getting started with ansys ekm

Getting Started With ANSYS EKM

Release 14.5ANSYS, Inc.

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Table of Contents

Using This Guide .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

1. Introduction to EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1. What is EKM? .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.2. How Does EKM Work? .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.2.1. Data Management .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

1.2.2. Collaboration .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.2.3. Knowledge Capture and Reuse .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

1.2.4. Summary .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

1.3. What’s New in Release 14.5 .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

2. Installing and Setting Up EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

3. Configuring and Initializing EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.1. Initialization Options .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3.2. Configuration Options .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4. Using EKM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

iiiRelease 14.5 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information

of ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.

Using This Guide

This Getting Started Guide helps you understand what Engineering Knowledge Manager (EKM) is, what

problems it solves, and how to use the product effectively.

• If you want to understand what EKM is at a high level, see What is EKM? (p. 1) and How Does EKM

Work? (p. 3).

• If you are a system administrator interested in installing or configuring EKM, see Installing and Setting Up

EKM (p. 9) and Configuring and Initializing EKM (p. 11).

• If you are a first-time EKM user, see Using EKM (p. 13).

• If you have used previous versions of EKM, see What’s New in Release 14.5 (p. 6).

You can also consult the other EKM user documentation guides for more information:

• EKM Installation Guide: This is a comprehensive guide that discusses details of EKM server installation and

set up, and the available deployment options. It also discusses upgrade of EKM from one version to an-

other and common installation mistakes and their workarounds.

• EKM Administration Guide: This is a reference manual for configuring and administering EKM.

• EKM User's Guide: This is a reference manual for using the EKM server product.

• EKM Desktop User's Guide: This is a reference manual for using the EKM Desktop application.

This guide contains the following chapters:

• Introduction to EKM (p. 1)

• Installing and Setting Up EKM (p. 9)

• Configuring and Initializing EKM (p. 11)

• Using EKM (p. 13)

vRelease 14.5 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information


Chapter 1: Introduction to EKM

The use of simulation tools has grown significantly across all major industries. In the early days of

computer-aided engineering, simulation tools were used by highly-specialized research scientists trying

to troubleshoot design flaws. As simulation tools matured, significant improvements were made in their

ease-of-use; companies are now able to use these tools very early in the design process. It is not unusual

to have multiple teams of engineers in different geographical locations using tools to run thousands

of simulations each year to study and optimize the design of products. Parallel to this, the exponential

increase in the power of computing resources has resulted in a proportional increase in the size and

complexity of problems that are now being solved by simulation tools. File sizes of multiple gigabytes

and data growth of multiple terabytes per year is becoming common.

These developments introduced a new set of engineering challenges. "How do you effectively manage

simulation data?", "How do you enhance collaboration between various teams and individuals involved

in simulation?", and "How do you enable complex analyses to be performed easily by non-experts?"

ANSYS Engineering Knowledge Manager (EKM) has been developed to meet these challenges.

Topics covered in this chapter:

1.1.What is EKM?

1.2. How Does EKM Work?

1.3.What’s New in Release 14.5

1.1. What is EKM?

EKM is a web-based system designed to efficiently manage both the data produced by simulation tools

and the processes used to control the collection of that data. The EKM server is a J2EE application that

runs on a central application server (such as JBoss). It can be accessed using a web browser (such as

Internet Explorer or Firefox) or by using non-browser clients, such as ANSYS EKM Desktop.

EKM can easily integrate with your existing file servers to store the content of uploaded files, with your

relational database to store metadata, and with your compute clusters to execute simulations:

1Release 14.5 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential information


Figure 1.1: EKM Architecture

EKM offers a rich set of features for tackling the challenges faced by engineers and companies using

simulation tools. It is vendor-neutral in the type of data that it can manage, the type of simulation tools

that it can execute, and the types of processes that it can define; however, it provides a high degree

of off-the-shelf integration with ANSYS tools and files.

