PDXpert PLM Software
On-line Help Guide

This help topic describes the current PDXpert PLM release. Earlier releases may be different. To view your release's version of this topic, open PDXpert and press the F1 key or select the Help menu.

Item uniqueness definition (rule)

Before editing a system rule, ensure that no other users are using the system. After editing a system rule, close the PDXpert client and start it again.

Administrators open this using the Tools ➔ System Rules… menu.

Purpose §

Specifies the identifier set that's used to determine item uniqueness. The identifier set prevents duplicate items. An item can't be saved if the values in its identifier set are the same as an existing item's.

Description §

True: Include the data element to validate that an item's identifier set is unique.

False: Ignore the data element while validating that an item's identifier set is unique.

Data type §

True/false

Recommended or default value §

Data element Element description Default
Number Part or document number True
Organization Item owner True
Class Part Part or document Document False
Type Part Type or Document Types collection member False

Details §

When a data element is set as True (that is, the checkbox is marked), it's included in the test for uniqueness. Or, you can think of it this way: setting a data element to False makes that element a passive attribute that will be ignored, just like the item's Name, Language or Trustee.

Reducing an identifier's "degrees of freedom" by clearing checkboxes reduces ambiguity and communication errors. However, be cautious about removing data elements after items have been given identifiers using a larger set of elements. If you reduce the identifier set so that previously-unique items are now considered duplicates, you may need to modify at least one element of the item's identifier set to re-establish uniqueness before saving.

Selecting the Number as True with the Organization as False would mean that many legitimate overlaps between two organizations' part numbers would be invalid. Except in special circumstances, if you mark Number, you should also mark Organization.

Identification goal Example & configuration Number Organization Class Type
Within any organization, there can be no duplicate part numbers and no duplicate document numbers. No part may have the same number as a document. Recommended goal. You give number 12005 to any organization's document. No other document or part owned by that organization can be given number 12005.
You could have a single Identifier Sequence shared by all Part Type and Document Type members. You could also define Identifier Sequence members with distinct formats for documents and parts; for example, a 5-digit number is given to a document and a 6-digit number is given to a part.		 True True False False
Within any organization, there can be no duplicate part numbers and no duplicate document numbers. However, a part and a document may share the same number. There can be only one part 103006 and one document 103006. The document 103006 may (but doesn't need to) specify the design details of part 103006.
You'd have a single Identifier Sequence shared by all Part Type and Document Type members, and manually give (edit) the identifier of one related part to match the document number (or vice versa).		 True True True False
Within any organization, there can be duplicate part numbers and document numbers, provided that they are of different types. You could give 120406 to a part such as a bare printed circuit board (Part Type: PCB), and overlay related document types: Schematic 120406, Drill Pattern 120406, and Silkscreen 120406.
Each part and document type could have their own Identifier Sequence, but they all share the same length and format. When appropriate, you'd manually give (edit) the identifier(s) for related items.		 True True True True
The software performs no validation, and duplicates items are OK. Not recommended for normal use. You could give any value to any item data element. This is for unusual circumstances, such as when legacy data contains duplicate items.
To reduce the chance of giving the same identifier to new items, ensure that your Sequences: Identifier collection members cannot overlap by either giving unique prefixes to each one and/or by minimizing the number of members specified in the Sequences: Identifier collection.		 False False False False

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