Fusion Manage Extension key concepts

Process management

Process management is managing the lifecycle of designs and drawings by using:

• Item numbers – To enable you and your team to easily identify and track designs and drawings throughout their lifecycle.
• Change orders – To enable you and your team to formally review and release data systematically and consistently.

Site

When the Fusion Manage Extension is added to Fusion, a simplified version of a Autodesk Fusion Manage (formerly Autodesk Fusion 360 Manage) site is created for you and your team that is specifically configured for use with the Fusion Manage Extension. Your site is browser-based and contains all of the items you manage: design items, drawing items, and change orders.

Items

Items are the building blocks of process management. An item is a unique business object representing a specific part, assembly, drawing, or change order. You create an item by assigning an item number to a design or drawing or creating a change order using the Fusion Manage Extension.

Workflow

A workflow is a series of actions and states that govern the lifecycle of an item. It refers to the actions required to complete a managed process such as creating, reviewing, and approving change orders.

Workflow State

A workflow state indicates which stop along the workflow path an item is currently at.

• Open - The items have been added to the change order but are still in a working state.
• Work - The items are actively being worked on.
• Review - The change order has been sent to someone to review the items in the change order to decide if they are ready to be released.
• Approved (Closed) - The change order has been reviewed and approved and the items are now released. The change order workflow is finished.
• Cancelled - The change order has been cancelled and the items remain in their working state.

Change order

A change order logs and tracks changes to Fusion designs and drawings that have been assigned item numbers. You must use a change order to officially release a design item or drawing item to production using the Fusion Manage Extension. Like a design item or a drawing item, a change order is assigned a unique item number. The change order number is used to track the change order through the process management workflow.

Lifecycle

A lifecycle is a series of development and revision phases that an item may go through. With the Fusion Manage Extension, a lifecycle refers to the item’s maturity.

Lifecycle states

Lifecycle states indicate the current lifecycle phase of the item. As a change order progresses through the approval workflow, the items attached to the change order progress through the product lifecycle states.

• Unreleased - The item is going through its initial design phase and work is not yet being tracked by a change order.
• Pre-Production - The item has been through a quick release or a change order and is being prepared for release to production.
• Production - The item has been through a change order and is released to manufacturing.
• Obsolete - The item has reached its end-of-life and is no longer produced or has been discarded.

When viewing an item in the Fusion web client, you can see information about the current state of the item.

The following image outlines an example lifecycle of an item and indicates how and when the State, Revision, and Lifecycle values are updated. It is assumed the item has already been assigned a number.

1. Version - A version is created every time you save a design or drawing.
2. State - Indicates whether a specific version is in a working state (can be worked on) or is released to Pre-Production or Production.
3. Lifecycle - Indicates the overall lifecycle phase the item is in. Items start as Unreleased then move to Pre-Production (using a quick release or a change order) or Production (using a change order).
4. Revision - A revision is created when the item goes through a quick release or a change order. Numerical revisions are used when the item is sent to Pre-Production. Letters are used when the item is sent to Production.
5. First change order – This change order was used to release version 3 of the item to Pre-Production. This means its Revision was set to 1.
6. Second change order – This change order was used to release version 6 of the item to Production. This means its Revision was set to A. In between the first and second revision, the items Lifecycle state remains as Pre-Production, but its State changes to Working as further changes are made to the item.

Milestone

A milestone identifies a particular version of a design or drawing as being important. When using the Fusion Manage Extension, milestones also mark the points when a design or drawing has been assigned an item number, and when it has been released to pre-production or production. These are known as revision milestones and are indicated with this icon .

The latest version of a design or drawing you have open in Fusion is what is sent to a change order. If further changes are made to the item while it is in a change order at the Open or Work state of the workflow, it is critical that a milestone is set for the latest version prior to continuing the workflow to ensure the latest version of the design is released.

Revisions mark the points when a design or drawing has been assigned an item number, and when it has been released to pre-production or production. There are two types of revisions:

• Latest revision - This is the latest revision and no changes have been made to it. It is indicated with this icon .
• Historical revision - This is the latest revision, but further changes have been made to it. It is indicated with this icon .

Item lifecycle example for collaborative hubs

1. Change - Captured each time you save a design or drawing.
2. State - Indicates a design or drawing is in a Working (currently under change), Pending release (currently under review), Released or Superseded state.
3. Release process - Used when you revise a design or drawing.
4. Lifecycle - Indicates the lifecycle phase of your item. Items start as Unreleased, move to Pre-Production (using a quick release or change order), then move to Production (using a change order), and finally move to Obsolete (using a change order).
5. Revision - Created when your item goes through a quick release or a change order. Numerical revisions are used when the item is sent to Pre-Production. Letters are used when the item is sent to Production.
6. Quick release - A quick release process was used to release the third change of the design or drawing to Pre-Production. The Revision is set to 1.
7. Change order - A change order was used to release the sixth change to the design or drawing to production. This means its Revision is set to A. Between the first and second revision, the item's lifecycle state is Pre-Production, but its state changes to Working when further changes are made.
8. Updated state - The State for Revision 1 changes from Released to Superseded when Revision A is released.