You can install and set up an EKM server and obtain significant benefits from using it with minimal

configuration. However, EKM is also highly configurable and you can easily set it to fit your specific data

or process management requirements.

EKM is highly scalable and can be used by an individual user, a small workgroup, or a large enterprise.

It can be run on a single-server or a cluster and is scalable from a single user to multiple users connected

in LAN (Local Area Network) or a WAN (Wide Area Network). Multiple EKM repositories can be connected

together to create an efficient system for sharing and transferring simulation files across a WAN. (Fig-

ure 1.2: EKM Distributed Architecture (p. 3))

Release 14.5 - © ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved. - Contains proprietary and confidential informationof ANSYS, Inc. and its subsidiaries and affiliates.2

Introduction to EKM

Figure 1.2: EKM Distributed Architecture

1.2. How Does EKM Work?

EKM offers a rich set of features that can be grouped into the following broad categories:

1.2.1. Data Management

1.2.2. Collaboration

1.2.3. Knowledge Capture and Reuse

1.2.4. Summary

1.2.1. Data Management

EKM provides all of the advanced features that a sophisticated data management system offers, while

focusing on the unique characteristics of simulation data. Not only are such data sets very large, the

file formats that need to be managed are also numerous. Therefore, the architecture of the system has

been designed to handle data in a highly efficient and flexible manner. A breakdown of the important

data management features follows:

• Management of large data sets: Data generated by simulation tools can be very large and it becomes

a challenging task to store it in a centralized server, especially if you have users across a Wide Area Network

(WAN). EKM Desktop provides an intuitive interface for bulk data transfers of multiple files and folders.

It can use FTP or SOAP for transfer and enables asynchronous uploads. It can also interact with a cache

service so that files that have been downloaded once are not transferred again. Within the server, only a

single instance of a file is maintained even if it is copied to multiple places or has different versions with

no change in content. For efficiency, files are stored outside the database on a file system. This has the

added benefit of enabling you to integrate with Hierarchical Storage Managers (HSM) for managing data

growth. You can specify a retention policy to automatically remove obsolete data from the system. Finally,

instead of uploading files, you can let the files remain in their original location and just create a reference

to them in EKM.



How Does EKM Work?

• Configurable data model: EKM is able to recognize a rich set of file formats used by ANSYS tools. Through

the use of custom file types, it also enables you to easily extend the data model to add support for files

from other tools or in-house solvers. When files are uploaded, some key properties (or metadata) are

automatically extracted. You can also define metadata extraction for custom types. EKM also enables users

to supply metadata values during upload. Because the project or folder structure that is used to organize

simulation data is not standard and varies significantly from tool to tool, company to company and even

from group to group within a company, by default, EKM enables data to be organized in any arbitrary

folder structure as on a file system. EKM closely resembles Windows File Explorer in order to lower the

learning curve of simulation engineers. However, wherever it is required, you can define custom containers

that add constraints on how data are organized. Most of the configuration can be done dynamically from

the interface without requiring you to stop and restart the server or edit complex scripts and XML files.

• Access Control: EKM offers a sophisticated but easy-to-use permission system for protecting your intellec-

tual property and preventing unauthorized access or modification of data. Every user that logs in to an

EKM server needs to have an account created for them. EKM can integrate with authentication systems

such as Windows Active Directory or LDAP so that you can login with your existing password. Each user

can belong to multiple groups. Each object (whether a file or a container) has an Access Control List (ACL)

that specifies which user or group can access, modify, create, delete, download or perform lifecycle oper-

ations on the object. Users without adequate permission to access an object will not be able to view it

from the parent container that contains it, or perform a search on it. EKM also enables you to define custom

modules to meet complex authorization requirements, such as for export control or ITAR.

• Version Control and Access Management: EKM provides extensive version control and access management

capabilities. You can maintain multiple versions of files or folders. You can view the revision history to

track the evolution of data and compare different versions against each other. You can also revert to a

previous version if desired, and create multiple branches that enable you to track and study different

options or design variants used in a simulation.

