Release and Data Management

Otto_DeRuntz

I am new to Onshape and need to make sure I start out with the best process for creating, documenting and releasing parts.

We recently moved from Creo to Onshape. I’ve imported a few parts and am getting them ready to set to a Released state but have not yet. I am also creating new parts and I need to keep track of ALL our parts, in a Production or Pre-Production state.

I have recently learned that I can ONLY See/List parts that the have been ‘Released’.

In Creo we would use Rev-1..2.. etc. for parts in a 'prototype state', When released for production they would move to Rev-A..B..etc..

What I had started doing in Onshape was this:
Whenever I was at a point in the design stage of a part that I wanted to send it out for quoting or prototyping I would save the 'version' as 'Rev-1..-2.. etc..
When a part was ready for 'Production'  I would 'Release' it at Rev-A..B..etc..

However, this doesn’t work If I want to be able to see or make a list of ‘unreleased parts’, i.e. parts that have only been versioned.

I read one approach might be to use two different Release Schemes, 1st, release All parts using Rev-1..2..etc.. until a part is ready for Production, and then Release the Parts as Rev-A..B..etc..

'Sense I am an admin' and the only CAD user right now, I can switch Release Schemes back and forth as needed. This is what I am inclined to do for now.

However, this won't work when we start hiring more people who won't have permission to change the Release Scheme. I need to be able to any work or parts that are being created at what ever state of development they are in.

This is now an Improvement Request, that hopefully already exists:
The ability to have Both a Pre-released or Prototype or Development Release scheme (whatever it is called) AND a Production Released Scheme.
If there is a better way that already exists, I would like to hear about it.

This raises the question about what ALL does 'Releasing a part do that is different from Versioning?
Both Releasing and Versioning lock the parts at point in time that one can always go back to.

Recently ‘Workspace Protection’ has been added to Onshape.
Once a part is released or versioned that version is saved.
What are my parts being protected from?
Thoughts, Comments, Warnings would be appreciated before I get to deep into Onshape.

S1mon

It's possible to have multiple revision schemes and workflows. I had 3 set up at my previous company (see this post). This will take a little handholding from Onshape support to set up the workflows.

What is very much missing is any way to automate the connection/process of moving from one workflow to the next. It was very much a matter of just being careful, because at any release, you could choose to switch from one workflow to another - and not necessarily in a logical progression. I could have been in a production workflow, and choose to move back to a development workflow.

For workspace protection, this video might help explain possible uses: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHmkDvApj3A

Otto_DeRuntz

I got an email from support explaining how they are working to create a 'Design Review State'. This could be implemented even before a part number is assigned, which is another question. We have a Professional License. Is there any reason not to switch back and forth Revision Schemes as needed between numbers for pre-production and letters for production?

What I still struggle with are part numbers and Part names and Part Studio names and Workspace names. I have always lived by part numbers; sense names can be so ambiguous. We have a number of assemblies with parts in them with the same name, i.e. Top, or Pin, Etc. In Onshape I started naming everything, Parts, Part Studios, Workspaces, with the part number. I could always search for a number and know what I will get. I haven't gotten my head around this yet.

How do you manage Names of Parts, Part Studios, Workspaces and Part numbers? Do you a typical folder structure for storing data?

I think the referenced video helps me understand workspace protection a little better. Right now, seeing as I am the only CAD user and designer I have only myself to protect me from.

nick_papageorge073

I was using Creo and Windchill before, and it had pre-production release states at numbered revs (for quoting, tooling issue, tooling revisions, etc), and production release states at letter revs. (At least at the corp I was at, IDK if it was the same everywhere...). Once we got to Rev A, we'd blow out the rev block of all the pre-prod stuff numbered revs, which was also for legal reasons.

I tried to do the same thing in OS. I was the sole CAD user at the startup company and in the same shoes as you figuring it out. What I did was in the .txt file that determines the rev increments, I went from rev 1, 2, 3, 4....50, and then to A, B, C...ZZ. (same text file)

For example, I can do an OS "release" at rev 1 for RFQ, rev 3 for TI, and rev 7 for multiple toolmaker changes. Then Rev A for prod issue, and Rev C for a second ECN for a change needed due to a quality issue discovered in the field. All of these are "releases" as far as OS is concerned, and you'd be able to see them in the list of all parts.

What it does not do is blow out the numbered revs in the rev block on the 2D. I have to manually hide them. It's because it's not a new "state" of pre-prod and prod, like WC had. That's what OS support told me a couple years ago.

Since then, I think OS released customized release states, but I've been too scared to look at them, and what I'm doing now seems to work good enough.

Just another idea, and this may be wrong and out of date:)