There are some known issues when working with the PLM and PWB CATIA connector. Whilst we are working on a resolution we have documented them at the link here, along with our suggested workarounds. 

If you find other issues or improved workarounds please email us at plm-support@cern.ch so that we can investigate any problems and share the information with all other users through this document. 

During the SmarTeam to PLM transition, a number of your already experienced colleagues will have the mandate as local supporters and some time dedicated to help you get started.

To find your closest local supporter, please see the list following this link.

Below is a group of How-to's that are related to the topic of 'Ready for Check in PLM' in the SmarTeam to PLM transition category. Click on their links to find more information on these topics.

• What is the "Ready For Check in PLM" SmarTeam command ?
• How to get access to the "Ready For Check in PLM" SmarTeam command?
• What requirement must be met to use Ready For Check in PLM?
• How to launch a Ready For Check in PLM on a SmarTeam Document?
• How does the state of CAD Documents migrated via Ready For Check in PLM change after performing a Design Verification Workflow ?
• How to deal with objects in "Ready for Check (RFC)" or "Checked" state when running a "RFC in PLM"?
• How to reset/abandon a Ready For Check in PLM?
• How does the concept of “Responsibility” relate to the Ready for Check-in PLM SmarTeam feature?
• How to validate a CAD structure where a master document is not in BOM (SmarTeam)?

Below is a group of How-to's that are related to the topic of 'RFC in PLM Troubleshooting/Specific Use Cases' in the SmarTeam to PLM transition category. Click on their links to find more information on these topics.

• How to validate a CAD structure where a master document is not in BOM (SmarTeam)?

Below is a group of How-to's that are related to the topic of 'View SmT Documents in PLM' in the SmarTeam to PLM transition category. Click on their links to find more information on these topics.

• How to search and visualise files of SmarTeam CAD Documents in the PLM Platform?
• How-to identify if SmarTeam documents have been migrated and switched ownership to the PLM?
• How to identify if documents migrated to the PLM has been edited in Smarteam since?

Below are the remaining How-to's that are not present in other subgroups in the SmarTeam to PLM transition category. Click on their links to find more information on these topics.

• How to access the PLM training?
• How to pre-migrate a group of documents to the PLM?
• How to request to migrate an assembly from SmarTeam to the PLM?
• How do the CATIA-PLM icons compare to the CATIA-SmarTeam icons?
• How to navigate the platform using different interfaces?
• How to find drawings I am responsible for and that are in Checked lifecycle state?

Before working in the PLM please follow the available training material depending on your usage and requirements. The trainings can be found here. 

Usually, when working with CATIA and the PLM, the Bill Of Materials is updated automatically after each CATIA save via the PWB connector (e-BOM sync).
This is the case for all new CAD Documents created and modified in the PLM.

However, for the CAD structures coming from SmarTeam, the situation is slightly different.
Indeed, sometimes in SmarTeam, the BOM was manually managed or modified (Item manually added, quantity manually modified...) and to make sure that the migrated version of the BOM is retained in the PLM, no automatic update was triggered based on the CAD Structure. On the contrary, the BOM was rebuilt as it was in SmarTeam and it appears in the PLM as manually managed.
Also, since the CAD Documents coming from the SmarTeam have not been modified (saved) in the PLM during the migration process, the automatic BOM update has never been launched.

As a result, for the migrated CAD Structure, the BOM is set to manually managed. It means that for a given Part corresponding to a migrated CAD, all its dependencies (the BOM) are flagged with the attribute "Manually managed".

And then, even if a new version of this Part is created (manually, or because a CAD is versioned) the BOM will remain manually managed.

Leading in possible error when updating the BOM with the creation of duplicated links to the same dependency:

If you want to update your BOM, and to come back to an automatic update of the BOM after the CAD Document structure is saved in CATIA, here are the steps to follow:

1. Create a new version of the Part / CAD parent.
   Either manually create a new version of the parent Part from its profile card in the PLM, or create one indirectly from CATIA by creating a new version of the CAD Document. This will trigger a new version of the Part automatically (since the migrated Part versions are frozen).
    
2. From the new version of the Parent Part, edit the Profile Card and expand the relationship grid (at the bottom) and go to the BOM tab.
   There, remove all the ticks in the manually managed column.
   (Keep the ticks in the Pos & Qty Override columns if you want to retain this information from the Smt BOM)
   
   
    
3. Save the CATProduct from CATIA (or if already done, run the BOM Sync from the CAD Doc Profile Card).
    
4. Check the result.

And, if needed, refer to the previous version of the Part to see how was the BOM right after the Migration.
All dependencies in CATIA should be back in the BOM. If some are missing, there can be several reasons, such as:

    1. Some Parts might have been added manually in SmarTeam with no corresponding CAD Doc in the CAD Structure (e.g. glue): add them manually again in PLM (if relevant).
    2. Some components in CATIA are not Master, then their Part are not automatically added in the BOM: mark those as 'In-BOM' in CATIA and save the CATProduct again.