• Object lifecycle management: EKM enables any object to be associated with a lifecycle for tracking its

maturity status. You can define permissions that are applied to the object for each stage of the lifecycle.

This enables you to control the visibility of the object as it matures. You can also define a signoff process

that should be followed before the stage can be changed. This enables a committee to electronically review

and approve the stage change.

• Searching: EKM offers a variety of search options. You can perform a Google-like full text search on text,

XML, HTML, and common document formats (such as PDF, RTF, DOC, PPT, XLS, and so on). You can use

the property-based search option to search using metadata that are extracted from files or added by

users. You can create complex queries with AND/OR conditions and sub-expressions to narrow the search.

For example, you can find all FLUENT Case files created by users Joe or Bob, within a certain date range,

in which the turbulence model utilized was either K-Epsilon or Spalart Allmaras, and the material used

was water. Finally you can also perform a report-based search to find reports that match a certain search

criteria (such as finding all reports in a particular folder in which temperature at a boundary was greater

than a threshold).

• Reporting: EKM offers comprehensive reporting capabilities. You can create comparison reports that

compare the metadata of files or content of reports, or compare folders recursively. You can also generate

charts and plots to compare numerical data. Simulation detail reports are automatically created on upload

and summarize detailed model settings and boundary conditions used by a simulation input file. You can

create simulation data mining reports to dynamically extract key quantities of interest (such as minimum,

maximum or average values, plots and contours) from result files. And finally you can create report books

to collect information from multiple objects and present it in a single report.


Introduction to EKM

1.2.2. Collaboration

Simulations are often performed in a collaborative environment. Usually there is a complex web of in-

terdependencies in simulation data, especially in multiphysics or sub-structured analysis. These analyses

may be performed by different teams or individuals. EKM offers several tools for enhancing collaboration

between different teams and managing the data dependencies.

• Alerts: EKM can be used to specify alert settings that send you an email whenever an object is created,

deleted, modified or undergoes a lifecycle stage change. This enables you to work on a given simulation

and be notified as soon as a dependent file is changed.

• Dependency management: EKM has a special container type called Analysis Project that can be used

to manage analysis dependencies. It can be used to define the input files required for an analysis and the

output files generated by an analysis. An input file may be generated by an upstream analysis and may

have input files of its own. An output file may be used for further downstream analysis that may generate

output files of its own. All these dependencies can be easily viewed in a graph. The graph indicates

whether an input file has been modified after the previous execution of the analysis, and alerts you when

the analysis and its generated results are out-of-date. You can then download the project, perform the

analysis locally and upload the project back to EKM. Alternatively, EKM can execute the analysis automat-

ically on the server without requiring any data transfer. EKM can integrate with batch submission systems

(such as LSF) so that a simulation is executed efficiently in a cluster without impacting the performance

of the EKM server. You can monitor the progress of an automatic execution within EKM and you can

cancel the execution at any time. You will be notified by email when the execution is completed. EKM

also stores all execution settings (such as application used, command line arguments, input files, and so

on) so that anyone can review how an analysis was executed.

• Multi-user workflows: EKM can be used to define workflows that can help coordinate activities of multiple

people involved in a simulation process. EKM workflows can be defined using XML or interactively using

EKM Studio. A workflow consists of a set of activities defined by nodes, where each node is either a

manual activity assigned to a particular user or an automatic activity performed by EKM, such as execution

of a simulation. The activities can be sequential, parallel or iterative. Email notification is sent whenever

an activity is assigned to a user. This enables different users to collaborate and hand-off data in a timely

and controlled manner. Managers can view the status and progress of the workflows and can easily

identify bottlenecks or activities that may be slowing the process.

1.2.3. Knowledge Capture and Reuse

Though simulation tools are becoming increasingly easier to use, they still require experts to model

complex problems and get good results. The accuracy of data depends both on the accuracy of the

underlying tools and the expertise of the user with those tools. This poses a dilemma for companies

interested in expanding the use of simulation tools because most of the users do not have the required

expertise to use the tools. EKM offers several solutions for capturing the knowledge of simulation experts

and for enabling the knowledge to be reused by a large number of non-experts.

