can be built based on the risk of design changes: few units during prototyping, unlimited numbers during full production. Small organizations require only a few lifecycle phases because the business rules can be simply defined; larger organizations may have more phases (e.g., preliminary, prototype, field test, production, service-only, obsolete) to meet sophisticated needs.

• Product Families: Since this collection affects both item searches and access permissions, and it grows over time, you may want to keep the initial number of members relatively small. Unless you have significant security concerns, most general-purpose items won't need to belong to a product family. However, if you must restrict users from even generic parts or general-purpose documents, you can create a General member that can be assigned to any item, and then define that member's Denied Access list to reflect your desired restrictions.

• Sequences: Identifier: These collection members will define the numbering system for your parts, documents, and changes. Each defined sequence is a counter from which users can pull the next number in a sequence. While most companies should strive for simplicity, your PLM process may require very detailed numbering formats based on part category, document type, and change form. If your numbering system is driven by many complex rules, your users may be required to manually assign every number, and you won't need to define any members of this collection.

• Sequences: Revision: These collection members will define your part record and document revision formats. Typically, there will be only one or two document revision formats, and a distinct part record revision format, although it's simplest to have a single revision format for all items.

• Units of Measure: The default collection members include categories covering time, mass, count, length, area, volume, etc. The default Units of Measure (UoM) lists are pretty extensive, but you may need to add some UoMs that are unique to your industry.

• You won't need to change the contents of the Data transformations or Views collections immediately.

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