Getting Started

Table of Contents

Navigating the VariSuite User Interface

This article will walk you through the VariSuite user interface so you will get familiar with the different toolbars and menus.

When you open your VariSuite account, the first thing you will see is the Home view. You can access all the functionalities of VariSuite from this view. Next, we will walk you through the functionalities available from the Home view of the VariSuite web user interface. Please note that some items in the Home view interface can be changed by you or your key user.At the top of the Home view you can see a toolbar with information about the owner of the account, the active database, date and time and the following menus:

  • Help
  • PDM account
  • Settings
  • FAQ
  • Logout
  • Home

Settings

You can customize your personal settings from the Settings menu in the header. Settings includes the following information about your account:

  • General
    • This tab contains system information
  • Queries
    • This tab allows you to select which queries are shown in your navigation menu
  • Structure
    • This tab allows you to select the structure views that are available when you are looking at object structures
  • Content
    • This tab allows you to choose what is displayed on the main pages

Queries

Click the “Queries” tab to select the queries that will be shown to you in the navigation menu. You can also create and save your own queries to access the most relevant information faster.

You can select among items, objects, users, user groups and schema objects. When you select an object type, it will appear in your navigation panel on the left.

Structure views

The “Structure views” tab allows you to select the structure views that are available when you are looking at object structures. You can choose to have “Parts”, “Product structure” or “VariProd”.
Note: editing and adding views to the user interface is managed in VariClient.

Content

Select the “Content” tab to choose the content that is displayed to you on the main pages.

Search

There are several efficient ways to search for items in the VariSuite. Items can be searched based on their ID or description, by object type and by revision.

At the top part of the Home view you can see the Search field and the Search by Object Type function. You can always use the free text field to search for an item or you can refine your search by using the Search by Object Type filter.

The Search by Object Type filter allows you to perform searches faster and receive more accurate search results lists. You can select multiple kinds of objects or a single kind such as items, documents, users or attributes list. You can refine your search by selecting the Object type from the available options:

  • All object kinds
  • Select multiple kinds
  • Item
  • Document
  • User
  • User group
  • Access exception
  • Attribute list
  • Calculation script
  • Configuration attribute
  • Database view

Below the Search by Object Type drop-down list you can see other Search filters which help you to find needed information faster. You can focus your search on the following:

  1. ID or Full text
    • This selection allows you to search by typing the object’s ID or text, such as an item description or a document title.
  2. Revision filter
    • This selection will restrict the search to the selected revision: current or newer revisions, all revisions, latest revisions or current revisions.
  3. Configurations
      • This selection can be used to specify if you are searching for a configurable item and if so, should it be a configuration of an item (configurations), if it doesn’t have configurations (no configurations) or if it is a configuration root (configuration root).

Navigation Menu

The Navigation Menu on the left side of the Home view displays the different objects you can access in VariSuite.

Items

This menu allows you to search for existing items and to create new items.

Documents

This menu provides a quick way to search for existing documents and to create new documents. You can create new documents easily using the drag and drop function.

Users and user groups

This menu is used to find and create users and user groups. The following functions are provided:

  1. Find User to find a single user
  2. Create User to add a new user to VariSuite
  3. Find User Groups to search for any user group
  4. Create User Groups to add a group of users to VariSuite

Configuration attributes

In this section you can manage configurable object attributes. There are three different options to choose from:

  1. Find Configuration Attributes to search for attributes
  2. Find Usage in Expressions to search for where an attribute is being used
  3. Import to import new attributes from your drive

My PDM

In this menu you will find the following functions:

  1. Queries provides a shortcut to your latest searches
  2. Bookmarks contains the objects you have added to your bookmarks, so you can quickly find them later
  3. Recent object is a shortcut to the latest objects you have managed in VariSuite

PDM Objects

This menu provides access to different PDM objects, such as:

  • Item
  • Document
  • User
  • User group
  • Access exception
  • Attribute list
  • Calculation script
  • Database view
  • Sales calculation
  • Sales configuration
  • VariConf product
  • Offer
  • Offer row
  • Customer
  • Sales case
  • Activity
  • Change request
  • Task
  • Individual

VariSuite Basic footer

In this part of the Home view you can see the most recent objects you have worked on, any bookmarks you may have added and your personal queries.

Item UI

When looking at a specific item in VariSuite there are several functions available. Let’s go them through next.

Item header

At the top of the Item view you can see the basic information about the item, such as the owner, revision date, mass, etc. Your company’s system admin or key users can decide which information is displayed on top of the item view to help users find the most relevant information easily.

Main toolbar

The Main toolbar can be found below the Item header. You can use the Main toolbar to:

  • See the State of the item, it can be for example in Draft state
  • Change the state by clicking on the loupe
  • Display the Menu
  • Open the Master item by clicking on the “To master” button
  • Open the current item’s revision by clicking on “To current rev” button
  • Open in SolidWorks (an example of possible CAD integration access)
  • Configure in VariProd

Tabs

Below the Main toolbar there are three tabs:

  • Attributes displays the main item information
  • Structure displays the item structure
  • Revisions display the existing item’s revisions

Maximize View

  1. Click on the icon below the Attributes tab to maximize the view and to hide the left-side panel and the top bar search.
  2. The product structure is shown in its own browser window.
  3. Click again to minimize the view.

Expand structure

Click on the cascading icon to expand the whole structure or to expand the selected objects. You can select how many levels you want to expand.

Actions

You can perform several actions to the selected objects:

  • Change State (Group Update) promotes the objects to the next lifecycle state: Ready, Checked, Released.
  • Set Attribute Values (Group Update) updates the value of an attribute for all the selected objects.
  • All Documents to Zip file exports all the documents connected to the objects into a zip file.
  • PDF files of all documents to Zip file does the same as the previous function but exporting only the PDF document type.
  • Export to Excel exports the objects into an Excel document. It performs the same action as when clicking on the Excel button placed on the right side of the toolbar.

Filter

You can filter the information displayed in the view by different criteria. Different filtering options include the following:

  • From all
  • Object ID
  • Description
  • Image
  • Validity
  • Revision date
  • Current state
  • Revision reason
  • Owner

Clear Sorting

This link can be used to clear the selected filter.

View

You can select the view you want to use from this selection, for example:

  • All
  • Parts
  • Product Structure
  • VariProd

You can also create your own views and they will appear in this menu.

Edit

You can find an Edit button next to the View selection. Click on the Edit button to enable table editing.

In this mode you can easily edit the attribute values and filter the information by selecting the relationship type. You can also add new objects and copy/paste them.

Menu

The Menu provides quick access to several basic actions. You can open the Menu by right clicking your mouse at any part of the screen or by clicking on the Menu button on the toolbar. If you display the menu over a certain item, the actions will apply to this item. If you display it over the top-level, the actions will apply only to the top-level item.

Some of the most useful actions available in the Menu:

  • Send email: you can share items by sending an email.
  • Tools and reports: Export information reports, such as item history and structure information.
  • Where used: you can see where the item has been used.
  • Bookmark and sharing: add the item to your bookmarks to be able to find it later or simply copy the URL link to share it with your colleagues.
  • History: shows the history of the item. It will show the history of the item contained in the row where you have clicked.
  • Open in a new tab or in a new window: displays the below item in a different tab or window.

Congratulations, now you know the basics about Navigating the VariSuite user interface!

Get back to the Getting Started knowledge area to learn more…!

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