• Analysis templates: EKM can be used to create Analysis Project templates. Simulation experts can create

the analysis project that defines how the project should be executed. The project can be a parameterized

template that enables a non-expert user to create a new solution set by simply supplying the required

parameter values and letting EKM handle the execution. Out-of-the-box support for Workbench projects

has been provided that enables you to create new design point runs by specifying the input parameters

in EKM.

• Custom Applications: EKM can be used to create custom applications—simple web-based applications

that can be dynamically deployed. Custom applications have a user interface that enables users to enter



How Does EKM Work?

input. This input is submitted to, and processed by, the back-end, which can then execute some automated

tasks such as simulation execution, report generation, performing what-if studies, optimization, and so

on. The user interface is defined using common web technologies (such as HTML) and the back-end is

defined using powerful scripting languages such as Python or BeanShell. In order to provide maximum

flexibility, both the user interface and the back-end can be as simple or as complex as required. There are

no constraints on the kinds of problems that can be modeled, the type of user interface that can be de-

signed, or the type of logic that can be defined. Custom applications can be deployed to EKM dynamically

and once loaded they act like any other object in EKM. You can perform all data management operations

on these applications. You can also assign metadata to custom applications and search for them. Finally

you can place them under version control and define a lifecycle for tracking their maturity status. This

enables you to ensure that custom applications are used only when they reach a certain level of maturity

and have gone through a review process.

• Single-user workflows: EKM can be used to define workflows. EKM workflows can be used either for

collaboration between multiple users as previously discussed, or for modeling single-user problems that

are inadequately addressed by custom applications. Some simulation processes can be modeled as a set

of activities performed by a single user. Some of these activities may involve automated execution of

simulations. The results of the simulations may dictate the subsequent steps that need to be taken. Custom

applications can only handle a single activity, so workflows are required to model these types of processes.

Like custom applications, workflows can also be deployed dynamically and once loaded, they behave like

any other object in EKM. For instance, you can perform all data management operations on an EKM

workflow, search for it, place it under version control or associate it with a lifecycle, and so on.

1.2.4. Summary

EKM provides a broad range of features that can be used to increase the reach of simulation data and

the usage of simulation tools in your organization. It efficiently manages simulation data, reduces the

time required to find previous data, reduces the need for re-execution if the desired data already exists

and is not invalid, reduces the usage of invalid data, increases collaboration amongst different teams,

and simplifies the definition and deployment of simulation procedures and best practices. All this leads

to better return on simulation investment for your organization.

1.3. What’s New in Release 14.5

If you have used previous versions of EKM, Release 14.5 offers many significant changes and improve-

ments:

Product Installation and Setup

EKM Server can be installed directly by selecting the appropriate EKM server type from the ANSYS Release

14.5 unified installer.

Integration with ANSYS Workbench

When you install ANSYS Workbench, the EKM Desktop client is automatically installed on your system.

You can save your current Workbench project directly to a selected repository, and search for a Work-

bench project and open it from a selected repository. After updating the local copy of your Workbench

project, you can then send changes to the copy of the project that resides in the EKM repository. Other

users who have updated the same Workbench project can get your changes in order to access the

most-up-to-date project version. You can also use the revision control options and set alerts while saving

the Workbench projects in the EKM repository. This tighter integration with Workbench facilitates col-


Introduction to EKM

laboration with ongoing projects and enables multiple users to leverage the work being done by their

colleagues.

