Connections Between Work Packages

This task explains the ways you can establish connections between work packages. You should also refer to the following tasks for more information: Using Work Packages, Understanding Project Resource Management, and Managing Publications.

 

 

 

 The system manages connections between elements within your design. As you place parts or route elements within your design, the system automatically creates connections between them. When these elements are in different work packages then the system also needs a way of identifying the work package containing the linked element.

When connections are being established between elements in different work packages, the system may use one of two link mechanisms, based on the environment and user options set in the Project Resource Management file. The two mechanisms used for cross work package connections are:

  • Publication based connections
  • Document based connections
  Publication based linking enables effective configuration management, revision management and concurrent engineering support. Publication based connections are established through a publication and can easily be replaced by new configurations or revisions of a work package. The connection is resolved dynamically as work packages are loaded into a session.

Document based connections use a more direct linking mechanism. This allows the linked document to be identified more easily, but it does not easily support relinking to a new configuration or revision.
  In publication based linking, connection information is added to both work packages, establishing a one way or two way link. A two way link is established when the system has Write access to both work packages. If it has Write access to one of the work packages it will establish a one way connection from the work package to which it has access. Users can convert a one way link to a two way link if they have Write access to the necessary work package, using the Cross Document Connections command. It is recommended that a two way connection be established to ensure complete network connectivity for downstream processes such as From-To analysis.
    In the case of document based connections, the connection is stored in the parent document of the two work packages. In this case, a two way connection is always established.