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CIDEON Software & Services GmbH & Co. KG SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN - User Manual Peterstrasse 1 • D-02826 Görlitz 2018-07-03 17:13 Web: https://www.cideon.com

User Manual

Management of CAD data and documents in SAP

SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN

SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN manages design data in SAP.

Given by the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface, tight integration of the CAD system to the SAP PLM data available to the company at an early stage in the design process are available. Product lifecycle management thus already begins with the start of design work and not through an interface at the end of it. The coupling between the CAD system and the SAP Engineering Control Center allows you to manage the components designed in the CAD system.

This user manual describes the installation and use of the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN and describes the functionality provided by this software as well as its operation.

The current version of the manual can be found in the CIDEON Software Portal.

https://support.cideon-software.com/en/SAPECCEPLAN-en


© 2018 CIDEON Software & Services GmbH & Co. KG. Germany. All Rights Reserved.

Contents of this document may not be (totally or partly) reproduced, used or published without previous written agreement by the CIDEON Software & Services GmbH & Co. KG.

Copyright applies to all forms of storage and reproduction, in those the available information flowed in particular on magnetic storage, computer expressions or visual announcements.

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1 Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 4

1.1 System requirements .......................................................................................................................................... 4

2 Installation ................................................................................................................................................................ 5

2.1 Product scope ..................................................................................................................................................... 5

2.2 Automatic installation .......................................................................................................................................... 6

2.3 Launching the application ................................................................................................................................. 10

3 User interface and controls .................................................................................................................................. 12

3.1 Menu "SAP PLM" .............................................................................................................................................. 12

4 Function description ............................................................................................................................................. 14

4.1 General behavior .............................................................................................................................................. 14

4.1.1 Logging ...................................................................................................................................................... 14

4.2 General functions .............................................................................................................................................. 16

4.2.1 About ......................................................................................................................................................... 16

4.2.2 Open ECTR ............................................................................................................................................... 17

4.3 SAP PLM functions ........................................................................................................................................... 17

4.3.1 Open .......................................................................................................................................................... 17

4.3.2 Save and Display....................................................................................................................................... 24

4.3.3 Save .......................................................................................................................................................... 26

4.3.4 Import ........................................................................................................................................................ 27

4.3.5 Create / Edit Bill of Material ....................................................................................................................... 30

4.3.6 Create / Assign Material ............................................................................................................................ 33

4.3.6.1 Assign Material (Search) .................................................................................................................... 34

4.3.6.2 Create Material ................................................................................................................................... 36

4.3.7 Refresh / Transfer Attributes ..................................................................................................................... 39

4.3.8 Collaboration Mode ................................................................................................................................... 39

4.3.8.1 Open Collaboration ............................................................................................................................ 40

4.3.8.2 Save and Check In Collaboration....................................................................................................... 41

4.3.9 Cloning ...................................................................................................................................................... 41

5 Final Remark .......................................................................................................................................................... 47

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1 Introduction

The SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN provides access to the SAP Engineering Control Center directly from EPLAN. This is made possible by making the necessary functionalities over the Control Elements Main Menu directly from EPLAN. Through this close link between EPLAN and the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN, the manual transfer of document data and details on the execution of the functionality of the SAP Engineering Control Center is eliminated as this information is automatically read from the document currently open in EPLAN and in most cases can be simply configured and executed.

1.1 System requirements

The following system pre-conditions are necessary for installation and operation of the SAP Engineering Control Center to EPLAN.

For further informations about the SAP ECTR Interface to EPLAN see SAP Note 2212536.

Operating system

As operating system, one of the following Microsoft 64-bit version operating systems must be installed as SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN can only be run on a 64-bit operating system:

▪ Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 ▪ Windows 8 ▪ Windows 8.1 ▪ Windows 10

The choice of operating system version is dependent on the system requirements of the EPLAN version used.

EPLAN

EPLAN P8 2.5 or later must be installed in the 64-bit variant. EPLAN ERP-PDM Integration Suite 2.5 or later must be installed.

SAP Engineering Control Center

SAP Engineering Control Center version 5.1 or later must be installed.

SAP

The conditions in relation to the SAP environment are based on the requirements of the SAP Engineering Control Center.

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https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/2212536


2 Installation

The following section describes the installation of SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN.