ANSYS Workbench Project Representation in EKM

When an ANSYS Workbench project is saved to an EKM repository from Workbench or EKM Desktop,

the project is automatically saved as a Workbench Project Archive File (with a .wbpz extension), making

it easier to manage and act on the project as a single object in EKM. Project and component-system-

level metadata are extracted and an extensive Workbench Project Report that summarizes component

systems and all aspects of the Workbench project is auto-generated. This data can be used to display,

identify, search, and reuse Workbench projects. When the Workbench Project is updated locally and

changes are sent to the EKM Repository from the Workbench, only the changed/modified files are updated

in the repository. This makes the send/get changes operation faster and more efficient. From within

the repository, users can also display the component subsystem files from a Workbench Project Archive

File and access/reuse them, if necessary.

Graphical interface to Create Simulation Templates

EKM Studio enables you to create multi-step web forms or simulation templates by simply using Drop

and Drop of standard widgets such as Text Boxes, List Boxes, Buttons, Images, Grids, Tables, and so on.

These templates or forms can be published in EKM and used for the simulation what-if studies and

parametric scenarios.

Automated Migration

You can upgrade EKM Release 14.0 repositories to Release 14.5 by using the interactive Server Upgrade

procedure. This procedure supports repositories with external databases such as Oracle, DB2, and MySQL.

During this upgrade process the Workbench Project Archive Files from the prior repository will be

converted to the newer representations of files of this type.

EKM Studio Enhancements

EKM Studio enables users to interactively create work flows and Web form templates. You can now

save the work-in-progress work flows locally. The Error tab will automatically display the errors, if any,

from the work flow and help debug and correct them. The Iterative work flow definition logic is made

more robust and efficient.

Usability Enhancements

Numerous other usability enhancements have been made to EKM. These include:

• Support for Tablets/Mobile devices such as Android, iPad2 and so on

• Support for Google Chrome 15, Internet Explorer 9 in compatibility mode, Safari version in iPad2, and the

stock browser in ANDROID 3.1 Honeycomb.

• Improved security including, JSM (Java Security Manager) support and workflow-approval mechanism

• Metadata extraction and report generation support for ANSYS Maxwell format files



What’s New in Release 14.5

• Enhancements to Record and Replay of Journals capability to include additional features and actions.

Note

The Release 14 argument name changePassowrd has been renamed to changePass-word. Journals created in Release 14 need to be edited to the new spelling in order to

work in Release 14.5.


Introduction to EKM

Chapter 2: Installing and Setting Up EKM

The EKM family of software consists of two separate products: EKM, which is the application that runs

the EKM server, and EKM Desktop, the companion application that can be used as a “client” to access

data stored on an EKM server. EKM can be also be accessed from the EKM web client and from ANSYS

Workbench.

EKM is a scalable system that can accommodate individual users, small workgroups, and large enterprises.

These types of usage correspond to the three server types that are supported by EKM: individual server,

shared basic server, and shared advanced server. An overview of server types is provided in Overview

of Server Types.

EKM must be set up before it can be configured and used. Refer to Installation and Licensing Document-

ation.



Chapter 3: Configuring and Initializing EKM

Once EKM is installed and set up, if your users have specific requirements, then you may need to spend

more time initializing and configuring the system before letting others use EKM. This will ensure a

higher satisfaction rate and greater usage.

For your convenience, a checklist of possible initialization options and configuration options that can

be performed are supplied in the following sections. You do not need to provide support for all of these

options before starting to use EKM. You can initially focus on only a subset of capabilities that cover

most of your initial requirements, and then expand the capabilities as usage increases and/or additional

requirements are gathered.

Topics covered in this chapter:

• Initialization Options (p. 11)

• Configuration Options (p. 12)

3.1. Initialization Options

Once an EKM server has been started, you can log in as the root user and perform some basic initial-

ization so that others can start using it. All these steps can also be performed at any time in the future

without requiring a server restart.

• Defining users and groups: Any user who logs into EKM needs to have an account and the permissions

that are available to them will depend on the group(s) they belong to. So, you will need to first collect

the names of all users and groups, and then define the group membership for each user. For details, see

Setting Up Users and Groups in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.

• Defining remote file servers: If you want EKM to create a reference to a file or folder residing in an ex-

ternal server that is accessible to EKM, you will need to create a Remote File Server object for that purpose.

