K-Tools for NAV Projects

Part 2 – K-Tools abd DMS; Cable Layout Drawings; CableDB

Introduction

The purpose of this part of the guide is to explain some of the most important K-Tools functionalities for NAV Projects - Drawings and CableDB usage, DMS Interaction.

Contents

1. K-Tools and DMS 2. K-Tools and Cable Layout Drawings, CableDB, DMS Interaction 2.1 Login to DMS 2.2 Configure Cable Layout Drawings 2.3 Create empty Cable Layout document No’s in DMS 2.4 Generate CAD Cable Layouts 2.5 Replacing Automatic Generated Drawings with Project Specific Drawings 2.6 Generate CableDB 2.7 Updating the CableDB 2.8 Modifying the CableDB, generating Cable List and Cable Details 2.9 Inserting Auto-generated and User-defined empty documents in DMS 2.10 Transfer documents from K-Tools to DMS 2.11 Approval of DMS Documents via K-Tools

1. K-Tools and DMS

K-Tools has the possibility to do practically everything that can be done directly from DMS, but the interface via K-Tools is much more user-friendly and it allows multiple actions by a single click. Additionally it can insert documents from other DMS Projects, specify Product Line of a DMS document. The drawback is that DMS and K-Tools Servers are currently placed at different locations and DMS Interaction is practically the slowest part in K-Tools. I strongly recommend, especially for Citrix users out of Norway, to use DMS Interaction for multiple actions whenever possible i.e. when generating empty docs for a new project, when submitting many docs for approval, etc. Another important fact that the user needs to be aware of is that K-Tools Project Documents Folder is not “protected” from the other K-Tools users i.e. one project can be accessed by many engineers. This can lead to unwanted changes or even deleting documents. It is recommended always to transfer your modified documents to DMS and also download them from DMS if you are unsure that you have the latest document revision in K-Tools.

2. K-Tools and Cable Layout Drawings, CableDB, DMS Interaction As explained previously, Cable Layout Drawings are necessary to be generated in K-Tools once due to the fact that these are the only drawings K-Tools will look in for W Numbers when updating the CableDB. It is important to have the CableDB in K-Tools because we use it to export an XLS sheet with project’s W Numbers and Yard Cable Numbers. Once Yard Cable Numbers are defined in XLS, then we can automatically import them to the CableDB, have them in Cable List, and even have them imported automatically in any drawings we choose, including of course Cable Layouts. This function is made on NAV Projects request due to Korean yards demands and it will be explained in one of the first What’s New updates. Important to know, especially for Citrix users of K-Tools, is that even though AutoCAD, Adobe and Microsoft Office run now directly from the Servers where K-Tools is, not from the PC of the K-Tools user, it is still considerably slower than running these applications on your PC, so my advise is if you need to edit drawings, CableDB, etc, do it on your local PC and then transfer the already edited documents to K-Tools Project Documents Folder by copy/paste. Once your project is created in K-Tools there still will be no project specific documents there, they are to be created on engineer’s request. The first to start with are normally Cable Layout Drawings. First we need to automatically generate Cable Layout drawings and also create empty Docs No’s in DMS.

2.1 Login to DMS: Choose menu DMS Interaction and Login to DMS:

This window will appear, choose Projects and click Select:

2.2 Configure Cable Layout Drawings Based on Axapta Sales Orders Lines K-Tools has found items containing Drawing Blocks. The list with K-Tools recommended Cable Layout Drawings :

If you need Cable Layout Drawings that are not listed automatically, you can add such by pressing Add and typing the name of the drawing. Here I added Satellite Communication System :

When you choose Satellite Communication System you will see no any Drawing Block :

In order K-Tools to generate a Cable Layout drawing, it needs to have at least one Drawing Block per Cable Layout. As we will actually use completely different drawings, based on our templates, we don’t really mind what drawing block will be included in any Cable Layout we add, so we just Drag&Drop any item from a system that has more than one, in this case it’s from the Cable Layout Unknown items :

2.3 Create empty Cable Layout document No’s in DMS You can see now that Satellite Communication System has a Drawing Block. When all added Cable Layout drawings have at least one drawing block you can generate CAD drawings and also create empty documents in DMS. Let’s start with creating empty documents. Press Create in DMS :

The dialogue shows a list with all Cable Layout drawings. Usually Check All and click Insert Empty Documents:

2.4 Generate CAD Cable Layouts

Click Generate ACAD : Note: The reason for having DMS Doc No’s only for Heading Reference System and GMDSS System is that I’ve chosen and created empty docs in DMS only for these, haven’t used Check All option as shown on the previous view!

A window appears where you can choose which Cable Layout Drawings you wish to generate. Usually you should Check All and click Generate :

This is how the AIS System looks when generated automatically. You see why we prefer to use templates, having automated drawings for NAV requires big maintenance of the database and still a lot of manual work.