With automatic installation, the process starts with a provided Setup package, which consists of a file containing all the required files and modules. An installation wizard appears that guides the user step by step through the installation process. This is the recommended method.

Please note that in either case administration rights are required for both the automatic and the manual installation methods! It is strongly recommended to be logged in using the Administrator account during the installation!

2.1 Product scope

SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN includes a number of files and modules.

▪ CdnECTRInterfaceEPL.exe ▪ CdnECTRInterfaceEPL.exe.config ▪ CdnEPLANVersionDetector.exe ▪ CdnGuiTools.dll ▪ CdnGuiTools.xml ▪ CdnNetTools.dll ▪ plm_conn.dll ▪ start_application_epl.config ▪ start_application_epl.exe ▪ default.txt ▪ default.org ▪ dtype.xml ▪ options.xml ▪ menu.guidef ▪ menu_macros.txt ▪ plm_setenv.bat ▪ attributes-from-sap.xml ▪ attributes-to-sap.xml ▪ rfc-tunnel-whitelist.txt ▪ CIDEON_ECTR-Interface_to_EPLAN_User_Manual.pdf ▪ CIDEON_ECTR-Interface_to_EPLAN_Configuration_Manual.pdf

The directory "EPIS Addin" contains the addin modules:

▪ ECTR23.cs ▪ ECTR24.cs ▪ ECTR25.cs ▪ ECTR26.cs

The appropriate module "EPISxx.cs" depends on the installed EPLAN version. EPLAN 2.5 needs the file "EPIS25.cs", EPLAN 2.6 needs the file "EPIS26.cs".

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2.2 Automatic installation

For the automatic installation an installation package is provided. It simply consist of an executable file.

Please note that administrator rights are required for the installation! It is strongly recommended to be logged in as administrator when you install the product!

To start the installation process the application must be executed. This is a self-extracting ZIP archive.

Please make sure that the SAP Engineering Control Center, EPLAN and EPLAN ERP/PDM Integration Suite are already installed on the target machine before running the installation of the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN. Apart from that the installation process failed!

After start the containing files will be extracted.

Extracting the installation files

At least now close all running SAP and EPLAN applications! This is important to prevent failures during the installation process! After this process has finished the start screen of the installation assistant appears. Use the "Cancel" button to abort the entire installation process. Navigate with the "Back" button to previous screen i.e. to correct some choices.

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Installation assistant - Start screen

If the installation assistant detects a missing requirement an error message appears and the installation process will be aborted

Installation assistant - Error screen

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The button "Next" browses to the component selection screen. Set a check mark into a checkbox at the left side to choose the right component. If necessary you can browse to the previous screen with the "Back" button.

Installation assistant - Component choice

After selection of the component a click on the "Next" button starts installation process. Now a screen appears that informs you about the progress of the installation.

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Installation assistant - Progress screen

If the installation process has been finished, the completion screen appears. Complete the installation by clicking the "Close" button here.

Installation assistant - Installation completion

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2.3 Launching the application

With the start of EPLAN the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface for EPLAN will be loaded and started as an add-in. Pre-condition for that is, that this was successfully installed (see Automatic installation).

The SAP Engineering Control Center offers the option to launch EPLAN directly from the ECTR user interface. In order to do this, it’s necessary to add the application into the ECTR menu structure. Therefore it has to be changed the basic "menu_macros.txt" file. This file is stored in "%ECTR_INST_DIR%\customize\config". Afterwards the entry "= ? LAUNCH_APPL_EPL" is to append into section "FLY_APPLICATIONS".

The viewable space in front of the entry must be filled with blanks. If it’s filled with tab the "Launch EPLAN" entry does not shown into ECTR!

File editor - "FLY APPLICATIONS" entries in file "menu_macros.txt"

If this is done correctly and the configuration file "menu_macros.txt" is saved, after restart of the ECTR the entry "Launch EPLAN" appears in menu "System / Launch Applications":

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https://support.cideon-software.com/sites/default/files/images/ecc/epl/en/eccepl-img018.png


Menu entry "Launch EPLAN"

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3 User interface and controls

The SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN offers one control which is integrated into the EPLAN user interface. This is it's main menu labelled "SAP PLM":

EPLAN user interface with main menu "SAP PLM"

The figure shows the user interface of EPLAN, including the individual controls of SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN.