For details, see Remote File Servers in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.

• Creating the high-level folder structure: Before allowing users to populate EKM, it is advisable to first

come up with a common understanding of how the data will be organized and what the high-level folder

structure will be. For example, you can have a folder for each team and a folder for every project within

each team folder. Or alternatively, you can have folders that are broken down by simulation tool, and the

performed simulations are organized at the assembly or part level. For details, see New Folder in the En-

gineering Knowledge Manager.

• Assigning permissions: You should assign permissions to the initial folder structure so that only the re-

quired users can access or modify the information. For details, see Edit Permissions in the Engineering

Knowledge Manager.

• Loading custom applications: You can load any custom application defined during configuration. For

details, see Custom User Interfaces and EKM Applications in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.



• Loading workflows and initial data: You can load any EKM workflow defined during configuration and

also help users get started by loading initial data into EKM. For details, see Transferring Data To/From a

Repository in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.

3.2. Configuration Options

Here are some configuration changes that you can make before starting the EKM server. You can make

these changes at any time in the future as well. Some changes may also require that you migrate your

old data model to a new one. For details, see Migrating Workspaces in the Engineering Knowledge

Manager.

• Define server settings: You will need to define additional server settings in ekm.xml if you want

to do the following:

– Specify an FTP server for data transfers

– Integrate with RSM for batch job submission

For details, see Configuring EKM Server Settings Using XML in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.

• Define custom types: You will need to define custom types if you want to do the following:

– Add metadata or custom actions to existing types provided by EKM

– Allow EKM to recognize new file types and specify metadata for these new types

– Allow users to create custom containers or custom analysis projects

For details, see Defining Custom Types in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.

• Define metadata extraction and report extraction applications from third-party file formats:

This is required if you want to extract metadata or reports from file formats that EKM does not support.

You will need to define applications that will perform the extraction. For details, see Custom File

Formats in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.

• Define custom applications: This is required if you want to capture best practice or procedures. You

will need to define both the back-end (scripting logic) and front-end (user interface) of the application.

For details, see Scripts and Journals in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.

• Define workflows: This is required if you want to define a procedure involving multiple users or a

set of activities that cannot be defined using a custom application. For details, see EKM Workflows

and Process Management in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.

• Define object lifecycles: This is required if you want to track the maturity level of any object type

as it moves through its lifecycle. You will need to define the stages involved, permissions applicable

at each stage, and any review processes required to complete a stage change. For details, see Lifecycles:

Defining and Configuring Using XML in the Engineering Knowledge Manager.


Configuring and Initializing EKM

Chapter 4: Using EKM

Once EKM has been installed, set up, initialized, and configured, you can start using it. Because EKM

provides a rich set of features, a checklist is provided to help you understand the main features and

get started.

• Accessing EKM for the first time: If you are accessing EKM for the first time, you should refer to the Web

Client User Interface in the Engineering Knowledge Manager to get acquainted with the user interface and

Connecting to an EKM Server to find out how to launch EKM and log in using your credentials.

• Upload: You can upload data to an EKM repository using any of the following options:

– Using the Browser: This can be used when you are accessing EKM from the web client and you want

to add one or more files or archive files as long as the size of the file is less than 2 GB and you are not

interested in using FTP or caching. See Uploading Files/Archives Using the Browser.

– Using EKM Desktop: EKM Desktop provides a rich and intuitive interface for bulk data transfers. It is

recommended when you want to transfer large-sized (> 2 GB) and large numbers of files and folders

and you do not want to create an archive file before transfer. See Uploading Using EKM Desktop. Using

EKM Desktop for file transfers also enables you make use of FTP or secure FTP for data transfer or the

built-in cache service for WAN transfers. See Using the Cache System for WAN Transfers.

– Using Windows Explorer: If you have installed EKM’s Windows Explorer Extension, menus for uploading

selected files and folders will be available in Windows Explorer. Clicking these menus opens up EKM

Desktop. See Uploading From Windows Explorer for details on uploading. See Sending Changes to EKM

Using Windows Explorer for details on updating previously uploaded files.

