About Change Level of Development

The Change level of Development function refers to the continuous level of development (LOD) process with a code number evolving with the maturity of the design from 100 to 500. For more information, see (http://bimforum.org/lod/).

In Building and Civil Assemblies, the change level of development converts a feature-based model to a product-based model. Once fully converted, a model can be edited concurrently and further detailed.

Change level of development enables to automatically instantiate and synchronize user features using the specification features as inputs. These parametric components can be developed over time to contain increasing levels of detail and complexity. At a certain point in the evolution of a project, a reference or a template can be instantiated to give more details to the project and make it PLM. You can create an engineering template (with the appropriate license for Knowledge Engineering Specification) that shares the same inputs as the user features. This model development process is very powerful and will allow users to adopt a streamlined workflow, facilitating automation and the instantiation of parametric templates. Decreasing the time necessary to pass from a conceptual model to a fully detailed model.

Change level of development processes specialized specifications that must be published by their containing representations.

Processing specifications involves determining the instance destination and creating links (engineering connections) between the specification and the resulting instance. The specification is based on an object type that includes mandatory and optional elements, as well as an instantiation method. The instantiation method of an object type determines mandatory elements and the type of engineering connections to be created.

Reference or Adaptative Object Type-based Specification

As an example, when specifying an object type with a reference or adaptive instantiation method, you must specify a positioning axis system (that is a hook) for the product-based design. You must publish this positioned axis system to a Base Axis System by using the Define Components command. During the process, a coincidence constraint is created between the hook element and the related specification.

Note: This definition plays a prominent role when working with multiple ranges as it ensures the geometry is close to the original product origin and can then be defined in normal range

Distribution Object Type-based Specification

When a specification is defined by an object type with a distribution instantiation method, a fix together constraint is created between the created instance and the related specification. The instance is also fixed in position (fixed instance position). If the engineering connection is deleted, the link between the instantiated product and the specification is also deleted. Change level of development considers the specification as not exposed and will propose to expose it again.

You can clean expositions.

If you clean exposition, the operations are:

• Delete a User Feature instance.
• Delete a Knowledge rule (if there is one).
• Delete a PLM instance.
• Delete an Engineering Connection.
• Delete impacts.

To change the Object Type revision in a specification, you can use the Upgrading command.

When the revision status is (not the lastest revision), you can change the Object Type revision in a specification by clicking Upgrade. An Object Type is revised following a change of attributes (addition/deletion of Pset, change of value), a change on the feature-based design or on the product-based design. No substatus is given concerning the kind of change that led to the new revision.

If an anchor is exposed as a solid user feature: It starts with a clean of exposition (see above), then it exposes the specification at the same levels it was exposed. For instance, if the specification was only exposed at feature level, this treatment will not take place at the PLM level.

If an anchor is exposed as a surfacic/volumic user feature: It starts with the instantiation of the new user feature revision. Then, the outputs of the former user feature are replaced by the outputs of the new user feature. Next, the former user feature is replaced by the new user feature. Finally, the former user feature and its aggregated output are deleted.

Despite all those replacements, some children operating on topology rather than feature may still need to be manually rerouted.

Upgrade is available from Capture Component Specifications, Rebar Creation, Change Level Of Development and Product Attributes commands.

You can synchronize a product-based design with a specification Objet Type new revision.

When the revision status is Not-up-to-date , if you synchronize a product-based design with a new specification Objet Type revision, the treatment to synchronize the Product-based design with its new specification Object Type revision consists in cleaning the previous PLM exposition and re-exposing at product level. This treatment is available from the Change Level Of Development command.

With the Synchronize command, you can:

• Change the Object Type defining a specification and the system keeps as much information as possible:
  • The inputs with same role name are kept.
  • The values of the parameters with same role name are kept.
  IFC/OmniClass/UniFormat attributes however strictly follow the definition given by the new Object Type.

  When the status is Not-up-to-date and you click Synchronize: The treatment to synchronize the design with a switch of Object Type starts with the treatment of a clean exposition (see above), then it exposes the specification at the same levels it was exposed. For instance, if the specification was only exposed at the feature level, this treatment will not take place at the PLM level. However, IFC/OmniClass/UniFormat attributes strictly follow the definition given by the new Object Type.

• Make sure that the Pset attributes on the PLM exposition are equal to Pset attributes on the specification. The status is Not-up-to-date when:
  • The Pset edition is disabled in the Product Attributes panel when the PLM object is opened along with its specification. The specification is the driving parameter, the PLM object is the driven attribute. However, we cannot prevent the edition of the PLM object in another tab, without its specification.
  • The detection of these inconsistencies is available in the Change Level Of Development command. The required operation is Synchronize (or PLM Update, if a Knowledge rule exists and forces the valuation of the PLM attributes to be equal to the specification definition).
  • Qto are not affected since the measures on the PLM objects depend on the geometry in the PLM object, and not on the geometry of the feature (that is Qto attributes are not impacted by the Knowledge rule).
• Make sure that a parameter on the PLM exposition is equal to a parameter on the specification (without Configuration). There are impacts on:
  • The user feature: If a user feature was created, it is kept and its parameters are updated. The user feature parameters are linked to the specification parameters with an equal formula and in read-only access.
  • The PLM entity: The PLM reference produced by the exposition of an Adaptive Object Type is the duplication of an existing reference. The PLM reference produced by the exposition of a Distribution Object Type is a brand new reference. In both cases, the reference is dedicated to its specification, and can therefore be modified without putting at risk the rest of the design. The treatment to synchronize the PLM exposition with the specification consists in updating the PLM attributes with the specification parameter values. This is done thanks to a Knowledge Rule. This treatment is available from the Capture Component Specifications and Change Level Of Development commands. The required operation is Synchronize. A simple PLM Update also works.
• Change configuration in a specification. When the status is Not-up-to-date and you click Synchronize, there are impacts on:
  • The user feature: The change of configuration on a specification modifies synchronously the parameters of the specification. The user feature parameters are linked to the specification parameters via an equal formula and in read-only access. Hence a simple update allows synchronizing the user feature parameter values with specification parameter values.
  • PLM entity: The treatment to synchronize the design with a change of Adaptative/Distribution Object Type configuration consists in updating the PLM attributes with the specification parameter values. This is done thanks to a Knowledge Rule. The new configuration name is also set on the PLM Object.

During the exposition process by change level of development attributes can be linked to their related feature parameters by a Knowledge rule created in a knowledge engineering specification representation.

The list provides the various cases whether the attributes are linked or not with respect to the instantiation methods used:

• Distribution: All Pset and Qto attributes are linked
• Engineering Template instantiation: Only Pset are linked. Qto are not linked since the PLM object geometry can be different from the feature geometry.
• Reference instantiation:
  • Simple instantiation: no linking
  • Duplication: Only Pset are linked.

A single rule is created per exposed specification. The rule is named as the exposed specification. If a parameter's value is modified at feature level, you must run an update to reflect the changes in the values of the linked attributes.