Now all Cable Layout drawings are generated in K-Tools and you can see them in Project Documents folder:

2.5 Replacing Automatic Generated Drawings with Project Specific Drawings

The Cable Layout Drawings we have now are automatically generated. We need to have them substituted with the customized for our project. This is done by renaming the correct drawings exactly the same way as the ones in K-Tools (preferrably by copy/paste names) and then copying all drawings in K-Tools Project Documents folder. This will replace all automatically generated drawings with the correct ones. The Copy File dialogue appears warning you that such file exists, choose Copy and Replace and the correct drawings are now in K-Tools:

2.6 Generate CableDB

Once you have all Cable Layouts needed in K-Tools you can generate the CableDB. Press CableDB Generation and confirm with OK to Generate CableDB:

Click No :

During the process of updating the CableDB when it reaches 60% the following error window will appear numerously. This is due to the fact we use now a newly formatted CableDB, this error is not critical and does not affect the correct update of the CableDB! Click OK every time it appears and the update will be finalized successfully. During updating K-Tools will ask to overwrite Cable From/Cable To fields from Product Line, click No, and if eventual differences are found between the CableDB and W Numbers in Cable Layouts, click Yes.

K-Tools has now generated the project specific CableDB. The Template DB is not taken directly from our Templates Project in DMS 1111, but it is supposed to be exactly the same, we update both DB – in DMS 1111 and for K-Tools Usage (if you want to be absolutely sure you may use the CableDB Comparer in K-Tools, which will be explained in a separate guide). Very important to know is that now, based on NAV Projects request, K-Tools for NAV users looks for W Numbers only in the drawings active layers, not in the hidden layers, due to the setup of our templates. However, this functionality is still an option and even though it is setup properly by default, it is accessible to K-Tools Superusers and it can be changed accidentally. I recommend that once the CableDB is updated the engineer cross checks just a few W Numbers from the hidden layers of the drawings to make sure that they are not checked in the CableDB. If K-Tools finds differences i.e. W Numbers found on drawings but not in CableDB this window will appear:

Clicking Yes on the previous screen shows you the differences in a Notepad file that you can save. Cable W-34750 from Automatic Identification System was not found in the initial CableDB and it was added there:

When you open the CableDB you’ll see that W-34750 is added and checked, but no any description or details. K-Tools does not know this information, you need to fill it in manually.

2.7 Updating the CableDB

If you have added many new cables in your Cable Layout drawings,you may update the CableDB via CableDB Generation option Update CableDB. Also important to know is that if new W Numbers are added to Cable Layouts drawings the Cable DB can be updated automatically and the new cables checked, but if W Numbers are removed from Cable Layout drawings K-Tools does not uncheck them, the engineer has to uncheck them manually!

2.8 Modifying the CableDB, generating Cable List and Cable Details K-Tools has the possibility to modify CableDB from the Cables - Edit menu, but it’s up to you to deside to do it directly in CableDB or via K-Tools. You may also generate Cable List and Cable Details in Word Format, or directly from the CableDB – in PDF. The page formatting both in Word and PDF are not completely finalized and sometimes small issues appear and it’s up to the engineer to deside which version to use – Word or PDF.

2.9 Inserting Auto-generated and User-defined empty documents in DMS Empty document numbers are possible to be created. Here K-Tools shows the recommended documents for automatic generation, however the engineer desides which ones to choose :

We can also create User Defined documents as in DMS. Click on Add Doc, choose File Browser as File Source, add your Attached file, and create, for example, a Drawing - Termination Diagram with Title - Console A, one Sheet. Click Copy and Save when ready :

Document Console A is now created in K-Tools. In Pages view you can see the details of the attached document. You can even add documents from other DMS Projects by using either Add Doc and choose File source – From DMS, or directly pressing clicking on Add list of docs from DMS :

The view Add DMS Document appears where you type the Project Number you want to add documents from and click Search, a list with all Docs in that project will appear. This is a very useful tool especially for copy/paste projects. Here I chose to add Installation Drawing of DGPS Smart Antenna from project 41930 :

As K-Tools does not know to which Product Line a DMS Document belongs, sometimes, for documents sorting, it is good to specify the Product Line (if such) of the added document. Click Edit Product Line and it’s Dialog appears. Choose the appropriate Product Line (DGPS 1), click Add and OK. Then click Copy and Save :

A list with your User Defined documents appears. Clicking on any in the Documents Window will show the document attached and it’s details in Pages Window. When finished creating all documents you need to click OK :

To create Documents Numbers in DMS select the ones you want, usually Check All and click Insert Empty Documents:

2.10 Transfer documents from K-Tools to DMS Once you have your project documents in K-Tools and have created Document Numbers in DMS you can transfer them from K-Tools to DMS using DMS Transfer menu. Check the document/s you want to transfer and click Upload to DMS :

Document 1272401/A - Termination Diagram Console A is now transferred to DMS. Clicking on Submit for Approval will open the Approval Options Window (will be shown further below). In the case that you want to download a document/s from DMS, check the Download Box of the one/s to be downloaded and click Download from DMS :

2.11 Approval of DMS Documents via K-Tools Multi Approval Dialog gives us the possibility to submit for approval numerous documents by a single click. Check the documents you want to submit i.e. Cable Details and VO Additional Monitors and click Submit. The Approval Options Window appears. Choose the approver, enter message if needed and click OK. The chosen documents will be submitted for approval :