3.1 Menu "SAP PLM"

The "SAP PLM" menu is located in the menu bar of EPLAN and is the main menu of the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN and contains all executable functions:

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https://support.cideon-software.com/sites/default/files/styles/1_ocu/public/images/ske/dc92eaf2ae57ec9bed931b3a20c0ac4d.png?itok=hm87b2hw


Main menu "SAP PLM" in EPLAN

Depending on the context or status, a document loaded in a EPLAN document SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN may not have access to some of the functions.

The actual position of the main menu "SAP PLM" of SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN within the EPLAN menu bar depends on whether, how many and which other add-ins are loaded and used. It can, therefore, differ from the position shown in the figure!

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4 Function description

A variety of functions of the SAP Engineering Control Center can be accessed directly from the user interface of EPLAN using SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN. These functions are described in the following text.

It should be noted that SAP and the SAP Engineering Control Center offer extensive configuration options, and the actual behavior of the functions may differ on a case-by-case basis from those described here. The function description in this user's Manual is based on the default configuration of the SAP Engineering Control Center.

4.1 General behavior

If a function is triggered using the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN, a message will be displayed in the center of the working range of EPLAN, which provides information about the current action which is being implemented by ECTR.

Information about running ECTR processes

The SAP Engineering Control Center indicates activities initiated by EPLAN with a yellow colored menu bar during an activity:

ECTR activity indication

This is the standard behavior of the SAP Engineering Control Center, but it is configurable.

In order to use the functions offered through SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN, the SAP Engineering Control Center must be launched and the SAP login has to be completed! This applies also to the "Open ECTR" command.

4.1.1 Logging

The SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN offers the ability to log it's work and store it in a log file. This is particularly useful for questions regarding CIDEON support.

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To activate logging, the "Application tracelevel" option under "Common" must be set in the Options menu of the ECTR under "Preferences" of the SAP Engineering Control Center, which is accessible via the gear symbol ("Settings") at the top right:

Options menu of the ECTR

ECTR Option "Application tracelevel"

The different detail levels "Trace", "Debug" and "In Detail" can be selected for the information stored in the log file. The value "Undefined" means the initial state after the installation of the ECTR and is equivalent to "Trace". If the trace level has been changed once, it can no longer be reset to "Undefined".

The log files are stored in the directory path for log files of the ECTR under

<LW>:\SAPPLM\tempdir\logs\applications\epl\

The file name of a log file contains a date and time stamp and has the following structure:

plm_connector_YYYY.MM.DD-HH_MM_SS.log

In addition to the logging of the interface, a log is also written for the "ERP-PDM Integration Suite". These log files can be found in the directory:

C:\Users\Public\EPLAN\ERP-PDM Integration Suite\LogFiles

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The log directory as well as additional output languages of the log file can be changed using the following parameters of the "ERPPDM_Local_Config.xml":

"LogFolder" = Directory in which the log file is stored "AdditionalLogLanguage" = Additional language; 2nd log file

4.2 General functions

General functions provide access to the SAP Engineering Control Center and are used for administration.

4.2.1 About

The "About" function open a dialog which contains information about the current version of SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN.

This information is particularly useful for product questions.

"SAP PLM About" dialog

The version information for ECTR connector, frontend and backend will only be displayed when the SAP Engineering Control Center has already been launched and logged on to SAP.

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4.2.2 Open ECTR

With this function, the SAP Engineering Control Center is activated and put to the foreground. Once this is done, EPLAN isn’t blocked for all actions and inputs. On every time it’s possible to switch between EPLAN and ECTR. The blue "Back" button is no longer active.

"Back" button in ECTR

When the function "Open ECTR" is executed, without SAP Engineering Control Center running, ECTR is launching immediately and the Logon screen appears.

4.3 SAP PLM functions

The SAP Engineering Control Center provides various SAP PLM functions. The SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN allows access to these functions directly from the EPLAN user interface. These functions are described here.

If functions of the SAP Engineering Control Center where executed from the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN, all ECTR dialogs during the execution are mostly modal, i.e. access to EPLAN is blocked until the dialog is closed. Not till then the work in EPLAN can proceed.

