Introduction

The Model Definition app in the Product Manager (PDM) role allows product managers to define and maintain the enterprise variability, constraints, and product configurations with complete traceability and agility. The product manager can define variants and option groups at the enterprise level and then use them to assign and manage the variability of the models. Variant is a feature that consists of two or more values. You can select one of the available values while defining the product configuration. Option Group is an optional offering that consists of one or more options. You can select one/several options or choose not to select any option at all.

                    Image 1: Example of Variability (Variant – Values, Option Groups – Options)

To ensure the validity and accuracy of product configurations, you can define configuration rules i.e. matrix rule or expression rule. These rules allows you to define valid, invalid, and required selections for specific combinations of variants, variant values, option groups, and options.

                                      Image 2: Types of configuration rules and their simple examples

Exploring Relations of the Variability Objects

Depending on the market needs the variability, configuration rules, and product configurations are often updated. Product manager deal with hundreds of variants and options along with complex set of configuration rules. Before making any updates, they need complete traceability of relations to analyze the impact. For example: Before updating or removing any variant value, it is important to perform impact analysis to find out which configuration rules use them.

From the R2022x FD02 release, you can use the new Relations tab in the Information Panel to access relations of the model definition objects. The new relations category “Model Definition Relations” provides complete traceability and shows you the relevant relations of the selected variability object. For example, when you select the variant value, the relations tab shows you following relations:

- Variant Values of

Shows you the variant in which selected variant value is used.

- Rule Criteria of

Shows you the list of configuration rules in which the selected variant value is used.

                          Image 3: Relations tab showing the relations of the selected Variant Value

Conversely, you can also select the matrix rule or expression rule to find out which variants, variant values, option groups, and options are used in the selected rule. Furthermore, you can launch the Relations widget by selecting the relations icon on the top right. This displays the ecosystem of related objects with better and complete visualization. In case number of related objects are high, you can also select the Datagrid view to display objects and their relations in a tabular view.

Refer the following video for more information on this functionality.