Using Concept Workspace to explore design ideas

Exploring new design ideas using existing models that may already be released can be a complicated process, especially if you are not sure if you want to commit the design to Teamcenter. Using Concept Workspace, you can use existing models as a starting point, make design changes, evaluate the need for new components, and then interactively publish your design to Teamcenter when you are ready, or even delete a design if you choose. Think of Concept Workspace as your sandbox for exploring creative ideas without committing to the creation of a new Item in Teamcenter.

With Concept Workspace you can:

Create new parts or assemblies without creating an Item.
Modify existing Teamcenter-managed documents without committing changes or actions.
Add existing parts to new assemblies.
Add new parts to existing assemblies without creating an Item.
Delete a design if it is not needed.

When you are satisfied with your new design, you can accept the design in Concept Workspace by publishing it and uploading it to Teamcenter.

Working in a Concept Workspace

Concept Workspace is enabled using the Teamcenter preference SEEC_Enable_ConceptWorkspace.

After the functionality is enabled, Concept Workspaces are created and set active in the Cache Assistant when no document is open in QY CAD. You can populate your workspace by opening an existing document, downloading a document in Cache Assistant, creating new content, or by adding managed content. The Teamcenter rich client and Active Workspace can be used to retrieve managed documents. Additional documents can be added through the Teamcenter Library. Existing documents are only checked out if you want to prevent the creation of newer versions by other users. Documents in cache are never overwritten unless explicitly specified using the Revert or Synchronize commands.

A Concept Status is determined for documents in the Concept Workspace as they are saved to disk:

Up-to-date—Any QY CAD document retrieved from Teamcenter that has not been modified.
Modified—Managed documents that have been changed or contain modified properties, and saved to disk.
New—Document created new or in-place within the workspace. The new status is not applied until the file is saved to disk. The Save As, Replace with Copy, Replace with New commands create documents with a status of New.

When you work with designs in a Concept Workspace, QY CAD automatically adjusts the user interface as needed to indicate you are working in a sandbox for exploring new ideas. This changes the QY CAD user interface in the following ways:

Concept Workspace is displayed in the application title bar of the window.

Note:

If Concept Workspace is not indicated in the title bar, you are working in a Cache Workspace.
Concept Workspace is indicated in the cache information portion of the start page.
The Open File dialog box indicates Open File - Working in Concept Workspace.

While you can create multiple Concept Workspaces, you cannot work across the multiple workspaces. You can switch to a different workspace when no document is open in Solid Edge by opening the Cache Assistant, and choosing a workspace from the list in the Workspace group.

Working offline in a Concept Workspace

Files in a Concept Workspace can be opened and modified in Online or Offline mode. However, when you work offline, files can only be opened from within the Concept Workspace. Opening a file opens what is in the active Concept Workspace.

Using the Concept Assistant

When you work in a Concept Workspace, the Concept Assistant is available from the Teamcenter ribbon as an interactive interface for manipulating new or modified documents in the active Concept Workspace. You can use commands to filter the display of the contents, view or modify file properties of documents in the Concept Workspace, set actions for the documents in the workspace, and then publish the items to Teamcenter. You can also use the Validate command to provide basic validation checks. The results are provided in the Issues column of the Concept Assistant.

Cloning your concept

When you work through a concept or idea, you may want to use part or all of your idea into other conceptual scenarios. The use of cloning in Concept Assistant enables you to identify selections of your design to be pushed to an existing or new Concept Workspace. You also have the capability to pull documents from a workspace into your active workspace.

Push—Copies the selection from your active selection to a different Concept Workspace. The Push command is available from the Clone group of the Concept Assistant.
Pull—Copies documents from a different Concept Workspace to your active workspace. You can pull documents into your workspace with the Replace command or by using the Teamcenter Library and then selecting the desired workspace.

Cloning can overwrite files, so an informational message is displayed to alert you so that you do not overwrite existing data.

Publishing your concepts

When you are ready to commit your design ideas developed in Concept Workspace to a Teamcenter-managed environment, use the Publish command, available in Concept Assistant, to add to Teamcenter the items you created or modified in the direct document.

Update Status Info command

Concept Workspace workflow