If a document that has a document info record (DIR) in SAP PLM, stored (checked in) in SAP PLM,

meaning that the symbol appears for it in SAP Engineering Control Center, the associated document file is in principle read-only in the working directory!

4.3.1 Open

With the "Open" function, one or more documents in SAP PLM can be searched and opened in EPLAN using different search criteria. When this function is selected, the "Search Document" dialog of the SAP Engineering Control Center is opened. Various search criteria can be entered here for the search of the appropriate document.

When entering search criteria, the wildcard "star" character ('*') is allowed, which makes it possible to specify a substring to search for.

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ECTR "Document" dialog

The "Clear Fields" button removes all existing records from the fields of the dialog. Under "Version Selection" you can choose how and to what extent different versions of this document should be taken into account if multiple versions of the document exist.

ECTR "Document" dialog - Version selection

The following choices are available:

▪ Display all Versions ▪ Display Latest Version Only ▪ Display Latest Released Version Only

According to the selection, the corresponding versions are then presented in the results.

The "Clear Fields" button removes all existing records from the fields of the dialog. With "Add Class ..." it is possible to select a class as a search criterion. In this way the search is restricted to the documents conforming to the criterion entered. For this purpose, the class name is entered in the "Classification" field.

It is also possible to search according to classes. These will be initiated via the Classes Search Assistant button.

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ECTR "Classification" dialog

With the "Search..." button you get into the actual class search dialog. Here you can specify various search criteria for the class search. In the name and description here the wildcard character '*' is also allowed.

Here, if all fields are left blank, all available classes are delivered as a result.

For type you can select from a list of available class types or "All Class Types".

ECTR "Class Search" dialog

The result of the search class is displayed as a table. Mark the required class and press the "OK" button to accept it.

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ECTR "Class Selection" dialog

If the selected class classification parameters are stored, they can be assigned a value. With the "Classification" button it is possible to classify input parameters. Here the values for each classification parameter can be entered.

ECTR "Document" dialog – Add classification data

By moving the cursor over the input field of a classification parameter, a note ("tooltip") with technical data for orienting that parameter is displayed.

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ECTR "Document" dialog – Classification data tooltip

If the registered class does not store classification parameters, clicking the "Classification" button has no effect.

Once search criteria have been entered, the search is initiated with the "OK" button. It appears a dialog with progress bar.

ECTR "Document" dialog – Progress bar

Once search criteria have been entered, the search is initiated with the "OK" button. Should a document not be found, an error message is displayed informing you that no document was found that matches the given search criteria.

ECTR "Document" dialog - error message

If successful, the search result is displayed as a table. There may be one or, if present, several found documents selected in this table. If the "OK" button is pressed, the selected documents are opened automatically in EPLAN. Should this not be possible for a document, e.g. if there is a version mismatch, an error message is displayed for this document in all other documents opened against it.

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ECTR "Document Selection" dialog

If you click on the "Back" button, the entire process is aborted, all dialogs are closed and control returned to EPLAN. It is also possible to perform the document search entirely via the SAP GUI. For this purpose, the "SAP GUI Search" button is used in the "Document Search" dialog. If this is selected, the SAP view "Find Document" appears. Here it is possible to enter the search criteria as usual in SAP PLM, starting the search with "Execute".

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SAP GUI view "Find Document"

With the "Back" ( ), "Exit" ( ) and "Cancel" ( ) buttons the SAP view is closed and you are taken back to the ECTR-Document Search.

When opening the SAP-Document search by clicking on the "SAP GUI Search" button, none of the "Document Searches" or selected search criteria already registered in the ECTR dialog will be copied! This must therefore be entirely entered manually in the SAP-View fields.

If no search hits are achieved, this will be signaled through an error message in the SAP-View. However, if the search on the SAP GUI was successful, the retrieved documents are displayed as a table.

A document registered here can be selected and opened with a double click in EPLAN. Should this not be possible, e.g. if there is a version conflict, an error message is displayed. In both cases the entire process is aborted, all dialogs are closed and control is returned to EPLAN.

Although multiple documents can be selected, only one of them can be opened by double clicking in EPLAN!

