Workflow and lifecycle management

Lifecycles and workflows combine to form the basis of process management.

A workflow refers to the actions required to complete a managed process such as creating, reviewing, and approving change orders. A workflow consists of states and actions.

Workflow states

A state is a stop along the workflow path. States are represented as boxes on the workflow map. All change orders are in a workflow state at any given time. The current state is highlighted blue on the workflow map.

Actions

A workflow action is the path connecting one state to another and represents the action required to enter a state. Workflow actions are represented as arrows on the map. A state may have one or more possible actions for you to perform. The available actions are based on the current state and your workflow permissions. Available actions are indicated as bold paths leaving the current state. When an item reaches a new workflow state, one or more actions may become available depending on the workflow.

Workflow notifications

Everyone with permission to take a workflow action, as well as the item owners, will receive an email indicating the available and completed actions.

Lifecycle management

While the approval workflow tracks the change order process, lifecycle states track the revisions of designs and drawings.

Lifecycles states and revisions

Workflow changes and approval

Revising items and moving them through the product lifecycle is accomplished using change orders. When a design or a drawing item is attached to a change order, the item can be revised. As a change order progresses through the approval workflow, the items attached to the change order progress through the product lifecycle states.

Lifecycle states

For the Fusion Manage Extension, the lifecycle states are:

Items attached to change orders move to the next lifecycle state as the change order progresses. ses through the workflow.

Quick release

A design or drawing can go from Unreleased to Pre-production without requiring a change order. Likewise, design iterations in the Pre-Production lifecycle state do not require a change order. This is called Quick Release and means that reviewers and approval are not necessary to move from Unreleased to Pre-Production or to create minor, untracked revisions in Pre-Production. The quick release paths are shown as orange on the lifecycle map.

Change orders

Change orders follow the change approval workflow. A change order requires approval before the attached items can be moved to the next lifecycle state. While a change order is optional when moving an item from Unreleased to Pre-Production or to create a revision in Pre-Production, a change order is required to release an item to Production or to revise an item that is currently in Production. This ensures decisions to release a design are tracked and accountability is maintained.

Working versions, revisions, and superseded items

Changes to design and drawing items occur only to the latest working version. In either case, changes are applied to the working version.

An Unreleased lifecycle state is a indicator that the overall maturity of the component or drawing is in it's infancy and hasn't been promoted to pre-production or production state.

Revisions are created when a design or drawing item is in either the Pre-Production state or the Production state. Iterations on pre-production items are identified with revision numbers. For example, REV 1, REV 2 and so on. Iterations on items released to production are identified with revision letters. For example, A, B, C, and so on.

When a released item is revised, the previous release is replaced or superseded and all references to this item are updated to point to the new revision once it is released.

States

You can look at the State field in the Properties panel to understand the status of your design or drawing revision. The product determines the state based on a variety of factors. See the list below to understand the states and what they mean.