– Using ANSYS Workbench: You can upload projects from Workbench to EKM. See Save a Project to an

EKM Repository in the Workbench User Guide.

• Create a Connection to a file or folder on a remote server: This is used if you want EKM to create a

reference to a file or folder that physically resides on a remote file server, without having to upload it.

This can be done after a Remote File Server has already been defined by an admin user. See New Con-

nections to Files/Folders on Remote Servers.

• Download: You can download data from an EKM repository using any of the following options:

– Using the Browser: This can be used when you are accessing EKM from the web client and you want

to can download a single file or folder. Simply click on the “Download using the Browser” option. Files

can be saved in any local folder on your machine. Folders or other containers are archived in a .zipfile before they are downloaded and they can be extracted on your local machine. See Downloading

Files/Folders Using the Browser.

– Using EKM Desktop: You can use EKM Desktop for downloads if you have a large folder to transfer

and you do not want EKM to archive it and then yourself to extract it after download, you want to make

use of FTP for data transfer, or you want to use caching. See Downloading Using EKM Desktop.

– Using Windows Explorer: If you have installed EKM’s Windows Explorer Extension, menus for down-

loading files to the current folder are shown in Windows Explorer. Clicking these menus opens up EKM



Desktop. See Downloading Using Windows Explorer for details on downloading. See Getting Changes

From EKM Using Windows Explorer for details on getting updates for previously downloaded files.

– Using ANSYS Workbench: To download projects and files in EKM from Workbench. See Open a Project

from an EKM Repository in the Workbench User Guide.

• Common Data Management Operations: EKM supports all common data management operations such

as copy, move, rename, delete, lock, unlock, setting permissions, setting properties, setting alerts, and so

on. See Managing Repository Data.

• Search: EKM provides a number of search options:

– Full text search: For a keyword search over file content. See Keyword Text Search.

– Property-based search: For advanced search using object properties. See Advanced Search on Object

Properties.

– Report-based search: For advanced searching of results using report content. See Searching Results

For Report Content.

• Reports: EKM provides a number of reporting options:

– Comparison Reports: To compare and analyze two or more objects. See Comparison Reports.

– Simulation Details Reports: To get the detailed input settings of simulations. These reports are auto-

matically created for simulation files on upload. See Simulation Details Reports.

– Simulation Data Mining Reports: To extract key information from simulation result files. See Data

Mining Reports.

– Report Book: To collect information present in multiple objects in a single report. See Report Books.

• Version Control and Access Management: For comprehensive configuration capabilities for controlling

object versions (check in, check out, and so on), branching, and exclusive control. See Version Control

and Access Management.

• Lifecycles: For techniques that enable you to define a lifecycle for an object and manage the object as

it moves through its lifecycle over time. See Defining Lifecycles Using EKM Studio to define a lifecycle

graphically using EKM Studio. See Defining Lifecycles Using XML for details on defining a lifecycle file using

XML using the EKM web client. Refer to Lifecycle Management for details on how to manage a lifecycle

using the EKM web client.

• Workflows: To capture a set of steps in a workflow file and execute a workflow process that guides you

(and others if it is a multi user workflow) through work items until completion. See Defining EKM Workflows

Using EKM Studio to define a workflow graphically using EKM Studio. See EKM Workflows and Process

Management for details on how to define workflows using XML and manage them using the EKM web

client.

• Analysis Project: For analysis project containers that can be used to track input and output dependencies

of an analysis and automatically execute an analysis. See Working With Analysis Projects.

• Custom Applications: To define custom user interfaces and custom applications that can be used to run

automated tasks and produce outputs in EKM, see Custom User Interfaces and EKM Applications.


Using EKM

getting started with ansys ekm

Documents

ansys workbench

ansys ekmrelease

proprietary products

trademark usedby ansys

ekm work

software license agreementthat

legal information

trademark information