SAP GUI view "Find Document" - error message

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SAP GUI view "Document List After Selection"

4.3.2 Save and Display

If a document has a document info record (DIR) has been taken into work (checked out) and is opened and edited in EPLAN, it must after completion of the work on this document again be stored in SAP PLM (checked in). This takes care of the "Save and Display" of the SAP Engineering Control Center, which can be accessed from EPLAN via the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN. The following steps are implemented in this way:

1. The document is stored locally on the hard disk or in the currently active working directory. As a result, the created document file is updated.

2. The document is then stored (checked in) in SAP PLM and the document info record updated.

The effect of this function in SAP Engineering Control Center can be recognized by the symbol for the document in question as well as the new status "AC – Accessible" (in the status log of the stored document in the Object Browser of the ECTR, see red marks in the figure:

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ECTR "Object Browser" View following config of the "Save and Display" function

In addition, the write-protection of the document is set. Editing without further action is no longer possible.

When a document stored in SAP PLM (checked in) is opened with write protection set in EPLAN, it cannot be checked in. In this case a message from the "EPLAN ERP/PDM Integration Suite" appears.

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EPLAN - CheckIn cannot be processed dialog

4.3.3 Save

If a document has a document info record (DIR) that has been taken into work (checked out), opened and edited in EPLAN, it should be saved at regular intervals. EPLAN saves the document automatically but here the document is saved as only locally on the hard disk or in the currently active working directory but not updated in SAP PLM. A caching, which updates the document in SAP PLM, provides the "Save" function of the SAP Engineering Control Center, which can easily be accessed from EPLAN via the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN. The following steps are implemented in this way:

1. The document is stored locally on the hard disk or in the currently active working directory. As a result, the created document file is updated.

2. The document will be stored in SAP PLM (checked in). 3. The document from SAP PLM is immediately put back into operation (checked out), so that further processing

can be continued in EPLAN.

The effect of this function is visible in the browser of the SAP Engineering Control Center, to which two entries have been added in the status log of the document stored in the object, that record that the document is stored in its SAP PLM (checked in status "AC") and has been immediately taken for processing (status "IW" checked). The state before executing "Save" is shown in the figure.

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ECTR Object Browser before executing "Save" function

The new status after the end of the command can be seen (see red marking).

ECTR Object Browser after configuration of the "Save" function

4.3.4 Import

However, in to create a document info record (DIR) for existing EPLAN projects, the "Import" function should be used. It’s just possible to import one selected project. If there are several projects open or selected it’s not possible to proceed the import. In this case it appears a dialog to select one project.

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EPLAN - Multi selection for import

By calling the "Import" functionality at first additional files can be chosen. Therefore the EPLAN dialog "Insert project" appears. All selected additional files will be finally attached to the new document info record (DIR) of the EPLAN project.

EPLAN - "Insert project" dialog

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If all necessary files are selected and the process was continued by clicking the "OK" button the process bar "Insert project" appears.

EPLAN - "Insert project" process bar

Afterward the ECTR Dialog "Import On Demand Dialog" appears and the EPLAN project was selected. All necessary fields are already filled. These values are defined at the configuration file "dtype.xml".

"Import On Demand Dialog"

If this dialog is closed with "Cancel", the whole process is cancelled and control will be returned to EPLAN. If you click "OK" after marking all documents to import, a progress bar appears to show that the import is being conducted.

ECTR - progress display "Import"

At this point, the imported document has a document information record (DIR), which is saved in SAP PLM, and marked with the status "SW – Start Working". The "after import" document status can also be defined by the customization file "dtype.xml".

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IMPORTANT! A top-document has to be checked out before an import of a new part can be processed. If not the import will be aborted! Furtherfore neither of the involved components must read-only!

ATTENTION! Note that the Import function in the SAP ECTR ribbon in the CAD system allows only a simple upload of CAD files into the SAP system. When you use this function, a Document Info Record is created and the CAD files are attached as original. Do not use this function to handle offline collaboration scenarios (send/receive CAD files to/from externals) or initial data imports during migration projects.

4.3.5 Create / Edit Bill of Material

The SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN provides an own functionality to create or edit Bill of Materials.

This user manual describes how to create and change a material BOM. The SAP configurations required for this are assumed to have already been carried out and are not described in this document.