    3. The BOM cannot be computed because your Assembly is not up-to-date (children with red dot) or the CATIA save window reports another error: check if your assembly is using only the current version of the dependencies.

See the FAQ below for more information on these BOM management processes. 
        
This process has to be done only once after the migration.
Once a Part's BOM has been re-computed once after migration using the PLM e-BOM sync, then each new CATIA Save will update the BOM.

More: BOM management in CATIA / PLM

The “Design Collection” functionality in PLM has been introduced to replace the EDMS Drawing Folders functionality. However it is still possible to use an EDMS Drawing Folder together with a PLM design collection as described hereafter.

Detailed information about the PLM functionality can be found here: Design Collection FAQ

If you still require the EDMS Drawing Folder, you can link the PLM Design Collection directly to it:

1. Copy the link of the Design Collection:

2. Add the link of the Design Collection to the EDMS Drawing Folder:

3. Release the EDMS Drawing Folder to ensure traceability.

Current limitation: Access to PLM data can't be given to users with light-weight accounts like in EDMS, if this is required, please contact support to find a suitable solution for your case.

The plotting from EDMS Drawing Folders and Caddie is currently not compatible with PLM drawings. Instead of plotting PLM data from EDMS, once the “Design Collection” is filled in and approved in the PLM, you can perform the following steps to send a collection of drawings to any plotter:

• Download the converted/stamped files to your local machine: How to extract / download files from the PLM?

• Print the Drawings on any plotter, following the standard methodology: How to print multiple drawings at once with PDF X-Change Editor?

To help with the transition from SmarTeam to PLM, we have put together a comparison between the different Specification tree icons. Some have remained the same, but others have changed or are new. Also note, previously with SmarTeam, the icons were viewable on both assemblies and CATParts. Using the PLM, they are viewable on assemblies only and CATParts open in their own window will have no PLM status icons.

Note, the lifecycle states do not correspond.

For more information on all the PLM/CATIA icons, please see the following documentation, FAQ.

To locate, view or open files of SmarTeam(ST) CAD Documents through the PLM platform, follow the subsequent steps.

1. Optional prerequisite to enable the opening of STEP files of ST CAD Document directly into SpinFire Ultimate:

         Install the software below from CMF. These are available on any CERN Windows machine.

• CERN - PLM Desktop
• Actify SpinFire Ultimate

Note: There is an embedded viewer in the PLM to allow users to view the documents without installing Actify SpinFire Ult., but for a comprehensive review of a document Actify SpinFire Ult. is required.

For the subsequent steps, use either the PLM Desktop app (open the PLM website as shown below), or open the following link in any web browser, https://plm.cern.ch/. However please note, to open a file directly into SpinFire Ult., the PLM desktop must be running. An explicit error will be returned if it is not.

2. Search for the document in the PLM

  2.1 It’s recommended to search for a document through the Folders (ST Projects) and Parts (ST Items) it is in, rather than directly, as these queries load much faster and have improved accuracy. Access these search boxes through the table of contents on the PLM Website (or webpage), as shown below.

Note: the Part (Item) reference can easily be deducted from the ST CAD Doc reference: just remove the _ and the 2 last digits

ex: CAD Doc ref :ST1234567_01 -> Part ref: ST1234567
     

  2.2 Query for the desired Folder or Part using the filter fields. Double-click to open the object in its own window.
 

  2.3 Navigate to the document from the Folder or Part window.

        The contents of both objects are shown as icons under the main information boxes, click to open them in their own window. Alternatively, navigate using the ARAS grid and different tabs at the bottom of the window as shown in the images below.         

2.4 Ensure you open the required revision of the document. A warning will be displayed in the header of the profile card if it is non-latest, with a link to the latest revision.

3. The 3D data of a CAD Document can be viewed from its Profile Card.

• For quick visualisation there is an embedded viewer window on the right-hand side of the window (installation of Actify SpinFire ult. is not required to view this).
• For a more in-depth review, the data can be opened in the local default CAD viewer using the button below (SpinFire Ult. if installed and the PLM desktop is running).
• To download a .stp file of the document, press the arrow in the top box and choose the filetype from the dropdown list.  

4. For a drawing, the 2D data can also be viewed on the Profile Card.

• For quick visualisation there is an embedded viewer window on the right-hand side of the window.
• To download a .pdf file of the CAD Document, press the arrow in the top box and choose the filetype from the dropdown list.
• If it is saved in EDMS, there is also a link to this area.​​​​​​

For more information on how to use SpinFire Ultimate please read the following documentation.

FAQ: SpinFire Ultimate

You can navigate the platform using several different interfaces:

• PLM Explorer
• SmarTeam Explorer
• Icons panel

To know more about these interfaces, please follow the document below (page 34).

 Interface