Evolving a Configured Instance

You can evolve an instance into two instances with separate effectivity when working with a structure in Product Structure Design work area. The Evolve Instance command supports the selection of multiple instances.

Tips:
  • If you have defined the effectivity you want to use for the evolved instance in your session, you can select Session Effectivity mode. This reduces the need to define the effectivity again in some of the steps below.
  • It is impossible for the Evolve Instance command to work in No Configuration mode, as evolving an instance requires evolving its effectivity.

Before you begin:
  • Open a configured product structure in Product Structure Design work area.
  • To select the Define Effectivity mode, select View > Authoring Context.

For more information about opening and selecting effectivity modes, see Product Structure Design User Guide: Working with Products: Opening a Product and Selecting a Configuration Mode respectively.

In this scenario, the instance to be evolved is SampleProduct995 and is opened in the context of its parent, SampleProduct994. The effectivity of the selected instance SampleProduct995 is MM1_Seat OR MM1_Radar.

  1. To start the Evolve Instance operation, you can do one of the following:
    • Select the instance and from the Tools section of the action bar select Evolve Instance.
    • Right-click the selected instance and select Evolve Instance.
    The Define Effectivity dialog box appears.
  2. To define the effectivity criteria and its expression, you can do one of the following:
    • Select one of the configuration criteria types from the available list.
    • Select one of the configuration contexts you want to inherit from.
    • Select both of the above options.
  3. To complete the Evolve Instance operation, click:
    • OK to continue with the operation. The effectivity expression you define is cut from the effectivity of the selected instance and is used to initiate the second instance.
      Note: With Evolve Instance, the original effectivity is divided in two effectivities. The union of these two effectivities is the original effectivity. The original effectivity cannot be extended during Evolve Instance.
    • Cancel to stop the operation.
    Here, MM1_Seat {MM1_Single}is defined for the Evolve Instance operation. The result is two instances with the same name under the same parent with different effectivities. Therefore, new instance has an effectivity of MM1_Seat{MM1_Single} and the old instance has MM1_Radar{MM1_RMI}.