Before the BOM will be created in SAP, the "Structured BOM" dialog from EPLAN ERP/PDM Integration Suite appears. In this dialog several options can be changed. In this case the "EPLAN criterion" defines the "+ Higher-level function" and the "+ Mounting location" from EPLAN parts. It can be also selected the "Part group" or the "Function group" if they exist. This value defines basically the BOM structure at SAP.

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EPLAN dialog "Structured BOM"

To review the EPLAN parts which will be transferred to SAP, the "Structured BOM" dialog includes a "View" button at every line (highlighted in green). Clicking a "View" button the dialog "Group preview" appears. In this example two mounting locations are defined for the EPLAN parts within this project. Therefore two lines will be displayed in the dialog. For all lines the value "External group name" has to be defined. At this value all appropriate EPLAN parts will be attached in SAP. This is a material number which has already to exist.

EPLAN dialog "Group preview"

If all entries are correct the EPLAN BOM will be transferred to SAP by clicking the button "OK". At this point there isn’t any BOM created in SAP. The dialog "BOM Preview" appears and shows the BOM structure which will be created in SAP accordingly.

If you click the button "OK" at "Structured BOM" dialog and there is no DIR assigned to the EPLAN project an error message appears and the BOM creation cannot be continued.

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Dialog "BOM Preview"

Within this dialog, the changes to the SAP BOM are indicated by letters in the "Upd. Ind." column:

▪ "I": Position will be created ▪ "U" Position will be changed ▪ "D": Position will be deleted ▪ " ": Position unchanged

Once the BOM has been successfully created or changed, the result is displayed in the ECTR view "Bills of Material" view:

ECTR view "Bills of Material"

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https://support.cideon-software.com/sites/default/files/images/ecc/epl/en/ECTR_BOM_Preview.PNG


4.3.6 Create / Assign Material

The SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN provides the possibility to enhance EPLAN parts with metadata so they get linked to SAP PLM materials as well. By calling the "Create/Assign Material" functionality the CIDEON dialog "Create Material" appears.

CIDEON - "Create Material" dialog

This dialog shows all database parts from EPLAN which are not linked to SAP PLM. These materials also haven’t an appropriate number at the "ERP number" field within EPLAN Parts management.

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EPLAN - "Parts Management" dialog

The SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN provides two possibilities to get these materials linked. Both options are included at the context menu from dialog "Create Material".

EPLAN - "Create Material" context menu

4.3.6.1 Assign Material (Search)

To create a link between an EPLAN part and a SAP PLM material object, the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN provides the function "Search Material". After selecting a part within the dialog "Create Material", the ECTR dialog "Material" appears. Material number and / or material type, material status, description can be typed in to find the required SAP material. "Ok" starts the material search inside SAP PLM. With "Cancel" the assignment operation aborts and the control returns to EPLAN.

ECTR - "Material"

The asterisk ('*') can be used as wild card to get a bigger range of results.

The list of results will show up immediately with all the materials matching the typed in criteria.

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https://support.cideon-software.com/sites/default/files/images/ecc/epl/eccepl-img056.png



ECTR - "Material Selection" results

If this dialog is closed with "Cancel", the whole process is cancelled and control will be returned to EPLAN. If the searched material doesn’t appear in the result list the search criteria can be changed after clicking the "Back" button. Marking a material and clicking "OK" will link the EPLAN part with the SAP PLM material. The material number is now shown in column "Material number" at the dialog "Create Material".

EPLAN - "Create Material" result

The EPLAN part is updated if the EPLAN "Synchronizer" ran. This "Synchronizer" starts automatically and is scheduled as Windows service by EPLAN ERP/PM Integration Suite.

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EPLAN - "Parts Management" result

For a more detailed search of materials the "SAP GUI Search" button in the figure can be chosen. It will lead through various SAP GUI Masks with a huge range of search criteria.

4.3.6.2 Create Material

To create a new material inside SAP PLM and link it to an EPLAN part the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN provides the function "Create Material". Similar to "Assign (Search) Material" is this also a context menu action. After selecting one or more parts within the "Create Material" dialog, the materials are created in background (Create dark). Such as configured at the configuration file "default.txt", the EPLAN part values are written to the SAP PLM material.

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EPLAN - "Create Material" Multiselection

If all materials became created successful, the SAP PLM material number is shown at column "Material number". As an additional functionality you can now select "Show Material" at the context menu.

