Introduction
Model Definition is a dashboard app that helps you seamlessly manage the definition of products with high variability and complex sets of configuration rules. Product managers are often responsible for creating and managing the enterprise variability that contains variants, variant values, option groups and options.
Variant is a configurative feature of product (Example: frame color, overall size) that consist of one or more variant values. The Product manager can select one of the associated variant values when creating a product configuration for a particular model version. Option groups contains several optional offerings. The Product manager can select one or several options, or choose not to select any option when creating a product configuration.
Completing product configuration effectively and efficiently is often challenging when enterprise has high variability with hundreds of variants, variant values, option groups, and options available to configure. Often, the configuration rules are very complex, which makes it even more challenging to complete and maintain model version definition. Accuracy in definition and traceability are key factors in completing model definition. This often requires product managers to compare two or more model versions from the same version family or a different version family.
Comparison of Model Versions
Product managers can now use the Compare dashboard app to compare model versions. This is particularly useful for finding the missing variabilities, improve accuracy, and maintain traceability. Following are some of the ways to begin the comparison between two model versions.
- Search for the required model version in the 3DSearch. Drag and drop both model versions one-by-one in the left and right pane of the Compare app respectively.
- Open and pin the Model Definition app and Compare app in the same dashboard. Drag and drop both model versions one-by-one in the left and right pane of the Compare app respectively.
- Drag one model version from either 3DSearch result or Model Definition app in the left pane of the Compare app. Use “Open Revisions of” options in the right pane to explore and open the required revision of the same model version in the right pane.
- Use the “Compare to Selected” action in the revision history dialog box to start a comparison between two model versions.
You can use the Compare app to compare revision level, variant, variant values, option groups, options, and configuration rules of the two model versions. When you open the Properties pane of the comparison structure, the properties are color coded to indicate their reference model version when they do not match.
When one of the model version in any pane of the compare app is older or newer revision of the other model version, it is marked as “Revisioned”. They are marked as “Different” in any other case or particularly when model version share common child objects but are not related with each other.
When both model versions have the same variants, option groups, and configuration rules, they are marked as “Identical”. When one of this variability exist only in left or right pane, it is marked as “Right-only” or “Left-only”. For the configuration rules, the model versions are compared based on the “Name” attribute of the rule. The Compare app does not compare the content of the configuration rules.
When both model version have same variant values and options, they are marked as “Identical”. If variant value or option exist only one of the model version, it is then marked as “Right-only” or “Left-only” depending on where it is available.
Refer following video for more information.