EPLAN - Additional function "Show Material"

The selected material will be displayed at ECTR Object Browser.

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ECTR - "Show Material" Object Browser

After the EPLAN "Synchronizer" ran, all EPLAN parts are updated and now the column "ERP number" displays the SAP PLM material number.

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EPLAN - "Parts Management" result

4.3.7 Refresh / Transfer Attributes

For documents that are stored in SAP PLM and thus have a document info record (DIR), a variety of information is available including the document info record itself. Examples are the document description ("Description") or the material master data or the contents of the text field within a drawing. The document info record (DIR) itself contains a variety of metadata describing the document and necessary for administration of the document in SAP PLM, for example, the document status.

This information and the attributes of a document are automatically updated in the process of SAP PLM functions via SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN. The update is always performed in both directions (bidirectional). That means for example that when a drawing is changed the text field, this data will be updated in SAP PLM, the document status is changed, and the corresponding file attribute is updated. Basically, all attributes are updated locally when a document is opened from SAP PLM and transferred to SAP PLM when it is saved or saved intermediately.

However, it may also happen that the attributes of a project currently open in EPLAN may change in SAP PLM, without the user triggering a SAP PLM function via SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN. For this situation, the "Refresh Attributes" function is also available, which provides the ability to refresh them manually to make sure that they are up to date. Inversely, the "Transfer Attributes" function offers the option of transferring the current status of the attributes of the document currently opened in EPLAN to SAP PLM without having to save it or save intermediately.

4.3.8 Collaboration Mode

It is possible to open a project via the ECTR in such a way that other users can also work on the project. This is the collaboration mode (multi-user mode).

Functions

For this, the menu "SAP PLM" of the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN offers two functions that affect the project currently open in EPLAN:

▪ "Open Collaboration" ▪ "Save and Checkin Collaboration"

Prerequisites

The following requirements must be met in order to use the collaboration mode:

▪ There must be a shared directory in the network (network share) with full access rights for all participants in multi-user mode. This forms the working directory in which multi-user projects from SAP are stored. This directory is defined via the parameter "system.appl.MultiUserPath.epl" in the configuration file "default.txt".

▪ Extended status network: When checking out a multi-user project (start of work) and checking in (end of work), a temporary status in the form of an internal and an external ID must be sent to SAP, each of which signals the start and end of the participation in collaborative work. These IDs are also defined in the configuration file "default.txt".

▪ The last user, that is, the one who checks in the multi-user project in SAP PLM, must either be ECTR administrator, i.e. have ECTR admin rights, or receive the release of the document to be checked in through a BADI implementation "/DSCSAG/ENH_DOC-DOC_CHANGE_ADMINMODE_AUTH".

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In the "default.txt" configuration file, the following parameters are responsible for the collaboration mode:

▪ system.appl.MultiUserPath.epl ▪ system.appl.StartWorkStatusIntern.epl ▪ system.appl.StartWorkStatusExtern.epl ▪ system.appl.EndWorkStatusIntern.epl ▪ system.appl.EndWorkStatusExtern.epl

Limitations

There are a number of limitations when working in collaboration mode:

▪ Once a project has been opened in multi-user mode using the "Open Collaboration" function, only the "Save and CheckIn Collaboration" command can be applied to this project.

▪ Opening projects in collaboration mode is only possible from EPLAN using the functions of the SAP Engineering Control Center Interface to EPLAN.

▪ Switching between collaboration mode and individual work is only possible when the project in question is checked in.

▪ There is no authorization check for the projects in the collaboration working directory.

Since no authorization check is performed for the projects in the collaboration working directory, any user who has appropriate access rights to the collaboration working directory can use the EPLAN "Open project" function to open a collaboration project stored here without logging in SAP!

4.3.8.1 Open Collaboration

To open and check out a project in collaboration mode (multi-user), so that other users can also work on the project, the "Open Collaboration" menu function is available.

After selecting the "Open Collaboration" function, the ECTR "Open" dialog appears:

ECTR dialog "Open"

Via this dialog a project can be specified as usual, which is then opened in collaboration mode. The prerequisite for this is that the project to be opened has not yet been checked out elsewhere. In this case, an error message appears and the process is terminated.

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If the project was opened successfully, it can now be edited. The files belonging to the project are stored in the network drive that was defined in the configuration.

▪ Once a project has been opened in multi-user mode using the "Open Collaboration" function, only the "Save and Checkin Collaboration" function can be applied to this project.

▪ Switching between collaboration mode and individual work is only possible when the project in question is checked in.

▪ There is no authorization check for the projects in the collaboration working directory.

4.3.8.2 Save and Check In Collaboration

If a project has been checked out and edited with the "Open Collaboration" menu function in collaboration mode, the "Save and Check In Collaboration" menu function must be used to check in this project. Now the EPLAN dialog "Check-in project" appears:

EPLAN dialog "Check-in project"

If the "OK" button is pressed here, a multi-user-compliant checked in is performed for this project. If you try to check in the project with the "Save and Display" function instead, an error message appears:

Error message at checkin

4.3.9 Cloning

The SAP Engineering Control Center provides a "Cloning" function. This has its own "Cloning" window, where individual components as well as large assemblies and drawings can be reproduced.

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ECTR window "Cloning"

The "Cloning" view can be opened by clicking on the icon in the menu "Window" and in the symbol area of the ECTR (see red marks):

ECTR menu "Window"

Icon area of the ECTR

To clone a model, drag it from the desktop view into the "Cloning" window:

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"Drag the model into the "Cloning" window"

The "Tree Manager " button can be used to expand or collapse the structure of the model to be cloned:

Expanded structure in the "Cloning" window

Individual components can be selected within the structure. A context menu is available via the right mouse button, which offers various options for controlling the cloning process as well as further functions for the selected component:

Context menu

The following options are available:

New Internal Number

Copies and replaces the selected document in the structure. If this option is set, the icon appears in the structure tree.

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https://support.cideon-software.com/sites/default/files/images/ecc/epl/en/ECTR_Von_Desktop_nach_Klonen_verschieben.png


Extended Clone Options

With this option it is possible to change the description of the selected component before assigning a new internal/external number. The ECTR dialog "Copy Document" appears in which the description can be changed:

ECTR dialog "Copy Document"

If this option is set, the icon appears in the structure tree.

New Version

The function "New Version" is applied to the structure.

Change Details

If a document is cloned with a new internal/external number, you can use this option to adjust the document's basic data. The ECTR dialog "Change details" appears:

ECTR dialog "Change Details"

No Action

The selected clone options will be reset to their initial state.

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Remove

Removes the component or structure from the "Cloning" window but does not delete any data other than the settings made here to control the cloning process.

Reload

Updates the structure of the model and reloads possible changes to subcomponents.

Starting the cloning process

Once all settings have been made, the actual cloning process can be started by pressing the "Clone" button in the upper left corner of the "Clone" window. Now the ECTR dialog "Cloning Process" appears:

ECTR dialog "Cloning Process"

Here you can additionally define whether dependent documents and other information should be cloned.

Since no structures are displayed in this table, the cloning process should be configured in the normal cloning window!

IMPORTANT! After cloning, it is absolutely necessary for the checked in, cloned models to be manually edited and checked in again! This is to ensure that all the configurations they contain are correctly updated in SAP PLM!

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The following restrictions should be noted when cloning:

▪ When cloning dependent (nonmaster-) drawings or assemblies with dependent drawings, it should be noted that cloning drawings that contain drawing views of several different models is not supported! This means a dependent (nonmaster-) drawing may always only show precisely one model, however it can contain multiple views and sheets. This limitation doesn't exist if independent (master-) drawings will be cloned.

▪ Cloning of standard parts is not supported!

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5 Final Remark

This manual is intended to aid in the use of the product. Because the development of this product is also ongoing, this document applies to the release available at the time of printing. CIDEON Software & Services GmbH & Co. KG is grateful for comments and suggestions from users. Please contact us in this regard via the CIDEON Service Portal (ticket system).

This documentation was prepared with the greatest of care; however, we cannot accept liability for any errors or omissions therein.

You will find additional information and news on our Website!

CIDEON Software & Services GmbH & Co. KG

www.cideon.com

Copyright © 2018 CIDEON Software & Services GmbH & Co. KG. All rights reserved.

No portion of this document may be reproduced or copied by any means or for any purpose without the express permission of CIDEON Software & Services GmbH & Co. KG.

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